International Order of Hoohoo – Winston Cowie Guest Speaker

Winston Cowie was the invited guest speaker at The Auckland Forest Industry Club #248, Jurisdiction IV of the International Order of Hoohoo, on 21 November 2012.

The International Concatenated Order of Hoo-Hoo is one of the world’s oldest service organizations, having been organized in 1892. That it has survived all these years is due to the fact that its members are interested in the welfare and promotion of the forest products industry.

Membership is drawn by invitation from all aspects of the forest products industry. People become members of Hoo-Hoo in their own right, not as representatives of a company or an organization although businesses and organizations often support members in Hoo-Hoo.

Membership is open to people over 18 years old (with some clubs requiring members to be at least 21) who are employed in some aspect of wood-related industries. Members need not be affiliated with a local club where no local club exists and may become members-at-large.

Guest Speaker Bio

Winston Cowie works a dual role as a Senior Environmental Law & Policy professional and Aquatic Science Consultant in GHD’s Environmental and Planning Group, based in Auckland. A qualified lawyer (Otago University), Winston has a Master’s of Science in Environmental Policy from Oxford University, is an experienced scientific diver with over 230 logged dives, and is now a published author. And he is only 29!

The story behind his novel, A Flame Flickers in the Darkness, is almost as interesting as the story itself. A six year odyssey, it begins by candlelight on the family mullet boat at Bayswater Marina (where Winston lived while working as a lawyer at Russell McVeagh) and then progresses to the pubs of Oxford (frequented by JRR Tolkein and CS Lewis) and the coffee shops of Qatar, and then back home to New Zealand with his wife and two young daughters.

Winston was inspired to write the book after reading some history books on the New Zealand Wars. Realising that New Zealand had a fascinating story that wasn’t being taught in schools, Winston’s aim was to make it accessible to all New Zealanders by creating a novel.

For more details, click Hoohoo.

And there are only circa 100 out of 500 copies left of A Flame Flickers in the Darkness, Winston Cowie’s New Zealand historical fiction novel or book based on the New Zealand Wars or Maori Wars or New Zealand Land Wars of the 1860s. You can grab a copy from Whitcoulls, independent bookstores and online on PublishMe and Fishpond.

Cheers

Winnie

(Winston Cowie)

22 November 2012

Blog topics: New Zealand Wars, New Zealand History, New Zealand Land Wars, Maori Wars,  Marine Science and Policy, Fishing (rod and spear), Surfing, Maori Wars, Diving, Rugby, Underwater Heritage, Tramping, Winston Cowie, Tuatara, Oxford University Rugby Football Club.