CFAQ NEWS Churchill Fellows’ Association of Queensland Inc.

PO Box 8100 Woolloongabba QLD 4102 www.churchillfellows.org.au

Winter 2014

Date-Claimer:

CFAQ New Fellows Dinner 2014

22 August 2014 6:00pm

The Greek Club 29 Edmondstone St, West End

The CFAQ invites you to attend the Annual Presentation Dinner Welcoming the 2014 New Fellows Bookings: http://www.trybooking.com/Booking/BookingEventSummary.aspx?eid=88148

CFAQ COMMITTEE 2014/15 PRESIDENT Matthew Shepherd (ATC Refresher Courses, 2005) Ph (W) 07 3856 0993 Mob 0402 220860 zzmattt@gmail.com

VICE PRESIDENT Fiona Hawthorne (Perinatal Palliative Care, 2007) fmh4105@hotmail.com

TREASURER Len Bytheway (Application of technologies for hearing impaired people,1988)

SECRETARY Wendy Haynes (Bone Marrow Transplant, 1985) Ph (H) 07 3357 9462 Mob 0402 117 488 wendyahaynes@mac.com

NEWSLETTER EDITOR Fiona Hawthorne (Perinatal Palliative Care, 2007) fmh4105@hotmail.com

COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Richard Roylance (Child Protection, 1995) RRoylance1@mac.com

Ester Barter (Innovative Care Models for Incontinent People, 2011): esterbarter@hotmail.com

Ken Horrigan (Heritage Buildings and Sustainability, 2009) kenneth.horrigan@gmail.com

Brian Wilson (Selection and maintenance of concert pianos, 2012) wilsonpiano@hotmail.com

Jo Thomas (Producing models for contemporary performing arts, 2012) msjothomas@optusnet.com.au

Sally Lindenberg (Brass and woodwind instrument repair, assembly and construction, 2012) sally@audreysmusic.com.au

 

IN THIS NEWSLETTER

1. Date Claimer 2. President’s Message 3. Our 2014 Fellows 4. Fellows update

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President’s Message

Dear Fellows and Friends, The 2014-15 Churchill Fellows’ Association of Queensland’s (CFAQ) annual cycle is underway; launched at our AGM on the wonderful State Library River Deck. We enjoyed a strong turn out for the AGM this year and those who attended learned that the Association is in a strong financial position, has consistent membership numbers and is meeting its vision to communicate with all Queensland Churchill Fellows, whether at home or abroad and to promote friendship and networking. The committee for 2014-15 was elected: Matthew Shepherd; President, Fiona Hawthorne; Vice President, Wendy Haynes; Secretary, Len Bytheway; Treasurer, Richard Roylance, Ester Barter, Jo Thomas, Brian Wilson, Ken Horrigan and Sally Lindenberg. I would like to commend the entire committee to you for their continued support and diligence in favour of your association work. This year at the AGM we also welcomed two new Honorary Life Members to our association. I am proud to advise that we now count WCMT National Chairman, Hon. Justice Margaret White AO and WCMT Patron Mr Bill Park CBE AM as members of our association. Our association is drawn from a group of people with common interests and goals. Specifically, an aim to communicate with all Queensland Churchill Fellows, whether at home or abroad and to promote friendship and networking. To achieve this common goal, our association assists to identify and encourage new fellows, disseminate information and opportunities, and provide opportunities for continued contact between fellows. In order to keep these opportunities available, we need an association, and a committee to share the vision and facilitate the events. Without members, actively and financially involved, they will not happen. If your membership has lapsed, please consider renewing your contact. Our annual memberships are only $30.00. The 2014 Selection process is now complete and this year Queensland welcomes 16 new Fellowships including: Investigating integrated management strategies and their potential application to crown-of-thorn starfish on the

Great Barrier Reef; Investigating beef supply chain innovation with emphasis on a more viable industry in the future; Exploring the establishment of a child protection law specialist accreditation programme in Queensland. See the next page for a full list of Fellows and all the details. I would like to express the gratitude of all Selection Committee members and interviewees to the Whispers who looked after us all so well over the weekend. You are perfect examples of the Churchillian maxim of “giving back”. The 2014 New Fellows Dinner is to be held on the 22nd of August 2014, at the Greek Club in West End. This is a new venue for us, and one we expect to serve us well. Last year, on the day after the Dinner, the association facilitated an orientation day for the new Fellows. This event proved to be a great success and we will be replicating this event again. If you would like to be involved in this please contact me. Our next event will be held on the 27th of September, we will be hosting our annual Medallion Recipients Cocktail Function. This event will be held again at the State Library of Queensland. Again this year we will be providing the perfect vantage point from which to enjoy Riverfire which will be on the same evening. All Fellows, friends and their guests are welcome to attend this exciting event in the very heart of this city’s exciting Brisbane Festival. I look forward to seeing you in the near future. Kind Regards Matt Shepherd President CFAQ

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WELCOME TO THE CHURCHILL FAMILY…our 2014 Fellows

This year 16 Queenslanders will be honoured with a Churchill Fellowship. We congratulate them all and wish them well with their travels in the coming year. Hazel Brittain: To investigate models for making childbirth safe and accessible for rural women across Australia.

James Farrell: To investigate how lawyers can empower communities to achieve change.

Fiona Guthrie: To investigate the regulation, funding and operation of services designed to assist consumers in financial difficulty both for profit and not for profit.

Trevor Hart: The James Love Churchill Fellowship to investigate traditional terroir cheese-making using ingredients from immediate environs.

Stephen Hart: To study in situ, historical and contemporary figurative sculpture which has revitalized civic space.

Jessica Hoey: The Dr Dorothea Sandars and Irene Lee Churchill Fellowship to investigate integrated management strategies and their potential application to crown-of-thorns starfish on the Great Barrier Reef.

Tracey Johnson: To study models of bringing care out of hospitals and into the community for people with chronic disease.

Nigel Miller: To instigate the establishment of a child protection law specialist accreditation program in Queensland.

Dr Robert Mitchell: To investigate models of postgraduate training in International Emergency Medicine.

Sergeant Matthew Moloney: To research culturally effective police response to Indigenous persons in mental health crisis situations.

Dr Andrea Moor: To broaden knowledge through exposure to current theatre practice in Europe.

Kathryn Munro: The Bob and June Prickett Churchill Fellowship to evaluate services to improve the management and quality of life for Australian children and adolescents with neuromuscular disorders and their families.

Jacqueline Reed: To improve life outcomes for young people transitioning from statutory care to independence.

Emma Robinson: The Samuel and Eileen Gluyas Churchill Fellowship to investigate beef supply chain innovation with emphasis on achieving better returns for beef producers and a more viable beef industry into the future.

Dr Arian Wallach: To investigate the ecological effects of losing and recovering the Earth’s largest predators.

Melissa Western: To investigate improvised music theatre techniques and observe professional ensemble training.

New Queensland Governor Justice Paul de Jersey will welcome the 2014 Fellows at Government House on the 22nd of August.

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“I was fascinated by this craftsman with his strange looking tools…”

NEW COMMITTEE FOR 2014/15 At the Churchill Fellows Association of Queensland’s AGM, we added a few new names to our committee. Here we meet one of the new Committee Members, Brian Wilson.

Hi everyone, I’m Brian Wilson, no not the lead singer of the Beach Boys nor the 1966 Churchill Fellow Dr Brian Wilson OAM. I am a 2012 Churchill Fellow who studied the “Selection and maintenance of concert pianos from factory to stage”. I travelled to New York, Boston, London and Hamburg, and it is exactly one year since I completed my Fellowship.

I have been a piano technician since October 1984 when I started an apprenticeship here in Brisbane. I have always been drawn to the piano and one of my earliest memories is the old piano in our house and my mother playing “stride piano” and songs from The Seekers. A few years later I started taking lessons on this piano. However, the strongest memory is watching and listening to the piano tuner; I was fascinated by this craftsman with his strange looking tools and also by the sounds he was creating. I remember saying “that’s what I want to do when I grow up”.

My Fellowship was centered around the selection and maintenance of the instrument to suit the repertoire and the preferences of the musician in touch and sound. This involved studying the latest techniques that overseas concert technicians are using in the preparation of concert pianos. My mentors were heads of departments in the factory, or concert

technicians who travel the world working for the world’s most respected pianists.

Since returning home, I have been working at putting those experiences into my work, and my standards have improved. I am constantly trying to improve the instrument I am working on whether it is a house piano or a concert grand piano. I cannot ignore something that either looks or sounds incorrect! I have also given talks on my Fellowship at piano tuner conferences, and I am currently preparing a “hands on” lecture for a workshop in October.

Away from pianos, other than being ribbed about having a well-known name, I don’t enjoy playing the piano anymore. I have pianists to play the piano for me! Music is a huge part of my life whether it is via CDs, the radio or live concerts. I am also studying classical saxophone as well as playing second alto in the Kelvin Grove Wind Orchestra. When I want to retreat from the sounds of the world I compete in Masters Swimming competitions which I enjoy as it is just me against the stopwatch!

I look forward to working on the CFAQ Committee as well as meeting many of you at functions. Brian

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It was back in the closing months of 2010 and early 2011 that I had the pleasure of meeting Mr Maurice ‘Maurie’ Potrzeba, a 4th generation craftsman bricklayer from Brisbane, Queensland. Maurie had felt a real need to expand his knowledge and craft skills by learning at a deeper and more profound level. Given Australia’s very strong architectural and craft connections to Great Britain, Maurie felt that this was where he should concentrate his quest. Through his research about the historical and traditional aspects of his craft he found out about me, my practical and academic background and as a result applied in Queensland to the Winston Churchill Fellowship in order to finance his travel and stay to study under me at my home and workshop in Buckinghamshire, England, 45 miles north of London. Maurie specifically wanted to learn about historic brick masonry, the materials, tools and equipment, traditional craft knowledge and practices, in order to achieve a more informed approach to his company’s (Mozbiz Pty) work on the repair and restoration of historic brick buildings back in Australia; and be able to achieve an even higher standard of craftsmanship. As a remarkable co-incidence I too am a Winston Churchill Fellow from 1996-7 when through this wonderful educational initiative I was able to travel and study in the Netherlands and Belgium (Flanders). This was so I could study the historical roots of how bricks were worked post-fired, like stone for architectural enrichments, historically termed in England both ‘cut and rubbed’ and ‘gauged brickwork’; and for which I had become famous for and gained the honoured soubriquet ‘The Red Mason’. The time with Maurie was a huge success on every scale. His wife Janelle came over and joined him towards the end of his fellowship; and it was agreed by one and all that he had achieved far beyond what he had initially hoped. Our families have remained close friends; and my son Liam travelled over in March 2012 to work for a year in Brisbane with Maurie, his son Alek and others in the Mozbiz team. In 2012, Maurie and Janelle returned to the UK with Alek, staying as welcome guests at our home. Maurie wanted Alek not only to meet my family, and see Liam again, but specifically for him to have targeted theory and practical lessons with me to help Alek achieve the very high standards that Maurie constantly seeks.

‘The Red Mason’ - A Winston Churchill Fellow (1996) - brings his craft knowledge and skills to Australia

by Gerard Lynch

Gerard Lynch is an internationally acclaimed and highly respected historic brickwork consultant, master bricklayer, educator and author. He followed a traditional apprenticeship as a bricklayer and over the years gained many awards, including the Silver and Gold Trowels from the Brick Development Association and is a Licentiate of the City and Guilds of London Institute. Gerard is a former Head Lecturer of Trowel Trades at Bedford College, Bedfordshire, England, pioneering a revival of almost forgotten traditional craft skills; he is considered one of the world's leading authorities on brick conservation, and is affectionately known as 'The Red Mason'. For further information visit: www.brickmaster.co.uk.

Image courtesy Gerard Lynch

“…a remarkable co-incidence, I too am a Winston Churchill Fellow”

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Feeling creative? Keen to contribute?

Then we need you! CFAQ is looking for a new editor of our quarterly newsletter. Please contact President Matt Shepherd to discuss taking on this key communications role!

From the Fellows…

Fellow Pamela Rushby’s new novel, The Ratcatcher’s Daughter It’s 1900. Thirteen-year-old Issy McKelvie leaves school and starts her first job – very reluctantly – as a maid in an undertaking establishment. She thinks this is about as low as you can go. But there’s worse to come. Issy becomes an unwilling rat-catcher when the plague – the Black Death – arrives in Australia. Issy loathes both rats and her father’s four yappy, snappy, hyperactive rat-killing terriers. But when her father becomes ill it’s up to Issy to join the battle to rid the city of the plague-carrying rats. Pamela Rushby was a 1994 Fellow researching educational television in Canada. She has had a long and distinguished writing career in the areas of advertising, journalism, screenwriting and children’s books. She is currently a writer and producer of educational television, audio and multimedia for the Queensland Department of Education. The Ratcatcher’s Daughter is available on Booktopia.

Walking with Dinosaurs: Fellow Paul Stumkat Take yourself back 100 million years to the Prehistoric world of Australia’s ancient inland sea; learn how to discover, identify and excavate dinosaur fossils!

Churchill Fellow Paul Stumkat (2002) encourages everyone to join this fabulous outback adventure from 6 to 12 July, at Compton Downs, Richmond. The dig will also reopen the site of Australia’s most complete dinosaur discovery on Marathon Station. For more information email Paul on paul@stumkatstudios.com or phone 0427 557 834.

Our Victorian Colleagues If you are in Melbourne on the 1st of August you may like to consider joining The Churchill Fellows' Association Victoria who invite you to attend their AGM & New Fellows Dinner. This dinner is to welcome and celebrate the new 2014 Fellows and to hear about their projects.

More details on the website: churchillfellowsvic.org.au

“Attitude is a little thing that makes a

big difference” Winston Churchill