Bill Pritt: "No water, no ducks"

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 303, 8 September 1989, Page 14

Bill Pritt: "No water, no ducks"

\ A man who had a part in projects that > have changed the way of life for many > people in the Waimarino died last week.

r Bill Pritt of Mitredale l farm died after a long s I illness at Waimarino [ I Hospital on Saturday 26 f I August. ^ I William James Pritt

(Bill) was bom in 1914 in Bootle in Cumbria in England's Lakes Districts. He became well known there in fell racing (similar to cross countrv runnine) and in

Cumbrian wrestling. He won the World championship title for his weight in Cumbrian wrestling He came to New Zealand in 1939 but six months later war broke out and he returned to Europe in the first echelon of soldiers. Bill

spent six years at war, three as a prisoner of war. He was first captured in Greece but escaped and made it to the Middle East where he joined another section which went to Greece to bring out the Greek King and his Prime Minister. They walked out of Greece over Mount Olympus. Bill won the Silver Cross of St George for that mission. He was later captured in the North African desert and spent the rest of the war as a POW, first in Italy, from where he escaped a second time, and then in Germany. "He had a habit of escaping," says his wife Audrey. Back in New Zealand he bought the Smith's Road property and named it Mitredale Farm, the name meaning "small valley". He was supposed to start market gardening but wasn't impressed so kept to sheep and cattle farming. He married Audrey in 1951 and they had three daughters, Christine, Diane and Lois. He was a very keen sportsman, played rugby for Ohakune and Ruapehu, was a keen deerstalker and an excellent duck shot. Bill started the first gun club in the Waimarino and in '63 became the New Zealand champion in single rise clay target shooting. He was part of the Waimarino Acclimatization Society for many years and initiated (sometimes unconventionally) the farm ponds scheme for water fowl habitats. "No water, no ducks," became his catch Turnpage 16

Bill Pritt

From page 14 phrase. He helped Noel Bates and Allan Todd put in the Lower Rotokuru lake dam which is now a conservation reserve. "Before that there were no ducks in the Waimarino," said his daughter Diane. Bill worked for eight years on the Ohakune Primary School Committee, was one of the people who built the Ohakune Baths and he

worked with the dedicated band of locals who built, largely by hand, the Ohakune Mountain road. "Many times he went deerstalking up the mountain road on his tractor, when it was just a rough track," said Mrs Pritt. He continued his love of sport by watching his daughters play sports such as hockey and, for many years with Christine, golf.