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Around 100 people gathered in Wellsford last month to pay tribute to Shane Gould, who has run the North Rodney Blue Light youth activities programme for 26 years.
From school discos and abseiling to camps and kayaking, he and his team have been responsible for tens of thousands of local students gaining confidence, learning new skills and having fun, and there was no shortage of supporters keen to show their appreciation on the night.
Everyone from MPs and senior Police officers to camp managers and kaumatua lined up to sing Shane’s praises for the work he has done to help local youth, with the tributes led by his daughter, Dr Elizabeth Berryman. She recounted tales of growing up as a Blue Light kid, where her childhood experiences ranged from flying around NZ in an RAF Hercules to stepping up as DJ at Blue Light discos. Rod Bell, the national chief executive of Blue Light, who started the ball rolling by recruiting Shane when he was the Wellsford Police constable, also spoke of the many achievements since those early days in 1995.
With characteristic modesty, Shane responded by saying he was humbled by all the speeches and messages of support he had received to mark the anniversary – even though Covid-19 had delayed the event by a year.
“I didn’t really want this to be about me, it’s a team affair, but I get the privilege of being the front man and to be with the kids,” he said.
Shane said it was the faith shown in him by his own local Police sergeant when he was a somewhat troubled youth in Australia that set him on the path to working with Blue Light to help youth in NZ. And Shane revealed the mission statement that he shared with all the students he met on activities.
“I say to them my surname is Gould – if you take the ‘u’ out of it, you spell Gold. My mission is to find the Gold in you,” he said. “Gold mining takes a lot of energy, sifting through layers of dirt. But even when you find that nugget, it still takes time, effort and patience to form the piece into some form of beauty, or calling. That is what empowering youth is all about.”North Rodney Blue Light covers the area from Warkworth and to Maungaturoto, working with up to 2000 eight to 18 year olds every year. Shane said he loved the work and had no intention of retiring for a while at least.
“It’s a people job, with a lot of variety. It’s been fun,” he said. “All the communities are very different – variety is the spice of life – and we are planning new programmes all the time.”
One thing hasn’t changed since he started, though.
“I’m still using the same jokes I was 25 years ago,” he said.
