The Country 05/08/26: Craig Wiggins talks to Jamie Mackay

We head to Nelson for the Fencing Contractors Association Conference to talk health checks, a fencing open day, mental health and Jim Hopkins.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Craig Wiggy Wiggins third guest from mid Canterbury today. But
you're a mouse and Wiggy the Fencing Contractors Association and
your conference and they have a fencing open day happening.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Yeah, good Jamie. Get everybody. Yeah, we're at a reworker
not far from Watchawaker and it's probably about one hundred
and fifty people looking at all the new stuff in fencing,
learning some techniques. We've got a heap of students here
going through a competition, some of them from Geraldine and
some from local schools, so it's amazing to be here.
And we've got the calfamily health checks as well going

(00:33):
on on the patron of Fken so it's nice to
be up here.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
Well good on you. You do a great job commentating
all the fencing competitions. I must say, HARKing back to
my days as a farmer watch for a long long
time ago. Now, Wigi one job I loved two jobs.
I love plowing and making offense or building a fence
because at the end of the day you could look
back upon your work even better if it was straight.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
Yeah, that's right. A lot of people get to put
up a fence and leave it behind Benson Good fences
the last forty fifty years, and even for some of
those guys that drive down the road and look up
a hill and say I built that fence, and they
do it with a sense of pride. And there's so
much technology and new equipment now, so this is the
place to come and look at it.

Speaker 1 (01:14):
Hey, you gave me a text yesterday when I was
looking for someone to antwer it's two days in a row.
I got dumped by Vanessa winning today, but I'll get
her on the show in the next few days. And
you were talking about you just wanted to pay a
weed tribute a week on to our old mate Jim Hopkins.
Hopkins because there's a connection between you and him. You

(01:35):
took over from him as the compere for the Young
Farmer Regional finals.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
Yeah, I did, mate. It was great to take over
from Jim. It was a really hard time for Jim
and I. There was a lot of respects going for
both of us. You know, Jim had been in the
job for twenty one years and I sort of got
asked to step up and fill his shoes. And speaking
of those shoes, Jim used to wear a paerout every
Reds final behind the stage, pacing the boards before he

(02:02):
went on stage. But we became pretty good friends and
I got him back a couple of times. That helped
me out with Egris sports and stuff like that. And
you know, to take over from somebody that's been in
the job for twenty one years, it was never going
to go easy. But you know, Jim and I realized
that that's just and he was really happy that a
farmer and somebody that would carry on and look after

(02:26):
the competitors as much as we did. He was happy
with that. He just wasn't happy to hand over the reins.
But you know, that's exactly what happens as we get older.
I guess.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
Yeah, are there amazing thing for a guy who was
so comfortable and so natural in front of a microphone
or on a stage, he was awful behind it. I
used to say, you're a bad tempered bugger. He would
be chain smoking, as you say, he'd be marching up
and down. He was a very nervous performer. But when
the lights went on and the mic went on, bang showtime.

Speaker 2 (02:57):
Yeah, he was a perfectionist. To be fair. He put
so much pressure on him to get it right. But
you know, he didn't always get it right, but he'd
own that, oh you guys didn't like this one, and
he'd carry on to the next Joe with the next line.
But yeah, he was very, very particular, and some people
sort of thought it was hard to work with. I
just admired how much professionalism he brought to the front
of house. But as you said, the back out there

(03:19):
was plenty of time.

Speaker 1 (03:20):
Well, he put a lot of time into prepping for
local events and he would go to the local newspaper
and he would tie everything in beautifully. He was he
was a master at his craft. Very quickly, you're tied
up with the car Family Foundation. This is Craig and
his dad Greg. They do a great job. They're big
operators in New Zealand. Agg But what I like about

(03:40):
them and what they're doing for you is enabling you
to give back.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
Yeah, they are you know in detailth checks that we
do around the country. We did seven over seven hundred
health checks last year. We referred over one hundred people
on They were all in rural New Zealand events, so
we referred to hundred people onto their doctors and bits
and pieces, and quite regularly we get a message back saying, hey,
you guys saved my life. My heart was in a

(04:05):
bad way or I actually had some issues and if
you hadn't had the health check van there on that
day and told me that I needed to go, I
probably wouldn't be here. So I really admire the car
family for what they do and help us out and
they put it back into their people, and of course
the car Fields Group have got agencies all around the country,
so giving them back is a big thing of it.

Speaker 1 (04:24):
Good on, yep, Weggy, You enjoy the rest of your
day in Nelson at the Fencing Contractors Association and your
conference and open day.