Roy’s heroes (with apologies to Clary of Hogan’s)

I might have referred to these people as mentors. My past was formed by many. Heroes seemed appropriate for this line-up. They are contemporary people in my life.

First up is my walking companion, Pat Barcham. We met on the Cashmere bus. Our first conservation had Pat tell me he had just had his 60^th birthday. His next comment was, ``I climbed Mount Rolleston at the weekend.’ I likely met Pat previously at a colleague’s function but that bus ride is my vivid first acquaintance. Pat recently commemorated his 86^th birthday. So our friendship has spanned 26 years.

                                                                        Pat Barcham when 85

These days we regularly walk from Victoria Park to the Sign of the Kiwi for coffee and a chat. We go up the Harry Ell trail and detour onto a plateau for a great mountain view. We pause at the `Hillary table.’ It is so-called because some years ago I briefly met Ed Hillary there. He was greeting walkers.

                                                             Torlesse from Hillary Table.

In past years Pat and I went mountain goating, mostly above Arthur’s Pass. He chatted a lot about his former climbing companion, Fred Hollows. Stories about Fred were memorable. Pat, himself, is modest. But he did chat about his own alpine achievements – summiting Aoraki Mt Cook six times. Switzerland’s Matterhorn and an Himalayan expedition, searching for the abominable snowman, with Ed Hillary among others.

Conversations are easy to come by. We frequently ask if we could repeat the efforts of years gone by. We would drive to Arthur’s Pass, do our intended climb then drive home. Energetic days. One day we summited Avalanche Peak then traversed a narrow ridge over Mt. Lyell, then to Bealey where we arrived at 6 pm. luckily it was daylight saving, so no issues in descending to the township. We had also climbed on the Torlesse Range (Castle Hill Peak) bordering the Canterbury Plains.

Next up is the Very Reverend Lawrence Kimberley, dean of the Anglican Transitional Cathedral. A pleasant person, Lawrence is a keen supporter of the New Zealand World Peace Bell. He willing contributes to our many events. I look forward to his viewpoint. At an UN Holocaust Day event where many speakers recalled difficulties growing up Jewish, Lawrence Kimberley spoke of the Christian view where we are all created by God. Therefore we are equal and have no need to get involved in conflicts as Jewish people infamously did. I was impressed, so when I invited him to participate in our Hiroshima Day – 75 years on commemoration I challenged him to speak about the Hiroshima bombing from a Christian point of view. 

Dean Lawrence Kimberley

Again, he was perceptive. He said the principal religions say we are created in the image of God. It is when we lose sight of that, we can get into violent conflict. He went on to say people, frequently from different countries, look different from ourselves. We need to respect different cultures and understand them in an effort to exist in harmony. He frequently appears to be speaking personally rather than presenting an Anglican Church view. A little over a year ago I had a short hospital stay owing to a ``small’’ stroke. A woman in the ward introduced herself as a hospital chaplain. Could she chat to me?  I agreed stating, ``I am a lapsed Anglican. I went on to tell her I knew the Anglican Dean, Lawrence Kimberley, quite well and how he supports the New Zealand World Peace Bell. She wanted to know about the world peace bell so we had quite a conversation about that. She was interested.

She then told me she represented the Church of England. She then told me, ``I don’t think you are a lapsed Anglican.’’ I felt good about that.

Finally here I include my nephew, Chris Sinclair. Or ``Crazy Chris’’ as one of his bike mechanics confided. Chris is an avid mountain biker. If he crashes and breaks a bone, that’s acceptable. If he breaks his bike, that’s not.

                                                                            Chris Sinclair

Years ago Chris was working towards an engineering degree. It wasn’t going well. He concluded his future would be working as a teacher, something that didn’t appeal. His parents were teachers.

``Two teachers in the family were enough,’’ he reasoned. So he followed an interest in music recording. It was new at the time offered an uncertain career–as his father relentlessly pointed out. A shift to Glasgow in Scotland (his wife’s home) had him involved with sound mixing for movies and television productions. The technical aspects challenged but he mostly enjoyed the creative side of the occupation.

Returning to live in Christchurch, he continued his film work, creating his own studio. With director, Gerard Smythe, his worked on ``When a City Falls,’’ about the 2010/2011 Canterbury earthquakes.  I saw the movie in a small theatre in Picton and strained my eyes so as not to miss his name in the credits. Turned out Chris Sinclair was in large type so I couldn’t miss it. He became involved in many more projects, including a well-received documentary about motor racing legend, Bruce McLaren. More recently, his contacts had him sound mixer for the BBC television production, Luminaries, based on the Booker Prize winning book by Eleanor Catton. Chris reported a difficulty in placing microphones in the necessarily flamboyant costumes. Voices were muffled and had to compete with the sounds of boisterous insects, crickets in particular.

Life continues with Chris saying he is ``insanely’’ busy. He has two ambitious daughters. Lauryn Sinclair, studying Political Science and International Relations at University of Canterbury, has worked with refugees and asylum seekers and champions their causes. She is also familiar with Humanitarian Law. She wrote a recent story critical of the British Government breaking international law when stopping refugees reaching Britain. It came to a head when a Sudanese boy, aged 10, died when attempting to cross the English Channel.

I will invite Lauryn as a special guest to ring the New Zealand World Peace Bell. I suspect I might be Lauryn’s great uncle?

                                                          NZ. World Peace Bell