Charles Wilkinson had a deep, lifelong love of music.
Born in Wellington in 1904, Charles was the eldest of five children. He came from a musical family, where his father was a church organist who gave recitals at the Wellington Carillon and his mother a violinist.
After moving to Gisborne as a teenager, Charles worked on sheep stations in the hill country for many years as a drover. Charles then bought a poultry farm in Hexton which he farmed on his own for 15 years, then in partnership before selling his share in 1981.
Charles immersed himself in Gisborne’s then flourishing music scene where he became a member of several orchestras. His main instrument was a Rudall Carte flute, but he also played the piccolo and piano and in the early 1960s taught himself the oboe.
It was the interest of Marios Sophocleous, a music teacher at Gisborne Girls’ High School, that prompted Charles to establish the Charles Wilkinson Music Trust. He encouraged Charles to join the school as an itinerant flute teacher and his contact with young people made him realise that musical education was an extra cost budding musicians and their families could not always afford.
“It was not unusual for two or three children from the same family to be musically talented and the cost of musical education was a heavy item on their parents. It was not a question of how much their parents earned; it was more a question of coping with their talented children. I thought the trust was a good thing for the future,” expressed Charles.