How HWI began

[roger]

Copied from the "New Pokarekare Video" thread:

xcv461 said:

I was just wondering how HWI was started?

That's easy. It started with an "H"!

Thanks to xcv461 for a question which, perhaps, should have been explained long ago. I was not involved right from the start and so my answer is based on what the founders of the site have told me. We have a few members who have been following Hayley for longer than I have (Belinda and stevemacdonald for example). If they or anyone else can fill in any gaps, please do so. This is a brief history of HWI as I know it:

Hayley Westenra International was founded just over five years ago by Keith and Simon. Keith called himself the "Front Guy" - he was the one who made the ultimate decision about the direction the site should take and he established contact with a number of key people in the very early days. Simon was the webmaster who physically built the site and maintained it until comparitively recently. Keith and Simon were joint owners of the site and ran it as a two-man operation for the first 18 months or so.

In those early days, HWI did not include this discussion forum. It was created by Keith in July 2003.

My first involvement came in December 2003. Within days (literally), Keith offered me the role of UK Correspondent and, shortly afterwards, he asked if I would be a Global Moderator of the forum. I believe Dave and Joe became involved with the forum at roughly the same time as I did, and Richard a few months later.

In March 2005, Keith confided in me that he was seriously ill and, about four months later, asked if I would take over the running of the forum with Dave as my "second-in-command" as he put it. Thus, Dave and I both became Forum Administrators. Sadly, Keith passed away in December 2005.

Simon then considered me to be his website "partner". By this time, the site and the forum had grown significantly. HWI's long-term future was constantly being considered and assessed. Following lengthy discussions over a period of several months, culminating in a little "business agreement", ownership of the site officially passed to me in November 2006 with Dave as our very worthy webmaster. Simon is still part of the team, holding the title of HWI Associate and (Techinical) Advisor.

As I said, if anybody can fill in any details about the early days, I would be as interested to read them as anyone. Meanwhile, if anyone has any question, I will do my best to answer them.

Roger

[Mark]

Hi Roger

Many thanks for the history of the site. I must admit that I had wondered how it all got started and exactly when. Although I am, in comparison to you and some others, quite a new member, I feel it is important for me to know the sites background. In my view and I am sure a good number of other members would agree, we have a fantastic site here that I for one certainly would like to help nurture and evolve over the coming years. Keep up the good work If I think of any questions, I will post again.

Best regards
Mark.

[Stephany]

Thanks for the details, Roger, I had been wondering how all this started as well. It's so nice to hear that you've been supporting Hayley for that long. I wish I had heard of her way before.

EDIT : I'm also very recent member but I really LOVE it, here. I believe I've never seen a place where people are that lovely and friendly. As Mark said, keep up the excellent work !
Hayley must be very proud and grateful to have all of you at HWI.
Oh - and in the meantime, I found a great interview of Hayley where she talks about her fans. I'll post the full interview in the media section if you want me to.

TWO MINUTES WITH HAYLEY WESTENRA
The Press (Christchurch)
December 24th 2005

What are your fans like when you meet them? Any scary moments?
Most are wonderfully positive and enthusiastic ... I have some lovely fans running fansites and doing whatever they can to support me. There are a few who are a little too "enthusiastic", to put it subtly, but that comes with the territory.

[gerrit]

I have witnessed the development of HWI from virtually the very beginning - I was a fan of Hayley since 2001, and one of the first members of the Yahoo discussion group that was associated with HWI and was started by Simon and Keith in January 2002.

I also established contacts with Belinda at that time (maybe I should say, Belinda established contacts with me) - and quite a bit of the early Hayley video material from 2002 and before exists only because Belinda sent me video tapes all the way from NZ to Holland .

Belinda started a MSN Group dedicated to Russell Watson and Hayley Westenra, largely because Hayley was a guest artist to Russell in an open air concert in Auckland in 2002. Belinda gave me full control of this group.

In recent years (I must admit), I lost a bit of enthusiasm for Hayley - but regardless of that, I will always have a more than passing interest in the way her career develops.

Gerrit

[roger]

stephany said:

Oh - and in the meantime, I found a great interview of Hayley where she talks about her fans. I'll post the full interview in the media section if you want me to.

TWO MINUTES WITH HAYLEY WESTENRA
The Press (Christchurch)
December 24th 2005

What are your fans like when you meet them? Any scary moments?
Most are wonderfully positive and enthusiastic ... I have some lovely fans running fansites and doing whatever they can to support me. There are a few who are a little too "enthusiastic", to put it subtly, but that comes with the territory.

Hi Stephanie,

That particular comment is very appropriate in this thread but, yes, please post the complete article on the Media board.

Thanks,
Roger

[Stephany]

The full interview can now be read here : Two minutes with Hayley Westenra.

Back to topic, I was wondering how you all separate tasks at HWI. Videos, photos, reviews, news : does someone specific contributes to a section? Or everyone is involved for everything?

[roger]

Hi Stephany,

Actually both are true. Anyone can contribute to any part of HWI. And I don;t just mean the Management Team or even forum members. Anyone who visits the site is welcome to use the "Contact HWI" button towards the bottom of the Home Page to submit reviews, information, comments, or questions. They actually come through to me but, depending on what the enquiry might be, I may pass them on to Dave.

Having said that, Dave tends to deal with recording from radio and television to provide the videos that appear on the site and the forum. He is also our resident Charts Analyst and Webmaster. Steve and Stuart are our official Site Photographers, but many of us have provided shots at some time or another. We welcome as many reviews (of concerts or recordings) as possible and the same applies to press scans or any other information. Of course, we reserve the right not to use it but it is extremely rare that we should do so.

The majority of the information from Hayley's management team and sometimes from her family, tends to come direct to me.

The only firm rule about how HWI should be run that I have ever introduced is that it shall be run as democratically as possible. No one of us makes any major changes to the site or the forum unless it is discussed amongst the management team and approved by the majority. All forum members are welcome to make suggestions (on the Suggestions board, funnily enough!) and we will always consider them. I don't suppose we get everything right but we do our best.

Roger

[xcv462]

Thank You
I only found Hayley in Dec. on Celtic Woman on PBS,I fell in love with her voice.
It didn't take long to find HWI,I now have all her albums and DVD Plus Celtic woman DVD
I play her every day and love reading about her here.
I was always curious about how it all started here

[Dave]

Hello everyone,

I first joined the forum in December 2003, having found out about Hayley a few weeks earlier through an Eva Cassidy forum and then, I looked at the HWI website from which I discovered the forum. Until that day, I'd thought Eva had the most beautiful voice in the World but then she had to take second place to Hayley! I'd somehow missed the fact that Hayley had been top of the classical charts and in the top 10 of the UK pop charts for over two months by then.

So I beat Roger to the starting line by a few weeks but he's surged past me since then! Joe beat me by a similar margin and Belinda beat us all by a long way I think, being the original Hayley fan! As Gerrit said, the earliest videos we have at HWI are from Belinda. Which reminds me, I have a strong suspicion that Belinda was somewhat involved in Keith's very first meeting with Gerald, Hayley's dad. Belinda? Faenol Festival, 2003?

And we should not forget Simon and the countless hours he spent creating and updating what has become the rather large and highly complex website (as I've recently discovered! ) that is HWI.

The rest is history!

Cheers, Dave

[Joe]

Hi all,

I first learned of HWI back in November 2003. Hayley was mentioned on a then-popular young Welsh soprano fan forum.

That led me to the HWI site, where I found sound clips and news galore. Hayley recently toured Japan at the time. Literally within the same week, she had that infamous performance & meeting with HM The Queen, President Bush and others. I thought, WOW! That's when I joined this forum; there were only about 15 to 20 members at the time. Also I remember the frequent newsletters from Hayley's official site.

Keith was a lovely man and a good friend; whom I still greatly miss. He was enthusiastic that I was from the USA. In January 2004, he gave me the title of US correspondent, as Hayley's CD 'Pure' was to be released in a few months' time.

Shortly after that I became a global moderator of the forum and now a HWI site manager. I am also owner and admin of another forum; so now I understand how much effort must be put into it to make things work smoothly. Whether Hayley is visiting a shop in the high street, a parish church, or performing at the Royal Albert Hall, you can be assured that HWI will have photos and reports.

Of course it's the people who join this forum and who have a look at the HWI site that have made everything worthwhile. Whether you've joined yesterday or have been a founding member, it's been quite magical. HWI has grown as indeed Hayley's fanbase has grown.

If I have made someone out there listen to Hayley's voice, buy her CD, attend her concert, then I did my job, full stop.

[Richard]

Hello folks!

I first started viewing the HWI main site after I met Gerrit at Hayley's concert at the London Palladium in March 2004. This was the second time I saw and met Hayley, having previously seen and met her when she was with Aled Jones at the Fairfield Hall, Croydon in October 2003. I became interested in the Forum after I met Roger at my third Hayley show at the Cliffs Pavilion, Southend in November 2004, although I didn't join until January 2005. Keith asked me to be a Global Moderator in March 2005, and I've been beavering away ever since, helping to keep the Forum in good order. I'm having great fun here! i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif

Best Wishes,

Richard

[grant]

Thanks for all the history of HWI guys!

I only met Keith very briefly at the UNICEF concert in London in September 2005, BUT until then I didn't know HWI existed!

Reading through this thread makes you realise what a debt of gratitude we owe Keith and Simon and of course to everyone involved today.

God bless you all!

Grant

[Stephany]

By reading you, I'm assuming that everyone from HWI has already met Hayley. Right or wrong? How was it to encounter for the first time someone for whom you're showing support through the animation of a website and forum?

[roger]

Hi Stephany,

I think all the management team have met Hayley as have many (but not all) the members. In my case, I first met her before I was involved with the site and so it felt typically like a fan meeting a favourite singer. That is, unexpected, a privilege, exciting, etc.

Somewhere on the main site are reviews of the times when many of us have met her. One day, I may even read them myself!

Roger

[gerrit]

richnorri said:

Hello folks!

I first started viewing the HWI main site after I met Gerrit at Hayley's concert at the London Palladium in March 2004 ...

This thread revives some treasured memories .... well do I remember that concert at the Palladium I was actually chatting to Hayley after the concert, at midnight! On that day, I actually turned 50 ....

stephany said:

By reading you, I'm assuming that everyone from HWI has already met Hayley. Right or wrong? How was it to encounter for the first time someone for whom you're showing support through the animation of a website and forum?

Hi Stephany,

I have attended concerts featuring Hayley in 5 different countries (if one allows Wales and England to be separate countries - they are treated as such at times .....)
Wales - England - Germany - Netherlands - Finland.

Anyone else who can list more countries ?

Gerrit