Archive News
February 2011... from the President
Happy New Year, and welcome back to you all.
I hope you all had an enjoyable Christmas and New Year.
There‟s something about a new year isn‟t there? A fresh start, and the prospect of what lay ahead.
With an excellent turnout at our first meeting it was a good opportunity to get the year off to a great start. The BBQ and drinks (thank you Jim & Anders) encouraged good banter and general conversation and the chance to catch up with other members.
What lies ahead?
During the meeting and matters of General Business, there were good suggestions offered up. One in particular that I would like to see happen and will do my very best to see through to fruition.
I have no doubt that your committee will throw themselves into their respective rolls and endeavour to do their best for the Branch and the Association.
This year, I would also like our branch members to give some thought to activities they would like to see happen and put these forward at other meetings.
However, even more importantly, I would like our members to give some serious thought to ways they can assist the Branch with regard to articles for the Plainsman and The Gazette. (a call to arms of sorts)
Collectively amongst our members we have a wealth of knowledge and expertise. View this as an opportunity to pass on your knowledge and educate some likeminded members. It‟s an appeal that I make unreservedly. Help yourselves! Help the branch and help the Association if you can.
I look forward to seeing you all at the next meeting.
Kind regards,
Paul Mainwaring
Pres
Meetings
January meeting. The first meeting of the year and this year with a break from recent years we didn‟t start out at the range due some technical difficulties and a good indication that some people cant be bothered reading this newsletter as some people still went out to the range even though in the last two newsletters it has been clearly stated that the first meeting of 2011 would be held at club rooms, sometimes I wonder why I bother.
Therefore as I said at one of the last committee meetings, one year I will tell you when I've had enough of this, this could well be the year.
Just a reminder that our annual auction will be on the 3rd Sept 2011, and the MAMS will be on the 16th July. Thanks to Scott‟s vigilance as our treasure, he has transferred our funds to a better interest account and will therefore accrue better interest. Surprisingly we still have some money in our accounts even after the final payments for posting of items from “postal bidding” in our annual auction.
The library has a new copy of the Armourer.
Shooting rep advised that shooting will continue this year, attached is a programme for 2011 also a map for those who may not know the location of the Handloaders Range.
Branch rep advised the NZAAHA Inc. AGM would be held on the 8th April in New Plymouth, those who still wish to receive the Egazette should advise Phil at oilyrag@xtra.co.nz if they still wish to receive it. Paul requested that members write articles for inclusion the national Gazette; these articles could be professionally photographed if required, nominations are requested for National President and Vice President also any remits.
In general business Graeme advised that he had been asked to get a copy of “The History of Lithgow – Vol 2” but he can't remember who you are! Please make yourself known to Graeme. Does anyone else want a copy of these books? They are available to members of our branch for $35 each ($40 for non-members), there is an order form attached to this newsletter.
Mike Harris advised that he had visited some RSAs on the West Coast during the holiday break and had been invited to a range near Hokitika and suggested that it would be a good idea if we became associate members of this organisation $30 is their annual subscription for associate members and this would allow you to go to their shoots, which by all accounts are pretty damn good. Contact Mike for further details.
Mike also suggested that it would be good if a “panel of experts” could be assembled to provide information and assistance to the RSAs to preserve and maintain their historical items. This should not be seen as an opportunity to “spy out” items but as an opportunity to assist the community.
Committee meeting 16 Feb.
On the 5&6 March the Rangiora show grounds is hosting “Boys Toys and Gear for Girls”. Rod is helping to organise a re-enactment event and will also be putting on a display of military vehicles, Alec Doig will have a tent there to display his collection. Scott has a generic flyer to hand out. This is a show of “big boys toys” i.e. motor bikes, jet skis, hot rods, etc., etc. this would be a good opportunity for the branch to have a presence and share the space with Alec, and provide collective security as some of the attendees may not be your usual clean-cut type we are used to.
Members will be sad to hear of the passing of John Chambers, John died on Monday 14 Feb. The Branch has purchased his collection of pistols and these will be sold at a future auction.
Mike Harris spoke about the need to make contact with the people on the West Coast and in particular getting involved with the Blue Spur display and shoot, we would need to get over to Hokitika and also invite them to become members of or Branch. As a branch if we could take some items over, like LoTM and they do something similar with items from their collections. While over there it would be an ideal opportunity to go around the RSAs and give advise about the items they have on display. Priority is to contact collectors on the Coast. Mike Harris will co-ordinate this trip. This will probably involve hiring a bus and an over-night stay.
While on the subject of displays it was suggested that we should start organising displays etc. for 2014-2018 and in particular April 2015 Gallipoli, Canterbury's contribution to the Great War. Paul will make contact with people to get the ball rolling.
There was long discussion regarding the shooting programme and prizes, see the attached proposal worked on by the committee. Please read it and make your feelings known. This proposal is intended to involve the branch as a whole, as it should be realised that shooting is a Branch activity. The proposal will allow for members to practice for the annual shoot and also the postal shoot. This should be seen a chance to “practice and play”. It was proposed that: The committee presents the proposals as tabled to be placed in the next Plainsman for the consideration of members with feed back to be collected via letter, email or directly at the next meeting. Carried unanimously. This was a difficult discussion as there were no representatives of the shooting group present. Attached is the shooting programme for the year and this should be read in conjunction/compared with the attached proposal.
It was decided that as a branch we would get involved with this year's MAMS doing security again, we would like to maintain our presence at the show and have booked two display tables for the Branch. Also there will be the photos on glass plates discovered by the Press in their archives and they will be advertising them so we should get a spin off from that. John Honeybone will be responsible for co-ordinating the branch displays and is the point of contact. MAMS will be on the 15-16 July, with set up on the 15th and the show on the 16th.
The following will the meeting programme/speakers for 2011, Feb - Neville Dodd, March - MOA, April - John Thompson. Does anyone have any preference for prospective speakers or wish to put themselves forward as speakers.
Seems the Compiler of The National Gazette requires articles as the previous Editor did most of the work during his travels around the country and did some excellent photography, however the current compiler doesn‟t have the time to do this and its not everybody‟s cup of tea, however he should be thanked for taking on the task. It is now up to us to start writing articles with photographs and give support with information and photos for those who do write articles; articles are required on New Zealand subjects.
There are enough teachers and the like (lawyers write heaps of stuff and soldiers who have written service papers) who can help with composing/compiling an article if you feel that doing that is beyond you, we can also get stuff photographed for you if you so wish. It was felt that as a branch we could take responsibility to write at least two articles a year for contribution to the Gazette, there are about 120 of us and everybody has a collecting choice o for the next 60 years we could keep the Gazette going or we could inundate them with the whole 120 and not have to write anything ever again!
Our annual auction will be on the 24 September, all items to be stored at Scott‟s with exception of “restricted items” which will be held by Rod.
Does anyone know of a venue in the central city that could be used as a meeting place for our monthly meetings? It would need to meet the following requiremnets:
1. Space and seating for 100 persons minimum.
2. Have space for at least 5 trestle tables.
3. Space available for our library and trophy cabinet.
4. Disabled toilet access.
5. Off street parking.
6. Central location – preferable.
7. Reasonable rental.
8. Data projector / screen and sound system.
9. Ventilation and heating.
10. Accepting of our hobby.
11. Available on last Thursday night of the month.
And that's just what your committee came up with!
March MOA night the doors will be open at 6:30pm, please get there early to get items numbered.
Please photocopy and fill the attached form to assist in the speedy cataloguing process DON’T NUMBER YOUR ITEMS. Items to be tagged and written up NUMBERS WILL BE ALLOCATED by the auction convenors. If you get there early you will get low numbers and get people before they slip out after supper. We will make every effort to have a very short meeting and then get straight into the auction; there will be no pre-numbering.