Alumni News June 2022
A round up of Alumni News from our June Explorer newsletter.
Annika Andresen (Antarctic Youth Ambassador in partnership with Blake Trust and Antarctica New Zealand 2016) recently started a new role as Marine Projects Manager at Inkfish and is undertaking an expedition to the Kermadec Islands with Ngāti Kuri and Auckland Museum.
Catherine Vogt (Young Inspiring Explorer 2021) has been selected for the role of Deputy Head Girl at her school.
Ben Gluyas (Young Inspiring Explorer 2021) spent a week as a volunteer hut warden, alongside his mother, at Lake Angelus Hut in Nelson Lakes National Park, walking in via theRobert Ridge Route.
David Woodings (Inventory Manager 1990s) recently moved from Christchurch to Winchester and opened a new studio and art gallery there, Woodings at Winchester, in a repurposed local church.
Emily Wilson’s (Inspiring Explorer 2021) summer of exploring has included, coming fifth in the Longest Day of the Kathmandu Coast to Coast (World Multisport Championship event), competing in the GodZone multiday adventure race, with her team finishing in fifth place, and working with young people while sailing with the Spirit of Adventure Trust.
It’s now 10 years since Falcon Scott (Grandson of Captain Robert Falcon Scott) helped with the Trust’s work on his grandfather’s hut at Cape Evans in the summer of 2011-12. In the austral summers since he has worked as a historian for Quark Expeditions on their trips to the Antarctic Peninsula and South Georgia. In 2014-15 Falcon took his wife, daughter, and two sons to the Peninsula, becoming only the second family to have had four generations in Antarctica (after the Ronnes). Falcon has also worked for One Ocean Expeditions, Polar Latitudes, and Poseidon Expeditions. He continues to run a holiday lodge business on an island in Argyll, on the West Coast of Scotland, and continues building houses for people locally in Argyll.
After leaving Antarctica, Fiona McLaughlan (Conservator 2007) returned to the United Kingdom to her role at the Royal Armouries in Leeds. She then joined the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge as a Conservator during the museum redevelopment. A job opportunity at the Toitū Otago Settlers Museum in Dunedin came up and Fiona and her husband relocated to New Zealand in 2011.
Isis McKenzie (Young Inspiring Explorer 2021) has been selected for the role of Head Girl at her School.
James Blake (Inspiring Explorer 2015) welcomed a new addition to the family in August 2021, a girl named Bonnie.
Lynn Campbell (Conservator 1990-91 and 1992-93) is a member of the Canterbury Disaster Salvage Team, which provides training and advice to cultural and heritage institutions on disaster planning and response. She has presented at a conservator’s conference in Reykjavík, Iceland, on disaster preparedness and at a conference in Croatia (presenting a digital paper online) about the response to the 2010-11 earthquakes in Christchurch.
Owain John (Inspiring Explorer 2020) is settling into a new role at Philanthropy New Zealand, where he has supported the launch of a new service to help both those seeking, and distributing, philanthropic funding. Called Match | Te Puna Taurite, the service aims to provide a more equitable, accessible and collaborative funding system and more easily connect those with funds to those that seek them.
Phillipa Durkin (Conservator 2007) is still working as a private conservator with a studio in Wellington, as well as running an accommodation business ‘Waihora Homestead’, in Martinborough.
Pip Cheshire (Conservation Architect) has been teaching (via Zoom) at the University of Auckland Architecture School as a visiting Design Tutor, and writing a regular column for Architecture New Zealand Magazine. Pip has also been the subject of a one-hour documentary, ‘Design Dreams’, which was shown on Prime TV in New Zealand in November 2021.
Sam Macdonald (Young Inspiring Explorer 2020) was accepted on the inaugural Building Awesome Young Men (BAYM) trip, a traverse of the Southern Alps over three days. “We started going up the Deception Pass to Goat Pass Hut. The next day we went down the Mingha River. We then stayed in Arthurs Pass then rafted the Waimakariri River to Toby Hill Station, then then biked from Rolleston back to school to a big crowd of parents,” said Sam.
Win Clark (Trust Structural Engineer) continues to be involved in providing structural engineering advice, assessments and retrofit design solutions for owners of heritage buildings. Win says, “The challenge of finding structural solutions for heritage buildings is fascinating as you develop an understanding of the heritage values, structural forms and needs of the building to achieve longevity. It is significant to not only find an appropriate structural solution, but also a solution that has minimal, or no discernible effect on the heritage values. The trick is to identify the inherent structural capacity of the building and how this capacity can be enhanced to achieve desired outcomes.” Win is working on completing a wind loading assessment for the Borchgrevink hut site at Cape Adare, and a structural report on retrofit details for the two main huts at Cape Adare.
