Welcome to the May-June 2006 edition of NZSHK E-Newz.

In this issue we have a new Committee
to introduce to you, stories from the 2006 Rugby Sevens and ANZAC Day comme-morations and details of some interesting events coming up later in the year.

The 2006 Annual General Meeting was held at the Kowloon Cricket Club on 3rd May with an excellent turn out of members, who stayed on to enjoy a sumptuous feast with New Zealand food and wine on offer. The President’s Report and Treasurer’s Report presented at the meeting are included with this issue.

Before introducing the new committee members to you,
I’d like to thank the out-going committee for their excellent work over the past year. Helen Jackson stepped down as President after two years in the job but remains on the committee as Vice President. The three pilots, Colin Stagg, Richard Falkner and Ange Dickinson have left the committee and we thank them for their contributions. Colin has been the main man behind the very successful Rugby Sevens functions so his contributions and passion will be missed.

Other members continuing on the committee with Helen and myself are Gaylene McCarroll and Tom Thomson.

I’m delighted to introduce the new members of the committee this year, namely Jan Coley, Ron Hill, John Morgan and Sean Purdie. You can read brief bios of the new members later in this issue. The roles that each committee member will play are listed below.

President – Travis Pittman
Vice-President – Helen Jackson
Secretary – Ron
Treasurer – Tom Thomson
Membership Officer – John Morgan
Committee – Jan Coley, Gaylene McCarroll and Sean Purdie

Members attending the AGM gave the committee a clear mandate for the year ahead. Utmost on the list of things to do will be to look at how to redress the declining membership numbers. We’ll be looking at increasing our marketing efforts, establishing closer ties to the other New Zealand communities in Hong Kong as well as offering improved benefits and a greater variety of events for members to enjoy. I hope to be able to report back on some positive developments in this area in near future.

2007 marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the NZSHK and a sub-committee has been formed to look at how best we can mark the occasion. We’ll be reporting back to you regularly on progress - of course your suggestions are always welcome.

The 2006 Rugby Sevens was once again a great party. The New Zealand team was not so prominent this year, although we can all feel proud of their achievements in securing the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games earlier in the year. Sadly, we weren’t able to host the cocktail reception for the team this year but we are already working towards securing a return of this event again in 2007. Sean Purdie has kindly offered to take on this task and to coordinate the purchase of tickets for members for the 2007 Hong Kong Rugby Sevens tournament. Please see elsewhere in this for stories and photos from the 2006 Hong Kong Rugby Sevens and 2006 Carlsberg Tens events. Congratulations to the NZ Women’s team for keeping your title at the 2006 Hong Kong Sevens! Great job indeed!

More Rugby Sevens Photos...

ANZAC Day was commemorated on 25th April with two ceremonies – a dawn service at the Cenotaph in Central and an evening service at the Australian International School in Kowloon Tong. Please see the report in this month’s issue for details.

With 2006 being ‘Discover Hong Kong Year’ we’re going to offer a special range of events to take you to places of interest around the HKSAR. These will include a visit to the Mai Po Wetlands, a tour of Cheung Chau, night racing at Happy Valley and hopefully a visit to Cathay City where you’ll get a chance to see the flight simulators used for pilot training. There will also be a visit from the Royal New Zealand Navy ships HMNZS Te Kaha and HMNZS Endeavour during 19-24 August 2006. I’ve also been advised that the New Zealand team will be returning to the Hong Kong Cricket Sixes to be held at the Kowloon Cricket Club on the weekend of 11-12 November 2006 and we are planning to host a cocktail reception for the team on one of the days preceding the tournament.

We’ve have decided to change the venue for our drinks evening, held on the last Friday of each month. The 26th May and 30th June events will be held at Someplace Else in the basement at Sheraton Hotel, 20 Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui. As an enticement, all members and anyone who signs up as a member on the night will receive a free drink whilst anyone who introduces a new member on the night will be receive an additional free drink. I hope to see you there!

For more information about these and other upcoming events, please check out the NZSHK website at http://www.nzshk.org for all the latest details.

Finally, the NZ Consulate-General’s office have posted details on their website of a new registration process for New Zealanders living overseas. All NZSHK members are encouraged to register their details with the Consulate so that they can be easily contacted in case of an emergency. For details, please visit the Consulate website at http://www.nzembassy.com/news.cfm? CFID=19784741&CFTOKEN=41789677&c=15&l=57&i=2488.

Best Regards,

Travis Pittman