History

2011 June - Earthquakes

Following the three major earthquakes, our historic landmark building called the Cranmer Centre was demolished in June. It is now a vacant section with the exception of the concrete block building at its rear called the "Pool Room" which was the changing rooms to the swimming pool when the Christchurch Girls High School own the site. SeniorNet Mac has leased the "Pool Room" for the last 8 years. Below are two photos which will become history.

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The Cranmer Centre and the Pool Room

2011 May - Life Membership

Two new life memberships were awarded. The first one was to our editor of our infoletter. Shirley Schmidli has been our editor since June 2004. The society has been fortunate in having a high standard newsletter. Shirley has kept us on a tight reign with deadlines and accuracy.

The second life membership was to our president Barbara Blowes. Barbara took over the this position in July 2003 following the death of Russell Henwood our first president. She has the ability of making meetings fun and still managing gentle control. Her constant bating of Barry Clark at our social meetings is much fun and quite amusing to first time members. Barbara is very much with new technology and has given SeniorNet Mac much pride.

 

2011 February - The Earthquake

Our patron Murray Wood was killed in the CTV building on the 22nd of February. Murray was a foundation member of our society and has been our patron since 2001. Murray was also the Patron of the Apple Users Group of Canterbury and was at one time on their committee.

2010 December - Civic Award

Our Vice president Allan Rutherford received a Civic Award from Mayor Bob Parker for services to Adult Education and Computer Literacy.

2010 November

Three Foundation members were awarded certificates of Merit - They were

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From left to right - Gerry Constable (First Treasurer), Kathy Whittaker (First Secretary) and Sally Tripp (First President)

2010 May - June

Three members were awarded certificates of Merit - They were

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From left to right - Dick Mapp, Barbara Blowes and Margaret Harvey

2009 August

2009 May
We had a record attendance of sixty at our AGM

2009 January
We shifted to the seventy Seven Club & Bar for our Social Meetings

2008 May
Life Membership was presented to Tom Mitchell

 

Tom was a foundation member who has been active ever since as a committee member as well as having been a course convener, but more importantly, he has been the writer of our courses in recent years.

 

Five other members were awarded certificates of Merit - They being. . . . . . . . . . . .

From let to right - Annette Golding, Reg Dalley, Austin Hadler, Shirley Schroeder and Mike Holliday
They had all given outstanding service during the last seven years

2008 February
Saw the beginning of our increasing membership which has maintain its progression ever since.

2007 November
Three Workshop Schools each of a week duration were conducted as Summer, Autumn and Spring Schools each with a central theme and providing 30 workshops for members.

2007 May
Life memberships were presented to

Allan Rutherford and Brian Henderson for outstanding contribution to SeniorNet Mac.

2006 March
We now have our own Sound suite whereby members can convert sound (LP's or Tapes) into digital form and burn them on CD's or DVD's

2006 January Summer School Workshops
Provided 22 workshops, two per day over two weeks. A large attendance of members took part.

2005 November
We purchased a new G5 iMac, Video/CD/DVD rendering equipment, Adobe Creative Suite and a TV set.

2005 January
Summer School providing 20 workshops, two per day for two weeks with 43 members and associated members attending.2004 December Associated membership was introduced allowing interested Apple Macintosh computer users younger than 55 years to join and share all the facilities and benefits of SeniorNet Mac apart from voting rights.

2004 November
MAC Bulletin Board was established to provide an internal resource for information and communication within membership.

2003 August
We created our own web site as a information gateway to SeniorNet Mac for internet users.

2003 July
Our SeniorNet committee chairman Russell Henwood passed away suddenly Russell was a very active force in the forming of SeniorNet Mac and he will be sadly missed at the head of our committee table.
Phil and Win Waterhouse, Distance Learners from Auckland donated a memorial clock for our premises in memory of Russell.2003 June Agreement with Aoraki Polytechnic was signed. This association provides funding assistance for courses and workshops together with tutorial support.

2003 April
Our organization relocated from room104 to the ground floor of "The Pool house" in the Cranmer Centre at 32 Armagh Street in Christchurch.

2003 February
We carried out promotional Advertising on the CTV3 "Good Living programme.2002 June The distant Learning Program was conceived and initiated. This service provides tuition and support for users of Apple Macintosh computers who are unable to attend classes at our learning centre in Christchurch. Since its inception, tuition has been given to more than 50 students ranging from Whangarei in the north to Queenstown in the south and from Napier in the east to New Plymouth in the west, in all completing more than 100 courses.

2002 May
Shared a promotional stand with the Apple User Group of Canterbury at the Apple Road show in Christchurch.2002 May First AGM held at the Casino. Light lunch provided for attending members.

2001 February
SeniorNet Mac was incorporated in as a voluntary organization with the aim of providing computer tuition and support for users of Apple Macintosh computers.

2000 December
Allan Rutherford called a meeting of interested parties for the purpose of establishing a SeniorNet group for adults 55 years and over, to provide computer tuition for users of Apple Macintosh computers. Those attending the initial meeting were Grant Sidaway (Telecom & representing SeniorNet) Murray Wood and Chris Chauh (both local Macintosh retailers), Gerry Constable, Annette Golding, Austin Hadler, Brian Henderson, Russell Henwood, Ian Orchard, Eugene McNeill, Sally Tripp, Kathy Whittaker (acting secretary). Apologies from Tom Mitchell, Graham Penwell, and John Hirtzell.

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