10 minutes with

10 minutes with Plumber Dan

We chat with Whanganui’s ‘Plumber Dan’, Dan Goldsworthy, about his spare time hobbies and community support.

AUTHOR JE T’AIME HAYR

Age, occupation and business I am 43 and a plumber at Plumber Dan, which is a team of 14.

Tell us about your duck race... My business logo features a yellow duck and, as we’ve got a beautiful river running through the town, I came up with the idea of a duck race to support a local charity four years ago. We sell tickets for 2,000 numbered Englefield ducks and then throw them over the Dublin St Bridge to see which one crosses the finish line first at City Bridge. This year, we raised $11,000 and I’m hoping that a smoother planning process in the future will get that number much higher.

Which charity does the duck race support? The duck race raises money for Jigsaw Whanganui, a local charity that offers family counselling services

Plumber Dan is best known for his annual fund-raising Duck Race, but he also runs an annual Whanganui River Raft Race and takes part in the Christmas Parade and Soapbox Derby.

Dan’s stretch and topless Mini Coopers!

and helps parents with their parenting skills. Their work benefits the community, who are my customers as well, so I like to do my bit to help.

Is there anything else you do in the community? Yes, I also take part in the Soapbox Derby and the Christmas Parade, plus I organise an annual Whanganui River Raft Race, which attracts lots of weird and wonderful entries. We even get a few celebrities auctioning themselves off to join a team. I like to have fun and see locals out and enjoying themselves and I also think it’s important to give back to the community by fundraising for our local charities.

What are your hobbies? I work very long days, so there’s not much downtime, but I really like to spend a bit of time working on my cars. I have eight different vehicles—and they are all unique, which is what I love about them. I have topless and stretch Mini Coopers, a 1950s bus, a hovercraft and a 1965 Impala to name a few.

Where do you keep all these projects? I have a very big shed and—although my house has a few garages and my mother is kindly storing a boat for me—I really need to build a bigger shed!

What is on your bucket list? I try to go overseas three times a year to get a break from work and my phone. I really enjoy travelling, so I want to do more of that. I sailed the Red Sea for six months, lived in Melbourne for a couple of years and in London for three years. Next up, I’d like to visit Canada and I am keen to do the Peking to Paris motor race, which is a 14,994-kilometre trip in a vintage car.

If you weren’t a plumber, you would be a…? I often wonder this! I got into plumbing at 19 years old. My grandfather and two uncles were plumbers, so it was in my blood. I dabbled in horticulture as a teenager, and while travelling I worked in a menswear department, as a labourer, and as a painter/decorator —but none of those jobs were really ‘me’.