MILITARY MIGHT-The man who inspired Judy

HER NEW ROLE COMES WITH EMOTIONAL MOTIVATION

- Donna Fleming

When Judy Bailey told her grandchildren she was doing a tattoo they looked at her and said, ‘Juju! Where are you going to get it?’”

She had to do some quick explaining, pointing out she’s not getting inked – instead she is going to be narrating New Zealand’s first-ever military tattoo.

“I said, if I did get a tattoo, where should I get it? They thought I should have their names and birth dates on my back. I’ve got seven grandchildren so that’s quite a lot!”

So would she consider an actual tattoo? “I think I’ve left my run too late,” she says with a smile. “I’ll stick to the military type.”

It’s hard to believe, but it’s been nearly 15 years since Judy read the TVNZ news in our living rooms every weeknight. Her hair’s now blonde but the familiar dulcet tones are exactly the same, and she doesn’t appear to have aged a day.

She keeps busy with her grandkids and a variety of projects and says she was delighted when she was asked to do the commentary for the tattoo, which is being held in Palmerston North on April 4.

“It’s a lovely kind of synergy for me because I grew up in the forces. My dad was a career serviceman who was the commanding officer at Ohakea’s air force base when I was born. Two years later he was sent to headquarters in Wellington but I still grew up as part of the air force family.

“It’s a thing very peculiar to the forces – everybody knows everybody else, they socialize together and they are very supportive of each other. It’s really quite a different upbringing, and whenever I go onto a base I feel at home because they are all the same.”