Friends
of the Turnbull Library

Officers and Committee


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The Friends of the Turnbull Library

Officers and Committee 2007-2008

President
Mrs Rachel Underwood

Secretary
Mrs Angela Hill

Treasurer
Ms Sheila Williams

Committee Members
Mr Robin Anderson
Mr Tony Cross
Mrs Kate Fortune
Dr Don Gilling
Ms Janet Horncy
Mr James Mayo
Dr Brian Opie
Mr Rhys Richards
Dr Robin Skinner

Contact the Friends

Communications should be addressed to
The Secretary
The Friends of the Turnbull Library
PO Box 12-186
Wellington, New Zealand
Phone (+64 4) 479-5580
email: Click here to email the Secretary

The Committee

Rachel Underwood joined the Friends of the Turnbull Committee in 1987 and has been President since September 1996, when Ray Grover retired. Rachel trained as a Registered Nurse at Wellington Hospital, married David Underwood and had a family of four. Later she completed a BA at Victoria University and a Diploma in Teaching and worked as teacher-librarian for some years. She is President of the Downstage Theatre Society and has also chaired the Board of Governors of Wellington High School.

Robin Anderson has been a member of the Friends since he was 18 and joined the Friends of the Turnbull committee in 2002. Robin is the Librarian at the Wellington District Law Society. He has been President of the New Zealand Law Librarians' Association and Wellington Regional Chair of Lianza (Library and Information Association of New Zealand). His interests include good food and wine, history, classical music, architecture, railways, town planning and maps, mystery stories and science fiction.

Tony Cross is possibly a unique member in that he took out Life membership of the Friends when he was 21 (we no longer offer this facility). His day job involves working as a private banker in the Bank of New Zealand. He joined the Friends of the Turnbull Committee in 1993, and was Treasurer from 1998 to 2003.

Kate Fortune accompanied husband Graham Fortune on diplomatic postings while continuing to maintain an involvement with books and publishing. After becoming administrator at the NZ Book Council (1977-80), she was Director of Booksellers NZ (1980-87) and later worked for Allen & Unwin and Bridget Williams Books. She was Publications Coordinator, National Library of Australia (1994-96) and was co-editor of The Pacific Islands: An Encyclopedia (2000). Kate joined the Committee in 2002, was Treasurer (2004-07) and now edits Off The Record and the FoTL newsletters.

Dr Donald Gilling is a consultant specialising in public finance and the economics of education. He taught for 25 years at universities in Australia, England and New Zealand, and for nine years was Professor of Accounting and Finance at the University of Waikato. For seven years he was a member of the Public Sector Accounting Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in New Zealand. Don joined the Friends of the Turnbull Committee in 2000.

Angela Hill has worked in office environments and most recently at Newztel. Newztel monitored all parliamentary speeches and also radio broadcasts of a political nature, the scripts of which were frequently used as evidence in the law courts. She has been involved for many years in the Onslow Historical Society and her latest "hat" is the Te Horo Oral History group, gathering and transcribing local history. Angela joined the Friends of the Turnbull Committee in 1993 and has served as Secretary ever since.

Janet Horncy, a former staff member at the Turnbull, started work at the National Library Service in January 1957, joined the Alexander Turnbull Library in 1971, and retired from the position of Reader Education Librarian there in August 2005. She was Secretary of the Friends of the Turnbull from 1980 to 1984, and re-joined the Committee in 2005.

Jim Mayo is an Auckland businessman, head of the Mayo Group which imports and distributes mounting systems for flat panel television, audio and video systems, as well as a range of radios and cables. He is an active Rotarian whose interests include motor sports and cars (he is a life member of the Bruce McLaren Trust Supporters Club). He is also a member of the NZ Historic Places Trust. He travels to Wellington frequently and has maintained a long-standing interest in the Turnbull Library. Jim joined the Friends of the Turnbull in 1973 and joined the Committee in 2004.

Dr Brian Opie is a Senior Lecturer in the School of English, Film, Theatre and Media Studies of Victoria University of Wellington, and is executive director (and former president) of The Council for the Humanities/Te Whainga Aronui. Brian has an MA (Victoria) and a PhD (Edinburgh), and has researched and published on the poetry of William Golder (1810-1876) for the History of Print Culture in New Zealand. Brian is a former president of the Friends of the Turnbull Committee (1990-1996), having first joined the Committee in 1986. He is also a Trustee of the Alexander Turnbull Library Endowment Trust.

Rhys Richards is an independent researcher, mainly in Pacific maritime history before 1850 and lately in Pacific arts and artefacts. A member of the Friends of the Turnbull Committee since 2000, he likes to feel he can represent library users. He is constantly astonished at the depth and breadth of the ATL collections.

Dr Robin Skinner is a Lecturer at the School of Architecture and Design at Victoria University of Wellington, where he teaches courses in history, Pacific architecture and research methods alongside the third year design studio. His PhD (from Victoria) surveyed commentary on New Zealand architecture. Robin has previously taught in design at the University of Otago, and has researched and published on aspects of New Zealand architectural history. Robin joined the Friends of the Turnbull Committee in 2006.

Sheila Williams worked at the Turnbull Library for 28 years and then lectured in cataloguing and bibliography in the Library and Information Programme at Victoria University of Wellington. She is an honorary life member of the Library and Information Association of New Zealand (Lianza). The logo used by the Friends was designed as a book label by Sheila's grandfather, Bishop Herbert Williams, at the invitation of his friend, Alexander Turnbull. Sheila joined the Friends of the Turnbull Committee in 1993 and became treasurer in 2007.

Friends of the Turnbull Library 2008