Hi I’m Robert Stuart originally from the North West of England. After leaving school in 1969 I farmed in Lancashire in partnership with my parents and brother. We leased a dairy farm and had a livestock haulage business.
In 1986 my wife Pauline and I bought a dairy farm in South West Wales, 15kms north of Carmarthen. Our three daughters were totally immersed in the Welsh language at school, Pauline and I also learnt to speak a small amount of Welsh. We made some tremendous friends in Wales and it was hard to leave them
We were accepted for emigration to New Zealand in 1994, sold everything in Wales and in 1995 we bought a dairy farm in Arohena. I had wanted to live in New Zealand after learning about New Zealand from our Kiwi geography teacher who taught me at Kirkham Grammar School. We first applied for emigration in 1981 but didn’t meet the criteria. It took 14 years from first applying to being accepted but was home from us first arriving.
We sold our Arohena dairy farm in 2012 and built our home in Matamata on an 11 hectare maize block we’d bought in 2011. We now grow maize and graze seven Dexter Cattle (my pets).
My wife and I didn’t know many people in the Matamata area so Pauline joined Inner Wheel and I joined Rotary. We have made lots of friends and enjoy the fellowship of Rotary. I used to go to meetings when farming and only came into contact with farmers, now I meet people from all walks of life in Rotary all with the same purpose of helping the world be a better place. Rotary is like a second family to me.
I joined Matamata Rotary in December 2014 and have been on Programme (booking the speakers) for two years and am in my second year as Director of Service Projects and have a dedicated team who help with projects around Matamata. I am also helping with Interact at Matamata College. I see these enthusiastic youngsters as our future leaders.
Our daughters are all married, live in New Zealand and have given us nine grandchildren to keep us on our toes.