Congratulations Aubrey Bairstow!
Aubrey Bairstow has turned a hobby interest in war medals into a business, starting New Zealand Medals 18 months ago to restore medals and ribbons to as close to original condition as possible.
He was nominated for an Auckland Chamber of Commerce Awesome Service Award by Myra Wooderson:
"I was holding my Aunts World War II Medals while I waited to take them to her in South Africa where she now lives.
The RSA provided Aubrey’s contact details as I wished to have the medals restored for her and I took them to him to work on. I was so impressed with his workshop - superbly set up and with some really lovely mounted medals on display.
Nothing was too much trouble for Aubrey and he cleaned and replaced the ribbons superbly and at a very reasonable cost.
I am sure my Aunt will be most impressed when I deliver them to her on her 100th birthday.
I was further impressed by Aubrey when he fronted two programmes of FAIR GO recently to help get to the bottom of an issue relating to someone selling fake medals. He was professional to a T, and I thought him very brave to do it, as it could have had consequences."
A post script:: When we rang Myra to tell her her nomination had been successful she was in South Africa with her aunt who celebrated her 100th birthday on May 14, 2012. We can guess that her thoughfulness in having her aunt's precious medals restored, and Aubrey's craftsmanship in doing the job, made her birthday even more significant.
Aubrey was touched by Myra's nomination, and " humbled" to be awarded an Auckland Chamber of Commerce Awesome Service Award.
"Lest we forget" seems a very appropriate expression in terms of both his work and the value of inspirational customer service.
