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Presidents Report
President
Barb Hollis
Presidents
Annual Report March 2008 – March 2009
I
am pleased to present this my milestone 10th
Annual Report. Our Family History group has again had a
successful year with a membership of 130 researchers.
The group has averaged 100 plus members each year since
our inception, not bad for a small town. But like most
groups few members work hard for the majority. In the
future I’d like to see more members become active in
running the organisation. You don’t have to be a
committee member to play an active roll and there is a
lot of satisfaction in contributing and a lot of
knowledge and friendship to be gained.
We
began the year with an all day meeting to discuss the
year’s calendar and in May we celebrated out 21st
Birthday with a bring a plate lunch and cutting of the
birthday cake. .
Fundraising
is important to the prosperity of this group and without
it we couldn’t function. Throughout the year we’ve had
our monthly meeting raffles as well as Mother’s Day,
Father’s Day, Easter and Christmas hamper raffles. We
conducted 2 x street stalls and a big thanks to members
who helped on the days and to those who provided
saleable goods. We also held a Tupperware Party.
A
Winter Seminar
was held at the RSM Club and proved most successful with
three
guest speakers; Ann Swain "Medical
and Hereditary Genealogy", Stephanie Ryan, Qld State
Library "Australian Joint Copying Project", and Brett
Stubbs Southern Cross University "Land Titles & Parish
Maps" their subjects were varied and helpful in
broadening research techniques.
Guest Speakers
who entertained us and passed on valuable knowledge
were; Frank Harvey "Pubs, Priests & Prostitutes", Ian
Kirkland "Indexing the Northern Star & The Eltham
Railway Line",
Judy Boag enlightened
members with her talk and hands on of the "NSW
Government Gazettes" on CDs and paper format.
Joan Pratt a member of our group and a retired solicitor
spoke on "Wills & Powers of Attorney" and Robyn Hiland
from Richmond Tweed Family
History Society "If the Stork could Talk".
Members participated
in a visit to the Casino Christian School to view the
family history projects of year 7 students. Members
entered the "Anzac" writing competition. We attended the
RAHS conference at Lismore & State Conference at Dubbo.
We had member participation at meetings & workshops. The
group was represented at International
Quota Club’s "Womens
Fellowship Dinner" and 22 Members had a great day out on
a bus trip to Yugilbah Castle. The Christmas party
organizers Janet Caban, Nerilyn Cowan and Mavis Goodlad
are to be thanked for giving us a lovely party and a
great lead up to the holiday break.
Promotional Sign:
The expense of having a profession sign made for down
stairs has been worthwhile. The signage "Who do you
think you are" & "Where are you from" has created
interest and attracted people to venture up stairs to
investigate who and what we are.
Beef Week
saw us opening our room to the public.
Most visitors were
amazed at the amount of resources we hold and some
showed interest in joining our group and the exciting
journey of research.
Grants and Donations:
We were fortunate to
receive a grant and donations towards our aim of
purchasing a microfilm/fish reader printer - $600 from
Richmond River Council, $250 from Quota Club, $200 from
Lions Club.
Opening of Research room
went smoothly thanks to the roster volunteers, who
without you this group could not function.
Our website
continues to attract interest with the counter reading
6,315 hits at the time of writing this report. Another
feature of our site is the "Barb’s Genealogy Web
Addresses" members seem to appreciate the ease at which
this gives them to find useful research sites.
Ancestry.Com
partnership: At a meeting in December members met
with Ancestry’s representative Brad Argent, it was
agreed at this meeting for our group to participate with
Ancestry.com to place some of our Casino records on
Ancestry’s World Wide Web site. By forming this
partnership we receive in return, Ancestry’s World
subscription free for 5 years and the subscription will
be negotiated at the end of the term. On top of the free
five years we will receive a cash donation of $1,000 US
towards our reader printer. We are awaiting the contract
and will have it looked at by a solicitor before signing
the go ahead deal.
On
behalf of the committee and myself I wish to convey our
thanks to sub-committee members and all volunteers, for
their great support in the running of this group, there
has been much achieved behind the scenes such as: the
printing of the newsletter & packaging and posting it,
printing books for sale, indexing, filing, sorting,
shuffling, cleaning and tidying, helping with the
library, the list is endless.
On
behalf of family history group members and myself I
would like to thank the outgoing committee for the hours
of work and the time they have committed to the smooth
running of our organisation over the past year. Vice
President/Secretary Kay Francis, Treasurer Janet Caban,
Minuets Secretary Robyn Nesbitt,
Resources officer Judy Boag, Research officer Lola
Hogno, Roster Coordinator Marge Cole, Newsletter editor
Barbara Hollis, Membership coordinator/ Association
Delegate Aub Lavis, Publicity Officer Barbara Reynolds,
Librarian Brenda
Armfield, Assistant Librarian Barbara Wilkes, Committee
Members Lorelle Turner & Cathy Allan we thank you all.
As
your outgoing President I wish the group and its
incoming committee every success in the year ahead. I
would personally like to thank you all for you
cooperation and friendship.
Yours Sincerely
Barbara Hollis President
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