Ann Somerville awarded Queen‘s Service Medal

Ann Somerville. Photo: Supplied.

'I'm completely blown away,” says Rotorua's Ann Somerville, who has been awarded the Queen's Service Medal for services to the community and historical research in the Queen's Birthday and Platinum Jubilee Honours List 2022.

'I told my daughter I'd received an email and how I thought it was a scam. And then I got a letter, and then I got another letter - from Jacinda,” says Ann.

'I'm extremely honoured. You don't stand alone. There's this wonderful community that you are a part of that is the real reason why you get this award.”

The citation, for Ms Irene Ann (Ann) Somerville, says Ann's community service has included St Faith's Anglican Church, Ōhinemutu, and Rotorua Little Theatre in the 1970s and 1980s.

'I used to take a youth group at the theatre, putting on plays and teaching young people.”

Ann has worked at Rotorua Museum Te Whare Taonga o Rotorua for more than 20 years until retiring in 2013. She curated several significant exhibitions such as ‘Daughters of the Land' and award-winning long-term exhibit ‘Taking the Cure'.

'There's a Youtube video where we looked back 20 years to what I'd done for the centenary of Women's Suffrage going back to 1993. Probably one of the most important exhibitions I did at the museum was ‘Daughters of the Land' that looked at the lives of rural women,” says Ann.

As Public Programmes Officer she established and oversaw Rotorua Museum's docent programme, personally training all the volunteer guides. She researched and wrote histories that appear on information panels in Rotorua's CBD.

'I had wonderful people I worked with there. There was John Perry the former director of Rotorua Museum who died last year. He was a wonderful character and he gave me a job which was such a great opportunity. And I just ran with it.

'And the other person is Chris Currie who died in 2018. We had the most wonderful creative time …we did some funny stuff like Elvis in Geyserland…we just had a great time.”

Since her retirement, she has assisted with television and film documentaries featuring the region and consulted to the Friends of Rotorua Museum on acquiring taonga and art works for existing collections.

She helped revive the Rotorua branch of the Māori Women's Health League in 2017 and has since taught classes on making preserves, which are sold as fundraisers.

Ann is a current member of St Faith's Parish Management Committee and produces a weekly newsletter. She overhauled the informal tourism programme at St Faith's, recruiting and training the Kai Awhina team of guides and working with tour operators.

Ann says it's the people who surround her in her church involvement too that have been a part of why she has received the Queen's Medal.

'Wonderful people and it's been a privilege to work with them. '

Ann has also helped research a book on Te Arawa Women's Health League and in 2018 contributed to the Te Arawa Stories Digital Storehouse He Pātaka Pūrākau project.

She feels immensely honoured by the prestigious award.

'I'm just very, very grateful, and going around pinching myself really.

'One of the things I like about New Zealand is that there are all sorts of people honoured. It's very inclusive this year. We're proud to see that the honours list reflects a wide and multicultural slice of our community.”

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