Dreams lost and found
Mary Hamilton’s dreams are right there outside her kitchen window. To the east are the ranges of the Coromandel Peninsula, a favourite tramping spot.
To the west, out of sight, but always there, are the waters of the Firth of Thames. It’s where Hamilton and her husband Eric can cast off their runabout, Tieke, in minutes two hours either side of high tide.
And dead straight ahead, peeking over the homes and yards of her neighbours, is a large brick building.
It’s the Thames Community Recreation Centre, a $4.5 million project that’s been a labour of love for the 51-year-old volunteer chairwoman of the Thames Sport and Education Trust, which worked with the Thames-Coromandel District Council and Thames High School to make the dream of the soon-to-be-opened community asset a reality.
When she’s not helping make projects that will potentially remain in use until her three teens are nudging retirement, Hamilton is at work for Wilderness Motorhomes, the 80-employee, two city-based business she owns with her brother. For Hamilton, dreams aren’t some distant hope. They’re right here.
“I’m living the dream now, because I’ve got a job I love, a lovely home in a beautiful place, I’ve got these hills I look out on, I can go fishing when I want to, I’ve got my sister here and other family not too far away, we can enjoy the theatre [in Auckland] and we travel quite a bit.”
That’s not to say life in Thames, a town of around 7000 residents at the gateway to the golden sands and sparkling waters of the Coromandel Peninsula, is akin to a Disney movie. There is poverty, Hamilton says.
“One difference from when I lived here as a kid . . . is that there are a lot more social issues that are noticeable in small town New Zealand. There are homeless people in Thames, there are families that have significant issues with poverty and homelessness.”
Social agencies are great, but struggle to get enough support. Among other things, she also wants the Government to crack down on landlords failing to provide warm, dry rentals.
Knuckling down for the benefit of others is in the blood — Hamilton’s late father, Keith Managh, was a businessman who was heavily involved in his community.
Hamilton grew up in Thames before leaving for university and work, returning in 2000 to work at Thames Timber, founded by