Classic boat icon Robert Brooke has been awarded Life Membership of the Classic Yacht Association.

Brooke – a qualified boatbuilder – served his apprenticeship with Percy Vos. He has restored and built numerous traditional wooden boats and is known as a Logan restoration specialist.

He has also played a major role in education, pioneering the integration of the ‘Design-and-Build’ mode of teaching and learning into the national curriculum of Workshop Technology. Where students previously copied existing designs or components, under Design-and-Build they conceive the design and see it through to completion. This principle has become the mainstay of technology education and is flourishing under the NCEA environment.

Brooke was an advisor in technical subjects for the then Department of Education from 1987 to 1990 and was the National Moderator of the Northern Region appointed to assess National Standards. He has been National Examiner for Ship, Yacht and Boatbuilding and has been a member of the Ship, Yacht and Boatbuilding Advisory Committee for Unitec. He has moderated Ship, Yacht and Boatbuilding Trade and Advanced Trade examinations. He has been General Manager of the Boating Industry Training Organisation.

In May this year Brooke was awarded with the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to education and heritage preservation.