Legacy of Jane Mander celebrated with stunning new portrait

Both Jane Mander the writer and the Ryman Healthcare village named after her were the focus of festivity this week in Whangārei as residents and team members gathered to celebrate Jane Mander Village’s 15^th birthday.

To mark the occasion, a stunning new portrait of the author whose novel inspired the Oscar-winning film The Piano was unveiled by the artist who painted it, Craig Primrose, and Village Manager Kyrene O’Donnell.

Using the book analogy, Kyrene compared the first 15 years to 15 chapters of a book, and invited members of the team to share their highlights of working at the village and reveal the title of their chapter.

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Longest-serving team member, Resident Services Manager Barb Bickerton, joined the village when it first opened, aptly naming her chapter as New Beginnings.

“I originally applied for a laundry position, but the manager talked me into doing a weekend reception job. So, I started on weekend reception, I got my confidence back and from there I’ve just gone on to where I am today,” Barb said.

Gardener Paul Child, Rest Home Unit Coordinator Mufida Nisha, Serviced Apartment Unit Coordinator Oakley Miller, Activity and Lifestyle Coordinator Tracey Wickman and Sales Advisor Donna Newman all shared their memories and highlights, with Oakley getting the biggest laugh.

He told how he once helped to lift a resident who had rolled out of bed and as he bent to lift, his trousers cracked right down the seam. There were no spare trousers around that fit him so he had to staple them together for the rest of the shift!

Tracey said it was very fitting that Jane Mander was a storyteller: “I’ve had some pretty amazing experiences over the last six years sharing stories with you and about you.”

Resident Peter Hartnall passed around some paper and pens for everyone to complete a quiz on Jane Mander, testing their knowledge on her life.

The retired teacher, and member of the village writing group, shared that Jane Mander’s 1920 book The Story of a New Zealand River was kept on a special shelf at Whangārei library due to its undertones of immorality.

Peter said as a young girl, born in 1877, she went to 29 different schools as her father travelled the country looking for work as a sawmiller.

But she was clearly a ‘bright cookie’ who later became editor of the Dargaville North Auckland Times, later travelling to Sydney, then New York where she joined the suffrage movement, and London, where she worked as correspondent for New Zealand newspapers, all the while writing her novels.

“Despite her humble beginnings, she worked hard to improve herself and I think we should be proud to be in a village that has the name Jane Mander,” Peter said.

Following a reading by resident Jean Bruerton from The Passionate Puritan, Craig joined Kyrene to help unveil the new painting, prompting comments of ‘stunning’ and ‘beautiful’ from residents.

Finally, Barb was invited back to help GM Operations Lynn Charlton in cutting the birthday cake.

Kyrene said: “I think there are a lot of chapters to write yet, I don’t know if they’ll get as exciting as stapled pants, but they’re all blank pages and we get to pen them together.”