St George's Day means cake for morning tea in the GBPensions office! This gave us a moment to pause and consider that we've already marked the "feast days" of three of Britain and Ireland's patron saints. But who were these men and why do we celebrate them on those particular dates?

Here is our first interesting fact of the day. Did you know that Saints' Days are celebrated on the days upon which they are believed to have met their (sometimes grisly) demise? This seems unusual in its precision, since there are often very few specifics known about their lives.

GBPensions are proud to announce our sponsorship of the 2016 Roycroft Vintage Festival, to be held at Hampton Downs Motorsport Park on Sunday March 13th. This year the theme for this prestigious event is the "Best of British".
 
GBPensions' director Tony Chamberlain is enthusiastic about this new partnership. "Most of our team are British ex-pats and, because we focus on UK to NZ pension transfers, the vast majority of our clients are British ex-pats too. Since the 2016 Roycroft Vintage Festival is a genuine celebration of British excellence, innovation and style, we were delighted to be approached as principal sponsors," he says.

The Roycroft Vintage Festival and the Roycroft Trophy are named after AJ (Roy), Ron and Terry Roycroft, in recognition for their outstanding contribution to NZ motorsport. Ron was arguably the best known competitor in New Zealand racing of the post war period, and the trophy was first presented to him after his success at Ryal Bush in Southland in 1956. In fact, the great British driver Stirling Moss once said of Ron, "If that man ever gets a decent car under him, we are all in trouble!"

​Here's proof that Friday the 13th is lucky for some! A charity quiz night raised $3,115 for the Humane Rescue, Rehabilitation and Rehoming Charitable Trust (HURRAH). The fundraiser was organised by GBPensions and BlackCat Consulting and held at the Marist North Harbour Rugby Club.
 
In keeping with the traditions of Friday the 13th, the quiz questions were a celebration of the unlucky, the failures, the cheats, the just plain weird and, of course, the Friday the 13th movie franchise. Some of the teams even dressed as horror icons in honour of the occasion.

To celebrate GBPensions' move to smart, new offices we invited friends, clients and suppliers to join us for some pre-Christmas drinks, nibbles & entertainment.

We were delighted to have live music, courtesy of two of the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's Young Achievers: Julia Park (viola) and Shauno Isomura (violin).  Guests not only enjoyed the music itself but were clearly impressed by these young people's talent, dedication and composure.

GBPensions were proud to be one of the sponsors of the New Zealand Association for Migration & Investment's (NZAMI) recent annual conference.  More than 140 of the country's most respected immigration consultants, lawyers and tax advisers attended the event, which was held in suitably impressive style at Eden Park.

As well as speakers from the world of politics and economics, the delegates were entertained by the excellent Bollywood Bhangra dance troupe.   They were so enthusiastic, colourful and vibrant that even our own Tony Chamberlain managed to find his inner Bollywood! 

On Thursday, 21st August, GBPensions officially launched our Silver sponsorship of the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra by attending The Music is Bond at the ASB Theatre, Aotea Square.

We were joined by a select group of friends and clients, who certainly rose to the occasion and came dressed to kill! Iconic British brand Jaguar was there too. Here we are with the APO's business development manager, Stuart Angel (front right) by a fairly stunning Jaguar car.