A total of 36 persons sat down to lunch on Wednesday 14th. As was arranged, the meeting was held in conjunction with River Press who were launching a new book. The gathering was a very congenial affair made all the better by the excellent meal put on by the Bolton.
Sixteen of our members hosted the publisher, writer, descendants of ships captain, Henry Rose (about whom the book was written) and eight other invitees made up mainly of ex New Zealand Shipping Company sea-going and shore staff.
We were pleased to greet Helen Glyde who, apart from being a direct descendant of Captain Rose, is widow of Jim Glyde who was Warden of the Wellington Branch some 15 years ago. Shortly after that time Jim and Helen moved to live in Hamilton and sadly Jim passed away in March last year.
On welcoming all to the meeting, Eric took the opportunity to say a few words of congratulation and present Nic Campbell with his Certificate of Life Membership. This honour was decided at the AGM of the Company last week.
Nic has been a stalwart member of the Branch for many years and has committed a lot of his time to the production of “On Deck”. Well deserved applause followed.
At the end of the meal and after Carol Dawber (publisher) had introduced herself, a very detailed and at times amusing review of “Driven by the Wind” was given by John Brown.
In the opening sentence of the book there is reference to Mompox where Captain Henry was born. Mompox (pronounced Mompos) is way way up the Magdalena River in Columbia. It is difficult to find even on a modern atlas but someone ( Julian Lillico ?) at the back of the room voiced that he had heard that it was a good run ashore!
The book is well worth reading in recounting the life story of a successful Master Mariner who at one time in his career was Chairman of the Wellington Harbour Board. If you decide you don’t want a copy go to your local library and they will get a copy in.
Attached are photo’s taken at the meeting.
Ken Watt