Peter CoppingAll I can say about this guy is, in his sixty-something years, he has certainly got around (and definitely in a good way!) I remember Peter from my own College days, as a fantastic athlete and highly intelligent young man – the consumate ‘all-rounder’ really. I recently managed to track him down in Cyprus where he has been working. Accompanied by his lovely wife of 10 years, Elena, a Russian by birth where she and Peter lived for eight years, until late 2016.

Peter attended Ashburton College from 1968 until 1972. Peter was a prefect in his 7^th form year though, in his opinion, this wasn’t the highlight of his years at College. He feels this must go to the success of his running career. Peter still holds the 440 yards running record and that is because the very next year, the race was changed to metres and so his record can never be broken! In his final year he became an AFS student and travelled to Iowa, USA where he spent 12 months.

When questioned about the teachers who influenced Peter, several sprang to mind. Miss Gash, his Mathematics teacher, not for unlocking the secrets of Algebra, Calculus and Geometry but more to do with making him realise he had no future in ANY profession involving Maths! He also mentioned Mr Sutherland who was a great teacher and mentor but, at the same time, striking Peter as rather ‘scary’. Mr and Mrs McKenzie were described by Peter as both being ‘legions’.

Peter and his younger brother Tony both had part-time jobs at Noahs Hotel in Christchurch while they studied at Canterbury University. Peter’s was as a wine waiter, knowing nothing about wine at that time. He obviously hid this lack of knowledge from management and some patrons as he was playing sommelier one evening when Rod Stewart and his wife of the time were dining at Noahs. He must have done something right as he scored a $10 tip from Rod!

On graduating from Uni with a law degree and MBA, Peter attained a job as a solicitor with top Ashburton law firm Nicoll, Sinclair and Cooney where he spent three years. From there he became an Investment Banker in various parts of the world and later developed his own business in Golf Resort development and Management sector in Australia, Japan, Russia, Egypt, Europe and currently Cyprus. He has felt extremely fortunate in these roles and loves his work. Peter describes himself as a “keen but ordinary golfer”.

A couple of his interests include cooking and sampling good wine and the occasional single malt.

Peter, and his first wife Anne while living in Australia, had two wonderful sons, Christopher (28) who lives in Melbourne and Jamie who resides in Sydney (26). They catch up regularly in various parts of the world.

Peter and Elena love to travel and recently toured Scotland in the depths of a Highland winter! At least keeping warm would’ve been made a little easier with a little dram of the amber liquid now and then!

Life in sunny Cyprus is going really well and currently there are no plans to return to New Zealand anytime soon though Peter and Elena visit Peter’s mother Esme who still resides in Ashburton plus brother Tony and family who live most of their time in Hokitika.

Asked how his memories of Ashburton College shaped the adult Peter, he confesses that most of these have been “lost in the mists of time” but he has very fond memories of his years at the College and he’s absolutely rapt to hear of the planned College rebuild.

By Shirley Falloon (nee Melrose) © AshColl Alumni - 23 April 2019