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JUNE 12, 2025
She’s in charge... By Viv Posselt
It’s not often you find a woman heading an RSA, yet Ōtorohanga’s Shona Martin might have been made for it. She’s Ōtorohanga-born and King Country-bred, spending much of her childhood at the Maihiihi farm her father won in the post-WW11 ballot. Roy Bree had been a naval man, serving on the HMNZS Leander and Achilles and landing in Japan immediately after the atomic bombs were dropped. The thoughts it left him with remained under wraps all his life.
Now into her third year as president of the Ōtorohanga RSA, Shona said her dad joined the RSA soon after coming back to his hometown of Auckland. Once settled in Ōtorohanga, he joined their RSA and went on the executive, but for ages didn’t make the dawn services because it clashed with milking. “It was only years later, once they moved into town, that he could go to both services,” she said. “He was also in the pipe band – he was drum major – and we as Girl Guides were always
Shona’s father, the late Roy Bree, pictured in 1997 receiving the Ōtorohanga District’s Sportsman of the Year trophy for having represented New Zealand in blind bowls and blind sailing the previous year.
part of the parade. I had two brothers and one sister who were in the pipe band. We grew up with Anzac Day a part of our lives … medals always cleaned and spats whitened before the day.” Her late brother Athol Bree, who died in an accident in 2012, had been drum major with the Te Awamutu Pipe Band. The Bree family have longevity in Ōtorohanga. Her mum Doreen and dad ran Roy Bree’s Wine Cellar and were deeply involved in community life. Roy had been a lifesaver and sailor in Auckland after the war, so when his sight later failed, he joined the Royal Blind Foundation’s sailing sports wing and represented New Zealand abroad. He also joined the Blind Bowls Association and represented New Zealand in that as well. Shona’s mum Doreen was part of the then ladies’ section of the RSA, rising to the rank of president at one stage. Even after the ladies’ section was officially disbanded, she continued supporting the RSA, Poppy Day and other linked activities. “I was always exposed to it,” Shona said. Even during her years away from Ōtorohanga – Shona’s career running NZ Post Office outlets took her from Hamilton to Auckland
Shona Martin, president of the Ōtorohanga RSA, has a long legacy, both with the organisation and the town. Photo: Viv Posselt
for years – she would return home for the traditional Anzac Day services. “I’d come back the night before, no matter where I was. I think I’ve missed only two or three Anzac Days in all that time.” Shona officially joined the RSA while in Auckland, soon after Roy died in 2001. She came back to Ōtorohanga 10 years ago this August, and before Doreen died in 2018, Shona helped her with Poppy Day activities.
Now running the town’s RSA herself, she is keen to get the word out that the organisation exists to support former and current servicemen and women, and that they don’t have to join the RSA in order to access it. “In my parents’ era people didn’t talk about how they might need help, but if we don’t know the need exists, we can’t help. Support is available in financial, medical and practical terms,” she said, “and my goal is to try
and help those veterans in our community who need it.” Her ‘skin-in-the-game’ background and her strong desire to help people have brought Shona to this point, but she acknowledges the valuable assistance of her husband Allen. The pair live on a small lifestyle block on the town’s outskirts and do the RSA thing completely in tandem. “I really wouldn’t be able to do this without his help.”
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