Lyn Riley attended Wairarapa College in the 1970s and left school to join the NZ Army.  After nearly 40 years in the public service Lyn returned to Masterton three years ago to retire with her husband, Dennis. Lyn has two sons and four grandchildren and has extended family living in Masterton.  Lyn and Dennis are members of the Masterton Club and the Wairarapa Services & Citizens Club.

Lyn is well travelled and lived overseas for several  years when she was posted to the NZ High Commission in London.  She is an experienced project manager and event coordinator.  Lyn has owned and managed her own hospitality businesses including motels, café, and a conference & function centre.  Lyn has a passion for collecting English bone china and enjoys baking. These two passions combined lead her to start up a successful High Tea business.  Lyn is highly proficient in IT/computer skills and retains the old fashioned skill of shorthand.  Lyn has 30+ years’ experience as a genealogist and has recently published a book on her family history.

Lyn likes to keep busy and would like to become involved in volunteer work locally. As a Masterton resident and ratepayer Lyn is interested in what’s happening in her local community.  Lyn thought the Ratepayers’ and Residents’ Association would be a good way to get involved and utilise her organisational skills.  Lyn is prepared to take on the role as Acting Secretary until a formal association committee is formed. 

As a young family we made the conscious decision to move from Sydney, NSW, Australia to Masterton in 2017 to live closer to family, have our own space we call home with a backyard and live a simpler life close to the natural environment for our young family to experience and grow. 

Once we arrived, I immersed myself into the school community and joined the local ‘friends of the school’ becoming involved with fundraising initiatives. I am now a member of the School Board.

I bring with me a varied skill set from Hospitality, Vocational Education and Training Management, and am currently in the fire protection industry where I work remotely.  I approach life with a continuous improvement mindset and always assess where I can do better and initiate changes to ensure this happens.

Given the political landscape of the recent months I have become disillusioned, disenfranchised, and began to feel that the majority of our community were being delivered products and services that are not necessarily needed, were subpar, an additional financial burden, not aligned to the community or simply not a priority. 

Like many in the community, I have expressed myself through submissions and forums, which seemed to have played no role in future planning. Rather it seemed more like Council was undergoing the motions, undertaking tick the box exercises to demonstrate they had sought community input. The purpose of a Ratepayers and Residents Association is to provide a robust conduit between local government and community members to facilitate the power of influence and steer the future.

I acknowledge that my opinions are mine and may not necessarily be shared by all. However, there are threads of commonality that we as a community need to weave together, to stand tall, speak up and drive change that results in purposeful progress. What is needed is One Voice – A Collaborative Vision.

I paraphrase Simon Mainwaring by replacing ‘industry-wide’ with ‘community-wide’ – "Effectively, change is almost impossible without community-wide collaboration, cooperation, and consensus." – to reinforce my views.