Born and raised in Matamata in 1960, I moved to Wellington in 1985 to accept a promotion within the Post Office. Returning in 1995 I worked for Metso Minerals for 7 years before resigning to start Hurricane Computers in 2003.

I will bring to the Matamata Community Board a passion for our town and a commitment to be objective and impartial while working on your behalf. 

My main strength is an ability to communicate with all levels of society. I undertake to table your positive ideas and to attend all District Council meetings. 

I would come to this job with an open mind and the objectivity necessary to perform all of the functions of a Community Board member. I am willing and eager to devote the time and energy that this community deserves in fulfilling my duties as a member of this board.

Top 5 Issues

1. I am passionate about is ensuring that our town is given EVERY consideration when budgets are being discussed, projects are being contemplated and resources are being allocated. I see my responsibility, should I be elected, would be to listen to suggestions and concerns of Matamata residents, to discuss these ideas at Matamata Community Board meetings and to make recommendations to the appropriate bodies, thus enabling these ideas to become reality.
2. In my opinion Matamata is a tremendous place to live and to bring up children. It was only when I moved away for 10 years that I realised how much I missed "home". It does concern me however that our teenagers still consider Matamata to be a "dead place to live" with nothing happening for them. We have in the past considered the generation aged up to approximately 14 years, providing a skate park for them, a BMX track and for even younger children we have parks and playgrounds. But our older teenagers have nothing. And we wonder why they all party in Hamilton or Tauranga. They can't even go to the movies here any more like we used to be able to. I would like to see something done for this generation. With new laws being discussed concerning raising the drinking and car license ages this needs some serious discussion and attention. Here's an example of a senseless decision. Four teenage friends want to go the movies in Hamilton. All have their restricted car license. So FOUR cars travel to Hamilton with ONE person in each one. Where is the sense in that. At some point "politically correct" decisions have just gone crazy!

Personal Profile

I have been a member of the Matamata Country Music Club for over 10 years but am a relative newcomer to singing and performing in public. In 2007 I was dragged kicking and screaming from my position as a bass player to the front of the stage and have now started singing regularly. I enjoy the faster and more up-beat numbers but am now just as comfortable singing the slower ballads with my wife Kay when we perform as the duo “Tap ‘N’ Tym”. I have just started entering awards and have tasted some success, winning a few Senior Male Solo Awards and a number of Duo/Group trophies with my wife Kay. We are frequently asked to appear as a guest artists at country music clubs around the Waikato and Bay of Plenty regions. I also play bass guitar for Matamata CMC, South Waikato CMC and Phoenix VCMC as well as gladly helping out at other clubs when they are short of a band member. My most favourite pastime is just sitting, jamming and singing with friends, learning new songs and spending as much time as I can with my best friend and wife Kay, who I met at the Matamata Country Music Club Spectacular in 2007.

I am also a keen sportsman having played rugby and soccer as a youngster as well as hockey and golf for Matamata College and Waikato as a teenager. I was Club Captain of the Matamata Golf Club for two and a half years from 1999 to 2001. I am still a member of the Matamata Golf Club and play as often as our busy schedule allows. My handicap has drifted out to a comfortable 10 these days but I still enjoy a round with friends, my wife or my sons and I get a huge kick out of watching my two sons and my step son hitting huge drives and playing just like I remember doing it myself. (Many years ago)

Kay and I recently started a community based Low Power FM radio station in Matamata. TLC Radio Matamata on 106.7 FM is a country music radio station with a huge NZ artist content. We have a rapidly growing audience and based on the number of times we are stopped in the street and the supermarket this will continue to grow in the foreseeable future.

We also run TNT Studios where we make advertisements, transfer LP's and cassettes to CD, record local singers and musicians and even record people sharing memories so their loved ones can have an audio record of them and their history. After talking to some of the schools, it is our intention to get local schools involved in the recording studio as well as in the community radio so that we can teach students how to record themselves, how to put together radio shows and to give them a chance to do something a little different.