Images of Melbourne PC User Group

George Skarbek

Photo: ‘Social Interaction before lockdown’ by George Skarbek

Photo: ‘Social interaction after lockdown’ by George Skarbek

From left to right the Melb PC members in this photo taken by George Skarbek are:

John Swale – Secretary for 13 years, Windows Plus SIG leader and East Workshop SIG (3D printing), has been on the committee for 22 years and still is.

Dave Botherway – 2 years as President and 2 years as Treasurer. Past manager of our Internet service, Beginners East (BEAST) SIG leader for 15 years and Returning Officer for many years, has been on the committee for 10 years

Kelvin Cording – Multi Media Home entertainment SIG leader, North East Android SIG leader, Hardware SIG leader, North East Android SIG co-convenor, and member of the web design group.

David King – Multi Media Home entertainment SIG leader, has been on the committee for 5 years.

John Hall – Past President, Office Volunteer for 12 years and SIG Leader of multiple SIG Groups (Video, Multimedia etc.) for 20 years, Video production SIG leader for well over a decade, Hardware SIG co-convenor, has been on the committee for 6 years

Frank Maher – Has been the unofficial secretary of East SIG for 21years. Project manager for CIVICRM, has been on the committee for 6 years, 2 years as vice president.

Paul Woolard – Has been a member of East SIG since 1993 and SIG Leader of East since July 2003, has been on the committee for 2 years.

• Five members are Honorary Life Members

All served with me on the committee and our aim was to do the best we could for our members. Everyone had a portfolio and we all worked hard together. Occasionally there were minor differences of opinion but all were amicably resolved. Over a period of many years, this group maintained good stability and guidance for the club.   As a result, we became and remain good friends.

I have been the longest-serving president of Melb PC (5 years), past treasurer, past secretary, past Internet manager, past editor and am the current co-convenor of the Digital Images SIG.

Something that has never been published before is, that as the manager for our Internet service, my industry contacts and technical knowledge of the emergence of trans-Pacific fibre optic cables meant I was, as President, able to negotiate data contracts that saved Melb PC many tens of thousands of dollars over the years our Internet service was growing rapidly in the late 1990s and we had over 11,000 members.

Photo: ‘Digital Imaging SIG meeting face to face after lock down’ by George Skarbek