Ian Lawrence tribute

It was pleasing to read the comments made about former mayor Ian Lawrence in his obituary (March 16). A modest man, he was very often the hard-working politician in the background.

I would like to add a further tribute. In 1981 the Eastern Suburbs Lions Club called a public meeting to stimulate public interest in a swimming pool for the eastern suburbs. Ian Lawrence agreed to be the main speaker. He had a reputation as a quiet achiever but, when he addressed the 250 interested citizens, this unassuming man galvanised the crowd with a powerful voice and firmly advocated community support for the swimming pool. This initiated the community backing we obtained for the initial fundraising for the project.

He continued to strongly support the project as it evolved over the next eight years from a local swimming pool into a regional aquatic centre, providing mayoral backing for the political work done by Wellington city councillors Keith Spry and Les Paske.

His advocacy, work and support were vital, and he deserves credit for his role in creating the very widely used facility that we have today in the Wellington Regional Aquatic Centre at Kilbirnie. Deryk McNamara, Seatoun