Gillian Bannan
Gillian Bannan, of Blockhouse Bay, received the Insignia of a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to golf. Mrs Bannan has contributed significantly to the sport of golf for more than 35 years as a player and coach. She was the only professional woman golfer to have qualified in a men's Professional Golfers' Association of America championship and the 1980 Australasian Professional Golfers' Association. She was the first woman member to qualify for the New Zealand Professional Golfers' Association. She initiated the Chamberlain Park Ladies Golf Club and was the coaching advisor for New Zealand Ladies Golf. She specialises in coaching juniors including developing the innovative golf skills programme Mytee Golf and introduced the Girls' Golf Programme. Mrs Bannan also developed, implemented, and provided the equipment for the motor skills programme Ngaki Tamariki, a sports programme that develops motor skills for students in low decile primary schools in South Auckland.