Ex-engineer tips Richmond-Nelson merger
Engineer Ken Beck spent his working life at councils across the South Island. He shares local body yarns with Cherie Sivignon.
Ken Beck was born in 1924 and used to ride a horse to school from his family’s farm at Orton in Canterbury.
Now, he’s active on the internet and enjoys daily chats with family via Skype from his home in Richmond. Beck has moved with the times, keeping up with changes in technology. He also stays abreast of many issues in the Tasman district.
Beck has long been a staunch supporter of Rabbit Island, a reserve he managed for 18 years as a Waimea county engineer. He appeared at a hearing this month where he urged Tasman District councillors to keep the reserve unchanged.
His career began at Invercargill City Council after he graduated with a degree in civil engineering from the University of Canterbury.
It was in Invercargill that Beck met and married Babette Lister and the couple had their first son, Paul.
The family then moved to Clyde where Beck was county engineer for what was then the Vincent County Council and the couple had their second son, Chris, in 1957.
Beck says it was so cold during those Central Otago winters that the ground would freeze ‘‘a foot or so’’ deep.
‘‘When the county foreman changed his daily tipple from rum to beer, the long, hot, dry summer had officially begun.’’
Beck says the council had a resolution, which read: ‘‘That regardless of differences expressed in this council room, it is hereby resolved that at the termination of the meeting those present shall partake of convivial refreshment and depart good friends.’’
To honour the resolution, a case of whisky was kept in the council’s strongroom.
‘‘Fortunately, the county engineer was deemed to be one of ‘those present’,’’ Beck says.
In 1961, Beck was appointed county engineer and Civil Defence controller at what was then the Geraldine County Council and found himself transforming the gravel roads of his childhood into sealed highways with modern bridges.
It was 1971 when the family moved to Richmond after Beck took on the job of county engineer for what was then the Waimea County Council. He knew Rabbit Island would come under his wing and that was part of the attraction. The Becks were also drawn by the ‘‘good schools’’.
The couple built the Marlbor- ough Cres house where Beck still lives.
‘‘When we built this house, there would have been three properties on this street and my family used to walk directly to school [Waimea College] through what is now a built-up area; it was all paddocks.’’
However, he had imagined the surrounding streets would fill with houses as Richmond grew. He tips further expansion, too.
‘‘I think it is inevitable that Nelson – and I’m going to get shot for saying this – that Nelson and Richmond will have to combine,’’ Beck says. ‘‘[However], the rural area, I think, will remain separate for quite a long time because rural people have needs that are particular to them.’’