Honour for services to the community

Linda Susan Rutland

Mt Pleasant community advocate Linda Rutland has been awarded the Queen's Service Medal for services to the community.

Ms Linda Rutland has been an active community leader in Christchurch for 25 years, helping the community to recover following the 2011 earthquakes.

Ms Rutland was a member of the Hagley/Ferrymead Community Board from 1998 to 2004 and briefly a Christchurch City Councillor.

She held a variety of leadership and liaison roles on the Mount Pleasant Memorial Community Centre and Residents’ Association from 1998 to 2016, helping to establish the first annual Estuary Fest event.

She was made a Life Member of the Association in 2020 and still volunteers at its events.

Following the Canterbury earthquakes in 2011, she helped promote a sense of social connection by instigating opportunities for the community to come together and by ensuring support and responses were available to residents. She led the establishment of a temporary community facility, assisted with the setup of a famers’ market, organised public meetings for insurance claimants and social gatherings for the elderly and helped rebuild the Mt Pleasant War Memorial Community Centre.

She was the inaugural Chair of the Christchurch Coastal Pathway Group, helping to establish a combined walkway and cycleway along the edge of the estuary.

Since 2016 Ms Rutland has been involved with the rebuilding of Linwood College Te Aratai, helping it to reconnect with its diverse local community.

 - By Geoff Sloan