Newsletter

February 2018

Greetings from your President.

Little did I know that when I became President there would be such fierce storms throughout my year, is someone up there trying to tell me something, if so I am NOT listening! Just for the record we have had the highest record of rainfall recorded in 2017 since the official recordings were started for NIWA in 1914 on Waiheke Island.

However, whatever weather that has been thrown at us I would like to take this opportunity to thank the committee and our volunteers for their loyal support and help over the last year. It has been a very unsettling 2017 but even with the small band of volunteers we have managed to keep our Museum open.

This year we have upgraded some of the gardens making the Museum more visible from the road, we have a new flag pole and flag so kindly donated by the Waiheke Rotary Club, and we have the wonderful Ange Melville of Waiheke Time who is keeping our lawns like perfectly manicured nails. This lady is amazing and as I pass the Museum in the car I can’t help but admire how the grounds are looking thanks to her.

The amazing recordings of our history by the loyal ‘A Team’, Elsie Brown, Ted and Elaine Wright and Trish Kinsler has been outstanding. They are there every Wednesday cataloguing our History for future generations. Recently my son, Callum, donated a computer so our team could continue their work at the Museum, we are very grateful for this, which has made things a lot easier.

One of our new ladies Alison Hunt has so very kindly offered and is transcribing taped interviews of older residents of our Island, these tapes have been in our Museum without anyone able to do this for some time now. As we do not have a Dictaphone we are going to purchase one so we can have other Waihekeans interviewed so our history is not lost when they depart. We have not had someone to take on this task before so Alison is very much appreciated for the hours of work that goes into doing this.

Increase in visitors

Your donations and membership fees go into keeping our History alive and the interest from visitors to our island has increased since the Fullers Tour buses have been operating with tour guides making a point of telling people about our Museum.

Thanks to them and their staff they have pointed out our museum saying how worthwhile it is to have a look through. The comments left by visitors confirm this. So a huge thank you goes to the Tour Operators.

Volunteers Needed

Without these people we would not be open and now as we have had people leaving the island it has made a hole in our group which then falls back onto the volunteers still available. We need you if you are available to help. It is our goal to have two people on each rostered shift.

We would also like volunteers so we can branch out in different areas, eg a maintenance group for repairing handrails, making some small steps, repairing some decking etc, a gardening group to tidy up overgrown vegetation, cleaners for a chosen cottage, display group who would be responsible for changing our displays and as our cottages and the roofs need repainting we are looking for painters who would be willing to give their time, some plumbing needs looking at, we also need an electrician to so some small jobs. A fundraising group would also be wonderful. Most of these things are left to our small band of volunteers when they are able to do things.

Peter Young who started the Waiheke Vintage and Historic photos and has nearly 2000 followers on his fantastic Facebook page, has approached us willing to help with some fundraising through his page. He is a wonderful person who loves what he does, check his page out if you are on facebook it is well worth it.

Goals for 2018

To achieve the list above by having more volunteers come forward and help, is this YOU?

Museum Lease

Our lease has been approved for another 5years, for which we are very thankful. We have applied to have two concrete paths put in to make it easier and safer for some of elderly visitors, this is still going through the approval procedure and if at all possible in the future we would like to have all the paths concreted providing we can either get funding or have the concrete donated. We would also like to increase the size of our store room but this will need to go for council approval and we will need to fundraise for this.

Subscriptions

A reminder that your membership subscription is due by the AGM on the 22^nd April 2018.

We look forward to seeing you at our AGM. Let’s make this Museum something Waiheke can be proud of. Remember a little goes a long way.

Sue Philcox

President

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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: