Listen
Remembering Pam Townshend and the Legacy She Helped Build
The 2025 Fine Homes Tour carried a special meaning. This year’s donation to Dementia Waikato was dedicated to the memory of Pam Townshend – the woman whose steady hand and quiet determination shaped the event for more than a decade.
Pam spent 10 Tours bringing people together to appreciate good design, great company, and the special sense of community the day created. Long before dementia | mate wareware touched her own life, she helped build an event that connected people across the Waikato. When she later needed support herself, it came from the organisation she had spent years helping through her work: Dementia Waikato.
“She was an outstanding woman – and it was her care and enthusiasm that really set this event up for long-term success,” says co-founder Jane Hargood. “This year, choosing Dementia Waikato as one of our charities felt like the right way to recognise what she gave.”
Pam passed away in September 2024 after living for a decade with dementia. Her contribution – both to the Tour and to the community around it – was at the front of people’s minds when the committee gathered to make their charity selections.
The Fine Homes Tour is held every two years and continues to draw strong support from across the region. Organising it is no small undertaking. Planning begins in February of the Tour year, with homeowners, volunteers and partners all stepping forward to make the one-day event possible.
This year, the effort raised almost $110,000, with $36,443 gifted to each of the three chosen charities.
“We put a lot of thought into who we support,” says Jane. “There are so many worthy organisations in the Waikato. It’s a lot of work to pull the Tour together, but being able to give this level of support back into the community makes it worthwhile.”
For Dementia Waikato – part of Dementia North (covering the Auckland, Waikato and Lakes areas) – the donation will help continue services that sit outside government contracts.
“Many of our activities, including our Living Well groups, aren’t supported through government funding,” says Chief Executive Marsha Marshall. “Support like this helps ensure people living with dementia, and their care partners, have access to education, connection and guidance when they need it.”
This year’s Tour honoured the woman who helped it thrive, and the donation offered her community a way to give back. For those who knew Pam, and for those who simply walked through the doors of the homes she once helped showcase, it was a quiet acknowledgement of how much one person’s dedication can shape an event – and continue to support others long after.
