Martin Doole, a Napier District Masonic Trust member for 46 years. 1978 – 2024
I became a member of the trust in 1978 when W. T. (Bill) Dobson invited me to join the Board as a full member and as it’s legal advisor. Bill had been a senior partner in my legal firm Carlile McLean and Co of which I was a partner. He was a co-founder of the Trust, its first Chairman and had been its legal advisor from inception. When Bill wished to retire from his role with the Trust I was asked to step in and takeover, particularly as legal advisor. I was happy to become involved with the Trust and felt honoured with the invitation. The Chairman at the time I joined was Sir Peter Tait.
Up to this point all efforts of the Trust had been focused on providing accommodation for the elderly either through pensioner housing or License to Occupy flats, however, in the early 1980’s we expanded our mission to include rest home care as well. Our major development with this expanded approach was with the establishment of the Taradale Masonic Village which included license to occupy flats as well as the rest home. Subsequent developments included Mission View Village followed by Knightsbridge Village, Kensington Village and a small village at Wairoa called Waikaremoana. All these villages were licenses to occupy.
Subsequent to the construction of these villages we decided to further expand our mission by developing a continuing care facility in Taradale Masonic Village. Later we purchased the Elmwood Care facility in Nelson Crescent, Napier which contained both a dementia and a continuing care facility.
During his lifetime Bill Dobson established a Trust known as the W T Dobson Scholarship Trust to provide scholarships for tertiary students. He requested the Napier District Masonic Trust to administer this Trust. I have been privileged to have been a member of the W T Dobson Scholarship Committee and over the years we have awarded approximately 120 scholarships and given out over $550,000 to scholarship students.
My time on the Masonic Trust has been tremendously rewarding and I’m extremely grateful and proud to have contributed in a small way the Trust’s history.
