Home Wellington News and Events Wellington Br...

Wellington Branch President’s Report for 2014

The Wellington Branch President’s Report, as presented by President Michael Powles at the Annual General Meeting on 18 March 2015.

Another busy year for the Branch. And that has meant a very busy year for the Committee.  Christine Strickland has continued of course to provide essential leadership. Without it we would be in real trouble. And the workload on other senior Committee members has also been heavy.  I think it’s important that the Branch recognises how much we depend on just a few Committee members to keep the show on the road. This becomes worryingly clear when, for whatever reason, one of them needs to step down or reduce their load.  We have recently asked members to consider the possibility of joining the Committee. I’m afraid the likely departure of more senior members over the next year or so makes this appeal very relevant. Please take it seriously – the future of the Branch depends on it. 

We need only think of two of our members who have both made tremendous contributions to the Society at the national level and, particularly, to the Wellington Branch.  I’m referring to Bernie and Elaine Richmond, who are moving imminently to Auckland to be with family there. To describe their contributions to the Wellington Branch as tremendous is, if anything, an understatement.  We would not be what we are today if it were not for them. They have both stood for commitment, for professionalism and for integrity. For the Wellington Branch, and at the national level as well, Bernie has been an indomitable leader over many years.  For that we owe him an enormous debt – as indeed we do to Elaine as well. 

Thank you, Bernie and Elaine. 

I also want to make special mention of Ray Brownrigg who has served the Branch in many roles, including as Vice President for a number of years. He has had a major role on the Committee since then and has played a pivotal role in the production and distribution of our superb newsletter. He now needs to step down and he will be sorely missed. 

Other members of the Committee have also had to step down because of other commitments. We badly need someone to step forward to take over the membership responsibilities which Annette Meates is having to relinquish. 

We are very grateful to Luke Qin for taking over the Treasurer role. (My hope is that he will consider additional senior responsibilities in the Society.) Kirk McDowall has stepped in and is making a significant contribution, particularly regarding our younger membership, the newsletter and branch reports. 

As you know, over the past year we have put a lot of emphasis into encouraging younger members of the Society to play leading roles. Initially we were very successful.  But we had perhaps overlooked the constant mobility of young people these days.  In fact, nearly all the young people whom we welcomed early in the year have passed on – by that I don’t mean passed on to a higher kingdom but rather passed on to jobs and assignments in China and elsewhere. Faye Zhang is the last to have gone and we will miss her because she was so energetic and enthusiastic in supporting the Society and role of younger members. Kirk McDowall, however, is still with us.  We will be pressing him to suggest ways in which we could recruit more younger members.  (I’m conscious that the Confucius Institute in Wellington has numbers of young Chinese Mandarin Language Assistants whom we could try to interest in the Society.) Probably we need to think harder of what we can or could offer to younger people. 

For the Committee, of course, we do need participation by younger members but it goes without saying that the role played by experienced members of the Society remains crucial for the Branch. 

Branch Activities
The Branch has had many informative and well-attended meetings during the year: 

January 2014                Chinese New Year Banquet
March 2014                   The “Futures Panel” of Younger members
April 2014                     Ambassador Wang Lutong: Looking ahead
May 2014                      Professor Qian Xiaoyan – Accupuncture
June 2014                     John McKinnon: Asia NZ Foundation’s Work
July 2014                      John Lake: China’s Punk Culture
August 2014                 Nathan Li, founder and CEO of Educa
September 2014           Councillor Jo Coughlan, WCC
September 2014           China National Day Banquet – jointly hosted with other Wellington Chinese                                                     organisations
October 2014                Adrian Macey: Can China Save the Planet?
November 2014            Terence O’Brien: Navigating between the giant panda and the bald eagle: the kiwi                                         ordeal
February 2015              Chinese New Year Banquet

The one additional point I would like to emphasise is that the Society’s relations with the Chinese Embassy continue to be excellent. We appreciate that very much and look forward to working closely with the Embassy in the year ahead.

Once again, it was a pleasure to celebrate the new Year of the Sheep in the company of the Society’s Patron, Hon. Philip Burdon, the Chinese Ambassador and Madame Yang Pengbo, Councillor Jo Coughlan and her husband, and our National President, Dave Bromwich. The presence of members of so many of our associated organisations contributed greatly to the success of the event. 

Best wishes for a happy and prosperous year to all our members.

Michael Powles