New Years Honours
January 5th 2024
New Years Honours List - Otago Daily Times, 30 December 2023
WILLIAM NEIL WALKER QSM - Waihola - Services to outdoor bowls and smallbore rifle shooting
Neil Walker says his Queen’s Service Medal is testament to just getting out there and pitching in.
The Waihola resident said he had an idea he might be in line for something, but it was still a pleasant surprise to receive it. "My daughter [Briony Hawthorne] had something to do with it, I think. "I’m quite happy to receive it, but you don’t get involved in these activities for the recognition, you do it because you love it."
Mr Walker has been a representative shooter for South Otago for 47 years and joined the Tapanui Smallbore Rifle Club in 1962. He has since served as a participant, coach, selector, vice-president and president for smallbore rifle clubs throughout South Otago, holding almost every administrative role for the Milton Smallbore Rifle Club, South Otago Smallbore Rifle Association and Otago Provincial Smallbore Rifle Association. He has held various roles for the South Island Smallbore Rifle Association and was president for three years. In 2006 he was awarded life membership of the South Otago Smallbore Rifle Association.
He has represented South Otago in bowls since 1976, playing for the Waihola Club and has held many administrative roles for the South Otago Bowls Association. "When you belong to small clubs, you end up doing everything anyway, so all of these roles just sort of happened, because there wasn’t anyone else to do them." In 2013 he qualified as a level two bowls umpire and officiated at the New Zealand championships in 2017. He has been president of the Bowls South Otago Umpire Association for 10 years. "Bowls is a sport that is pretty self-regulated, so it is pretty different from being, say, a cricket umpire. "As long as you know where your lawbook is, you are in a pretty good position."
He was looking forward to celebrating the honour with his family on New Year’s Day, and also "getting a bit of stick" from his friends in bowls and rifle shooting. "I’m a bit of a practical joker, so I can laugh about it."
