He Maimai Aroha

Haere atu koutou hei whetu te rangi, tiaho mai mo ake tonu atu. He tohu aroha ki tenei morehu kuia. Rahera Windsor, spiritual leader of Britain’s Maori community, died May 3rd 2004 Born in Pupuke, 1925, she married Englishman John Windsor in 1951 and followed him to London. There she assumed a central role in expatriate Maori society, as a member of the Te Kauri Maori Women’s Welfare League, War Graves Commission,Victoria League and, most importantly, a founding member of Ngati Ranana (‘the London tribe’) – the Maori cultural club based at the NZ High Commission. As London’s – indeed Europe’s – resident authority on Maori language and culture, Mrs Windsor met with people as diverse as Jacques Cousteau (whom she advised on the significance of marine life to Maori), Kiri Te Kanawa and Zinzan Brooke. A week before her death she joined Ngati Ranana in singing Whakaaria Mai (How Great Thou Art) at the ANZAC service held in Westminster Abbey.

Rahera Windsor: 1925 – 3 May 2004