Lots of Love in Flaxmere

Tim Klingender can be considered an ‘old boy’ of the Flaxmere shopping centre; given he is coming up for 20 years at the Flaxmere Pharmacy.

And he is still loving it. For him, the special things about Flaxmere include the strong sense of community, the talented youngsters he sees go on to great things, and being able to get to know his customers.

Some of those things are more obvious because of the physical separation between Flaxmere and Hastings. “While having that separation means we get singled out when we have issues; being a small, close community also means we can easily see all the great things and people we have here.”

There are a lot of good things, he says. “Particularly the Flaxmere Heroes calendar; every year Henare O’Keefe and his team have no trouble finding at least 12 individuals and groups to fill those pages. That shows just how much good goes on in such a small place.”

Tim gets to know some of the talented youngsters very well, as each year he provides scholarships to two Year 13 Flaxmere College students. One is for a Spirit of Adventure or Outward Bound course; the other for tertiary education. He gets a kick out of seeing them succeed.

He also sponsors sport in Flaxmere, including rugby and netball. “I was into sport, playing rugby. I got a lot of good out of that and I want to help others to get the same kind of benefit.”