| You just had to be there! The Hawke’s
Bay conference was a cracker, especially if you ignored the weather which
for some unexplainable reason did its best to make mockery of the sunny
Hawke’s Bay image and caused the Chill Out byline to be somewhat closer
to the mark.
Conference started with a mix and mingle over a few drinks on Wednesday evening at the base venue, the Napier Travel Inn, before the majority decided to invade the Take Five Bar and Brasserie a hundred metres or so along Marine Parade. Good food, good company and the ‘Dutch Tiler’ joke (ask Robert Singleton from Invercargill!) made for a most enjoyable evening. Thursday started with the President’s breakfast which, since being introduced at the Christchurch conference in 1998, seems to now be a firm and popular fixture on the conference programme. The venue for the breakfast and the first day’s business was the Napier War Memorial Centre that offered spectacular views down to Cape Kidnappers in the South. After breakfast the partners departed for wineries, gannet colonies and bus pushing exercises (ask Natalie!) while the members attended the Annual General Meeting of which full minutes are attached and which hold some fine incentives for members and especially chair persons to really get involved. A full read is highly recommended! The AGM also thanked Chris Field for his efforts over the last two years, welcomed aboard as your new President Stan Whitty, with Jo Hulsdouw joining him as Vice President, and created an Honorary Life Member in Ian Smyth of Wellington for outstanding services rendered to apprenticeships and training over the years. After a filling lunch it was trade presentations. The Hawke’s Bay branch had adopted a novel approach to accommodating those who in the past would have been asked to exhibit in a trade show form of presentation. Suppliers were offered the opportunity of making five minute verbal presentations to a captive audience of delegates with their product or display material set up around the venue for the one afternoon only. There was no cost involved in buying display space and the general consensus was that this method worked. A short break after the twelve or so presentations made allowed delegates to more closely inspect goods or quiz suppliers on their products and services and this was followed by Tip Time led by Jeff Harvey from Harvey Signs and Graphics in Ashburton. Tips covered everything from business stationery and electronic communications through to paint and vinyl application and storage with a host of other helpful suggestions coming from the delegates themselves - a truly interactive presentation. Thanks Jeff. At the end of the business sessions delegates made their way back to the motel via The House of Malt ale house where many played pool in practice for Saturday’s pool tournament while others ate their evening meal. From here some, said to be the sensible ones, went back to the motel so as they’d be fresh for the next day’s activities while others disappeared to the Grumpy Mole Saloon a few hundred metres away in search of more youthful pastimes and somewhat louder music, only to reappear the next morning looking somewhat seedy in many cases! Saturday once again dawned somewhat overcast but spirits were high as pretty much everyone had made a supreme effort to get into the swing of things by dressing as requested (HORRENDOUS HAWAIIAN). Rumour has it that many of Napier’s clothing shops had sold right out of floral shirts! Feeling the Chill Out factor got new meaning as ice creams were issued prior to boarding the bus for “The Big Day Out”. A quick tour of the Napier Art Deco commercial
centre with appropriate commentary formed the start of the BDO before heading
towards Hastings and Havelock North via some of Hawke’s Bay’s many orchard
areas. The first stop of the day was at Keirunga Park for champagne,
savouries, local wines, tea and coffee and the opportunity to relive part
of childhood in the scale railway that had some kilometre of track meandering
through the reserve.
It was then onto Te Mata peak for the conference photo. This dictated the use of a smaller buses as the larger one would not have been able to negotiate the tortuous track to the summit on which even attempting to pass in the other direction would have had dire consequences. Once up there the weather turned sunny for a short while yet the wind still enabled us all to Chill Out.  On arrival at Brookfield’s we were greeted by a trad jazz trio who kept us entertained for the best part of the afternoon. The tour party was split into two groups who experienced wine tasting and the various types of Brookfield’s product before lunch. The three course lunch, accompanied by more Brookfield’s product, was certainly appreciated. Most then drifted outside to listen to the jazz or take in a game of pétanque. What else could you possibly do after spending one and a half hours at a famous winery? Visit another one of course! Hence it was back on the buses again for a trip to the Riverside Winery and for one bus, a flying trip to the Mission Estate. More wine tasting with cheese and crackers filled what little space was left in delegates stomachs before everyone re-boarded the buses for the trip back into Napier and the motel via the area that until the 1931 earthquake, formed a huge estuary before the land rose some two metres in a matter of seconds stranding numerous Maoris who were collecting shell fish at the time (according to local legend!). A couple of drinks in the motel house bar and then it was off for a meal, and a further sampling of Napier’s nightlife. Saturday dawned wet and windy again and a huge surf pounded the beach opposite the motel. Saturday was a day for the pool and golf tournaments or a guided city walk taking in some local history and many of the art deco features of central Napier. The pool was ultimately won by Marty Barlett from Hawke’s Bay Signs after a keenly fought series while the golf tournament was taken out by Warren Haakma from Aspect Signs in New Plymouth. Saturday night saw the staging of the fourth annual New Zealand Sign and Display Awards. The evening stared at the Napier Municipal Theatre where the 453 entries had been on display all week. After drinks the first of two buses took guests to the Napier War memorial Centre for what turned out to be a fairly memorable evening. Flying Pictures once again did the awards evening proud with their 3D presentation and spoof on the early monster flicks and our Master of Ceremonies, Brett Routledge, kept us entertained throughout with a constant stream of surprise guests with anecdotes and stories sure to amuse. The evening was rounded off by local six piece group, the John Fletcher band, that featured our very own Joe Atkin thumping the skins and providing a great rendition of Joe Cocker’s Unchained Heart. A full breakdown of Awards winners is included with this newsletter and will be appearing on the web site just as soon as I can get the old round tuit into action. As always a solid thank you to all our sponsors is in order. Keep an eye out for next years event and a new award package that is sure to please. At the evening’s end at 1.00am some choose to party on at a local night spot while others went for a good nights sleep knowing a long drive was in store the following day. The Chill Out Dispirin breakfast saw some seventy odd people packed into the motel’s restaurant for the last official function. Hawke’s Bay branch’s Ross Probert and Murray Wilson made a handful of light hearted awards based on the Farr Cup, which went to Brent Neslon of Neslon Signs for a minor mishap involving a roof, a woman and a car but not involving anyone from OSH (ask Brent!) and some rather nifty wooden awards courtesy of local and new member, Willie Ransfield. The awards were for the golf, the Offence Award which Rob Singleton cleaned up? After pocketing the beer (ask Rob when you check out the Dutch Tiler story!), And the Oops Awards which was jointly awarded to Gerald and Rosie Horton for managing to miss the bus (something about being stuck to the blankets - ask Gerald!). Stan Whitty thanked the Hawke’s Bay branch for putting on a fine conference and requested those presented make the effort to meet again in Queenstown next year for the combined Otago/Southland conference. |