CCF SA COMMITTEES
NEXT GEN
NEXT GEN CONTRIBUTION – TIM BISHOP The CCF SA Next Gen Committee represents one of the bridges between the CCF Board and its future leaders. The committee composition reflects the wide diversity of contractors and professionals in the state and provides a forum for discourse and education. In conjunction with the Women in Civil committee, we hold a joint event per year which is planned for early November, and standalone educational events. This year, it was an exciting trip to the demolition site of the former Royal Adelaide Hospital, which was well received. The focus of the committee in 2019 is to increase our engagement and communication both within the young professional’s sphere, with the Women in Civil committee, and with the CCF SA Board.
Our committee is dedicated to providing consistent, relevant and educational information to the wider CCF SA community on a quarterly basis as well as maintaining the number of events and site tours. As the committee relies on the generosity of the time and facilities from both the members and their employers, I wish to extend my thanks to all for allowing the progress of 2018 to grow a larger impact on the industry in 2019. The key focus areas for our committee in 2019: 1. Engagement of new members with a target group of 25-35-year-old members and associate members of the CCF SA
4. Identification and nurturing of the future leaders of the CCF in South Australia And 2019 will be the year that we build on the fantastic momentum that my predecessor David Rowe has so tirelessly worked on to create in his three years as the Chair. My commitment to the committee and the wider CCF SA membership is to be an open, progressive and communicative group who wants to enhance the industry for all. I would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your families a wonderful and safe Christmas, and we’ll see you in the New Year. Kind regards Tim Bishop and the CCF SA Next Gen Committee
2. Provision of educational materials on a consistent basis (quarterly) on topics of relevance to our core demographic group 3. Improvement of the interaction between the CCF SA’s members to enhance the knowledge base and future leadership careers of our members
ARE YOU OKAY? On Friday, 20 July 2018, my life changed radically. To be honest, life changed more profoundly for my wife and some of my friends and mentors than my own, but I will get to that a little later. If you look at my professional and personal journey from the outside, you would see that of the Chair of the CCF SA Next Gen Committee, the manager of South Australia for a large civil contractor, a man married to a wonderfully devoted partner who has two beautiful young kids. What I am though, is the same as each and every one of us in the construction family. I am human, with a life history that has had its ups and downs. Now, generally when we look at how we live our lives, we are governed by a set of rules around those incidents that interrupt the smooth journey like ill health, losing a
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job, financial issues, death, divorce and everything else day-to-day. I’ve learned in the past few months, that some of those rules we create ourselves, some of those rules are taught, some are indirectly pressured by society, but rules are rules, and we live and breathe those rules daily and they become ingrained in us. By now you must be wondering where this article is going? I will start by letting you into the events of 20 July this year. On that day, I made the bravest decision of my life. I finally let my
wife and some close friends know that not only was I suicidal but that I had gained the means and made the plan to end my life. Telling you, the reader this, is not easy. I can tell you more certainly that my wife looked at me that morning and cried rivers of tears when I made my startling confession to her. She was blindsided. My colleagues whom I have known and worked with for 13 years were utterly shocked. They are mates as well as colleagues, and they didn’t have a clue how I was feeling. I have been a massive advocate of MATES in Construction over the past two years,
