GOLDEN BAY SHEETMETAL
Kevin retires after 50 years in trade
Metal Flashings
Flues Fire components Wayne Rothwell, Buxton Lane E: gabriele.j@actrix.co.nz
0274 205 933
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Kevin Winter (left) recently retired after 50 years in the plumbing and sheetmetal trade. Local builder Wayne Rothwell (right) has now taken over Kevin’s sheetmetal business Golden Bay Sheetmetal. Photo: Jo Richards. JO RICHARDS
After more than 50 years in the plumbing and sheet metal business, Kevin Winter has finally hung up his work boots and vacated his Takaka workshop. The sale of Golden Bay Sheet Metal to local builder Wayne Rothwell comes almost two years after Barry Graham took over Kevin’s other long-established business, Golden Bay Plumbing. It was back in 1969 that Kevin first started working for local plumbing and sheet metal firm Spence and Son, but, after ten years in the trade, he set up his own business. “I went out on my own in 1980,” says Kevin. Sheet metal fabrication was not initially part of his service, but was added in 2004. In his time, Kevin has folded, cut, and riveted innumerable plain sheets of metal, transforming them into a wide variety of standard articles – including chimney flues and flashings, but he also designed and made his own creations. “The water leaf guards go all over the country, and the scallop measures were very popular – when there were still scallops in the Bay. We also
had a contract with a company to make cake icing nozzles.” In the days before rainwater tanks were made from plastic, Kevin manufactured them using galvanised iron. The sharp-edged metal sheets, not to mention the cutting and bending machinery, are a constant hazard in the workshop, but Kevin has been careful to keep his digits intact. “I’ve still got all my fingers and thumbs,” he says. It looks like he’ll be needing them in retirement, with his mother, and artist wife Nikki, making sure there’s plenty on his to-do list. “I’ve got to fix up my Mum’s home and I’ve got lots of pictures to frame,” says Kevin, who will also make time for some of his personal interests, including fishing, and watching football. While the technical nature of the business has changed over the years, one thing has remained constant, according to Kevin – and that is the friendships he has forged with other tradies. He believes it’s what he will miss the most. “It’s good to see the builders come in here – I will miss catching up with the guys.”
NELSON & TASMAN
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SUNDAY 26 JULY Here’s your opportunity to re-home household goods! On Second Hand Sunday, people can take away the stuff you don’t want for free!
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HOW DOES IT WORK?
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Register by going online to the Tasman District or Nelson City Council websites (search phrase = Second Hand Sunday). You can also call the Councils’ Customer Service Centres. Instructions for the day are also online.
Registrations must be in by 10.00 am, Friday 24 July so each Council can publish the list of addresses of people taking part on the website.
nelson.govt.nz
tasman.govt.nz
03 546 0200
03 543 8400
THE GB WEEKLY, FRIDAY 17 JULY 2020
