New editor for Bulletin

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 3, Issue 19, 1 October 1985, Page 5

New editor for Bulletin

The Bulletin has a new editor, Chris Ryan, who was formally a free-lance journalist in Wellington. He and his wife Heather McCallum, and their one-year-old son, Sam, arrived in Ohakune last week, and Chris started at the Bulletin last Monday. Both Chris and Heather enjoy the outdoor life, and like bush walking and skiing. "We wanted a change from Wellington and we'd thought about living in a smallerplacefora long time, so this job seemed like a good opportunity. I liked the idea of the challenge of editing a newspaper which is something 1 haven't done before," he said. Since 1981, Chris has done freelance work for such organisations as the Historic Places Trust, writing features and press releases as their press officer, and for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as editor of a magazine for secondary schools, 'Development File', which covers New Zealand's development projects in the South Pacific. He also worked for Radio New Zealand for the school broadcasting programme and wrote for 'Soil and Water', the magazine of the Water and Soil Conservation Authority. Chris did research work for the Readers Digest magazine and wrote for the Listener and school journals. Chris completed a geography degree at Victoria University, and attended Wellington Teachers Training College. He taught in primary and secondary schools, including two years

at a secondary school in Rarotonga. In 1975 he stopped teaching to travel overseas, to Asia and Australia, and in 1977 took a job with the Education Department writing a resource kit for schools. In 1978 Chris worked on the Law Related Education Programme for the Police Department. In 1983 he went back to teaching for a time and taught at Aotea College in Wellington. Heather has been working part-time at the Victoria University library while working on a degree in cultural anthropology parttime. She plans to continue

the degree by correspondence through Massey University next year. She and Chris have been sharing the care of Sam over the last six months. Heather says she has had lots of jobs, including nursing and farm work in Wairarapa. She originates from Kopuaranga, a small village near Masterton. She is well used to the rural life. "It's a tiny place with only a church and a school and there were no shops," she says. In their home in Wellington, Heather says they tried to live the rural life as much as possible by having bees, hens and a vegetable garden. The Waimarino is an interesting place to come to live says Heather because of the National Park and the mountain.