The Manager’s Message
By Lieutenant Commander Allen Mortimer, RNZN
Naval Community Organisation Manager
It never ceases to amaze me how we can successfully meet challenges that put the RNZN and the NCO in a good light through great preparation, organisation and coordination. Recently there have been two occasions that have demonstrated this.
Firstly at the children’s camp at the Tamaki Leadership Centre (Whangaparaoa), I over heard a young child wishing that she could have had her friend join her, but unfortunately their parents were not in the navy. After a short discussion, she did go on to say that she had made some good friends during the enjoyable week of activities.
The children’s camp is one event where the navy and the NCO can arrange a happy and challenging occasion for all to enjoy. It does take effort, but we are pleased that we can do this as it gives event balance to our navy children. Some have had to put up with having either their mother or father deployed for part of the year on one of our ships or peacekeeping. To see the pleasure on the faces of children after experiencing their first ride on the flying fox is something to behold.
Secondly, the Navy Open day was taken advantage of by thousands of Aucklander’s. It gave serving members a great opportunity to show off the navy; something that doesn’t happen very often. It was really heartening to see so many people enjoying themselves at the naval base in the Auckland sun. There will be many a story for children to talk about and the experience may have sown a seed for future recruitment into the senior Service.
Again – eavesdropping! I heard a man saying that he had been in St Christopher’s Chapel forty five years ago, but had no memory of it. This was because he at the time was an infant being christened. His father and uncle were in the navy but he had joined the NZ Army, however he always had the desire to see the place where he had been christened. The Navy Open day gave him this opportunity, as he had gone into the church to shelter from the only heavy shower of rain that day.
We are taking a breath in November to prepare for the main event of the year - the Children’s Christmas Party, where tickets will go on sale 15 November. This does not mean that there isn’t a planned event for the Naval Community this month. We have the Girl’s Sailing Weekend on the 20 and 21 November and we are anticipating that there will be up to eight participants. We hope that the weather conditions will be ideal and I believe our Commanding Officer’s daughter is one of the contenders.
It’s nice to be able to enjoy the longer evenings now and until next month please take care.