‘‘I don’t think I’ll ever give up. It gets in your blood.’’
Waitara’s new councillor, John Williams, talks to Helen Harvey.
John Williams’ mum, Jean, reckons he’ll have to tone down his sense of humour now he’s a district councillor. He told her he would. But he probably won’t.
You have to have a sense of humour, he says.
Williams, 66, has just been voted on to the New Plymouth District Council after longtime Waitara councillor Craig McFarlane resigned due to ill health. Only 34 per cent of electors voted in the by-election that Williams says he was surprised, but excited, to win.
He’s always been interested in local body politics, but Waitara has had two good councillors in McFarlane and Colin Johnston, he says.
‘‘I wouldn’t stand against them. They’re doing a good job, so why would you rock the boat? Unfortunately Craig had to pull the plug, which was shame - he’s a good guy. So, I thought, oh well, now’s the time to do it.’’
One of the first messages he received after the result was announced was from Clifton Community Board chairman Ken Bedford. ‘‘He said, ‘congratulations, now here’s a list of 10 things we want doing in Urenui.’’
Williams told Bedford to call him and they’d make a time to meet. Then Bedford emailed back saying he had been kidding, Williams says.
‘‘I said, I thought the list was too short.’’
The next day Williams was still receiving congratulations and was busy shaking hands with customers in his New World Supermarket in Waitara.
Williams and his wife Wendy bought the business from his father 25 years ago and the Williams’ son, Craig, now store manager, will probably buy the business from him, he says.
‘‘When Craig takes this place over I’ll still come in, but I won’t have the responsibility. I’ll just be on wages. Just doing what I want to do.’’
His father is 90 and still comes into work a few mornings a week, Williams says.
‘‘I don’t think I’ll ever give it up. It gets into your blood.’’
When he was young Williams’ father owned the Rahotu general store, which sold ‘‘everything and anything’’, including explosives and farming materials.
And when TV first came to Rahotu they would install aerials, he says.
‘‘We knew everybody. It was a good place to grow up. As a kid we had a fire in our shop, in 1962, ‘63. There was mainly smoke damage, but we lost all our stock. There was some fire damage at the back of the shop. But all the locals came in the next day and scrubbed shelves once all the stock was gone, so it could be repainted. You won’t see that in the cities.’’
That’s the country. It’s still the same, he says.
‘‘Small country areas help each other. That’s what life’s about. Treat others like you want to be treated yourself as the old saying goes.’’
When Williams left school he went into the family business, working as the delivery boy. ‘‘We had someone leave so I had my opportunity. I was there about 18 months when the opportunity came up for us to do this. It was the biggest supermarket in Taranaki in those days.’’
Williams’ father opened the New World in Waitara in 1970.
‘‘When we started we had 10 or 12 staff, we’ve round about 65 or 70 now. It’s not big by New Plymouth standards.’’
Competitiveness and the range of products are the big changes in the business since they started, he says.
‘‘And people’s expectations. People expect more because that’s the way we’ve trained people. There’s seven days a week trading, we didn’t have that years ago. The basics haven’t changed, just the application. It’s still about the people. If it wasn’t for the people you wouldn’t have a business.’’
And the people contact is one of the things that keeps him there, he says.
‘‘You come to work every day and no two days are the same. You’re here five minutes and your plans for the day have gone out the window. It’s interesting.’’
Williams works six days a week, but still finds time to be treasurer for the Lions Club, a position he’s held for 10 years.
‘‘I can’t get rid of that job, nobody wants it. At the last AGM they said it was a job for life. I was also on the TET, Taranaki Electricity Trust, board for a term but, unfortunately I shifted just on the edge of Waitara so was just outside their boundary and couldn’t stand again. That was enjoyable.’’
And he was also a volunteer firefighter for a few years at Rahotu and for about 10 years in Waitara, he says.
But two of his staff were also volunteers, so it meant three away from the shop at the same time. ‘‘So I thought, let the younger ones have their fun.’’
Now, he’s gearing up for his new challenge, which includes a stoush with councillor Harry Duynhoven over the merits of Volkswagens, which Duynhoven collects, and Williams’ collection of Minis.
‘‘I say Minis are better. I have a Mini Moke in my collection, 1972. We usually tow Father Christmas around in the Waitara Christmas Parade with that one.’’
Williams doesn’t have any particular issues he wants to push at the council, he says.
‘‘I’ll use some common sense. I think sometimes people go into these sorts of jobs and think, ‘ohh I’m going to do this’, but you can’t. You are working within a system. You can put your viewpoint across and push for everything you can, but at the end of the day you have to be flexible.’’
But that is not to say he intends to be a pushover. ‘‘You have to listen to feedback from people about what they want and I daresay I will have to go into battle over some things and if that’s the case then that is the way it is.’’
He is always available if people want to see him, he says.
‘‘At the end of the day the town’s been good to us over the years and I think you have to give it back too.’’