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All Hands 2020-1 (UK Spring) P a g e 9

We are on the look-out for new members, if anyone knows of ex Warsash people who have settled in Australia
please drop me a line. Our old recruiting lines of pilots, stevedores and agency personnel no longer provide new
members so we have to look further afield!
Our summer, now thankfully over, has exposed Australia with extremely hot conditions with extensive bush fires,
drought and now floods! Fortunately none of our members have been seriously affected.
This reminds of a new book just published in Australia detailing the voyages of Australia’s Antarctic supply and
research vessel the “Aurora Australis” Built in Australia and manned by Australians the vessel is approaching the
end of its useful life. Written by Sarah Laverick the book details the problems during construction in Newcastle
and its subsequent twenty odd years travelling to and from its Australian base in Hobart. One of our members, Les
Morrow 1958, receives more than one mention where obviously his training at Warsash stood him in good stead
for the events that lay ahead!
2.4 New Zealand Branch News –Tony Peacock (PeacockA60)
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Good morning WANZ members (17 March): Tony Peacock
Your executive met last week for various discussions but mainly to progress plans for 2020. The outcome was:
Friday 3rd April. Lunch originally planned at Puhoi Valley Cheese Company, 275, Ahuroa Road Puhoi has been
cancelled because of Covid-19.
AGM 2020: Adair made a trip up to the Bay of Islands recently. He visited the Copthorne Hotel at Waitangi which
proved to be an ideal venue for this year’s AGM. The hotel is close to the Treaty Grounds and just over the bridge
from Paihia. Mike Pigneguy is busy organising bookings etc. So at this stage please pencil in your diaries for early
November. We will contact you with firm dates in due course. An early indication of your intentions would be
helpful.
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Good morning WANZ members (17 April): Relax. This is not yet another email imploring you to wash your
hands! Further to Adair’s email below, your executive have not been idle. Mike has been busy negotiating with
the Copthorne at Waitangi. Subject of course to the latest COV-19 status, a booking has been made for 4 to 6th
November. A long time ahead I know, but please make a note in your diaries so we can again enjoy each other’s
company whilst helping the NZ tourism business to recover.
Keep smiling! Tony, Secretary WANZ
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Hello WANZ Members (17 April): Captain Adair Craigie-Lucas (CraigieLucasA63)
Good Day Ladies and Gentlemen, The strange thing about being “locked down” is, for me at least, the hours of
each day seem to rush past and things just get put off. “….Well, there’s plenty of time so I will get around to that
tomorrow”. I should know better!
At sea, and later when ashore, I knew full well that if I didn’t write up the logbook immediately, or get the survey
report done as soon as I got back to the office, something else would be sure to crop up and delay things even
further. I guess what I am trying to say is that I fully intended to write a short message to the Membership before
Easter, simply to wish everyone a Happy Easter (under the circumstances) and to hope that everyone is coping as
well as they can under the locked-down restrictions.
But here we are almost a week later……..
I truly hope you are all well and keeping well clear of this cursed virus. For ourselves, Barbara and I are fortunate
in that we have a decent sized section and plenty of things to keep us occupied. Also the nearby beach is good for
taking a walk most evenings when the tide and weather permits. Probably the hardest thing, and I am sure we are
not alone in this, is the inability to visit out grandchildren and sometimes have them to stay for a night or two.
My feeling is that the Government has done a pretty good job in a very difficult situation. I think that overall they
have handled things well. As a country we are fortunate to be fairly isolated down here at the bottom of the World,
with generally compliant population of less than 5 million. Tragically there have been some deaths, and even one
would have been too many, but the actions taken so far do appear, at least statistically, to have put this country in
a better position than many.
Today we are told that next week, if the current decrease in new cases and other factors is maintained, we may be
able to come out of Level-4 and begin the long voyage back to some sort of normality. That being the case I would
dare to hope that we will be able to hold our AGM at Waitangi in early November.