Roger Wescombe: Adventures in retirement Roger Wescombe was the Executive Officer of the Legal Profession Admission Board for 12 years until his retirement in September 2006. He is a member of the Alumni Management Committee. “The beauty of retirement is the opportunity it provides to do things that were impracticable during a working life. Recently I had the opportunity to teach English near Banda Aceh, on the north-west tip of Sumatra, where the tsunami of 26 December 2004 killed more than 150,000 people. “The project, initiated by the Rotary Club of Lane Cove, was to teach English to English teachers from the areas surrounding Banda Aceh. Our group of six worked under the auspices of the Greater Banda Aceh Department of Education and Rotary Australia World Community Service. “What a wonderful group our students were. There were about 30 of them with an average age of about 30, most being women with only five men in the group. All but one were English teachers in secondary schools. Some rode 125cc motorbikes a considerable distance from urban and rural areas to our classes. “We worked for eight days from 8.30 am to 12.45 pm. Our hosts had studied English mostly from books, and learned from teachers whose experience with spoken English was, in many cases, limited. As a consequence, our understanding of one another’s pronunciation was initially limited. “Much of the best learning, and the most interesting, occurred in optional activities outside class, such as the Rostrum public speaking club. Attendees were encouraged to speak for at least 60 seconds, and were applauded before and after their contribution. “Only some of us had professional training in English teaching, though our hosts’ greatest need was for native speakers to speak English to them. Several members of the Rotary group are now seeking out Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) courses in preparation for future excursions.”
	Greg Ashton In 1992 Greg Ashton commenced employment in the Human Resources (HR) Division of the Department of Courts Administration. Over the next nine years Greg gained a wealth of experience working in HR policy. He left the Department in September 2001 to retire. In October 2005 a situation arose in HR where an expression of interest for six months was advertised to fill the 9/10 Manager Employee Relations position. As no one applied for the position, the HR Director knew that Greg could walk into the position without any problem and so rang and offered him a three-month placement. Greg’s first day had him attending a negotiation with the union regarding an Industrial Relations matter, and his second day involved representing the Department in the Industrial Relations Commission. A restructure was occurring in HR at the time and Greg’s three-month placement extended to 18 months. During this time Greg seamlessly fit into the role and managed the Employee Relations Unit during a difficult time of the restructure and change in HR directors. For the last three months of his employment Greg worked in two other HR units providing his valuable advice and expertise. Greg finally retired (again) in May 2007 and to maintain his link with the Department joined the alumni and is now a valuable member of the Alumni Management Committee. He is keen to assist the alumni in providing opportunities for the Department to use the great resources that are available from retired former employees who want to maintain their link with the Department.
	Justice of the Peace section During 2006, the Justice of the Peace section of the Legal and Community Services Division required data entry skills in order to aid with the recent changes to the Justice of the Peace legislation. The changes to the legislation meant that all Justices of the Peace in NSW had to re-apply for their positions and the establishment of a comprehensive database with Justice of the Peace details was needed. The Justice of the Peace section hired some temporary agency staff to perform the data entry and follow up applications, however there was always a level of uncertainty about how long the temporary staff would stay with the Department. As a result, a former employee (who had retired) was employed on a temporary basis, four days per week, for 12 months, to supplement the work of the agency staff. The manager noted that the former employee was known in the organisation. He was known to have excellent data entry skills and to be very reliable. Another advantage was that there was very little required in terms of training, induction, or system administration that needed to be done before the former employee could work productively. It was also noted that the use of the former employee was very successful and should be encouraged in project-based areas where skill expertise can be identified. This situation is a clear example of how business centre managers can utilise the knowledge and skills of former employees and encourage the sharing of information and skills.

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