Christine pulls the curtain on show
Christine Fowles has a new name, a new husband and, soon, a new home - and it’s only February.
After 19 years as secretary of the Stratford A and P Association, the former Christine Hughes is ready for a new adventure.
Fowles ended 2016 with a quiet wedding to her partner Chris, and is beginning 2017 looking for a new home in the South Island and semi-retirement.
The couple, who have been together for eight years, had a garden wedding in Stratford with close family between Christmas and New Year.
Now, they are on the hunt for their new home.
They have agreed on Rarangi Beach, a tiny coastal settlement in Marlborough, because it is between her North Island family and his South Island relatives, she said.
‘‘He’s always wanted to go back to the South Island - he’s from Christchurch. This is a compromise and the weather is warmer,’’ she said.
After 19 years organising the annual Stratford
‘‘They were very sneaky. ’’ Christine Fowles
show, she was ready for some ‘‘me time’’.
Although her role for much of the year was fairly quiet - running the office, liaising with showground and hall users, and committee members who care for the grounds - near showtime the pace quickly picked up. ’’A good two months before the show it starts buzzing,’’ she said.
In the thick of the leadup to the two-day show, she had about 100 volunteers working all around the site, others in the office helping collate show entries, phones ringing madly, trophies crammed on to tables and big fluffy Disney character costumes stashed in the corner.
The show committee had become a second family for her, she said.
The committee surprised her with life membership at a recent meeting.
‘‘The A and P Association gets together for a barbecue each year and I thought I was organising that and at the same time a life membership presentation for Ernie Burrows (a longtime volunteer).
‘‘I organised a certificate for him not knowing the committee had got into the safe at show time without me knowing and took out a life member’s badge to present to me,’’ she said. ’’They were very sneaky. When (society president) Ian McCaul started talking, I was absolutely floored and speechless.’’