When I was 44 years of age, Air N.Z in Auckland contacted me offering the opportunity to become Executive Director NZ for an organisation called Sister Cities. After meeting with Air NZ in Auckland I was excited and ready for a challenge. Air NZ set me up in an office above their ticketing outlet in Lower Hutt City. From there I began the task of creating links with cities/towns in NZ with similar cities/towns in Australia, USA, England and Japan. To do all this successfully I was flown all over the country and spoke to Mayors, Councillors and interested community groups on the benefits of setting up their own Sister City committees and advising me of whom they hoped to affiliate with and where.

I made suggestions on how they could create various exchanges, e.g student / library / accountant exchanges etc etc. The community groups set about exchanges with floral art groups, quilting groups, painting groups – the list was endless.

I was fortunate once a year for four years, to be flown to the International Sister Cities conferences in U.S.A at which I spoke to 2,500 delegates each time. One year I escorted a Maori concert party who made their first appearance at Disneyland. What a blast that was! From there they performed at the conference I was attending, and I was bursting with pride.

My four years involvement reached its peak for me when I attended a conference in Arizona. The then Mayor of Lower Hutt, Sir John Kennedy-Good, requested me to sell the

possibility to Tempe in Arizona becoming Sister City to Lower Hutt. I gave it heaps at meetings with the world President of Sister Cities and the Mayor of Tempe. They assured me they would think about it – great! Then, on the last night of the conference the World President called me up on stage and made the announcement that Tempe would be Lower Hutt’s Sister City. Wow, the excitement was electric and my tears flowed – I had done it for my City, Lower Hutt. To this day I maintain an interest in the Lower Hutt/Tempe connection. Peter and I have often been invited to welcome students from Tempe at Mayoral receptions.

Thanks to my wonderful and proud parents I could travel wherever as they would take loving care of my three children.

This year heralds in the 40th anniversary of Sister Cities NZ (SCNZ) and I look back over the years and acknowledge the amazing experiences and the wonderful bonds of friendship I made in that time that still exist. I will always be grateful to Air NZ for the free travel both in NZ and overseas and the availability of a rental car always waiting for me at various airports courtesy of course to Air NZ.

On the 15th and 16th April this year, Peter and I were invited to attend a special portion of the SCNZ conference held at Te Papa. During the time we were there, special acknowledgement of my involvement in Sister Cities and achievements were announced and I felt so humble as I stood and gratefully accepted their applause. Later we all went by two buses to Government House where Peter and I had received special invitations.

We were presented to Governor General, Dame Patsy Reddy, who publicly announced my four year involvement in establishing SCNZ. This was a memorable experience.

Thank you for allowing me to share with you many of the amazing and fun experiences I have tucked away in my memory bank.

Marie-Louise Blockley
Sister Cities New Zealand – “Connecting people globally for peace and prosperity”.