Newsletter

January 2017

Greetings from your committee.

General summary

2016 was a “steady as she goes” year. We were able to keep the Museum open throughout the year despite the loss of five of our experienced committee members. Christine Hoffman has resigned after many years of continued service, Brenda and Rob Becroft have moved off island and last but not least, our President, Anne Anderson and our maintenance manager, Bob Anderson also moved overseas to Matamata just prior to Christmas. These departures have left just three permanent committee members and Arnie Aretz here for part of the year.

You may have read the story in the Gulf News of 17 November by Rose Davis which highlighted the loss of volunteers and committee. As a result of this story we have had a very encouraging number of new volunteers come forward and they are at present being introduced to being a museum guide. We are extremely happy to have them on board!

On another positive note, with the advent of the Hop On, Hop Off tour buses, our visitor numbers have grown exponentially since just before Christmas. The Museum is featured in the Waiheke Island Explorer leaflet and the tour guides are pointing out the museum and recommending their passengers to visit us. All this is free advertising for us and as they say, it’s an ill wind!

The AGM was held on 12 April 2016. The committee remained unchanged from the previous year and Kara Nelson has the position of patron. The membership subscription is to remain at $20 per person for this coming year. We will be calling for nominations for new committee members at the forthcoming AGM in April.

Tool Shed Display: The tool shed has had many more interesting items added to it during the year. Many of our visitors comment about remembering their fathers, grandfathers or even themselves having such a shed in the past.

He Pou Aroha/Community Cenotaph: Auckland War Memorial Museum is compiling an Online Cenotaph by digitizing documents, letters, medals, photographs and war memorabilia and is requesting contributions from the public. A mobile roadshow unit will be at the Oneroa Library during February and the first week of March. I encourage you to go along to help connect and share stories and have any items scanned into the database to create a lasting memory for future generations. This database will be fully searchable at aucklandmuseum.com/cenotaph.

Forthcoming events:

A note for your diaries: The Annual General Meeting has been scheduled for Sunday 2nd April at 2pm at the Museum. Further details will be advertised in the Gulf News. Thank you in advance for your continued support for the Museum and Historic Village. We wish you a safe and happy year.

A reminder that membership subscriptions are due by the AGM. In the interest of saving our precious funds, no membership cards will be printed but receipts will be issued when subscriptions are renewed if requested.

Membership renewal

Please return this form with your cheque for $20.00 per person to:

The Treasurer

Waiheke Island Historical Society Inc

P O Box 206

Ostend

Waiheke Island 1843

Or, if you prefer by internet banking to:

ASB 12-3011-0960967-00, reference WIHS subs and quoting your name.

Please update your details below:

Name

Address

Phone No:

Email: