Competition and battle are all part of a hard knight’s day
Mike Merrick offered to stand in as manager of the New Plymouth Foodbank for three weeks - and stayed more than four years.
Now, Merrick has resigned from the job to concentrate on his role as a New Plymouth District councillor.
‘‘I loved it. I really enjoyed it, but now I think it’s time,’’ he said.
‘‘My role as a councillor is important to me and I’ll be able to dedicate a bit more time to it. They just rubbed up against each other a little bit.’’
The two were workable, but put him under a bit of pressure he didn’t need, he said.
‘‘I had a little bit of a health scare just before Christmas and the doctor said it was a warning.’’
So, he had a holiday and made the decision to resign from the food bank - a job he was only supposed to have temporarily.
‘‘I was on the Board of Trustees for 18 months, then the manager left suddenly and they needed someone to stand in the breach. I offered my services.’’
After three weeks hooked, he said. he was
‘‘It was a big learning curve, but once I settled into it it was like a blank canvas.
‘‘It was lacking systems, paper trails, policies, procedures, it was run down and so for me it was kind of like a bit of a project.’’
One thing he cracked down on during his time with the food bank was people abusing the system.
A former policeman, Merrick took a hard line, he said.
‘‘I wanted to be able to put my hand on my heart and say to the people of New Plymouth I’m managing the abuse the best I can.
‘‘There will always be people who will have it on, but it’s minimal now.’’
Most of the problems were with people double dipping - getting food parcels from the Salvation Army, then getting another one from the food bank, but the two organisations talked to each other, he said.
‘‘If I caught people abusing the system they got trespassed for a year, so the message started to get out that there were consequences.’’
It’s been a challenging role at times.
‘‘There’s a sadness to it when you understand why people are coming to see you and you hear their stories, but you can help them, so that balances it out.
‘‘I’ve dealt with difficult people, people who got angry, people who got violent. I saw all of it.
‘‘There was never moment.’’
The manager is the only paid role and is for 20 hours a week, but stretches to nearly full-time, he said.
‘‘We have tremendous volunteers, wonderful people. It’s been a privilege to work alongside them. But in any job, I think in any role, you know when it’s time to move on.’’
The New Plymouth community has been very supportive, he said. ‘‘It made my life much easier. ‘‘Whenever I’ve given the call for help it’s always been answered. It’s not much of a food bank if you don’t have food.’’
Applications for the food bank manager close on April 19. Merrick recommends the job. ‘‘I describe it as a job like no other,’’ he said.
‘‘It’s unique.’’ a dull The best way to get accustomed to an 8kg medieval helmet is to watch television in it - at least that’s what heavy combat fighter Justin Stockbridge suggests.
‘‘I’ve been doing this for 16 years,’’ he said. ‘‘But when I started out, I would wear my helmet while I watched movies until I got used to seeing through it.’’
The team captain of the Steel Thorns and his fellow knights displayed their combat skills in New Plymouth on Saturday as part of a recruitment campaign to attract ‘‘new blood’’.
While the clinking of steel and applause attracted a small early afternoon crowd at the Pukekura Ariki landing, Stockbridge admitted it was difficult to attract new members.
‘‘It’s pretty full-on combat,’’ he said, showing off an injured finger that was smashed during a battle in Japan last year.
‘‘We get people keen to join but they fight once and then back out.‘‘
Wife and fellow teammate Sophie said the sport practically takes participants back 500 years.
‘‘It’s the closest it comes to medieval combat, but you can still go to work Monday.’’
She said battles lasted no longer than eight minutes, but were generally finished in just 30 seconds.
The team fights nationally and internationally with one-on-one combat raking in EU$25,000 (about NZ$38,000) and team wins of EU$50,000 (about NZ$76,000).
And before the team of 10 knights travel to Denmark next month for a heavy combat competition, they held try-outs in the park to attract new recruits.
Stockbridge said though potential new knight numbers were light, the selection process remained rigorous.
‘‘The full suit of armour is $5000, so we have to be choosy.’’