Central Otago seniors needing a chauffeur to get to an appointment or a meal delivery, and those in need of community advice, may be quite surprised to know just who’s driving, delivering and dishing that information out.

South Otago-raised farm girl Annette Meyer, South Otago’s inaugural AMP Pastoral Queen in 1968, has had lifelong holiday ties with Alexandra, and in 2013, she and her Canadian husband, Dale Meyer, moved back to New Zealand after a stint managing a retirement village in Brisbane.

She’s now an active volunteer with Alexandra Community Advice Network, coordinator for local Meals on Wheels, and with other volunteers, founded the Network’s local volunteer driver programme, getting those in need to local and out-of-town appointments.

Annette on yet another Meals on Wheels. Photo: Supplied

Not one to brag, few would know that Annette has interviewed and rubbed shoulders with international stars in her youth, working as a broadcasting technical assistant, presenter and sound operator for TV and radio in the late 60s and early 70s. She’s interviewed folk singer Roger Whittaker, Welsh comedian and actor Harry Secombe, and even Coronation Street’s ‘Elsie Tanner’ (Pat Phoenix).

In Wellington, she worked on shows like Country Calendar and set up the mics and sound equipment at Parliament for media interviews with the Prime Minister.

Just turned 77 on August 16, Annette became a technical assistant at DNTV2 in Dunedin after leaving high school, also working for WNTV1 in Wellington, as well as radio stints at Whanganui’s 2ZW, 4ZA in Invercargill and Otago Radio, with several OEs in between.

“It was so much fun working in broadcasting then,” she says.

Annette was a scriptwriter for radio programmes, including Otago Radio’s and Radio Central’s Sunday morning Children’s Programme, heading out to the kindergartens with her mic to interview the kids. “We had this little character called Reggie at Otago Radio who we’d take to outside broadcasts as our mascot,” she says. “I’d write the script while a guy in the newsroom recorded it in slow speed.”

“When played at normal speed, it sounded really quirky.” Unfortunately, little Reggie had been naughty in the script, so Annette’s story said he had to be smacked. “There was such a big uproar with parents ringing in complaining about that,” she grins.

She was also the shopping reporter at Radio Otago and did the odd night shift and weekend morning show.

Left: Annette during her time as Radio Otago’s Shopping Reporter. Right: Annette, as a little South Otago farm girl – always an animal lover. Photo: Supplied

Annette ventured overseas alone at 22, working freelance at Radio London, travelling through North America, then working as breakfast chef at Glengarry Castle Hotel in Scotland before travelling through Africa with 17 others, in an Army truck.

At 25, she ventured overseas again, travelling through Europe and ending up on a kibbutz in Israel. It was while returning home to NZ via Canada, where she’d stopped to catch up with friends she’d made on an earlier trip, that she met her husband of 48 years, Dale.

A very young Dale and Annette in their early dating days. Photo: Supplied

She was helping in a friend’s restaurant one day when a couple of regular Royal Canadian Mounted Police stopped by, one being Dale. “I never made it home. I stayed in Canada and married Dale,” she says.

However, Alexandra grandparents are handy to have around and by the time their first two little boys had arrived, they moved back to New Zealand, Annette pregnant with what they thought was their third child.

That was actually third and fourth and the start of an extremely busy time with four kids under three!

Initially, they bought a shop in Alexandra but that proved too challenging with four little ones, so they sold up and moved to Invercargill where Dale worked as a prison officer. They moved to Lochiel and it was here that Annette decided to train as a primary teacher through the Southland Outpost of Dunedin Teachers College.

“We lived on a farmlet in Lochiel and as Dale was on shift work, there were times when sheep had to be shifted early morning in the winter,” she says. “Hard to do in the dark with kids to get to school and me still having to drive to College in Invercargill each day.”

She was also studying her varsity papers. “Dale said, ‘You’d better give up,’ but it wasn’t going to beat me,” she grins.

Next move was to Christchurch, where they ran a private hotel, then motels in Oamaru, before returning to Invercargill where Annette went back to teaching.

In search of warmth, Annette and Dale spent six years managing an 83-unit retirement village in Brisbane, after spending three months touring the US in a van. They did the same through Europe after Brisbane, before managing a resort complex.

Alexandra beckoned with her mum aging, but unfortunately, she passed away just as they were to move over in 2013. There was a silver lining: “We bought her house off the family estate, subdivided and built our forever home next door.”

An accomplished pianist, music had always been in her since she was a little girl. “My friend did Highland Dancing and taught me the Highland Fling, but Mum said, ‘You can choose Highland Dancing or piano.’ I took piano because at least I’d still be able to play at 90 and I still love it,” she says.

She did become a music teacher while in Invercargill and taught private music lessons in Alexandra also.

Keen to get involved in the community, Annette joined yoga where another woman invited her to join the Alexandra Community Advice Network, which then led to becoming a Meals on Wheels volunteer and coordinator. “We started the volunteer drivers' roster which is fulfilling a real need in the community."

Annette and Dale with the grandchildren. “They light up my life.” Photo: Supplied

A South Otago Women’s Hockey representative player in her younger days, Annette still keeps fit walking their beloved Maltese, ‘Dolly’, playing golf, and she even biked the Rail Trail with her eldest grandson.

Bridge, and that beloved music, are also favourites. Annette is one of the organists at St Enoch’s Church and plays piano at the local retirement homes for the Anglican Church services held there monthly.

That presenter is still in her too, always first to put up her hand for Christmas party shows and skits. “I just love fun. Everything I do I try to make it lighthearted and fun and enjoy every day.”