Dear Friends,
The Court is back and we are all thrilled! The Girl on the Train opens on the 21st of this month and life at The Court is beginning to feel normal again.
Over Easter I was lucky enough to spend a fortnight in Australia with family; this included meeting two new babies and seeing our son from Hong Kong, after a separation of two and a half years. We had a lot to celebrate, as you can imagine. I think normal life may have resumed for me too.
We held our Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Monday 9 May with the election of the committee members and two new Board Trustees. My nine-year term as a Friends’ representative on the Board comes to an end in May, as does David McBrearty’s. We pass on this mantle to two new Friends’ Trustees, Andrea Bankier and Jenny May. Andrea is a consultant with Sheffield, so has had involvement and knowledge of The Court for a long time. Jenny has had been a Friend of the Theatre for 20 years and comes with huge governance experience including the Ravenscar Trust, The Arts Centre, The Christchurch Cathedral and a history of service with Te Papa, Creative New Zealand and The Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, to name but a few. I wish them both all the very best.
I have thoroughly enjoyed my time on the Board, working with so many interesting projects and situations: a change of CEO and management team; the beginning of the long, drawn-out process of creating the new theatre; the destructive Covid era; the 50th Anniversary and many other dilemmas, achievements and celebrations. It has been a privilege to have represented the Friends over this time and I thank you for your confidence in me.
We say goodbye to two members of our Friends Committee, Wendy Carryer and John McSweeney. Wendy has been part of the team for 23 years, most of which she has spent competently running The Court Coffee Bar. She also served as an usher for a number of years. We will really miss this hard-working member of the team who has given so much.
John has served on the Friends Committee for 21 years, with five years as the Chair. He served on the Trust Board for 10 years and the Foundation Board for seven years, has been an usher for 25, overseen the ushers for many years and, last but not least, has
made his famous pikelets for every Opening Night Supper. This has been seen by the Trust Board as ‘exceptional voluntary service’ to the Theatre and they have seen fit to present him with The Court’s highest honour award - John has been made a Fellow of The Court Theatre. He joins John Harrison and Felicity Price as previous recipients of this award. The award was presented at the AGM; congratulations to you, John. We are so immensely proud and grateful for all you have done for the Theatre.
At the same time as these farewells, we welcome on to the committee Raewyn Raynel.
I look forward to seeing you in and around the theatre again and send you good wishes for the winter ahead.
Ngā mihi
Annie
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