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

Long-serving member of the Ashburton Variety Theatre, Dianne Favel, with her merit award from Musical Theatre New Zealand. Photo Sue NewmanWhen it comes to musical theatre, there’s not much Dianne Favel hasn’t done – except appear on stage.

She joined the organisation in 1997 as a waitress for a theatre restaurant style show, took over the role of treasurer the following year, picked up ticketing, booking and bar duties and followed those up with a long stint as production manager and stage manager.

Along the way she did a turn as vice-president and president and finally, a couple of years ago, decided it was time to bow out and leave those jobs to someone else.

When she attended this year’s musical theatre conference in Auckland, Dianne joined in the mood of the first evening, dressing up in a gold and blue theme – blue overalls, a yellow wig and a blue hat.

The last thing she imagined happening was to be called on stage to receive an award.

“I was absolutely blown away. I thought I’d never done enough to get one of those. I cried. I was so surprised, absolutely stunned really,” she said.

And it appeared Dianne was the only one not in the know as son David and daughter Michelle were on hand to celebrate with their mother.

“The committee knew I was getting this and now I know why they tried so hard to talk me out of dressing like that,” she said.

She might have “retired from active duty” with Variety Theatre, but said she has a store of amazing memories from those years.

“I guess I really became involved because David was in shows and that sparked my interest. That interest turned to taking on the treasurer’s role and that morphed into additional jobs until she stepped up the ladder to become production manager and then stage manager.

She loved every minute of those side stage jobs, but the responsibility was pretty heavy. One wrong cue and the results could be dire, she said.

“If you don’t call it, it doesn’t happen, call it too soon and you muck everything up, but I loved it, you feel part of every show, every minute really.”

As part of the Variety Theatre crew Dianne said she’s seen some amazing productions, rating Blood Brothers as number one.

“I love the music from it. I’ve seen it four times both as a musical and a play. Les Mis, however, is the one that means a lot more to me because I did it with Robert Young and he taught me so much.”

Over the years she said she has worked with several great directors, including David Williams and Regan Jackson, but rates Young at the top.

“He was a hard taskmaster, but what he taught me stuck with me forever.”

As well as great directors, Dianne said it was a privilege to watch great home-grown local talent such as Tainui Kuru and Jane Leonard star on stage in Ashburton and then go on to make their way in the musical theatre world further afield.

She managed her last show in 2015 and last year she decided to sign off from the Variety Theatre committee.

“I had so many fun times during the shows, there was great camaraderie and I’ve made some great friendships around New Zealand through going to conferences,” she said.

“It was a big decision, but I’d got to the point where it was time to go but I’ll still support them, I just love it but it’s great now to sit in the audience and enjoy a show.”

Like all good troopers, however, Dianne has not completely retired from the theatre, she still works as an administrator for Musical Theatre New Zealand’s zone four.

Sue Newman © The Ashburton Guardian - 23 April 2019

Mid Canterbury Combined took on St Andrew’s College in Methven on Saturday. Photo supplied,They stuck with them for the first half, but in the end the St Andrew’s College 1st XV proved too slick for Mid Canterbury Combined in Methven on Saturday.

It was Mid Canterbury Combined’s last pre-season hit-out before the Crusaders region’s secondary school rugby competition – the UC Championship – gets under way and while the scoreboard didn’t make good reading at 62-7, it was far from all bad in the eyes of the side’s coaches.

Brent Middleton, Andrew Morgan and Warren Donald are charged with taking the side, which is a combination of Mid Canterbury’s two high schools – Ashburton College and Mount Hutt College – through this season, and they’re happy with where their young charges are at.

Mid Canterbury Combined has played three pre-season games and while they lost to St Andrew’s and Lincoln, they beat Waitaki Boys’ High School in Oamaru last weekend and Middleton said that result was a huge confidence boost. Heading to the Methven Domain to play St Andrew’s College on Saturday, Middleton said they knew they were in for a right challenge and that’s what they got.

But they managed to stick with the Christchurch side in the first half though, only trailing 19-7.

While it blew out a bit in the second half, Middleton said his side let in a few soft tries that a couple of basic, easy-to-fix, defensive manoeuvres would have stopped. So his players know what they need to work on.

“It was probably good to come up against quality opposition, to know what we are going to be facing,” Middleton said.

“As much as you could look at it and say, gee, they got beaten 62-7, at this stage with what they showed in the first half and how they are working as a unit, I think they are already well ahead of where they were at this point last season.”

Mid Canterbury Combined didn’t win a game last season, but did stay with some much bigger schools for large chunks of games – like they did against St Andrew’s College on Saturday.

Through all of last season and on Saturday, Mid Canterbury’s players kept their heads held high and didn’t give up, and their coaching team know that they’ll continue like that through the 2019 season – never giving up.

Mid Canterbury Combined’s players will have this weekend off before the UC Championships get under way on May 5, with a home game against Marlborough Boys’ High School awaiting the Mid Canterbury side in week one.

By Erin Tasker © The Ashburton Guardian - 23 April 2019