Former Ōpōtiki Boy Scout donates memorabilia
ŌPŌTIKI BEGINNING: The love for the water began on The Doris, sailing the Ōpōtiki rivers. Grandfather Fred Short at the helm, cousin Gillian amidships and Rodney Short at the mast. Photos supplied
.
A FORMER Ōpōtiki scout has made a special delivery to the Ōpōtiki Museum, more than 70 years on.
Rodney Short visited the museum with his family on Saturday to donate memorabilia from his time in the scouts, including the World Scout Jamboree in Austria in 1951.
He also donated a journal of stories and photos about his life as a seafarer, leader of maritime training colleges in Singapore and Australia, and his establishment of the first global network of maritime training colleges – GlobalMET – which still runs successfully today.
Mr Short was the only scout selected from Ōpōtiki to be in the troupe that represented New Zealand at the World Scout Jamboree.
Scout master Bill Newall had suggested him to the Scout Commissioner at the time, who contacted his parents, Averil and Lilus Short, to seek their permission for him to be one of New Zealand’s scouts attending the Jamboree, only the second to be held post-World War II.
“It was the best surprise I could have had when I was 15,” Mr Short said.
His parents agreed on the condition that he returned to school the following year to complete his School Certificate exams.
The memorabilia donated to the museum includes his shirt, scarf, toggle and beret as well as those from other scouts around the world.
Mr Short and his sister, Marilyn, were born and bred in Ōpōtiki.
His grandfather, Frank Short, was Mayor of Ōpōtiki, a dentist and “back garden vet” as his daughter called him.
His grandfather also loved being on the water and Mr Short thinks that’s where his love of sailing and the ocean came from. He went on his grandfather’s boat, The Doris, many times.
The long voyage to and from the Scout Jamboree, via the Panama Canal, persuaded Mr Short to go to sea and he joined the Union Steamship Company in February 1953.
His seafaring career took him around the world, working for Shell on their ships. He took his sea captain exams in Warsash, England, in 1962.
Mr Short returned to New Zealand with his new English wife, Valerie, to settle in 1965 and they had three children, Perya, Andrew and Katherine.
He kept his love of the sea going through moving into maritime education and training, in which he was involved globally until he retired at the age of 81.
Now aged 88, he lives in Waikanae and still enjoys going to the beach at dawn, walking in the sea in bare feet all year around.