22 October 2010 Intervarsity alumni golf match Cambridge vs Oxford

It was a beautiful day at Royal Sydney Golf Club (RSGC), ranked 15^th in Australia and a suitable venue for the second annual intervarsity alumni golf match.  Fifteen players turned out, eight from Cambridge.  Hence one Oxford player ended up playing two matches against Cambridge opponents. 

Royal Sydney requires that for each four-ball a member of RSGC be present and Cambridge was able to supply four RSGC members, but then RSGC is Sydney’s most prestigious golf club so this is to be expected.  Some might regard this as giving Cambridge too much home advantage but others would consider it as perspicacious captaincy.

For Cambridge, Peter Young and Daryl Dixon were the first pair off playing against Murray Tobias and Robert Lawrie.  Both won their matches (4&3, 5&3) giving Cambridge a flying start of 2-0.  The second four-ball of Andrew Soddy and John Keniry versus Robert Gilchirst and Julian Walter was split.  Andrew (RSGC member) won a very close match 1 up but John unfortunately was narrowly defeated 3&2.  Cambridge was now leading 3-1.  In the next hit off John Levisholm of Oxford played two matches, one against Malcolm Young (RSGC member) and Chris Golis (Captain).  Chris maintained his perfect record of losing every match he has played so far going down 6&5 while Malcolm and John played an absolute humdinger with the lead never going more than 1up and Malcolm draining a 3 metre (no make it 4 it gets longer with every passing day) putt to halve the match.  Cambridge was now leading 3½-2½.  The final four-ball of Chris Abbot (RSGC member) and Russell Lyons against the Oxford combination of Peter Abelson (Captain) and John Garvey was again split, Chris winning 3&2 but Russell losing 3&1.  Thus the final result was a win to Cambridge 4½-3½.  We then all retired for a superb meal in the Royal Sydney Club house.  Peter Young had done an excellent job and as the wine flowed, the drives got longer, the bunkers deeper and putts even more awesome.



14 October 2010 The Ray Hughes Gallery "Young Artists of Australia"

Thirty members and guests assembled for drinks in the main gallery, while gently perusing artistic oeuvres collectively titled “Young Artists of Australia”.  As noted by Deputy Chairman – Chris Dawson, a highlight was the ‘Jasperware’ Wedgewood inspired blue enamel toilet with white overlay.  It was remarked that the authenticity was such that... ‘Josiah, the great man himself, would not seem out of place roosting there, Sunday Papers in hand’. 

Bacchus smiled as we later gathered for a ‘Sumptous Feast’ in the 2nd Floor Gallery. A delicious healthy meal and copious fine wines were enjoyed by all, while seated around a long banqueting table surrounded by vibrant Chinese works.  Ray Hughes retired early due to toothache, but Trinity College educated son and heir apparent Evan introduced our speaker John McDonald, the Sydney Morning Herald Art Critic.  John entertained a Q&A style discussion to provide a fascinating insight into the life of the Art Critic, and the challenges associated with pronouncing on good, bad and indifferent works.  Lavish praise was heaped upon Ray Hughes’ established reputation for uncovering and nurturing genuine artistic talent in the gallery.   The evening was heralded as a triumph by all who attended, and will remain an annual CAMSOC event. 



29 September 2010 Lunch with Rob Murray, CEO Lion Nathan National Foods

There are millions of blogs on leadership and the role of a CEO but rarely do you hear a CEO in person expounding on his role.  Normally they are spruiking the company or speaking on the latest organisation issue such as gender diversity.  On 29 September 2010 the Cambridge Society of NSW hosted a lunch for Rob Murray at the Union, University and Schools Club.  

Rob Murray is the Chief Executive Lion Nathan National Foods(LNNF) which employs close to 8,000 people across Australia and New Zealand and delivers revenues in excess of AU$5.6 billion.  LNNF is Australia’s largest dairy and fruit juice company, and a major brewer in Australia and New Zealand.  Brands include icons such as Berri, Dairy Farmers, XXXX, Tooheys, Hahn, Speights, Steinlager, King Island, Petaluma, etc.  Rob Murray is probably the most successful Cambridge alumnus (Trinity) working in Sydney today and kindly agreed to speak. 

The lunch operated under Chatham House Rules and because Rob had generously supplied copious amounts of two excellent wines from the Lion Nathan cellars, a Petaluma Riesling and a Stonier Pinot Noir, the conversation flowed freely.  In particular the audience found his answer to question What do CEOs actually do? particularly interesting.  I was able to post a blog about his answer because it is in the public domain.

In passing the funniest moment of the lunch was when Rob began by saying that he could only work in an industry where people paid cash for useful products and not parasitic industries like law and investment banking.  This of course eliminated 17 of the 18 guests present, and then the remaining guest asked somewhat plaintively, “I suppose that includes psychologists?”

Rob replied in his Geordie accent and a beaming smile, “Of course.”



30 August 2010 Visit of Trinity College Choir

As part of their nation wide visit to Australia the Trinity College Choir sang in the Angel Place Concert Hall on Monday, 30 August 2010 which included a group of 30 Camsoc NSW supporters sitting in the premium seats.  The supporters met in a private and intimate bar and were treated to an interesting pre-concert talk.  After an excellent concert which was enthusiastically applauded by the capacity audience, key members of the touring party were treated to a dinner hosted in the one restaurant open in the Sydney CBD on a Monday night, The Athenian.

Thursday 19th August 2010: CAMSOC Winterfeast 2010: The Great Crimes of Cambridge

Cambridge has been the scene of famous murders that gripped not just the town but the whole nation, ranging from to the unsolved murder of Cambridge shopkeeper Alice Lawton to the murder of a 15-year-old drummer boy whose ghost haunted the killer and drove him to confess.  Cambridge has also been the setting for various detective novels such as the Matthew Bartholomew mediaeval mysteries by Susanna Gregory.  The world’s greatest detective, Sherlock Holmes, before moving to 221B Baker Street, attended Sidney Sussex College in the early 1870s. 

Over 120 attended a winterfeast held at the Royal Sydney Golf Club to hear Professor Barry Maitland talkl about the The Great Crimes of Cambridge.  Professor Maitland studied architecture at Trinity College and In 1984 he moved to Australia to head the architecture school at the University of Newcastle in New South Wales, and held that position until 2000.

However it is as a writer of detective fiction that Professor Maitland has gained world-wide fame.  In particular he is the author of the acclaimed Brock and Kolla series of crime mystery novels.  The Brock and Kolla novels were among the first in contemporary crime fiction to feature a male-female police team as the central characters, playing complementary roles in the resolution of their cases.  His novels are celebrated for their strong sense of place and atmosphere due in part to his architectural background. 

Professor Maitland began by describing the two great crimes when he was at Cambridge as the food and the plumbing.  He then went on to describe some of the great crime writers who have based their novels in Cambridge including Alison Bruce and Susanna Gregory, the pseudonym of Elizabeth Cruwys, a Cambridge academic who was previously a coroner's officer. Susanna is noted for her series of mediaeval mysteries featuring Matthew Bartholomew, a teacher of medicine and investigator of murders in 14th-century Cambridge

However according the Professor Maitland the greatest crime at linked  Ludwig Wittgenstein, Aldolf Hitler, Kim Philby and Guy Burgess.