Lloyd Borrett - About - People Helping People - people are people through people...

People Helping People

I've always been active in helping people to help each other. After all... "People are people through people." And, as anyone who gets actively involved in such activities learns, you get back much more that you put in. Some of my activities over the years have included:

Spartans Basketball Club

At the tender age of 17, I took on the job of secretary of the Spartans Basketball Club in Whyalla, South Australia. I also played in the A-grade side, coached the under-16s and C-grade teams and was an active referee. My younger brother, Kym "Stork" Borrett, played in the NBA for the Adelaide 36ers and for Australia.

Audio Recording Engineer

For a year or so I spent most of my weekends and many evenings in a small 8-track recording studio. Engineering demo tapes for bands was fun, especially if they could tune their instruments! But it was simply fabulous to work with some of the leading session musicians as the recording engineer and/or producer of many commercial recordings. I have some tapes stashed away that would cause severe embarrassment to some of Australia's top musicians (e.g. Vince Jones).

Magazine Columnist

Some early Australian PC users may remember me from the first "Your IBM Computer" column in Your Computer magazine back in 1983, or later as a columnist for Today's Computer magazine. I was also editor and main contributor for the Melbourne PC User Group magazine PC Update in its early years. I have also written for a few other prominent publications from time to time.

PC Connection Australia

I started Australia's first MS/PC-DOS based Bulletin Board System in 1984 on an original IBM PC with 256KB of RAM, a 10MB hard disk drive and a Sendata 300 baud modem. Over time, PC Connection Australia grew into a multiuser system supporting 12 lines at 9600 baud and over 2,500 regular paying users. (For someone who's been into PC communications for so long, I was a bit late coming to the Internet and the World Wide Web in 1995.)

Melbourne PC User Group

Many Victorian's may know me as the founder and inaugural President of the Melbourne PC User Group

, the largest such group in the world. The growth of this group has been amazing. Some 60 people attended the first meeting at Computer Power's offices in November 1993. About 150 people attended the second meeting at IBM's offices in February 1994. The group then moved its meeting to Clunies Ross House where it was typical to have 400 plus people attend the main monthly meetings. Today, there are more than 11,000 members.

In May 2000, after a long period of inactivity in group affairs, I was invited to join the Ethics subcommittee. The purpose of this subcommittee is to resolve possible conflict arising from strong differences of opinion amongst members. Selection criteria for this subcommittee included that the people be "of high standing within the group, perceived to be persons of high integrity, to be wise, level-headed and impartial." Now that's something to live up to!

Waikerie Gliding Club

In my twenties I took up gliding (soaring). No, not hang gliding, but real gliders. My home club was the Waikerie Gliding Club in South Australia, one of the world's leading centres for cross country gliding. Over the years I gained my Silver and Gold badges and a few Diamonds. The first competition I entered was an International one and I won it! I haven't flown in a competition since. Why spoil a perfect record! I soon concentrated on passenger flying and instructing instead. It's simply great introducing people to something as wonderful as the sensations of soaring in a glider.

Glenaroua Rural Fire Brigade

Now this is a pretty laid back brigade, which none the less gets the job done. I'm about as active in it as most members, which isn't saying a lot! But, we all do our regular rostered duty. My most memorable experience to date was a day spent burning off fire breaks at the Puckapunyal Army Base. Care had to be taken not to drive over any unexploded shells for as the army adviser put it, "The explosion won't just give your truck a puncture, it'll wipe out the fire truck and everyone aboard!"

Victorian Sub-Aqua Group (VSAG)

In 2006 I joined the Victorian Sub-Aqua Group (VSAG), one of Australia's oldest non-commercial scuba diving clubs. I soon established a web site for the club (see www.vsag.org.au) and joined the committee in 2007.

Bass Strait Aquatic Club (BSAC BSAC)

In 2007 I helped to co-found the Bass Strait Aquatic Club (BSAC BSAC) as a branch of the British Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC). I served on the committee and established a web site for the club (see www.bsac.org.au).

Victorian Artificial Reef Society (VARS)

In 2007 I joined the Victorian Artificial Reef Society (VARS) and soon established a web site for the society (see www.vars.org.au). Later I created the HMAS Canberra web site to promote temperate water diving in Victoria, Australia. In 2009 I became a member of the VARS committee.

Last modified: Monday, 01 April 2013

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