Rosemary Chalmers - Cut and dried

She’s breathed new life into Arrowtown’s ANZAC commemorations, flashed her frilly knickers during countless knee highs, and as an award-winning hair stylist Rosemary Chalmers has got it cut and dried.

She’s also been the ‘Soccer Mom’ you’d want on your side, a key driver fundraising 10s of thousands of dollars to get 15 promising local players to Milan and Chelsea Football Club in the early 2000s. “The scouts came out from the UK and picked the boys. Us parents sold cheese rolls and raised over $20,000 at an auction dinner selling memorabilia from around the world.”

Rosemary’s pretty much done it all in the aid of a good cause, an accomplished local fundraiser, she even rode in the front-end bucket of a digger through Cambridge during the Halberg Trust $10 Challenge – a charity race from Auckland to Queenstown, all on just $10. Rosemary and teammate, fellow Arrowtown hairstylist Anna Newman, raised about $10,000 for their $5000 entry fees, organising ‘The Big Shave Off’ at Millbrook. “Peter Doyle came as our chaperone-supervisor and the first night we got to Wellington and had no money for food,” Rosemary recalls. “An All Black shouted us food and drinks at a pub then Peter busked on the street so we could buy kebabs from a street stall.” They even scored a wild ride in a Spitfire as they passed through Wanaka.

As one of Arrowtown’s infamous Autumn Festival Buckingham Belles dancers for some 15 years, also performing at Kevin Lynch’s popular History Alive shows, Rosemary’s taken many an older unsuspecting overseas tourist for a spin. Performing at the Hokitika Wildfoods Festival with the Arrow Miners Band back in the day was “just hilarious”. “The old guys on the back of the truck didn’t just play music. They all had a story to tell and could party like those half their age.”

But it’s her voluntary service to the Arrowtown RSA that Rosemary is most passionate about.

She grew up as a “military kid”, her dad in the Armed Services for 25 years and much of Rosemary’s childhood spent living in their state house in the Invercargill Army barracks. Born in Christchurch, Rosemary’s family moved to Singapore when she was two where her dad was based, before moving to Invercargill with her mum, formerly Gloria Flutey, who was keen to get back to her Bluff roots. Rosemary’s grandparents were Fred and Myrtle Flutey, who built what became the internationally famous paua shell house in Bluff. “I spent all my school holidays there and grew up with some pretty amazing values,” Rosemary says. “I think that’s where I get my love for the community and volunteering from.”

Rosemary biked some 12kms from South Invercargill to James Hargest High, loved netball - playing and umpiring, running and cross country. “We’d stop off at our other grandad’s for hot chocolate if it was raining and cold.”

She’s always loved public speaking, speeches and performing in school musicals, but with the stipulation from her dad that she had to find an apprenticeship or go to Lincoln College Rosemary chose hairdressing.

There were countless laughs on the job at Leonardo’s Hair Salon like the time client Mrs McSkimming dropped to the floor thinking she’d been shot. “It was in the 80s and there had been a couple of gang shootings in Invercargill. A woman used to pick the ladies up and drop them off in her old car. The ladies were all lined up on the couch having their hair set under the dryers when there was a loud bang. Mrs McSkimming dropped to the floor thinking she’d been shot, but it was the old car back-firing out front,” Rosemary chuckles.

She won multiple Southland hairdressing competitions as a junior, before meeting husband Gary at a party in the Catlins. They married in 1992, moving to Queenstown in 2000 where Rosemary had even more hairdressing success, initially working for Anna Newman then opening her own D’or Hair Stylists. D’or has won NZ Training Salon of the Year, and multiple apprentices have won NZ Apprentice of the Year and other national and regional awards, most of them top Polytech students.

D’or started out at Coachman’s Mall, moving to the Royal Oak site. Rosemary also designed and built a salon at the Hilton which she leased until returning to Arrowtown.

She won Queenstown Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year in 2009, runner-up to NZSki in the overall awards, which was immensely satisfying. “That year my apprentice also won NZ Apprentice of the Year. It was a big year. Ever since then my business has just taken off.”

She’s more than given that back in kind, donating Happiness House free hair treats for mums, prize vouchers to multiple local causes, even giving free personal home visit service to some older clients.

About 2014 Rosemary had become concerned about keeping young people interested in ANZAC commemorations in Arrowtown with the services very structured and not kid friendly. “I was brought up being excited and proud marching beside my dad in the Bluff parade and wanted the same for my kids.”

She knew she had to get involved so sent Gary to “check out the lay of the land”. Rosemary was soon on the committee, part of a great team. “Kids had to sit outside so we brought them in, introduced high school speeches and got primary schools involved.”

The entire service is now held outside by the cenotaph on the hill overlooking the town, crowds marching up there behind the local pipe band past the names of Arrowtown’s lost who’ve fallen before them. It’s a poignant reminder.  “Last year we had a lone piper on Feehly Hill echoing down the valley. It was so moving.”