Retirement village manager supports book release
When Bupa The Gardens Retirement Village resident, Jim Spiers, needed urgent support to publish his first book, his retirement village manager was there to help.
The 95-year-old author’s editing support suddenly became ill and the resident, who has sight problems himself, feared his book would never be completed.
“That’s when Jennie came to my rescue and helped me to finish preparing the book for publication. It was greatly appreciated,” Mr Spiers said.
Bupa The Gardens Retirement Village Manager, Jennie Arvidson, finished the book by editing, proofing, and completing the page layout. The book was on a tight timeline that couldn’t be changed, but the two of them managed to get it completed.
“I’m glad I could support Jim with his book, he’s much loved in our village and has put in a lot of hard work. He has amazing knowledge and his story needed to be told,” Ms Arvidson said.
The recently published When Forestry was Fun book combines Jim’s wealth of knowledge and experience to record developments in forestry and logging, from the early 1940s to the mid-1980s. His personal story traces developments from horse logging in the Tapanui District of West Otago in 1941, to the post-WWII focus on measurement and management of indigenous forestry.
Then, with three university degrees in forestry management behind him, he ran Whirinaki Forest in the Urewera before taking over management of New Zealand’s largest exotic forest at Kaingaroa. He held this position for nine years. Appointed as inaugural director of the newly formed Logging Industry Research Association (LIRA) Jim remained in this role for a further nine years before retiring in 1984.
When Forestry was Fun is available at McLeods Booksellers, Rotorua.
