Nancy McDonald, on working for others

“Why do you want to write about me? I’ve only ever worked in the background.” 

Well … not quite. After nearly 50 years’ involvement in croquet, Kelburn Municipal Croquet Club’s Nancy McDonald has been acknowledged for service and innovations to the sport at all levels. Her dedication to the game, the players and the club, as well as her vast knowledge and her sense of fun, are obvious.

Her drive to be a doer and a change-maker showed itself early. When Nancy joined Kelburn in 1976, beginners were set to learn the game on the area that used to be known as Lawn 6, near where the path rises from the carpark. Women were taught to play side-style; men, centre-style. 

After discovering that the side-style stroke strained her back, Nancy questioned why she should have to play differently to the men, and was encouraged to adopt whichever style suited her best by Kelburn’s President at the time, Mrs Thelma Roberts (mother of Graeme Roberts, who was elected to the World Croquet Federation’s management committee).

Nancy’s change resulted in more women players shifting to playing centre-style at Kelburn. 

Very much her own woman, and notwithstanding her devotion to her late husband Ian, Nancy also insisted on being referred to as Mrs Nancy McDonald, rather than Mrs Ian McDonald, as was still the prevailing style at Kelburn in those days. 

She became club Secretary in 1978, serving until 1983, and was President from 1993 to 1995. Even when not holding office, she served as a committee member for most of that period. 

One of her innovations during this time was introducing corporate event hires to earn income for the club. Appropriately, the first event was for the Inland Revenue Department. 

Nancy was never one to avoid hard work – whether it was catering sit-down lunches for tournaments, getting the old lino in the clubhouse replaced with carpet, gardening, or tackling painting the interior of the clubhouse with former member Noeline Ritson.

In part, this arose from her innate drive to be of service, even though she was committed to working at a full-time job which prevented her from playing in regional and national competitions as often as she might have wished. Fortunately she did manage to get to the occasional event and “did all right”, winning a national championship played at Kelburn. 

Nancy is the longest-serving playing member of the Wellington Croquet Association. She was its Vice President from 1980 to 1984, and Honorary Secretary from 1989 to 1999. 

She was elected a Life Member of Kelburn in 1996 and a Life Member of the Wellington Association in 2012.

Her service to the region includes researching a History of the Wellington Croquet Association, and compiling a History of Trophies of the WCA. She also contributed to the centennial history of Kelburn Municipal Croquet Club, published 1913 (a copy is held at the club).

On the national stage, Nancy is acknowledged by Croquet New Zealand as the instigator of a players’ Hall of Fame that was launched in 2015. Fifteen legends of the sport were inducted on launch including Arthur Ross, a cousin of Nancy’s mother who is said to be the father of modern Association Croquet in New Zealand.

Nancy grew up on a farm in the Waikato, one of five children. Her father was a returned WWI serviceman. Her mother, Mrs KF Peake, had been a New Zealand champion golfer. 

Dreams of boarding school in Auckland were quashed, and Nancy was educated locally in Cambridge but “only lived for sport and music”. Swimming and basketball (netball) were her favourites, as well as singing in church choirs. Later in life, Nancy sang in the choir of the Wellington Cathedral of St Paul for some 30 years.

She left school and spent 10 years as a Karitane nurse before leaving for London in 1952 for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, before returning to New Zealand five years later to settle in Wellington.

A chance meeting one day on Lambton Quay with a former London acquaintance resulted in her working for Armstrong and Springhall as a demonstrator for the National Cash Register Company – a pioneer of automated and computerised business systems.

She stayed with NCR for 25 years after Armstrong and Springhall lost the agency and travelled most of New Zealand and as far as Fiji and American Samoa for her job. It ended in 1980, when NCR relocated to Auckland, and Nancy joined the staff of the Agricultural Pest Destruction Council.

What drew her to croquet originally? While Nancy didn’t start playing until the late 1970’s, she was always aware of it through family stories of the successes of Arthur Ross. It was her late husband Ian who encouraged her to take up the sport after she was inspired one day by seeing a croquet demonstration on an area of lawn outside Wellington Council Chambers.

Today she plays mostly GC at Kelburn and AC at Wainuiomata, and is always part of Kelburn’s social events and activities.

Nancy knits beanies for the Mission to Seafarers. She has a box of brightly-coloured wool beside her chair and a stack of cosy beanies ready for delivery. She’s nearly up to 100.

Still working for others?

“Well, isn’t that what life’s all about?”

February 2022