Marlborough Express - Weekend Express
‘A man of principle’ remembered
Former Marlborough MP Ian Brooks has been remembered as a politician, a farmer, a father and a dedicated and active ‘‘soldier’’ of the Salvation Army.
The Blenheim man who was elected Member of Parliament for the Marlborough electorate in 1970 died peacefully at Wairau Hospital on April 20, a day before his birthday. He was 93.
Blenheim Salvation Army Corps Officer Jacob Howan led the funeral service on Monday, attended by 170 people. ‘‘He was a committed and a valued member of the Salvation Army here in Blenheim, and he is going to be greatly missed among the whole church family,’’ Howan said.
‘‘The nature of the Salvation Army funeral is that we are sad and were mourning that he is gone, but we believe that he is with God now, and we will see each other one day, so that’s a celebration of his life and all he means for us.’’
Brooks had the longest continual service in the Blenheim church and was a member of the congregation’s band, playing B flat bass.
‘‘He had only recently finished playing in our brass band, he has done that almost unbroken his whole life,’’ Howan said.
‘‘The only thing that made him stop is because he couldn’t read the music any more because his eyesight was gone.’’
Chairman of the Marlborough Labour Electorate Committee (LEC) Brian McNamara had known Brooks for nearly 50 years.
McNamara first met Brooks when he moved to Blenheim as a school teacher and renewed his connection with the Labour Party.
‘‘Two or three years after being here, I went to a meeting of the LEC and was greeted at the door by Ian, and it started from there.
‘‘He was a very welcoming man and I worked for him until he was deposed from his seat in 1975 and I’ve just kept up the friendship with him since then.’’
Brooks was elected Member of Parliament for Marlborough in 1970.
About three months earlier, he had lost to National incumbent Tom Shands in the 1969 general election, but Shand died within a month of the result.
This triggered a by-election, with Shands’ son standing. Brooks won, becoming only the second Labour candidate to win the Marlborough electorate, after Edwin Meachen.
‘‘He has always been supportive when I was a candidate for Labour here, and also working as a person in charge of hoardings, Ian always had a hoarding on his property down Battys Road,’’ McNamara said.
‘‘He used to tell me lots of good stories about his time as an MP and what he did before and after going into Parliament. He lived according to the Salvation Army principles, which are about social justice and about fairness for all, especially the poor.’’
McNamara remembered how Brooks helped one of his friends, a single mum with two children, to buy her first house on Dillons point Rd, lending her money for the deposit.
He also recalled when Brooks received death threats for his opposition to the Vietnam War or when he supported a ban of gin traps, notorious for the suffering and distress they cause animals.
Brooks was a senior clerk at the New Zealand Post Office for 20 years and was also a farmer. His 1940s Allis-Chalmers model C tractor is on display at Marlborough Museum.
Former Labour MP Brendon Burns used to stop at Brooks’ property on Battys Rd to buy flowers.
‘‘He has provided flowers to thousands of Marlborough people over the years for next to nothing, $2 a bunch – part of his public service really.
Burns said Brooks was a man who lived by his principles. ‘‘He was down to earth and humble.’’
The funeral service is available online on the Blenheim Salvation Army Facebook page.