Wairarapa’s locally owned community newspaper
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 23, 2021
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Golden Shears:
It all started on a bus trip
Sixty-two years ago, a group of young Wairarapa farmers took a bus to Wairoa for a sheep shearing competition. It was the start of a legacy that put Masterton on the map. JOHN LAZO-RON reports. It was a hot sunny day in Wairoa, 1959. Golden Shears founding members Laurie Keats and Ian Stewart had just competed at a sheep shearing competition in the Hawkes Bay town. The two were preparing to head back to Wairarapa but left with a stinging thought that came from a robust debate amongst people at the competition - there was no national shearing competition. Keats said the discussion started after people were claiming to have the best shearers in New Zealand. “While we were waiting for results in Wairoa a
big discussion started about wanting shearing to go a step further ... there was no national competition,” he said. “A lot of us started thinking and talking about it on the bus trip home, so we decided that we were going to do something about it.” However, they didn’t get the initial response they were hoping for with a lack of interest in the idea. “National Young Farmers weren’t interested in it,” Keats said. “We then went to the Federated Farmers, who were quite supportive but didn’t do much about it. So we went to the A&P
about running a competition. “So we did it and it ended up being a huge event. The people just queued up everywhere.” After that success they formed a committee from a bunch of different parties to look into the prospect of hosting a national competition. The rest is history. And that’s where Keats says what many in Wairarapa and around the world Continued on page 3
Golden Shears founding members Ian Stewart and Laurie Keats with Tranzit’s Jenna Snelgrove in front of the bus where the idea of Golden Shears began. PHOTOS/JOHN LAZO-RON
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