2019-20 Annual Report Final - Flipbook - Page 88
TAS CFA President’s Report
The Tasmanian CFA Committee has
spent the year ‘recovering’ from
the organisation of the National
Convention. CFA Tasmania wishes
to thank outgoing President, Philip
Thompson for his nearly seven
years guiding the CFA in Tasmania,
and especially in chairing the
Convention Organising Committee.
The 2019 Committee welcomed
several enthusiastic new members
to their fold and was keen to
organise a number of activities
aimed at assisting returning Fellows
reach a wider audience with their
reports, spreading word of the Trust
and hopefully raising some funds.
Unfortunately, most of this work
has come to nought at this stage
with the COVID-19 crisis, but some
exciting plans have been shelved
until life returns to ‘normal’ in the
future.
One of the highlights of the past
year was the awarding of our
Association’s first Fellowship – a
result of the hard work associated
with organising the National
Convention. We were delighted
to see a Fellowship awarded
to Faina Iligoga to enable her
to travel overseas to study
memorials to genocide victims
in various countries, with a view
to establishing one in Hobart
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2019-20 Annual Report
in memory of the victims in her
home country of Rwanda. Our
Committee aims to raise sufficient
funds to enable our CFA to award a
Fellowship every second year.
Last year we were delighted to see
a record 10 Fellowships awarded
to Tasmanians. We were again
privileged to hold our award
ceremony for new Fellows at
Government House where Her
Excellency, the Governor, Professor
Kate Warner AC, presented the
awards and also the medallions to
returning Fellows.
The annual dinner followed the
awards presentation, where all
Fellows’ had the opportunity to
learn about the new Fellows’ hopes
and plans, and also to hear the
fascinating stories and findings
from our returning Fellows. A
surprise highlight of this evening
was the special presentation from
the Winston Churchill Memorial
Trust Board to our long serving
Secretary and CFA TAS stalwart,
Patricia Corby, of a framed botanical
painting of the ‘Churchill’ rose in
recognition of her service to the
Trust.
Many Fellows have continued to
make significant contributions
during the year. One of the exciting
new projects that have come to
fruition as a result of her Fellowship
was Hazel MacTavish-West’s
(CF 2017) launch of her “Seedlab”
project.
“Seedlab Tasmania” is a new
two-year project aimed at helping
Tasmanian start up food, drink,
agri-food and agri-tourism
businesses become export ready.
Great news too that Travis Tiddy
(CF 2010) and his team were
awarded a $375,000 government
grant to host (COVID-19 permitting)
the ‘West Coast Unconformity
Festival’ 16th-18th October.
Another amazing achievement
was Chief Fire Officer and Artist
Chris Arnol (CF 2007) mounted an
impressive catalogue of his works
‘Behind the Scenes’ at an exhibition
highlighting the work of firefighters
in recent times that received much
deserved recognition.
With all the disruption to returning
and departing Fellows caused
by the COVID-19 virus, it will be a
challenging year ahead for many,
and the Association in Tasmania
stands ready to assist Fellows
wherever possible.
Robert Parker CF
President TAS CFA