Gordon's OM Presidential Year

Sunday 23rd February At the end of a beautiful sunny day the Auckland OMs dinner was held a the Sails restaurant overlooking Westhaven Marina and so offered a superb view as daylight turned to dusk. Those attending were: Nick and Jill Howe-Smith (Nick: 78-83) David and Debbie Duggan (David: 65-70) Brian and Caroline Jones (Brian: 83-88) Tony and Ann Smith (Hon OM) Peter Mensah (80-85) Gordon and Angela Mizner (Gordon: 65-69) It was lovely to see David and Debbie attending their first NZ reunion, particularly so as David was a contemporary of mine – indeed we played in the same tennis teams. David and Debbie have retired to NZ where they have family. We were also delighted to be joined by Tony and Ann Smith who had recently arrived from the UK to stay with their son Nick. Tony and Ann are well known to many OMs for their involvement and support of school and OM reign you over many years. In fact Tony was made an Honorary OM some years ago. I was also delighted to meet Pete...

21st February 2020 We have now spent more than 2 weeks in New Zealand visiting and travelling with friends. This is our third trip to NZ and this time we have seen more of West of Auckland and toured the East Cape including Napier and Hawke's Bay. This is a beautiful and at times remote part of NZ with many delightful bays and indeed much history as it was the focus of the early European settlement. Back in Auckland I have been meeting with OMs. on Thursday I had coffee with David Duggan (64-69) who is my direct contemporary. We hadn't seen each other since school but recall being in the same tennis teams. David has now retired to NZ. On Friday we met Nick Howe-Smith (78-83) who gave us a tour of the Devonport area and hosted us for a BBQ at his delightful house on Stanley Point. It was great to meet his partner Gill and parents Tony and Ann Smith who had recently arrived from UK. Nick is the OM Ambassador in NZ and has organised an OM dinner for Sunday 22nd February in ...

Friday 7th February Angela and I arrived in Auckland on Wednesday evening after a good flight from Sydney. We now have a programme over the next three weeks in the North Island staying and travelling with friends, and of course meeting OMs. Nick Howe Smith has arranged for a dinner on Sunday 23rd February, and I hope to meet him and David Duggan (a contemporary of mine) before then. Our major concern has been the unfortunate progress the Corona Virus. After much consultation with contacts in Hong Kong, Steven Chan and I have agreed that e OM dinner should be cancelled. Additionally, it would not makes sense as judged as judged from this moment to commit to any visit to Hong Kong. Therefore we have reluctantly cancelled our visit to Hong Kong. I a very disappointed given all the had work to make these arrangements and that Angela and I were looking forward to going back there. However there is no option at present. I hope that this outbreak peaks soon, and that Hong Kong in ...

Thursday 30th January We flew in from Melbourne on Tuesday, and spent Wednesday with an old friend of Angela's., visiting Balmoral and seeing some of the north side residential areas. During our first couple of days in Sydney we experienced very pleasant summer weather, continuing to miss the great heat. However, the temperature was rising for the weekend. Thursday was the Sydney OM luncheon. On a hot day (by my standards – just 29C) Mike Hailey and Guy Pollock arranged for us to meet and lunch at the Sydney Flying Squadron yacht club which is situated in Kirribilli on the north side of the Sydney Harbour bridge. This was a lovely setting in one of many little bays overlooking the harbour bay. Present were: Mike (62-67) and Linda Hailey, Guy (82-85) and Annette Pollock, Alan (59-64) and Dawn Mills, Steve Rudlin (64-69), Michael Bishop (Lord Glendonbrook) (55-57), Grahame Elliot (52-57), Gordon (65-69)and Angela Mizner. I was delighted that Steve Rudlin managed to attend as ...

We arrived in Melbourne Thursday 23rd. We have been so lucky with the weather, avoiding tbe really scorching temperatures thzt seem to have circulated around us. On tbe road journey from Adelaide we had some rain but nothing to spoil our enjoyment or the spectacular scenary. Melbourne is tennis city at the moment. We decided to chance it and went to the tennis centre which was a short tram ride from our hotel. We got a day pass into the event and the  queued up to get on one of the main courts where we saw a couple of great matches. The otber days saw us visit much of what Melbourne has to offer, whuch is a lot. Full of construction and amazing pace of development since i last visited. Monday 27th January Australia Day falling on a Sunday this was a public holiday. The Melbourne OM gathering was held at the RAC Victoria on Bourke Street.  Justin Wernham had organised for us to dine at the Bistro which turned out to be perfect for our gathering.  We ...

Friday 17th January Breakfast at The Playford Hotel which is very central and just opposite the railway station. The hotel has been built in an old Art Deco style on the site of Rupert Murdoch's SA office, and is excellent whilst offering something slightly different from the standard modern hotel. Roger Tagg (54-59) kindly offered to show us something of the Barossa Valley. Roger met us at our hotel and drove us out of the city. Our first stop was Chateau Barrosa. Note the different spelling. It is thought that this was the original version. We had a light lunch and a glass of wine of course......not Roger who was driving. We then Stopped at Jacob's Creek a well known brand and had a look around. Very much a tourist set up. It was then off to Menglers look out where we had a great view over the Valley plain...as that is really what it is. We then stopped for a short walk at the Kaiserstahl conservation park and did a couple of km loop. Saw two kangaroos and several bi...

A Happy New Year Not an event. Just a happy new year to anyone who happens across this blog. I cant believe that we are already into the 20’s. It just seems yesterday that we were celebrating the millennium (and yes I know that those of a strict interpretation state that the new millennium and decade don’t start until there is a ‘1’), and worrying about the millennium ‘bug’. At that time I was living overseas and running a company and we had to develop all sorts of contingency plans just in case….what a waste of money and effort and a great deal for all those consultants we used. Anyhow, wishing everyone in the OM firmament a happy new year. I am enjoying my term of office thus far. Angela and I are getting ready to set off on our first overseas trip which will take in Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Auckland (and North Island), and finally Hong Kong. We are watching closely the awful fires in Australia and especially NSW and Victoria – here’s hoping that it cools do...