2008 - That Was The Year That Was
In review
This year has been a year of comings and goings. with periods of relative stability inbetween the inevitable ups and downs these provoked.
The year started with us all together at home, saw two departures and one arrival during the year, a world premiere, a couple of deaths of relations, a the awarding of a well-deserved fellowship, and the normal run-of-the-mill business of working and running the Irish Society, and looking after the garden.
And in between, Mother turned 92, and continued her slow decline into venerable old-age.
Desiree
Desiree spent the year as busy as ever at Taita College.
But being the sort of person she is, she found being Assistant HoD Social Sciences with special responsibility for History, Dean (Pastoral care) for Year 11 students, and editing the school's Year Book (or magazine) was keeping her busy, but something was missing! So she branched out into 'restorative justice' training. This is a mechanism by which miscreants and wrong-doers at school (& their families) are put into a situation where they have to confront the victims of their wrong-doing, and face up to the consequences of it, with the aim of arriving at some recognition of the need for remorse, and reparation of some kind.
Having tried her toe in local body politics, and found her feet weren't scalded, she has continued with the local (appointed) Ward Committee for Hutt City Council. She is also a member of the Hutt Public Art Trust, which exists because she had the vision and drive to persuade others with similar interests that such a venture was not only possible, but desirable. In fact the Trust now has a couple of installations in place and continues to plan for new ones. Their website is in development still, but will showcase the good work the Trust is doing.
It was sad to end the year farewelling Matthew Rickard-Simms. One of Desiree's nephews, he had suffered a degenerative disease since birth. Funerals are seldom fun or enjoyable, but they often provide an opportunity to catch up with family and friends.
Apart from our family, the highlight of Desiree's year has been the granting of a two-term fellowship by the NZ Royal Society. This will allow her to finally get to grips with a long-cherished project - interviewing older members of the Irish Society, recording their memories, and compiling an oral history of the Society. Perhaps one of the most worthwhile aspects of the fellowship will be the chance it gives Desiree to step outside teaching for a period and do something completely different.
Bryan
2008 - "Le plus change, le plus même chose."
The work at NZQA continues, with the same mix of innovation, challenges, and frustrations as occurs in almost any job. The NZQA website, is something of a monster, although I am slowly bringing a little shape and coherence to the content. I still get a buzz out of managing the Top Art website and publishing the Visual Arts exemplars, as the works are, in many cases, simply stunning, and reflect well on the talents of our senior students.
I have continued working for the Hutt Valley Irish Society, as their Secretary, webmaster, publicist, and gopher. Once again, a highlight of the year was running our local Rose of Tralee contest, the winner of which went on to win the National title, and so got a trip to Ireland for the International festival. We have taken on the role of New Zealand for this event, and have now run it for a couple of years, and will continue to do so for the next few years, until we can persuade someone else to take on the mantle.
Thanks to Desiree's arm-twisting, I have also taken on the job of building and maintaining the Art Trust's website. All I have to do, is to get them to confirm some design principles, and provide some content, and we'll be underway.
Despite chronic shaking hand, I am now a keen, talentless photographer. My camera has image stabilisation (yee-haaa!), so the shakes are (often) irrelevant. I am building a library of images which I hope will grace the web sometime in the future.
I have also finally braved the 'networking' web tools, and launched a blog and a photo site to try and keep the rest of the family up-to-date with what we're doing. The model is set by Sarah and Charlotte, so there is some fierce competition.
Sarah
Rose
Sarah and Craig were home for Christmas, as they had commited to attending a friend's wedding.
They returned to London in early January, but the dastardly UK government insisted on shifting the goalposts, so their visa status was in flux. Eventually, they were able to establish that they could qualify for a 5-year visa, much to their delight. The down-side was that they would have to come home, meet the qualification criteria (income level, mainly) and apply from here. So in mid-year that is just what they did.
Craig has got work doing what he's good at - doodling on a CAD application, while Sarah has been temping at various places. She has just started a permanent job at Parliament, which will be good - security of tenure, and more structured and regular work, not to mention pay!
Time will tell what the future will hold for them
Charlotte
Charlotte has disappeared into the wide-blue-yonder.
We miss her.
Jayne
Jayne has had an evenful year. She flew through NCEA Level 1 last year with a grand collection of credits, having performed commendably in both classwork and the external exams. 2008 saw her take on a new subject (Geography - at last a daughter who agreed that Geography was an 'easy' subject!) and continued to focus on her preferred subjects - fashion technology and drama.
The Fashion class created garments and then displayed them in a Fashion Parade. The Drama class, meanwhile, embarked on an ambitious project: a feature-length film. Thes written by the Drama Teacher, Bernard Beckett, filmed and acted by students of HVHS. It was a first-time effort for all concerned. Limbo was the result. And the world premiere brought at least one rave review.
A bout of glandular fever during the year slowed her classwork, and crimped the extra-curricular activities, but it passed, and life resumed it's fulsome pace. Next year promises to be even more demanding, with another movie already in the planning and writing stages, a trip to Christchurch with a short play to be presented, and then the Student Council to be added to the commitments.
The Year End / Holidays
We started 2008 with a week in Ohope, followed by a few days in Auckland so Jayne and friends could go to The Big Day Out.
In October we had a week in Ohope (again! There is a reason. Jayne's boy-friend's family have a bach there so we have spent time facilitating the romance)
This year we will be at home over the Christmas - New Year period, with a week in Taupo booked for early January.
We hope 2009 brings you all - peace, prosperity and contentment.