New Treasurer For Organiser Account
Warren Brewer Replaces Bob Leonard
- Murray Horton
As noted in the CAFCA AGM Minutes elsewhere in this issue, the February 22nd earthquake meant that long time CAFCA/ABC Organiser Account Treasurer Bob Leonard and his wife Barbara had to immediately evacuate their severely damaged hill suburb home and permanently move to Wellington. CAFCA Committee member Warren Brewer stepped in and replaced Bob as Treasurer of the Account. Warren took over in unprecedented circumstances and was hampered by a lack of basic data (rendered inaccessible by earthquake damage and by Bob’s abrupt departure). Warren has had to spend a considerable amount of time on Organiser Account business, getting signatories replaced and reconstructing data (Bob was not the only one who left Christchurch. Anti Bases Campaign has also lost Doug Craig from its Committee, and as a signatory for the Organiser Account. Doug, like Bob, had to become an earthquake refugee. In his case he has permanently moved back to Nelson but, unlike Bob, remains a “distance” member of the ABC Committee).
I would just like to reiterate my personal thanks to Bob, who was a close friend and colleague for the best part of 30 years. Not only was he my oldest and closest ABC and Peace Researcher colleague but, as Organiser Treasurer, he was also my paymaster from 1993-2011 inclusive (the change to Warren Brewer means that the Organiser Account goes from being an agenda item at every ABC Committee meeting to now being one at every CAFCA Committee meeting). Bob was also an active CAFCA member for decades, attending the AGM virtually every year (he presented that Organiser Account Annual Reports at AGMs right up until 2010) and regularly helping out at Watchdog mailouts.
These are not the circumstances under which Becky and I, and the CAFCA and ABC committees, and all of his Christchurch friends and colleagues wanted to say goodbye to Bob. But I console myself with the memory that in 2010, which turned out to be Bob’s last year in Christchurch, we became even closer friends than ever and spent a lot of time socialising. Prescient, as it turned out. That’s why I chose the photo that illustrates this article in the hard copy edition – it was taken in our home, when Bob visited Becky and me with his daughter Andra (who was over from the States). It was taken on February 18th. Just four days later the February 22nd earthquake changed everything for Bob (and Barbara). With the 20/20 vision of hindsight, that’s how I want to remember the decades that we spent together – as close friends, relaxed, smiling and happy.
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