Members of the Executive

Hugh Henry Francis - Clan Chief

From Palmerston North , pictured with his wife Mary (nee Maloney),  Hugh Francis was appointed Clan Chief at the General Meeting in Dunedin on Easter Saturday 2013.

Born in Taumarunui in 1940, he is a 5th generation Ayson on the Peter side (1.13.3).   His mother, Myrtle, was the 2nd daughter of Hugh Fraser Ayson, a son of Lake Falconer Ayson.   His English father was Ken Francis, a wildlife ranger based at Turangi.   Schooled in Whakatane, he joined the RNZAF in 1959 and graduated as a navigator.

Over the next 33 years he flew Devon, Sunderland Flying Boat, Bristol Freighter, DC-3, Hercules and Friendship aircraft for a total of 9,300 hours.   Overseas postings included Fiji and Singapore (in support of the Vietnam War and Indonesian Confrontation detachment to Borneo).   In 1981 he was seconded to the Singapore Air Force to train navigators on Hercules aircraft.

Hugh held many senior appointments: RNZAF Chief Navigation Instructor; Commanding Officer of the Navigation and Air Electronic Training Squadron (Wigram); Officer Commanding Operations Squadron (Ohakea); Training Plans Operations Group HQ; and attended Junior and Senior Staff courses for promotion.

In 1992, Hugh joined the School of Aviation, Massey University, in Palmerston North, where he lectured in navigation to overseas pilot trainees.   Many are now captains flying for airlines worldwide.   In 2010, Hugh’s services to New Zealand aviation were recognised by the Royal Aeronautical Society with a silver medal Meritorious Services Award.  

In retirement since 2011, he enjoys overseas travel, cycling, boating, trout fishing, redecorating, and was for the second time President of the Manawatu Officers’ Club  2013 - 2014.   He and Mary have two daughters, Melissa and Treena, and two grandsons, Tyler and Jayden.  

Hugh Francis is the 9th Clan Chief.

Bevin Watt (1.4.5) - Sub Chief

From Gore, the Clan’s Sub-Chief, was born in Roxburgh, the son of Eric and Pearl Watt.

He had a twin brother Gavin, two sisters Jenny and Caroline and a half sister Dawn.   Gavin and Jenny have died.   Caroline, married to David English, is the immediate past National Secretary of the Clan.

Agriculture has been a life-long passion and occupation for Bevin.   He spent several years as a shepherd and farm manager before entering the fertiliser industry in 1982.

Career highlights:  A Board member of Ravensdowne for 12 years, Board member of the NZ Institute of Primary Industry Management for 7 years, Councillor Gore District Council, a “serious lifestyle farmer” running 400 sheep and breeding Perfintex ewes,  and principal of a wholesale oil company called Southern Oil Ltd.

Bevin is a keen tramper and climbed Mt Kilimanjaro in 2013 and took on the higher peaks in Nepal next to Mt Everest in April 2015.   Snow skiing is also an abiding passion.   The accidental death of Bevin’s twin brother in 1996, when he was 51, has left Bevin with determination to give and get as much out of life as he can.

He and his wife, Colleen, are keen travellers and attend numerous social events.

Timothy Medlicott  - National Treasurer

Tim is a retired Dunedin General Practitioner.   He spent forty years in his practice looking after the finances for much of that time and watching it grow from an initial three doctors to twenty at his retirement.  He also looked after the finances of  Judith’s Law Practice, so he is well versed in book-keeping and annual accounts.

He is married to Judith ( 1.1.3 ), who has previously served on the Executive, who is descended from Peter Ayson. [Peter Ayson Snr. Peter Ayson Jnr,  Jessie Ayson (Clifford),  Kathleen Clifford (Sloan)]
They have three children and six grandchildren and are blessed that most of them live in Dunedin.

Tim has a keen interest in Genealogy having some 650 names on his family tree going back to 1530 which includes the Peter Jnr branch of the Ayson tree.  
 

Lindy Daniell (1.13.4) - National Secretary

Lives on a small lifestyle-block deer farm on the outskirts of Masterton.

Born in 1947, Lindy is the 2nd daughter of Graeme and Grace Ayson.

Her working career has involved banking, diet technician, farmer’s wife/land girl, office administration and voluntary work as coordinator of the Parkinson’s Society Wairarapa and tutor for adult and children’s literacy.    

She has four children and one step-son who  are well established in their careers.   Her husband Garry served the town of Masterton as Councillor and Mayor for a period of six terms, being Mayor for two terms.   Both Lindy and her  husband Garry enjoy the fun of having ten grandchildren from their blended family.

She is  a breast cancer survivor of 26 years and has been involved in the breast cancer dragon-boat movement for 19 years.   As well as starting the local Wairarapa team Lindy also belongs to an international team promoting breast cancer awareness and has paddled in Canada, Israel , Istanbul, Italy and Florida.

She is keen to see the Clan continue to flourish in the years ahead.

Neville Peat (1.3.2)

Neville Peat, who lives at Broad Bay on Otago Peninsula, is a writer and photographer whose books span themes of geography, history, natural history and biography.   Dunedin-born, he is a descendant of Scottish pioneers who arrived in Otago in the 1850s.

Janet Sim Elder (1.12.3)

A Douglas Duncan descendant, lives with husband John Elder on the exquisitely beautiful Otago Peninsula.   She teaches Piano, practices Restorative Justice, and enjoys quilting in her spare time.   She has been Moderator of the Dunedin Presbytery and is on the PCANZ Council of Assembly.   John and Janet have three adult children and four grandchildren.   They enjoy being grandparents immensely!

Louisa Medlicott  (1.1.3)

Louisa lives in Dunedin with her partner Nestor.  She lives in and owns the house that was built in 1970 by her grandparents Amy (daughter of Jessie Ayson) and Max Sloan.   Her parents Judith (retired lawyer) and Tim (retired GP) live around the corner.  Judith has also been an Ayson Executive member.   Her son Tim also lives in Dunedin and owns his own CrossFit gym.  Her older brother Chris (a lawyer) lives in Dunedin as well, and her younger brother Rich (GP) lives in Wellington. 

Louisa is a Clinical Psychologist who specialises in working with people with intellectual and neurodevelopmental disorders, particularly those who are going through Court processes, and feels this nicely covers elements of both health and law that the rest of her family have specialised in.

 Louisa has a particular passion for travel and hopes to knock off both South America and Antarctica within a few years to have all the continents ticked off the list.  She has a conference in Glasgow planned for August 2019 and intends to go to visit Corrydon in Glenshee again (last being there in 1988).  

Dianne (Di) Buchan  (1.9.3)

Di is the great grand-daughter of Elspeth Ayson and John Low and the daughter of Dulcie Buchan, daughter of Mark Low. She is currently writing a book on the Low family, particularly John and Mark Low who ran a saddlery business in Balclutha from 1866.  Di’s mother Dulcie was the secretary of the Ayson Clan at the time of the 150 year anniversary held in Warepa.

Di set up her own company in Wellington in 1996 named Corydon Consultants Ltd specialising in socio-environmental research, social impact assessment and community consultation.  

She has been a member of EIANZ since 2007 and became a Certified Environmental Practitioner in 2008.  In 2015 she was made a Fellow of the Institute and in 2017 was awarded the Simon Molesworth Award – the highest award of the Institute.

Di works with landowners to develop new, less damaging land-use practices to undertake projects aimed at environmental restoration.

A Wellington resident for 25 years she was actively involved in civic activities in the city.  She has been a member of the Wellington Civic Trust for 20 years serving 10 years on the Trust’s Board, seven of which were as its Chair.  In 2009 she was awarded Life Membership of the Trust.

Now living in Otaki she is a member of the board which manages the Otaki Museum and has become involved in the future of the Otaki Children’s Health Camp about which she wrote a book in 2016.  It is called "Sun, Sea and Sustenance: The story of the Otaki Children’s Health Camp,"

Di has two children – Heidi and Chris Cosslett, and three grandchildren - Flynn, Lily and Toby.

Sophie Peat (1.3.2)

Sophie Peat is a 6th-generation descendant of Peter Ayson.  She lives in St Clair, Dunedin with her partner and their daughter, Grace.
 
Before becoming a mother, Sophie worked for a policy think tank organisation focused on New Zealand's long term sustainable future.  The work included helping to organise workshops for young people.  Sophie's interests include sustainability, travel, the outdoors, music and food. 

Sophie has travelled in England and Scotland, and was fortunate to visit Glenshee, Scotland in 2006 and 2016.  In 2018, Sophie attended the Clan Ayson reunion with her daughter, a 7th-generation descendant, and they also visited Warepa Cemetery to introduce young Grace to her forebears. Gracies young brother Oscar was welcomed to the 2023 reunion and was chosen to help cut the reunion cake as the youngest person attending.
 
Sophie looks forward to contributing to the future of Clan Ayson through the Executive Committee.

Jeanne Ayson  (1.5.1)

Hi, I’m Jeanne Ayson a new member of the Executive.  I’m the daughter of the late Peter Ayson from Gore, who was the 6th Chief and 1st Secretary, and Mary.  I live with my family in Napier.  I’m a Trustee on the Mabel Neame Warepa Cemetery Trust and wish to acknowledge the Balclutha Trustees, Marilyn Pagel (Secretary) and  Janferie Maze who deal with all the paperwork and enquiries.  Along with their working bee volunteers (Ross Agnew, Ted Maze, Joy Dodds and others) they ensure the cemetery is well maintained.  My work background is Law and I currently draft asbestos management documents.  I’m planning a Glenshee visit next year with my daughter Emma to walk the ancient trails, and if you have information concerning the tracks or some accommodation tips, I would love to hear from you.  Perhaps you would even like to join us?

 

Jo Hodgson 1.1.3

Jo holds Performance Certificate in Voice (Trinity) and certificates in the principles of Somatic Voicework ™ The LoVetri Method. She has taught music and singing for over 30 years, from pre-schoolers to tertiary level (Te Auaha) and beyond, both in groups and individually.
With a long history of choral singing training through all three of NZ’s National Choirs, she is currently co- director of both Wellington Young Voices Children’s Choir and Wellington City Chorus (Barbershop).

A passion for music theatre has seen Jo perform in London while on her working holiday adventures; Tour NZ in the ensemble of Evita; play a favourite role, Grizabella in Cats. She portrayed Mrs Noah in NZ Opera’s production of Britten’s Noye’s Fludde and relished the opportunity to premiere leading characters in two homegrown contemporary musicals; Octavia in The Nero Show (Gareth Farr and Paul Jenden) and Hida in The Bone Thief (Cassandra Tse and Bruno Terpstra), and has been part of many ensembles in a variety of shows over the years.
More recently, she has delved into musical direction with productions of Bare: A Pop Opera, Annie Jr and Frozen Jr and currently Kia ora Khalid by Dave Armstrong and Gareth Farr.

 Rita Anderson  1.1.3   

 Jane Hennessy  1.2.8

Jane is a 5th generation descendant of Peter Ayson. She lives on a
small lifestyle property in Carterton, Wairarapa with her husband and
family.
Jane trained as a Process Product Development Technologist, went on
to homeschool their 4 children and is now homeschooling their 3
grandchildren. She also teaches Speech & Drama privately and within local schools.
As well as organising the local homeschool support group, Jane enjoys
assisting with the local youth group, coaching hockey and netball,
gardening, skiing, tramping, biking, swimming, horse riding, rehabilitating hurt or injured animals, making dance and drama costumes, scrapbooking, family history, traditional home crafts, cake decorating, floral arts, travelling, and catching up with family and friends.
She looks forward to contributing to the National executive and continue
her Grandmother Eileen and father John’s interest in the Ayson Clan.
Jane is the North Island Branch Secretary and is assisting with the
family tree records. Please contact her with any updates or additional
information which can be added to the Clan records OR just for a chat.