Kelvin Tremain Memorial Education Trust Awards
The Trust
The Kelvin Tremain Memorial Education Trust administers a fund for the benefit of students NZ wide and can partner with other similar trusts globally.
New Procedures for Applications for Funding
The Trustees have recently reviewed their funding priorities and are now working closely with local High Schools to support the objectives of the Trust.
Trustees of the Rotary Club of Taradale-Kelvin Tremain Memorial Education Trust
Kelvin Tremain Memorial Education Trust History
The Beginning
This fund was established in 1979 when the Club decided to invest $15,000 from its Project Account to mark its Silver (25th) Anniversary year.
The money was invested to provide educational assistance to people found to be in need. In 1981 the deed defined the objective as providing “promotion, assistance and encouragement of the education of any person or persons within or without New Zealand, as the trustees shall see fit.”
Students making direct applications to the Trustees is no longer favoured and local high schools are encouraged to identify suitable students who meet the objectives of the Trust Deed, and forward these directly to the Trust for consideration.
Kelvin Tremain Trust Motion
The following entry, taken during a normal club meeting by Secretary Bruce McLeod, records the motion passed (but with some opposition) by the Club on the 21st of June 1979. It followed a youth committee meeting where the issue was raised for the first time by Ron Ebbett and brought to the Club by the Youth Committee Director, Kel Tremain.
The investment of funds gave cause to considerable debate within the Club. There was a divergence between those who supported awards being made only off the earnings of the investments, as against those who felt the Club should just make a fixed sum available each year for distribution.
John Lister as a Trustee under the 1981 Trust Deed, was responsible for investing the funds, assisted by Dan Twigg. It was proposed that the Club make $1500 available for the first Awards. Prior to this, in late 1983, Kel Tremain spoke to the club about the history of the idea, whereby funds could be used to assist able young students who might not be able to pursue tertiary education because of a lack of parental support in meeting educational costs. At the same time, Tom McDonald suggested lifting total capital to $20,000 over 5 years by granting $1000 a year from Auction funds each year. The Club supported this move.
By 1984, being the Club’s 25th Anniversary, $15,000 of Club past auction funds was identified as Trust capital and earnings were about $1000.
First Funds Distribution
The same year, Bob McCaw, as Club Service Director, chaired a small selection committee established by President Bill Beaton, charged with the task of making the first distribution of funds from trust investments. The selection committee comprised Bob McCaw, Kel Tremain, Peter Simons, John Lister and Bruce Robb. Schools were circulated and applicants sought. Awards were made to
- Sandra Ogilvy ($500) a 7th Former from Taradale High School. Sandra was planning a degree in Sociology at Massey University specialising in family problems.
- Krysia Krawczyk ($1000) also a 7th Former at THS. She planned a law degree at Otago University. She was awarded a further $1000 the following year. In 2005 the Club contacted her out of interest as to what had become of the first recipient of a grant from the fund. She wrote-
‘I truly appreciated the grant I received from Taradale Rotary Club. At that time the grant was a hardship grant, and if I am recalling this correctly, I also received a grant in 1985.
In the seventh form I had been in a rather unusual position as I was in a flat, paying my own expenses and working before and after school. The year had been a particularly difficult one for me personally, my parents had divorced and my five siblings dispersed. So it was of great encouragement to me that I would be able to go to university at the end of the year. After a year of only just managing to keep myself in school and financially afloat, the reality of getting to university and paying tuition fees was becoming dimmer. I remember one afternoon when a friend’s mother told me that I would just have to accept my position and find full time work instead of going to university. You could imagine how pleased I was when I opened the letter that same day informing me that I had been granted a scholarship by the Taradale Rotary Club. It was a great boost to me at the time, both financially and emotionally. It felt like someone had given me a pat on the back and said ‘we think you can do it. We have confidence in you.
In 1988 I graduated with a LLB from Otago University. I completed my law professionals course at Canterbury University and worked for a couple of years at Parry Field Solicitors. For the following six years I taught law full time at the Christchurch Polytechnic as part of business training and legal executive courses. In 1994 I graduated from the University of Canterbury with a masters degree in law. I have been married for fifteen years and am now at home caring for our three young children: Yanni who is nine, Frania who is six and Benek who is three.
Thank you for your support so that I could go to University. I really enjoyed studying law and I am grateful that the Taradale Rotary Club could see past my circumstances and give a young person a chance they would not have otherwise had.’
Kind regards, Krysia Krawczyk.
In 1985 the Education Trust made its second awards: Krysia Krawczyk $1000, Carol King $400 (for books), Sandra Ogilvie $200 (for bike).
The Trust was re-incorporated on 6 November 1992 in memory Kelvin Tremain, an outstanding Hawke’s Bay and New Zealand rugby player and administrator. From 1974 to 1992 the Trust was known as the Taradale Rotary Club Educational Trust Scholarship. Kelvin had been an instigator of this Trust with funds provided from the Club’s annual auction. The first award was made in 1985. After the death of Kelvin Tremain in 1992, at the age of 54, the original Trust was changed to the Rotary Club of Taradale Kelvin Tremain Memorial Education Trust. Since then, $90,000 has been distributed to students of Hawke’s Bay to help them start their tertiary education.
Jock Morris was the first Chairman of Trustees. At the end of 1993, they made four awards worth $5250, as follows (from 23 applicants- 22 THS and 1 NGHS)
- Glyn Huckson, Taradale High School
- Emily Look, Taradale High School
- Darnielee Silver, Taradale High School
- Vanessa Smith, Napier Girls High School
Two major celebrity dinners, organised by Kevyn Moore, have greatly increased to value of the Trust. Details of these events can be viewed elsewhere on this website under Projects-Charity Dinners.
The Trust Fund is administered by Trustees who are appointed annually by the President and Directors. The Trustees manage the Fund’s investments, and make annual distributions to students who are pursuing higher education. The capital value of Trust funds stands at about $150,000.
KRT Trust Distribution Chart
Since 1985 (through to 2010) over $190,000 has been distributed to 230 students.
The graph on the right shows the dramatic increase in distributed funds since 1993, the date of the first of the major Celebrity Fundraisers organised by Kevyn Moore.
Service on the Education Trust and Kel Tremain Memorial Education Trust
Until 1992 when the Educational Trust was renamed in memory of the late Kelvin Tremain, the operation of the fund was in the hands of Directors who appointed a committee annually to oversee the distribution of funds to successful applicants. The first committee, which has been detailed above, made a distribution in 1985. Records of the distributions made on this basis from 1986-91 have not been preserved, nor those who served on the committees.
Since the formation of the KTME Trust, reasonable records exist, although in the early days there is a poor record of recipients. Bob McCaw, who served on the first committee in 1985, rejoined KTMET in 1997 after returning from working overseas. In 2000 he assumed the position of Chairman, an office he held for 11 year until he resigned in 2011.
Since John Reid assumed the chairmanship of KTMET, trustees have continued to grow the capital base while at the same time meeting the trust objectives by assisting students with various grants. In the period from 1 July 2012 to 30 June 2019 the capital base has increased from $156,000 to $245,000 while $37,000 has been paid to 44 students. Since the trust’s inception the value of distributions made to students has risen to $218,000 while the retained capital base has now reached $245,000.
Students making direct applications to the Trustees is no longer favoured and local high schools are being encouraged to identify suitable students who meet the objectives of the Trust Deed, and forward these directly to the Trust for consideration. Recent examples in making awards include purchasing chrome books and funding Learn to Drive programmes for disadvantaged students.
KELVIN TREMAIN MEMORIAL EDUCATION TRUST COMMITTEES 1992-2019
| Starting | Chairman | Vice President | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Jock Morris | Gear | Hooper | Kepka | |||
| 1993 | Jock Morris | Adams | Ebbett | Campbell | |||
| 1994 | Jock Morris | Adams | Ebbett | Campbell | |||
| 1995 | Jock Morris | Adams | Ebbett | Campbell | |||
| 1996 | Gavin Thomas | Plested | Campbell | Ward | Withers | Plested | |
| 1997 | Gavin Thomas | Twaddle | McCaw | Ward | Pam Tremain | Hawkins | |
| 1998 | Kevyn Moore | Twaddle | McCaw | Ward | Pam Tremain | Duncan | |
| 1999 | Kevyn Moore | Twaddle | McCaw | Ward | Pam Tremain | Angus | |
| 2000 | Bob McCaw | Twaddle | Plested | Beaton | Waaka | Pattullo | |
| 2001 | Bob McCaw | Twaddle | Knappstein | Beaton | Thomas | McTeigue | |
| 2002 | Bob McCaw | Twaddle | Knappstein | Beaton | Dyet | Tuck | |
| 2003 | Bob McCaw | Twaddle | Knappstein | Beaton | Dyet | Stewart | |
| 2004 | Bob McCaw | Twaddle | Knappstein | Beaton | Dyet | Aikman | |
| 2005 | Bob McCaw | Twaddle | Knappstein | Beaton | Burrell | Dyet | Shoebridge |
| 2006 | Bob McCaw | Twaddle | Knappstein | Beaton | Burrell | Dyet | Allardice |
| 2007 | Bob McCaw | Twaddle | Jackson | Burrell | Dyet | Thomas* | |
| 2008 | Bob McCaw | Twaddle | Jackson* | Crotty | Burrell | Dyet | McGechan |
| 2009 | Bob McCaw | Twaddle | Crotty | Burrell | Dyet | ||
| 2010 | Bob McCaw | Twaddle | Crotty | Burrell | Dyet | Reid | |
| 2011 | Brian Neilson | Twaddle | Crotty/Tremain | Mark Oldenshaw | |||
| 2012 | John Reid | Brian Neilson | Janey Grant | Angela Tremain | Mike Wong | ||
| 2013 | John Reid | Janey Grant | Mike Wong | Angela Tremain | Merv Kite | ||
| 2014 | John Reid | Janey Grant | Mike Wong | Angela Tremain | Paul Bee | ||
| 2015 | John Reid | Janey Grant | Mike Wong | Angela Tremain | Caroline Ritchie | Richard Howell | |
| 2016 | John Reid | Janey Grant | Mike Wong | Angela Tremain | Caroline Ritchie | Steve Winter | |
| 2017 | John Reid | Janey Grant | Mike Wong | Angela Tremain | Caroline Ritchie | Keith Lines | |
| 2018 | John Reid | Janey Grant | Mike Wong | Angela Tremain | Caroline Ritchie | Richard Hay | |
| 2019 | John Reid | Janey Grant | Mike Wong | Angela Tremain | Richard Hay | Claire Connor |