By Chris Moore | Posted: Tuesday August 8, 2017
An update from Chris Moore, National President.
General
This year’s Annual General Meeting was held on 13 April in the Memorial Library. In my President’s Report I commented on various items of topical interest including financial membership, the structure of the Association and the way forward.
Before going into more detail on these issues, there has been a lot of progress with the Gillies Building Project which is almost complete. And it looks fantastic, blending in with the Memorial Library and much more “user-friendly”. So well done to Nick McIvor and everyone else who put countless hours into the project. And to all those who donated significant amounts of money, thank you.
The Thomas House Redevelopment project is still in the planning stages and thanks to Colin Murdoch and his team for negotiating a path through the convoluted rules and regulations of building processes and the screeds of requirements put in place by the Ministry of Education.
Branches
In respect of the Branches, a pub gathering was held in the middle of June in Havelock North which was not well attended. Maybe there needs to be a different format and location together with holding it in another month. A local branch survey will be sent out to all Hawkes Bay members very soon to ascertain what people actually want.
On Friday 14 July, I attended a Wellington Branch lunch at the Back Bencher Hotel in Molesworth Street. While there were only 15 Old Boys present, it was an enjoyable couple of hours catching up with my brother John, Lindsay Taiaroa, Paul Dyne, Neil Maitland, Barry Hayman, Peter Lillico, Peter Menzies and others.
The Auckland Branch is holding a Spring Get Together on Thursday 14 September at 5:00 pm at the Mainfreight Head Office in Otahuhu. Don Braid (1973–1977) is the Group Managing Director and Don is going to give an overview of the company’s operations in 22 countries around the world. There will also be a Charity Auction and a whole lot of fun to be had. The other exciting thing about the evening is that Stuart North is trying to organize a live video link with the Memorial Library at 6.00 pm so that a group of Timaru Old Boys can join in. Even if you are not an Aucklander, you are most welcome to attend this function – contact Stuart on 09 527 4400 or email ssad@xtra.co.nz
In Timaru there is an exciting development with the setting up of the South Canterbury Branch of the Old Boys’ Association, this being one of Don McCully’s initiatives. And more importantly it will be run by a group of young Old Boys who are extremely keen to promote this amongst the next generation.
We are still working on holding a reunion in Melbourne in November. Bill White (1956 – 60) is the contact man and organiser and the plan is to hold it in conjunction with the Lincoln College group who meet every year at that time. We just have to identify the exact date and venue.
Association Matters
At the AGM there were some changes in personnel. Don McCully was elected as Executive Chairman and Gordon Prowse was elected as Secretary for the coming year. Laurie Shanks is to be thanked for serving as secretary for 17 years and it is great to have Laurie still involved as he was elected on to the Executive Committee. Don is a very efficient operator and with Gordon and Brent Bruce’s help (Brent was re-elected as Treasurer) plus input from other long serving members, our business plan will be further developed and implemented. The crux of this plan is to set up sub committees so that various projects can be progressed in manageable bites. On this basis we now have the following sub committees – finance, marketing and membership, IT, archives and branches. Don has already been having discussions with David McInnes (1958 – 1962) on marketing initiatives which dovetail in with our endeavours to increase membership. David owns a company called McInnes Group International Ltd who are Development, Economic and Tourism Advisors. On the IT side of it, Nick McIvor and Aaron May have been working with Noel Davies (Auckland Old Boy) on ways of streamlining our invoicing processes and website accessibility. Noel is Joint Managing Director of a large company called Hyraulink Ltd which operates nationwide and overseas. To have the expertise of all these skilled people is amazing.
Membership
If you want to become a member of the Timaru Boys’ High School Old Boys’ Association you can do so by going through the following steps:
That’s all it takes! And that’s all it costs for a one year subscription. In return you will receive the Timaruvian each year and if you have an email address, you will receive regular newsletters keeping you up to date with activities at the school and upcoming Old Boys’ functions.
I am writing this on Monday morning 7 August, having just watched one Tomas Walsh win the shotput at the World Athletic Championships in London. Well done Tom. Other Old Boys who are competing at a high level are Haydon Paddon (rally driving), Aki Seuli (Highlanders) and Hamish Bennett (Black Caps).
And the 1st XV is possibly one of the best teams the school has ever produced. The team was pipped at the post on Saturday when they lost to Nelson College in a thrilling encounter.
Regards to all of you.
Chris Moore
National President
