The “generous” $12,700 donation to the Eastland Helicopter Rescue Trust came courtesy of the Rangatira Hunting Club, which had in recent years become inactive.

And “smart” buying meant the team was able to buy around $25,000 worth of immersion suits – six in total – for the more accessible sum of $10,000.

Base manager/critical care flight paramedic Richard Curtis said the suits had been on their wish-list for a while so the team was stoked to get hold of ex-lease suits, most of which had never been worn.

“So we were able to get great value on a variety of sizes to fit different team members,” he says.

“Should team members be immersed in water the suits provide thermal insulation and a bit of buoyancy, so they’re a fantastic rescue aid.”

Former Hunting Club executive member Peter Clough says that when it was time to wind up the club, the decision to donate residual funds to EHRT was an easy one.

“Scott Wallace, Rob Matenga and I were left with making the decision and it turned out that the first organisation to come to mind was the one we went with,” he says.

“If a hunter goes missing out in the back of beyond, the thing they most want to hear is the rescue helicopter so supporting our community, while supporting EHRT, was a no-brainer.”

Until he moved closer to town, Peter used to own the township’s Rangatira Tavern and was deeply embedded in most parts of the community.

“The club was very active and we’d hold an annual competition for the young ones, who would hunt rabbits, hares and possums, with every kid getting a prize,” he says.

“There were plans for a big contest, and that’s what we were saving up for. But then Covid came and as people moved out of the district the club got to the point where there was only a couple of members left. So between us we decided we didn’t want the fund to just be frittered away. We wanted to do some good with it.”

And Peter says he and his fellow club members were totally on board with the suggestion their donation be used for the Survitec suits.

“Our community has suffered a lot of pain in recent times — particularly around water — that had a big impact on families from the Te Karaka area, so it’s fantastic to know we could have played a part in helping our own.”

When Peter paints a picture of “our community” he’s wielding a pretty big brush.

Brought up in Gisborne, he sold cars for nearly 30 years and spent a decade in Auckland before returning to his hometown around the turn of the new millennium.

A few years later he relocated to Te Karaka where he had bought the pub, which he ran while at the same time driving trucks.

And while he moved from “TK” in 2019 he did not escape the impact of Cyclone Gabrielle, which devastated the township in early 2023.

“I’d moved closer to Gisborne to Waipaoa, right next to the river,” he says. “Our home had been put on site after Cyclone Bola (1988) so was above the flood height, but the rest of the property was pretty done over.”

After the cyclone — and despite the impact on his own property — Peter headed straight back to Te Karaka where he spent a couple of weeks helping locals get past the worst.

So it was not until the following month that he discovered he’d lost around $30,000 worth of tools . . . and that they were uninsured.

More than 18 months later Peter and wife Tania had just got on to regravelling the driveway and had lots of levelling and planting ahead but, he says, “there’s a lot of people who got it much worse than us”.

“I’ve always loved having a bit of space around me,” he adds. “It’s just when things go wrong that it can be a problem.”

Peter Clough has not been on the Eastland Rescue Helicopter though, as a hunter, he’s been involved in more than one call-out.

However, he has been flown out of the region for medical treatment so knows the importance of the service’s inter-hospital transfers.

“In my case my gall bladder was basically rotting inside me but they couldn’t identify the problem so, bang, they decided I had to go straight to Waikato,” he says.

“I went by fixed-wing plane but I know the local rescue helicopter team does a lot of transfers that could be the difference between life and death.

“When we need them, they are there.”

CAPTION: SUITS YOU: Should any member of the Trust Tairāwhiti Eastland Rescue Helicopter team have to get wet, critical care flight paramedics like Gareth McDougall (left) are most likely to be winched into water. Peter Clough (pictured with grandson Hunter) says he and fellow Rangatira Hunting Club executive members Scott Wallace and Rob Matenga were pleased their donation to the Eastland Helicopter Rescue Trust was used to buy immersion suits for the team. “It’s fantastic to know we could have played a part in helping our own.”