As I sat on the deck outside the Wilson Home Trust office recently on a rare sunny Auckland day, looking across the driveway at the old homestead which is the Wilson Centre and its associated buildings, I reminisced about times past when as a little boy I spent a lot of time there as an in-patient. One occasion I recall was spending three months there on respite as my parents were travelling overseas throughout Europe. 

Decades later and what I am looking at is the existing respite villas being redeveloped to be modernised and made fit for purpose. One of the reasons I was thinking back in time was because of a social media post I read from someone who is 70 years old, and not someone I know, who commented about his memory of staying at Wilson Home and how happy he was to learn it was still helping disabled children. Like this person, my memories of my time at Wilson Home are happy memories.

Another memory I have of my childhood at Wilson Home was of hearing about someone named Bruce McLaren who had been a patient at the home at some stage. As a child who he was didn’t mean a lot to me but it soon did as I got older.  It was interesting to hear that Bruce McLaren Racing recently celebrated its 50th birthday.

I cherish the good memories I have of my time at Wilson Home and am pleased to be able to give back through the Wilson Home Trust.