Margaret Fish
President 2025
Margaret is a Waikato local, brought up on a farm overlooking the beautiful Mount Te Aroha. She is a registered Occupational Therapist and business owner.
Margaret joined the Club several years, having often visited with her mother Dame Jocelyn.
“I think it’s wonderful to be part of a woman’s organisation here in the Waikato that continues with strong values to provide social connection, information and knowledge”.
Elizabeth Bang
CNZM
Elizabeth was Fundraising Ambassador for the Waikato Medical Research Foundation and Chair of the Waikato/Taranaki Diocesan Trust Board, she is a former president of the National Council of Women, and a former CEO of Hospice Waikato. She was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2018 for her services to health, women and the community.
L-R: Elizabeth Bang, former Governor General
Dame Sylvia Cartwright and Dame Jocelyn Fish
Former Club Patrons
Te Atairangikaahu was the first patron of Awatere Club until her passing on 15 August 2006. Her reign as Māori Queen spanned 40 years, the longest reign of any Māori monarch. Although the office of the Māori monarch holds no constitutional function, it is the paramount head of the Waikato federation of tribes with its own parliament. Te Atairangikaahu was an avid supporter of Māori cultural and sporting events and played an active role in local and global political events involving indigenous issues.
In the 1970 New Year Honours, she was the first Māori to be appointed CBE, Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire ‘for outstanding services to the Māori people’. In February 1987 she was the first appointee to the Order of New Zealand, and her badge of the order bears the number 1. Te Atairangikaahu was awarded an honorary doctorate from Waikato University in 1973, and an Honorary Doctor of Laws from Victoria University in 1973. In 1986 she was appointed an Officer of the Order of St. John.
Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu
Photo credit: https://alchetron.com/Te-Atairangikaahu
Mrs Mary de Lisle was a founding member of the Awatere Club and Co-Patron with Dame Te Atairangikaahu. Mary was the fifth woman to graduate as an architect in NZ. Aubrey and Mary de Lisle were a unique couple as both were architects as well as artists and instrumental in creating the Hamilton Museum and Art Gallery. She also did voluntary work for the YWCA and initiated the construction of the hostel in Hamilton.
Dame Jocelyn Fish dedicated her life to service for both NZ and her Waikato community, so was a popular choice to become the Awatere Club patron February 2016.
In 1991, she was awarded the CBE. Two years later she was awarded a Suffrage Centennial Medal after campaigning for 1993 to be recognised as Women’s Suffrage Centennial Year. In 2001, Jocelyn was made a DCNZM which was converted to a CNZM (Commander of the NZ Order of Merit) in 2009.