Minutes of the Waiheke Historical Society Incorporated
Annual General Meeting 30 April 2023
The meeting commenced at 2.03 pm.
Apologies: Jan Betterton-Smith, Janet November, Mark James
Resolution: that the apologies as tabled be accepted
Moved: Rosemary Burns
Seconded: Margaret Milligan
Adopted
Members Present: Margaret Milligan, Sue Philcox, Rosemary Burns, Dot Malan, Alison Hunt, Don Baillie, Christine Beardon, Priscilla Tobin, Mary Batten, Logan Moss, Juliet Hay, Tanya Batt and Sylvia Nelson. It was confirmed that there was a quorum of more than ten financial members. This was checked off against the list circulated at the door.
In attendance: Also present were: Kate Bryant and Peter Forster.
Proxies Received and accepted: Nil
Minutes of the last Annual General Meeting were available at the meeting and had been circulated to the members.
Resolution: that the minutes of the AGM held on 12 June 2022 be accepted as a true and correct record
Moved: Juliet Hay
Seconded: Margaret Milligan
Adopted
Matters Arising: Nil
President’s Report: Logan Moss read his updated President’s report to the meeting. It had already been circulated earlier in the year, prior to the meeting. (Attached)
He recognised Sue Philcox for her sterling work during her years as President. Sue was elected our Patron at last year’s AGM.
One important update was that our application to Foundation North was confirmed and we have obtained a grant of $25,000 which will enable us to commence refurbishment on Champion Cottage. Thanks were due to Juliet Hay for her work on this application. There is much work to be carried out in the near future on all the cottages, with Keane Cottage which requires re-roofing, next on the agenda.
Logan mentioned that visitors may have noticed that there are significant areas in the grounds which have been badly affected by rocksnot mould and a working bee will be needed to rectify this. Also, there is gravel required tin the carpark and the Council have acknowledged that they will attend to this when they are able.
The Historical Society has been approached by the Maritime Museum, which is applying for a grant from the Lotteries Commission to allow it to work with a range of smaller museums to digitise their collections and allow them to share information better. The grant, if successful, would be for approximately $3 million. The participating museums will be organised into three groups, with a new group added coming on board at roughly six-monthly intervals. Waiheke Museum will be in the second tranche and begin participating in June 2024. More news to follow on this in due course.
Resolution: that the President’s Report be approved
Moved: Sue Philcox
Seconded: Priscilla Tobin
Adopted
Financial Report: Mark James, Treasurer was unfortunately unable to attend the meeting but his financial report was distributed at the meeting by Logan Moss. (Attached)
Mark James’s report to the meeting reads as follows:
“It was quite a good year for the Historical Society and the Museum of Waiheke in 2022. We had a very successful book launch of our new edition of Dixie Day’s Waiheke Pioneers; visitor numbers and donations began to recover from the Covid blues; and we benefitted from the generosity of several individual donors, including a $2000 bequest from the estate of our late patron, Kit Nelson. The government was also generous with its Resurgence Support programme.
The Waiheke Pioneers book launch occurred at our last AGM on 12 June 2022, and by the end of the year we had sold 199 of the 360 copies that we had printed. That brought in $5970 in sales, compared with total expenditures on the book of $6920. The gap of $950 was almost completely covered by a Waiheke Local Board grant of $932 received for this purpose in 2021. Thus the very first book sold in 2023 put us in the black for the republication of our chief reference work.
The Museum had 2813 visitors in 2022, nearly double the Covid-depressed figure of 1519 the previous year. We were still far off the pre-pandemic pace (2019 saw 4250 visitors walk through our doors), but the first few months of this year suggest a particularly strong showing.”
These accounts have been reviewed by Colin Falconer of Mygreenbookeeper Ltd (Attached).
There was open discussion regarding finances and how best to make savings. As far as refurbishment goes there was the suggestion we apply for offcuts or short runs of building material i.e. Colorsteel, although the repairs to Champion will require treated timber in large quantities.
One member had a query relating to the fact that people put money in the donations box and then request it towards payment of an item. It was suggested that the money is taken out of the donation box and put in sales box to correctly itemise where money is coming from and for what.
Logan confirmed that volunteers who take items from the museum (such as home made chutneys etc) should make sure they pay for them, so the sales figures are a true reflection.
Discussion regarding the increase in advertising expenses in the past year from $309 to $963. A question was raised as to whether it was worth it? Logan explained what the extra costs had gone towards, including the publication of the Dixie Day book, new signage, etc.
$250 is being saved on post office box fees as we are having mail delivered to a post box by the gate. Volunteers should check the box when they come on duty and put any mail in the office. Our postal address is now 165 Onetangi Road, RD1, Waiheke Island 1971.
Resolution: that Treasurer’s Report for the year ended 31 December 2022 be adopted as presented
Moved: Dorothy Malan
Seconded: Sue
Philcox
Adopted
Nominations for the committee and election of officers:
The secretary announced that she had received signed nominations from Alison Hunt, Dot Malan, Juliet Hay, Logan Moss, Margaret Milligan, Don Baillie and Mark James.
She then read out the nominations for the office holder positions:
President: Logan Moss
Nominated: Alison Hunt
Seconded: Mark James
Vice President
And Treasurer: Mark James
Nominated: Don Baillie
Seconded: Juliet Hay
Secretary: Alison Hunt
Nominated: Logan Moss
Seconded: Mark James
The Secretary read out the nominations for the committee positions:
Juliet Hay
Dorothy Malan
Margaret Milligan
Don Baillie
Resolution: that the following nominated members be accepted as officers for 2023 – Logan Moss (President), Mark James (Vice President and Treasurer) and Alison Hunt (Secretary)
and that the following nominated members be accepted as committee members for 2023 – Margaret Milligan, Don Baillie, Juliet Hay, Sue Philcox and Dot Malan.
Moved: Sue Philcox
Seconded: Priscilla Tobin
Adopted
Logan Moss congratulated the new committee member Dorothy Malan.
General Business
Membership
Logan mentioned that numbers have been declining since 1984 when the Historical Society had 257 members. It is now around 50. He asked for suggestions from the floor on how to boost numbers to become the vibrant society we previously were.
It was noted that the normal Fullers busses do not mention the Museum when they stop outside. The Hop On Hop Off buses already do this.
Priscilla Tobin mentioned advertising at the Waiheke Garden Club which has a huge membership of retired people who may be interested in joining and perhaps tackling some of the weeding and replanting. This would have to be closely monitored however, as watering is always a problem.
Priscilla also suggested we try advertising at the Waiheke Rebus Club which has a large following. Although this had already been done by Alison Hunt in the past, it had not engendered any more interest from the group.
Another suggestion from Priscilla was holding an auction of some of the artefacts we hold that are no longer required.
Tanya Batt suggested we follow the lead of the Garden Club in sending out regular monthly emails, detailing special trips, workshops, and other items of interest.
Tanya was also in favour of a Heritage Garden, monthly workshops and displaying a history of the island and advertising that.
She also supported the Heritage Festival which is a yearly event at the end of September/October. This year’s title is Peace/Love/Protest so could incorporate 50 years of NZ’s anti nuclear stand, and various archival material the Museum holds including that of our former patron …. This can be organised with Julia Mount at the library as a joint initiative, something we have previously participated in.
Kate Bryant was keen on the idea of an historical ball as a promotion at say the Onetangi Hall. This might not be successful until we had increased the membership significantly.
Another idea was a display about early winemakers on the island and asking say Goldies whether they would be prepared to host an event on our behalf. That would give us an opportunity to assess the likely success of any future social functions the Society might organize.
Don Baillie is involved with the Maritime Museum and suggested he take some brochures to place in their racks.
The U3A Club is coming here on a visit shortly. It would be an idea to mention it to their members.
Action – ensure the volunteer on duty promotes membership on the day
Action – AH to place on the agenda for a letter to be written to Fullers and Auckland Transport asking if they can ask their drivers to mention the Museum to their bus passengers
Action – Priscilla to mention membership of the Museum to the Rebus Club
Action – Alison Hunt to place on the agenda of the first post AGM meeting the following:
* an auction of our unused artefacts
* sending out regular monthly emails updating Museum events
* the Museum’s contribution to the Heritage Festival in September
* approach Goldies Vineyard to ask if they would host an event featuring early Waiheke winemakers
* Don Baillie to distribute Waiheke Museum rack cards at the Maritime Museum – Alison Hunt to
Supply him with same
Any other business
Priscilla Tobin asked about the possibility of mounting a display using the material donated by the estate of Edwin Carr. Logan replied that this was one of the items on the list of potential displays under consideration by the committee. Recently a box of cassette tapes had been found in Day Cottage, and some of these appear to be Carr's own recordings of the initial performances of some of his compositions. This still has to be checked out, but if that is indeed what tapes are, they would be a valuable addition to any such exhibition.
Closing:
Logan Moss declared the meeting closed at 3.20 pm and invited those present to stay for a shared celebratory afternoon tea complete with cake cutting and to share memories of times gone past.
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