Julie Patricia Syme is a community leader from

Kaikōura Kaikōura (; ) is a town on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand, located on New Zealand State Highway 1, State Highway 1, north of Christchurch. The town has an estimated permanent resident population of as of . Kaikōura is th ...

, New Zealand, who has been involved in a wide range of community groups and activities in the town.

Lions Club of Seaward Kaikōura

Syme was a founding member of the

Lions Club Lions Clubs International, is an international service organization, currently headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois. , it had over 46,000 local clubs and more than 1.4 million members (including the youth wing Leo clubs, Leo) in more than 200 ge ...

of Seaward Kaikōura, incorporated in 1992. She worked to establish the Seaward Kaikōura Lions as a club for women, because at that time, the majority of community service clubs were generally run by men. Symes was the charter President, and has been District Governor. She stood down in 2017, after serving three terms as President. One of the fundraising initiatives led by Syme has been the Trash Fashion show, involving designers presenting garments made from recycled materials. The show has raised over $100,000 for community groups. In 2015, the Lions Club of Seaward Kaikōura and the Kaikōura Lions Clubs announced that they had raised $243,000 towards the construction of facilities at a new integrated health facility to be built in the town. Following the 7.8 magnitude Kaikōura earthquake on 14 November 2016, in her role as president, Syme worked with Lions Club members to distribute food and water around the town and provide emergency grants for essential supplies. In 2017, Syme spoke to 20,000 delegates at the 100th Annual Lions Club International Convention in Chicago about her experience in serving the Kaikōura community after the earthquake.

Mayfair Theatre

Syme has had a long association with the Mayfair Theatre in Kaikōura, an

art deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

building on The Esplanade. Along with her husband Melville, she is a former owner of the theatre. The Mayfair Theatre was first opened in 1935 as a venue for cinema and concerts. In 1985, the building was put up for sale and by 1986, it had been purchased for the town as a result of a community fundraising initiative. Syme and her husband were both members of the Theatre Committee who managed the venue from that point. The building was damaged beyond repair in the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake, and Syme was involved in the major fundraising efforts to build a new cinema and performance venue on the site, retaining the 1934 art deco façade. After a $3.6 million restoration project, the building was re-opened in November 2020 as the Mayfair Arts and Culture Centre Te Whare Toi ō Kaikōura. As at 2022, Syme and her husband Melville are members of the Mayfair Board of Directors.

Other community roles

Syme has been a trustee of the Kaikōura Education Trust, the secretary for the Kaikōura

Royal New Zealand Returned and Services' Association The Royal New Zealand Returned and Services' Association, best known simply as the RSA, is one of the largest voluntary welfare organisations in New Zealand and one of the oldest ex-service organisations in the world. Wounded soldiers returnin ...

from 2008 to 2016, and foundation secretary of the Kaikōura Community Theatre. She has also supported the local branch of the

Plunket Society The Royal New Zealand Plunket Trust provides a range of free services aimed at improving the development, health and wellbeing of children under the age of five within New Zealand, where it is commonly known simply as Plunket. Its mission is ...

, Playcentre, Red Cross, and the Presbyterian Church. Syme has also been the secretary of the Community Hall Committee and president of the Kaikōura Garden Club.

Honours and awards

In the

2018 New Year Honours The 2018 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Hono ...

, Syme was awarded the

Queen's Service Medal The King's Service Medal (created as the Queen's Service Medal in 1975 and renamed in 2024) is a medal awarded by the government of New Zealand to recognise and reward volunteer service to the community and also public service in elected or app ...

, for services to the community. Syme saied about the award, "You don’t do things for reward. You just do things because you get pleasure from making a difference in your community."

Personal life

Syme studied at the

Dunedin College of Education The Dunedin College of Education (''Te Kura Akau Taitoka'', also known as ''Dunedin Teachers' College'') was a former teacher training college in Dunedin, New Zealand. Founded in 1876, the college was the oldest teacher training college in New Ze ...

in 1962. She and her husband Melville have been farmers.

References

External links

RNZ interview with Julie Syme about the last owner of Fyffe House
{{DEFAULTSORT:Syme, Julie Recipients of the Queen's Service Medal People from Kaikōura Living people University of Otago alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Dunedin College of Education alumni