12 June 1992 Well-Known Lincoln Campus Figure Retires

A well-known personality around Lincoln University has retired after 15 years' service – Campus Traffic Warden Roly Barker.

Roly has been organising and sorting out parking arrangements over the period of Lincoln's greatest growth. About a thousand cars a day now descend on the quiet rural campus and convenient parking space can often be at a premium.

From royal and VIP visits with all sorts of exacting arrangements for vehicles, to the idiosyncrasies of student and staff parking requirements, he's seen and dealt with it all.

A tall, cheerful figure in a white coat handing out warning and infringement notices to those who leave their cars in wrong places, Roly has been a combination of ogre, organiser, and friendly "campus bobby". Warden's role aside, he has been the friend and confidant of several generations of students and innumerable members of staff during his time at Lincoln. He recalls with affection the "family atmosphere" of the campus.

Coming to the Traffic Warden's job from a North Canterbury hill farm, Roly was quickly in at the deep end with arrangements for the 1977 visit by Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh. He remembers well the tangled spectacle of three large Rolls Royces all trying to turn at the same time on Springs Road, by the campus entrance there.

Departure from Lincoln does not mean retirement. For Roly it's a return to the land, with more time to devote to his small cattle fattening property near Prebbleton.

Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand