Newsletter - January 2008

15/1/2008

January newsletter –

RD fuel card

Scores of Old Boys, members of their family, their friends and work colleagues are already enjoying the benefit of the Foundation’s RD Petroleum fuel cards.

Almost 15,000 litres were poured through the cards from late-November to mid-December with the figures over the Christmas period certain to be well above that initial usage.

That early 15,000 litres meant a total saving to card users of close to $1,000. With the figures sure to increase as more cards come into use, the savings will also become more evident.

The minimum saving for card users is 5.625 cents per litre. Fuel purchased in the likes of Wanaka will attract a saving of up to 13 cents per litre while those filling up in the Coromandel will save 28 cents per litre!

All Old Boys, their families, work colleagues and friends are able to take advantage of this offer. There does not need to be a direct link with Otago Boys – so feel free to pass the offer on. The Foundation also benefits through a rebate from RD – so it’s very much a win/win/win situation.

Please contact Steve Davie (03/4778977, 027/4370335, info@obhsfoundation.co.nz) if you wish to receive the application forms. Forms can also be downloaded from the Home Page of the Foundation’s website – www.obhsfoundation.co.nz

Please note that while the BP letter which accompanies the delivery of the cards notes an annual card fee and transaction fees, these do not apply to the Foundation RD Petroleum cards.

Foundation members

* Since the December newsletter, the following Old Boys and connections with the school have made pledges or donations and have been registered as Members of the Foundation –

Michael Beath (1955-60) – Friend
Jim Temple (1966-70) – Friend
Jack Bosworth (1941-45) – Friend

Pledges and donations have now passed $770,000.

Sir Archibald McIndoe Bequest Society

* The Sir Archibald McIndoe Bequest Society is quickly becoming a major factor in the Foundation’s fund raising armoury.

Making a gift through your will is a pain-free way in which to support the Foundation and its objective of ensuring not only Otago Boys’ High School’s longevity but its standing as the premier secondary school for boys in the lower half of New Zealand.

More than a dozen Old Boys and supporters of the school have already rewritten their will or added a codicil and have notified the Foundation accordingly of their intention to be involved in this way. Some are existing Foundation members and have added a bequest to their support base.

As with all Foundation memberships, those who choose to make a gift through the Sir Archibald McIndoe Bequest Society are recognised through the course of their lifetime and then on in perpetuity.

If you would like to receive the Bequest Society booklet and/or talk about this option, please make contact with the Foundation office.

The importance of a bequest does not rely on its size or its content. Bequests can comprise the likes of cash, property, shares, real estate, residuary estate and the like – and can be either directed towards a specific purpose or made allowing the Foundation Trustees full flexibility with regard to their use. Apart from bequests specifically tagged, all others will be directed to the Foundation’s endowment fund to ensure the protection of our capital base.

“One of the noblest actions people can take is to plant a small tree that will one day give shade to those they may never know”.

New donation laws

* Fantastic news – for Foundation and donors alike, which went largely unnoticed in the 2007 Budget!

As of 1st April 2008, all charitable donations up to 100% of a donor’s income will attract a 33 1/3% rebate. In one stroke, New Zealand is now the most generous country in the world for tax deductions on income.

Pledges can still be made in the current tax year but donors now have the option of holding back their payments until 1st April 2008 onwards to gain the maximum benefit.

Examples of the benefits – to both the donor and the Foundation – are listed below:

Give more and be no worse off –

Before After 1 April ‘08

1. My gift $3,667 $4,500

Less my rebate from the IRD $667 $1,500

Cost to me $3,000 $3,000

2. My gift $5,667 $7,500

Less my rebate from the IRD $667 $2,500

Cost to me $5,000 $5,000

3. My gift $10,667 $15,000

Less my rebate from the IRD $667 $5,000

Cost to me $10,000 $10,000

Otago Boys’ – take a bow

* While there was much doom and gloom in the minds of many about the New Zealand sporting year of 2007, the New Zealand Herald produced an article in mid-December which highlighted a number of significant successes.

And it may well be Otago Boys’ High School topped the polls last year when it came to producing champions.

Listed at number six in the top 10 was cyclist Greg Henderson (1990-94). Greg took out a UCI World Cup points race, that effort following on from a number a stellar performances on the global scene in recent years.

Herald writers Dylan Cleaver and Michael Brown penned the following –

Cycling took a bit of a hit when glamour girl Sarah Ulmer called time on her brilliant career in November after failing to recover from a sciatic nerve injury.

Into the void rode Dunedin cyclist and former world scratch race champion Greg Henderson.

This (the World Cup points race) was no patsy field. Racing again him were current world champion Joan Llaneras from Spain and Russian Olympic champion Mikhail Ignatiev. Add to that Australian favourite Cameron Meyer and you have a truly world-class event.

Henderson made an early break but saved his best work until late in the race when he chased down a potential race-winning break, taking the field with him. He somehow still had the strength to finish third in the final sprint.

“He worked incredibly hard in a very tight field to take the title. It was a sensational ride, full of intelligence, speed and courage”, said team manager Craig Adair.

And in a closely-fought decision for top spot, the New Zealand coxless rowing four’s world championship winning effort in Munich – with Carl Meyer (1995-99) and Hamish Bond (1999-2003) on board – was named as the second best New Zealand sporting performance of the year.

The Herald wrote –

The coxless four has been all about two crews over the past couple of years - the Netherlands and Great Britain. Nobody really considered this duopoly could be challenged, not least of all by New Zealand, who for years had been confined largely to honest efforts from the outside lanes.

That all changed this year.

Hamish Bond and James Dallinger joined stalwarts Eric Murray and the inspirational Carl Meyer. With unstinting dedication and a work ethic that would frighten army ants, the four clawed themselves up to the big boys. In Munich, they passed them, despite being sixth and last at the halfway mark.

“We were wondering why a few people were screaming at us ‘what they hell are you doing?’” said Murray.

“We really only got into it in the last 250 metres but we were first across the line so, on the day, we were the best crew out there.”

Fantastic.

World champion shot putter Valerie Vili took top billing.

* London here we come.

The 2012 London Olympics are a distant goal but Otago Boys High School year 12 pupils Blair Tarrant and Nick Ross took their first step last month when the pair were named in the Junior Black Sticks.

The 17-year-olds became the first from the region to be selected in the under-21 men’s national side and are keen to make the transition from promising youngsters to fully-fledged internationals. The junior side is expected to provide a large contingent of the team which will pursue Olympic glory in five years time.

‘‘That’s what we are aiming for,’’ Blair. ‘‘It is definitely a goal to play for the Black Sticks.’’

‘‘I was pretty stoked to get the call. And it’s awesome to get two guys from Otago in the squad.’’

Nick was just as pleased.

‘‘It’s pretty exciting to know you’re in the loop and that all the hard work and training has paid off,’’ the centre half said.

The pair attended a gruelling five-day camp with 26 other hopefuls in Auckland in early-December and had a nervous wait to see if they had made the 18-strong squad, which will compete in an invitational tournament in Malaysia later this month.

They will be playing against some of the world’s top under-21 sides, including Australia, Holland and Germany, and the tournament should stand them in good stead for the junior world cup in Malaysia and Singapore in 2009.

Annual Foundation golf tournament

* More than half of the holes for this year’s tournament have already been sold and team and individual entries are also being accepted.

The third annual tournament will be contested at the St Clair course in Dunedin on Monday, 10th March 2008.

This is a fun day out for Old Boys and their friends and colleagues and will be played under ambrose rules.

If you’re keen to play, please contact the Foundation office.

Where Are They Now?

* On endless summer days golf may seem a blissfully peaceful pastime, but even on the fairway some legal headaches await the unwary, Dunedin-born legal academic Professor Craig Brown (1963-67) warns.

Professor Brown, a specialist in insurance law at the University of Western Ontario, Canada, has two law degrees from the University of Otago and returned to Dunedin in December to visit family and undertake sabbatical study at the Otago law faculty.

His latest book Why Lawyers Love Golf, now available in this country, offers a witty and informative account of the complex relationship between golf and the law.

A keen golfer with a handicap of 11, Profesor Brown said even the seemingly innocent golf ball lent itself to potential litigation.

‘‘You’re talking about a missile that’s very hard and when it leaves the face of the golf club from a very good player it’s travelling at well over 100kmh.’’

Should that hurtling ball strike a spectator or fellow golfer, potentially serious head injuries, including the loss of an eye, could result.

Such calamities were unlikely to spark litigation in New Zealand, given the realities of ACC cover, but could potentially generate multimillion-dollar compensation and damages claims in the United States, and somewhat smaller-scale law suits in Canada, he said.

Since he had started researching links between golf and the law about 10 years ago, he had also discovered a mass of cases involving many other areas of the law. One case he considered in the book involved a branch of administrative law and an Invercargill woman who had been excluded from a golf club in the 1950s after she had claimed too many holes-in-one, having apparently enjoyed the attention heaped on her after her repeated, if slightly questionable, success.

She was reinstated after the courts found that due process had not been followed.

Some other cases in North America had involved the disputed non-selection of players for national golf teams, and attempts to effectively exclude a disabled player from tournament play.

Other cases involved taxation, with disputes in Scotland and elsewhere about the tax liabilities of golfing clubs, as well as patent law involving golf balls and clubs, and aspects of land use planning and aboriginal land rights.

Many lawyers also enjoyed golf as an escape from a ‘‘relatively stressful occupation’’.

‘‘Golf requires so much of your attention while you’re playing that you ignore all of the other things that are bothering you in life.’’

Lost contacts

* In recent times, we have had problems in contacting those Old Boys listed below – having earlier been more successful.

Stephen Braid (1964-67), last known address being Hong Kong.

Any assistance in relocating Stephen would be greatly appreciated:

Congratulations

* Our 2002 Head Boy Peter Cox has been in the news of late.

A very fine athlete, when injury permits, Peter recently featured in the Universiity of Otago’s academic awards, winning the Sir Gordon Bell prize in Surgery and the JAD Iverach prize for second place in Medicine.

Peter graduated with his MBChB in December.

* Carrying an extra share of the load while flooding rivers rose around him earned Otago Boys High School pupil Isaac Officer two honours in mid-December.

The 14-year-old was one of 35 year 10 pupils who were evacuated from the Mount Aspiring National Park by helicopter in March, after heavy overnight rain swelled rivers and left the group stranded. Assistant principal Bill Trewern said Isaac had shown remark able coolness under pressure.

‘‘He carried extra gear and did everything he could to help staff out. He was excellent in every way — truly outstanding.’’

As a result, Isaac was awarded one of Otago Boys High School’s highest honours, the Ian Macdougall Award for excellence co-operation and aptitude in the outdoors, during the school’s junior prize-giving.

Earlier in the day, Isaac was also one of six Otago Boys’ High School pupils and three Otago Girls’ High School pupils who won GC Proudfoot Estate Awards for leadership, sporting achievement, cultural excellence and co operation and aptitude in the outdoor environment.

GC Proudfoot Estate administrator and Perpetual Trust client manager Martin Haanen said the awards had been presented to pupils at the schools for more than 50 years. This year’s recipients added real value to their schools’ proud heritage, he said.

* New Zealand High Court judge Justice John Hansen (1957-62) will preside over the appeal of Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh against his three-test ban for racially abusing Australia’s Andrew Symonds.

Singh was suspended after the fiery second test against Australia in Sydney earlier this month and Justice Hansen, New Zealand Cricket’s representative on the International Cricket Council’s Code of Conduct Commission, has been handed the role of making a further judgement.

The hearing is set for later this month.

* While Dunedin lawn bowls fans were hoping for a home-town win in this month’s national men’s fours final between the North East Valley club and a composite team from Christchurch, there was a nice touch to the final result.

Leading the composite team, which won the final 21-8, was 21-year-old Nick Buttar, son of the late Stewart Buttar (1968-71). Stewart, a former national bowls representative and national coach, died in March 2006 and Nick acknowledged he thought of his father throughout the morning leading into the final.

Stewart Buttar won the fours’ title in 1993 and the pairs and fours a year later. He also took a Commonwealth Games’ fours’ bronze medal in 1994 before becoming a highly popular and successful national coach. The 2008 fours’ title was Nick Buttar’s first at national level.

Milestone birthdays

* Celebrating a milestone birthday this month is Old Boys’ Life Member, Sir Ron Scott (1942-46), who turns 80 on 21st January.

Recent deaths

* We extend our condolences to the families of the following Old Boys –

Scott (Stuart Scott) Holden (1935-38), died in Alexandra on 13th December 2007, aged 85. Scott served in the Second World War with the 26th Battalion, 2nd NZEF in Italy and upon returning to New Zealand worked for 39 years at Arthur Barnett Ltd. While studying for his Bachelor of Commerce degree at the University of Otago, he began as assistant secretary before becoming company secretary and then serving as Managing Director before retiring in 1985. Scott was the President of the Otago Employers Association in 1981-82 and was a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants for more than 60 years.

James Charles Scoular (1932-35), died in Dunedin in mid-December 2007.

Denis Oswald Johnson (1953-58), died in Dunedin on 10th January 2008, aged 68. Denis was Head Boy and best all-round boy in 1958, that year also winning an overseas league scholarship to Great Britain. Denis had a number of passions, all of which he served with tremendous enthusiasm and dedication over a number of decades. After a productive career as a runner, Denis committed an amazing 41 years to the Athletics Otago cross country committee, largely as secretary. His forte was organising cross country and road races and then collating and distributing the results. Denis was a former President of Athletics Otago and was a Life Member of both his Hill City Club and Athletics Otago along with being the Patron of Hill City. Denis was also heavily involved during the summer months with track and field and was instrumental in introducing photo finish equipment to the new Caledonian. He served in almost every position imaginable. Denis gave unstinting attention to his other ‘loves’ as well – being a founding member of the local Vauxhall Owners’ Club (at one point owning up to 20 Vauxhall cars and Bedford trucks) and also representing New Zealand offshore at various rallies and conventions; in his work with the Freemasons; and with the Boys’ Brigade. Denis was the brother of Dr Warwick Johnson (1955-59) and Roger Johnson (1957-62).

William Adam Gunnyon (1930-31), died in Rangiora on 10th January 2008, aged 87.

* We also extend our sympathies to –

Ron Zoest (1967-71) and John Zoest (1971-73) whose father Joseph died in Dunedin on 6th December 2007.

Russell Jordan (1957-61) whose mother Molly died in Mosgiel on 13th December 2007.

Lyall Collie (1955-57) whose brother-in-law Peter Crozier died in Auckland on 18th December 2007.

Brian Craig (1935-36) whose wife Margaret died in Dunedin on 20th December 2007.

John Moore (1955-58) whose wife June died in Dunedin on 22nd December 2007.

The Honorable Robert Smellie (1945-48) whose wife Lyndsay died in Auckland in early January. Robert is an Associate Fellow of the Foundation.

Ian Kirk (1973-76) and Philip Kirk (1974-78) whose father Ewen died in Dunedin on 3rd January 2008. Phillip is an Associate Fellow of the Foundation.

Bill Penrose (1936-40) and Roger Penrose (1972-76) on the death of Alison, their wife and mother respectively, in Dunedin on 8th January 2008. June was also the mother of the late Alister Penrose (1976-80).

Nicholas Elliott (1988-92) and Christopher Elliott (1992-96) whose sister Sophie was killed in Dunedin on 9th January 2008.

Brendon Baines (1997-2000) whose grandmother Verna died in Dunedin on 10th January 2008.

Bill Manhire (1960-63) and Ian Manhire (1962-65) whose mother Maisie died in Wellington on 12th January 2008.

Barry Morgan (1965) whose father George died in Sydney in early January,

Steve Davie

Chief Executive