Tawa Historical Society Incorporated

The Tawa Historian

Newsletter #19 – February 2009

Dear members and friends of the THS,

Treasurer
I am delighted to report that we have been able to appoint a new Treasurer to replace Bill Hinkley who served us so well. Her name is Elena Jackson. She was able to join us for our first committee meeting of the year, on 2 February, and we look forward to working with her.

Committee Meetings
Your committee will meet at 7.30pm on the following Mondays: 30 March, 8 June, 3 August, 5 October, and 7 December 2009. Our AGM will be held on 7 September. All meetings are held in the Tawa Community Centre.

Tawa History Week
Following the success of our History week in 2008, we will hold another, again in the Tawa Library, in 2009. It will run in the first week of June, immediately following Queen’s Birthday; that is from Tuesday 2 to Friday 5 June. Details of the programme will be finalised later. Please mark the dates in your calendars.

Book Sales
In the four months of October, November, December 2008 and January 2009, we had book sales totalling over $5000. During this time our biggest sales were for Rails through the Valley (156 copies), and Best of Tawa Vol 2 (52). The booklet about the Takapu Ammunition Bunker sold 21. We had reprints of Rails (30), and the Bunker (50) to meet demand. As our only sources of income are now book sales and subscriptions, the success of our selling is vital to us.

Book Stocks
As at 30 January 2009 we had in stock:
• 4 Streets of Tawa
• 72 Best of Tawa Vol 1
• 48 Best of Tawa Vol 2
• 40 Lest Tawa Forgets
• 16 Rails through the Valley
• 45 Takapu Ammunition Bunker.
These total in value over $4000.

Expenditure for 2009
We estimate that our costs this year will be in the vicinity of $4000, as follows:
• To publish Best of Tawa Vol 3 in November $1500
• To publish Tawa Cemetery (March?) $450
• To publish Bartlett House (mid year?) $450
• Rental of rooms in Community Centre $1000
• Other costs, say $600

Income for 2009
Membership subscriptions (say 50 @ $25) will raise $1250. Book sales will need to cover the rest.
Having said all the above, we are in good financial shape, with a sum put away ‘for a rainy day’.

The Tawa Cemetery
Members may have noted that the Tawa Cemetery has undergone a good ‘spring clean’. WCC have sent workers to attack the long grass, and have undertaken some trimming and pruning of shrubs and small trees. The structure (lich-gate?) at the entrance had been painted white and looks much more attractive; the fences have been attended to; and, best of all, the long-sought for Information Board has been erected.

We plan to have a small ceremony at the Cemetery to thank the WCC for their considerable effort in improving this important historic site in Tawa. It is our intention to link that with the launching of our booklet The Tawa Cemetery, No. 2 in our Tawa Historical Series, which will provide a great deal more information about the site, and those buried there. You will hear more about this later.

Membership Subscriptions for 2009
With this newsletter comes our annual request for your subscription. As you will recall, a subscription of $25 was agreed to by last year’s AGM, a figure unchanged from the previous year. It is designed in the main to cover the cost of the rental of our ‘home’ in the Tawa Community Centre. We are so grateful that all our bits and pieces are now able to be gathered in one place, rather than have them scattered round various members’ homes. Our storeroom is a very safe place for our files and donated material. We would be grateful to receive your subscription as soon as possible.

We note, in comments we receive from the public and from other Historical Societies, that we are seen as being very active in publishing material about the history of our district. We had a recent letter from a gentleman who noted that though his Historical Society had been in existence for over 30 years, it had never published anything. Your subscription is the base from which we work, we value your support, and we will continue to keep material about Tawa’s past being put before the public.

All the best to you all for 2009,