View Chambers
Bruce S. Chambers Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit
[Bruce and Sally Chambers at Rangatira’s 50th Anniversary Ball in 2009]
Bruce, along with Don Yallop, conceived the idea of forming a new ski club in 1958. Bruce became the driving force of the club’s formation and was the first President of Rangatira in 1959.
Bruce’s interest in the more remote regions of New Zealand stem from his days at King’s College when he was involved in bird-watching expeditions to Little Barrier Island, Big Chicken and the Miranda coastline in the Firth of Thames. After leaving school, bird study trips were replaced by compulsory military training. At Auckland University he joined the Field Club and was involved in study trips to the Auckland West Coast, Coromandel and a three week research party on Poor Knights Islands.
In succeeding holidays he joined both club tramps and private tramping expeditions to the South Island, to the Holyford and Greenstone Valleys, the Routeburn Track, and made visits to the Milford and Tasman Glaciers, Mt Cook, the Nelson Lakes National Park and a major club trip from the Fox Glacier to Martin’s Bay and Queenstown down the South Island West Coast. In the North Island there were trips to the Tongariro and Urewera National Parks - it was during a trip to the latter that they re-discovered a fortified Maori pa with some palisading still in existence. Bruce’s photographs of this pa are now held in the official historical files. He was also responsible for a small party into the Ureweras in an endeavour to evaluate reports of possible sightings of the Huia.
As well as these outdoor activities, Bruce played indoor basketball for University, and it was at a joint University basketball and ski club coffee evening that he was introduced to the world of skiing. As membership at the University Ski Club was largely confined to students, Bruce sought permanent membership in another ski club, but with so few ski clubs in operation in the 1950s, membership was restricted. It was at that stage that he and a few other keen skiers decided to form their own club. He wrote to the Tongariro National Park Board to determine the method obtaining a site. There were two essentials - one cash, the other 100 members affiliated to the Federated Mountain Clubs association. To achieve the membership total Auckland University Ski Club members were canvassed and a Commerce degree class provided additional people - envelopes were addressed during lectures to potential club members! Advertisements were placed in newspapers, and Jaycee friends joined up.
Bruce always considers that the formative years of the club and its building programme were a team effort, and the club only achieved its goal because of the excellent support the members gave their leaders. Most members of the club were involved in organising, planning, building, transporting, and a host of other jobs, and it was a team effort that ensured that the lodge would be finished and opened in a six month period. As one of the founders of Rangatira, Bruce was elected the club’s first President and held the position for three years; he was then on the committee until 1967.
Whilst serving Rangatira, Bruce was concurrently secretary of the Auckland Associated Mountain Clubs, the Auckland Search and Rescue team and for eight or more years served on the Ruapehu Ski Patrol. was also secretary of the Ruapehu Mountain Clubs Association. This organisation protects the interests of clubs in the Tongariro National Park by negotiating their rights, bed levies and other important issues that affect the clubs and their members. He also edited the magazine for this association for some years.
Bruce was a partner in the accountancy practice of Chambers, Worth and Chambers which, after a series of mergers, became the Auckland office of the International Accountancy firm Grant Thornton. He married Sally McLaughlin who was also a member, and they have three daughters, Ann, Kristen and Gillian. All were club members and were part of the club junior coaching programme. School sports resulted in fewer weekends available for skiing.
In the summer Bruce spent time windsurfing and playing tennis. He also cycle raced in Auckland and served on the cycle club committee for a number of years. He used that knowledge when he competed in triathlon in the mid eighties and was elected to the national association as a delegate and also as treasurer. He continued triathlon racing until 1999, when other commitments gave little time for training and racing. He had been appointed to the new technical commission in 1988, the purpose of the commission is to monitor the rules and ensure fair racing. As some of the rules could not be monitored, he was part of a tem that reviewed the national Competition Rules and the new rules were later adopted. He was race director at a number of triathlon and duathlon events. He was appointed Technical Director of the Commission in 1994 and was then appointed an International Technical Official. In this role he was a referee at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, the 2001 Goodwill Games in Brisbane, the South Pacific Games in Suva in 2003 where he was also the technical overseer of the event and the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games.
Retiring from accountancy in 2000, he found time to work as a mark layer for both Louis Vuitton Cup races as a prelude to the two Americas Cup races in Auckland. This involved plotting the co-ordinates for placing the marker buoys for the racing yachts to sail around. He also spent much time mountain bike racing in the forests, and since 2003 has been actively working with Corrections Department work crews on building a mountain bike and BMX park at Whitianga on the Coromandel Peninsula. He finds off-road riding safer than the roads these days.
In recognition of Bruce’s great contribution to many sporting bodies and activities, in particular triathlons, he was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2010 New Year Honours List.
What time remains is spent with Sally and the grandchildren, some of who are already trying to ski.