Robyn Wylie (Mudford)
ROBYN WYLIE (MUDFORD) 1979-1982
An extremely conscientious young lady at school. These traits have been passed on to her (their) three children who have recently completed their education here at Matamata College.
Robyn left school and worked as a travel consultant for Thomas Cook Travel in Hamilton at Were Travel in Matamata.
With her travel background it didn’t take her long to commence her OE. She met husband Ric soon after starting work and they commenced their travel together, worked in various places around the world and paid for their travels doing seasonal work – picking apples, pear and hops in Kent and on a grape harvest in Switzerland.
In 1984 they moved to Perth where Robyn worked as a travel consultant and Ric managed a horse stud.
1985 they returned to NZ, married, continued working in travel and Ric managed Pencarrow Stud. After two years they moved to Melbourne – travel and horses once again. In 1989 son James was born. Back to NZ in 1991 and set up Parkvale Farm at Hinuera in partnership. Emma was born in 1991.
Lifestyle change in 1993 – moved to Fielding working for Wrightson Bloodstock. Third child Sam arrived in 1993.
1996 transferred to Cambridge, 1997 transferred to Karaka.
Forever on the move they returned to Matamata and managed Bloomsbury Stud. Robyn worked at the Matamata Medical Centre part-time and then in 2004 she began her teaching training at University of Waikato, Tauranga Campus. Graduated in 2007 with a Bachelor of Teaching and started her first teaching assignment at Kuranui School at Okoroire.
Mainly Robyn now does relief teaching at Matamata Primary and runs on home office.
Son James left school in 2007, and has completed his Fine Arts degree at Elam and he passed with First Class Honours.
He is now working at the Auckland Art Gallery and is also running his own gallery with a friend – The Snakepit Gallery, on High Street. They were fortunate to be given two floors in a building rent free for 6 months. They plan and run exhibitions on a fortnightly basis and with their extra floor space they have set up an area as a workshop which they hire out to other art students on a weekly basis.
Daughter Emma did a gap year with Headspace in 2010 with 15 other students from around NZ. This involved a mixture of work (packing fruit to help earn money to pay for their year), study and 3 months in Thailand teaching English to students in different locations including a refugee camp on the Myanmar border, as well as Destiny Rescue – a home for children that have been rescued from child prostitution. They also helped build a house for an old lady. A very memorable time.
Last year she studied Health Science at Auckland University and was just short of the marks needed to get into medicine, although she did very well in the UMAT exam. She is planning to do a conjoint degree in Health Science and Environmental Science with a view to working in international development.
She revisited Cambodia for a 2½ week trip. She was part of a team teaching English to different groups of people in Siem Reap and University students in Phnom Penh. Emma thoroughly enjoyed the trip and would love to return one day. In addition she is working for the P3 Foundation (on a voluntary basis) heading a Fairtrade campaign to raise awareness of slave labour and encourage people to purchase Fairtrade products – coffee, chocolate and bananas. Currently no cafes in Matamata sell Fairtrade coffee although New World and Countdown do sell Fairtrade coffee, chocolate and bananas. (Good advertising!)
Young Sam left school in 2011. A highlight of his final year was attending a team building camp with the Matamata College 1st XV at the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre at Mount Tongariro. Sam has applied for the army and has been working for a local horse trainer while waiting to get accepted (which can take up to a year). He recently completed his diving certificate.
Sam is now is Canada – he left two weeks ago to work at Muskoka Woods – a summer camp 2½ hours north of Toronto. He is going to be working as a ropes instructor for the next three months. The camp has a staff of 300 and they come from everywhere – a number of young people from Matamata have worked there including Aaron Bennett, Matt Dalton, Melissa and Jono Bay.
June 2012
PS I’ve just been informed that Fairtrade coffee is now sold by the coffee/art shop Pumpkinheads, and apparently it is very good coffee.
PPS The photo includes Larissa Goodwin (ex-student and James’ girlfriend of six years). Larissa completed her Bachelor of Visual Arts last year and is now doing a post graduate year at Elam (Auckland Uni). Her lecturers at AUT recommended that she do the post grad year. She’s very talented and very precise with her work; it will be interesting to see where this leads her.