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James was always putting out fires. A successful businessman, husband, father and career firefighter, he’s faced his fair share of challenges. Yet he realised fighting wasn’t serving him well. “My weeknights were spent fighting others through engaging in martial arts. That was my release,” James says, “A psychologist said to me, ‘It’s not healthy. You live your life fighting. You are telling me you think it’s good for you and I’m telling you, as a professional, it’s not good for you. You need...

Gilbert describes his upbringing as, “privileged” yet he struggled to find his feet in a family of academics and achievers. “Education really wasn’t my thing. I remember mum being in tears having gone to parent/teacher interviews. All she ever heard were problems. She stopped going.” “My reports were never flash. I’d get put down. That still impacts me today.” After failing fifth form twice, Gilbert was sent away to boarding school in Nelson. At 16 years, Gilbert flew solo and took a taxi...

No man’s land is a funny place to be but it’s where Alan often found himself with his endeavours to please the important people in his life. Peaceful and easy-going by nature, Alan says it was his sense of humour that got him through any adversity in his life. While longevity runs in the family (Alan’s father is just a few years shy of 100), Alan sadly lost his older son in a car versus truck accident. He was just 20 years old. “He was quite an angry man,” Alan remembers, “He could get...