Once, when he and wife Liz were farming at Matawai, she was riding out the back of the station when her horse slipped and fell, breaking her back.

“Being a nurse she did the right thing and didn’t move until I found her some time later,” he says. “If the Eastland Rescue Helicopter had not come, I don’t know what we would have done.”

That was 25 years ago and six years later Laurence signed on as chair of an annual fundraiser, the Poverty Bay J and T Hickey Charity Sheep Dog Trial.

And with the consent of the other trustees, the group was pleased to add the Eastland Helicopter Rescue Trust to its list of recipient organisations.

“Tom Hickey had some health problems in his family so when he established this trust in 1966, he required that health be the focus of any future beneficiaries,” says Laurence.

“It started with Gisborne RDA (then the Riding School for Disabled) and as well as the rescue helicopter we’ve since added CCS, Idea Services and (Hato Hone) St John.

“We’re all rural people and, for us, the helicopter team provides a critical service we could not do without.”

Keeping the annual trial event going has been a lot of work, he says, and it would not have been possible without Liz and her army of volunteers.

“But after 19 years I’ve stepped aside to let the young ones step up, and we’re delighted that Ruie Bridge has taken on the role and will take the trial into the future.”

While he’s given up the chair and has relocated to a smaller property closer to Gisborne city, Laurence is still a top trial performer and, with Kip, was in the final run-off of this year’s event, held at the RDA yards in the first week of August.

“We were very happy to have nearly 140 entrants, including 15 novice competitors,” says trial secretary Helen Cook.

“It was a fantastic three days of trialling and in addition to donations for our other beneficiaries, we were able to gift $4500 to the Eastland Helicopter Rescue Trust.”

That takes the tally of donations to EHRT from the charity trial to around $35,000 over the years and Helen believes it’s a great fit.

“Triallers do tend to be rural people who have a real understanding of how important the service is to our community,” she says.

“We all know people who have needed the rescue helicopter team so it’s a wonderful thing for us to be able to support.”

CAPTION: TRIALLING FOR GOOD: Trust Tairāwhiti Eastland Rescue Helicopter air crew officer Jean-Pierre Jordaan hosts Liz and Laurence Rau (and three-year-old top trial dog Kip) at the Eastland Helicopter Rescue Trust hangar. Through their involvement with the Poverty Bay J and T Hickey Charity Sheep Dog Trial, Laurence (former chair) and Liz (caterer/volunteer co-ordinator) have helped raise around $35,000 for the rescue helicopter service they say the rural community could not do without.