Keeping the workshop tidy

Nothing worse than an untidy workshop. finds out who cleans up out back at Te Manawa after the work is done.

For the past six years Charles Reggers has been keeping Te Manawa’s ‘‘back stage’’ tidy.

The 84-year-old volunteer comes in two mornings a week and is one of the reasons why the rear workshop, where Te Manawa displays are created, is so well organised.

On Reggers’ workshop table a sign reads: ‘‘Please return all screws, bolts, nuts .... hinges, washers, coach bolts... to the sorting table’’.

‘‘Once a week I’ll sort through and store those,’’ he said. ‘‘I’m the head sorter and cleaner. I keep things organised and I sweep the floor.’’

He has made storage trays where all those types of sorted fittings are easily accessible. ‘‘The only thing I don’t do is painting. I hate painting.’’

The former jewellery designer, pattern maker, machine operator, boarding kennels owner and sculptor retired at 70.

But he turned up one day at Te Manawa looking for something to keep him occupied. ‘‘I thought they might have plenty that needed doing and they could use a volunteer.’’

To begin with, Reggers spent some of his time fixing and maintaining Greg Bloomfield’s kinetic sculpture Koru Warrior in the Palmerston North museum’s foyer. ‘‘It was completely out of action when I came here.’’

The crane in the Te Manawa Kids’ Space had also benefited from his care.

‘‘I also pump up the tyres on the [foyer] wheelchairs.’’

Workshop manager Graeme Slimin said they would be lost without him.

‘‘We didn’t know what he did until it became obvious when he wasn’t here,’’ Slimin said.

‘‘Charles is a valuable member of the team that’s tucked away out here.

‘‘Almost irreplaceable. He has these brilliant ideas and is an incredibly practical man. I can just drop stuff and he comes along and picks up after me.’’