Fourteen years after picking up a job as a mill hand while looking for firewood, Riverton man Rodney Lonneker has been awarded one of New Zealand’s wood industry’s top regional awards. Source: Stuff NZ
On Friday, Mr Lonneker collected the Wood Processing Excellence award at the Southern Wood Councils Awards at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin.
The award acknowledges a person working within wood processing or manufacturing who demonstrates excellence beyond best practice guidelines, and considers the quality and productivity of work and evidence of on-going training.
Mr Lonneker is the owner of Pankhurst Sawmill in Riverton, which employs 26 people and specialises in Macrocarpa milled products.
He said taking over the sawmill in 2015, after completing three apprenticeships, was a big turnaround from where he left off at school.
“After leaving school I got into a bit of ‘small town trouble’ so packed myself off to Ireland to play rugby.
“I was a bit of a ratbag at school – not going around hurting anybody or stealing anything – just being a kid.”
After returning to Riverton after six years in Europe, Mr Lonneker’s new career path started somewhat by accident.
“I just went to get some firewood from the sawmill and ended up starting in a job there the next day.
“Mill manager Joe Dawson took me under his wing and started me off on my sawmill apprenticeship. It was then that my career in the wood industry really took off.”
Since then, Mr Lonneker won the NZ Wood Manufacturing Apprentice of the year in 2009 and continued his learning journey by completing qualifications in Business Management, Advanced Technical Operations and Operations Management.
During this time he became an industry assessor for industry training organisation Competenz, with whom he did his apprenticeship, and in 2015, Rodney and his wife Amanda purchased Pankhurst sawmill.
Mr Lonneker said one of the most rewarding parts of his job was seeing the experience and skills he had learnt getting passed to the next generation.
He has also spent time at his local school speaking to senior students about his experiences.
“You can always go to uni, but I want them to know there’s other great opportunities in the wood industry and apprenticeships – if you work hard it does pay off.
“If you enjoy what you’re doing and are interested in it, study is so much easier.”
