Latest News

It was a fantastic effort by Enda Hawe’s team to win the Ruralco Meridian Top Farm competition which was held at the Ashburton A & P Showgrounds on Saturday 9 November 2019. Team members Enda and Sarah Hawe, Jason Palmer and Andrew Livingston were ecstatic after they completed a number of challenges to go on and take out the title of Top Farm.  As the winners, the team won prizes including $1,000 for a Canterbury based charity, a $50 Ruralco and $50 Meridian Energy voucher for each player. 

Enda from Emerald Pastures said “It’s always awesome to participate, it’s even more special to come away with a win.  Thank you to Ruralco and Meridian Energy for putting on such an awesome day! We are especially pleased to be able to donate the prize money to Canterbury West Coast Air Rescue who provide a much-needed service for our community”.

Second place were the kids’ team featuring Niamh Hawe, Kayleigh Hawe, Isobel Wall and Riley Wall, who fought hard to complete all the activities and received a goodie bag and vouchers.  Jules Kupfer, Jess Pitt, Harry Whitwell and Warren Harris made up the third placed team and won a goody bag for each of the four players in the team.

The fun family day out was an initiative by Ruralco and Meridian, modelled off the 70s and 80s TV competition Top Town, which required teamwork, physical and mental skills, planning and a bit of luck to take out the overall prize.  The event was free to enter, however one of the team members needed to be a Ruralco cardholder.

Top Farm challenges included the memory game “perfect pairs”, geography puzzles with anagrams, word finds, an egg drop (where teams designed and built a structure with limited resources to successfully catch an egg) and an accuracy sling, a sports relay and more.

Part way through the event Meridian and Ruralco teams competed in a friendly Tug of War, it was a tense few moments between these power partners, until the Ruralco team finally pulled Meridian over the line, winning to cheers of support from the spectators.

Charity was the biggest winner on the day, as the event company coordinating the day also contributed five special gifts on behalf of Ruralco via the Global Giving Initiative Buy1Give1.

Meridian Key Account Manager Glenn McWhinnie said “Meridian and Ruralco have an amazing partnership together and we love putting together events like this for our valued customers and the community. It was a great day out and good to see families, staff and friends having fun and getting off farm to take on the challenges”.

Ruralco’s Energy Account Manager, Tracey Gordon said “it was so much fun to see Enda’s team come out on top. This has been a great way to celebrate and support our rural community and we thank everyone for their participation. We are delighted to support Enda’s team in donating $1,000 on their behalf to Canterbury West Coast Air Rescue.”