October 12, 1923 – November 12, 2019
CNZM, QSO, Honorary Life Member, International Play Association

Our thoughts and gratefulness will be forever with Beverley Morris and today we are honoring her specifically. Her amazing life story and her passion helped us a lot to be where we are now. We at IPA Aotearoa NZ are very grateful for her inspiring work and we want to follow her lead for the sake of the future of our children’s play.

Jill Rice, our former Chairperson and now Executive Officer shares her speech for a Celebration of her Life (3 December 2019).

“My first contact with Beverley was 19 years ago when as a member of Kohia Terrace School Board of Trustees, I was awarded a scholarship to pursue an area of my own interest. As a landscape architect, my role on the board was to look after the property portfolio. I had worked collaboratively with the students on the design   of a new playground, which had been a great learning experience for me                  regarding their capability and creativity, and their involvement in the design which gave them ownership of their own learning environment. I wanted to explore this way of designing that involved the children, and to find out who else was aware of the value of play and design as a means of empowerment and growth for children.
Beverley’s name came up, as you can imagine, and I made contact. She was eager to meet me and invited me to her cute little house in Herne Bay here for a cup of tea and a good conversation! She shared with me some of her writing and books on play, with drawings of the simple kinds of play structures and loose materials that can be largely engineered by children and provide open-ended play opportunities. We shared our experiences of engaging with children in design, she borrowed my drawings of the playground the students at Kohia had designed to share at a talk she was giving, and I was greatly encouraged by our interaction.
Several years later I was invited by Beverley to a meeting at her house of like-minded people interested in promoting play, and became aware through her of the International Play Association. This group was the beginnings of what is now a thriving Aotearoa NZ branch of that society, with 57 members throughout NZ from many different organisations, areas of practice and backgrounds, all convinced about the importance of play for our tamariki. Our mahi is to promote, preserve and protect “play” as a fundamental human right, as outlined in Article 31 and General Comment 17 of the United Nations Charter on the Rights of the Child which NZ signed up to 30 years ago last month on Children’s Day, 1989.
Beverley’s endless respect for children has made her a steadfast and passionate advocate for nearly 7 decades. Her advocacy for early childhood, and her work with young children and in adult education was recognised with the Queens Service Order (QSO) in 1988 and as a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM) in 2015.  She was a Life Member of the NZ Playcentres Federation, an Honorary Member of OMEP, and a founding member of IPA Aotearoa NZ. In 2017 at the World conference in Calgary, the NZ contingent of the International Play Association received on her behalf her award as a Life member of IPA World. She was the most senior and long-standing member of IPA World.
 
It was my privilege to accompany Beverley to Wellington where was presented with this award at the Sport NZ launch of their Play Position, on Children’s Day, 20 November 2017. I shared a room with her in a hotel for the night - she was great company, thoughtful and considerate, as quiet a sleeper as she was a quiet achiever! I was amazed at her stamina and her ability to make a short, coherent speech at age 95 when she received the award, that summed up her thoughts about the importance of play for children. I have the flyer from that day that I think she meant to keep. On it are written her notes – 

“Play is not Education. Play is not work. Play is not optional. Play does not need to be justified.”
 
She was passionate to the end! It was a privilege to have known her and learned from her.
 
Thank you, Beverley
 
I tū maia koe, I tū kaha koe, I manawanui hoki koe
You were brave, you were strong, you were patient"

 

Playcentre Aotearoa’s obituary

Beverley Morris has a strong connection with Playcentre Aotearoa, as she opened up herself on in Newtown, Wellington. Read here in this article from the Playcentre Magazine more about her life and the great work she did at and for Playcentre Aotearoa.

Beverley Morris worked tirelessly for more than six decades to advocate for play and as a member of IPA in our country since 1970, to promote every child’s right to play.

“Play is not Education. Play is not work. Play is not optional. Play does not need to be justified.”

Beverly Morris

Hear hear! It is as simply as it is! Just have fun and play!

IPA Aotearoa New Zealand are glad to honour Beverley Morris for her work.

E iti noa ana nā te aroha.
A small thing given with love.