President's Report for 2010

I have pleasure in presenting my report for the calendar year of 2010.

FUNCTIONS

Our major event this year was our 60th Birthday/ Christmas party
at the Yellow Piano at Wyoming. Over 40 members and friends
attended this function but we would have liked a few more. Nevertheless,
everyone seemed to enjoy the meal and the entertainment.
Our Guest was Gosford Counsellor, Chris Holstein, who gave an
entertaining presentation.

BWHS was founded in 1950 and acquired Henry Kendall Cottage in
1960. We have a few longtime members, with the longest serving
being Elaine Fry who joined the Society in February 1972.
Elaine then spoke of her experiences and involvement with BWHS that
she had shared with her husband Stan. Not far behind in long service
are Elaine’s sons Kelvin and Daryl Fry who joined in March 1972.
Margaret Pearce presented Certificates of Appreciation on
behalf of BWHS to retiring Duty Members Joan and Fred Koch, Marion
Browne and Barbara Elmes, in recognition of their long and diligent
service.

EVENTS

Book Launch
Gwen Dundon’s latest book “The Ferries of the Central Coast” was
launched at Woy Woy library in September. There was also a launch
of Gwen’s book at Alison Homestead which was attended by Elaine
Fry. We have a copy of this fascinating book in our Library with
copies for sale.


A Big Working Bee and Sausage Sizzle took place in May with the
Museum, Cottage and Grounds closed to the public for a week. A
very big Thank You to those members who attended regularly and
gave so much of their time and efforts. A major clean and tidy up of
our premises was carried out by these dedicated members but it
would have been great to see a few more there to help. The display
Children over the Last 100 years was also erected.

Members Ruth Logan and Brian McCafferty attended, on behalf of
BWHS, a moving Service of Dedication which took place at the Lone
Pine War Memorial Garden at Wyong Historical Society’s Alison
Homestead. After WWI several Pine Trees were originally grown from
seeds taken from a Pine Tree cone carried back and planted in Inverell
NSW in 1928. The Wyong Pine tree is from this source.

An invitation was received from Koolewong & Point Clare-Tascott
Progress Association to attend their special Christmas meeting at
which were displays of old photographs maps, and plans, with stories
about early settlers such as the Fagans. Bob and I attended this on
behalf of BWHS.

An invitation was received recently from Maitland & District’s
Historical Society to attend a function celebrating the opening of
their new premises at Maitland. This Society have been without
adequate accommodation for some time so were of course delighted
to move into their new premises. Edith, Elaine, Margaret, Ron,
Ingrid and I attended on behalf of BWHS.

Throughout the year representatives of BWHS attended a number of
networking functions held by Central Coast Tourism at various
locations on the Central Coast.

FUND-RAISING ACTIVITIES

These included our successful Street Stall in William Street Plaza on
October 21st. Bunning’s BBQ in August was
a great day. The Rotary Raffle has just concluded.
On our Trading Table in the museum we also have Books, Handicrafts
and Plants on sale. Thanks to Trish Scott for organizing this.

Thank you, thank you to all those hard-working members involved in
these activities – well done!

DISPLAYS

In March we had Seniors’ Week Displays at Gosford and Erina
Libraries.
We participated in a successful Nostalgia Day at the Regional Gallery
& Japanese Gardens at East Gosford, April 17th and our display
attracted quite a lot of interest. We had a successful day with two
tables of artifacts and books as well as screens for photos and subdivision
plans. Thanks to those members who assisted on this day. Our Early Childhood display in the showcase in our museum had been up for 8 months so now a new display on early Medical paraphernalia has been erected.
In the museum the Photography display was researched and
consequenty re-organised and labeled, thanks again to Jay Sider.

OTHER ACTIVITIES

Our Estey Parlour Organ was rejuvenated by Robert Wilson who was
our Guest Speaker in November when he gave a short recital on the
organ. We are very grateful to Robert for all his work.
We hold a very interesting Scrapbook that was compiled by
Garnet Adcock, the second owner of Henry Kendall Cottage and the
founder of Jusfrute. A descendent of Garnet Adcock, Arthur Adcock,
visited our complex in May to do some research and was very
impressed by this scrapbook. Because of its fragile state, the scrapbook
was scanned on to a CD by Jay Sider, a copy given to Arthur and
we retained a copy for our collection. It was a lot of work and we
thank Jay very much for this.
Member Brian McCafferty organised the erection of a special frame
for our “Maitland” Bell and Portholes, free of charge, from Clark
Equipment at Hornsby. A Letter of Thanks was sent to Clark’s and we
really appreciate Brian’s efforts in arranging this.

Working Bees are held before each General Meeting and we’re very
grateful to those members who have given their time and energy to
carry out the various tasks necessary to keep our complex in good
condition and working well.

ADMINISTRATION

Many thanks to Jay Sider for his ongoing hard work relabeling,
reorganizing, reading emails, researching and the other computer
work he does. Evidence of Jay’s work is in the many signs he has
redone as well as redesigning our brochure. Our new leaflet is
currently in progress and almost completed.
Brian McCafferty has been sorting and assembling all the newspaper
clippings that have gathered over the years, some of which date back
to 1946. The project has a number of steps and when completed will
enable easy access for research. Thank you Brian for this painstaking
work.
Our ‘very old books’ are gradually being listed and reorganized –
thanks to Jay Sider but he could do with some help now that Terrell
Dixon, who was assisting him, has taken on a full-time job.
We hope this year to reorganize our Library to improve access and
appearance.

GRANTS

A Heritage Grant was received from Gosford City Council for an
inspection to be carried out by a Heritage Architect. The report found
that we had “spalling” (rising damp) on the front wall of the cottage
which required immediate action. A further Heritage Grant was obtained
from the Council for this work. After obtaining quotes and selecting
one, this work was carried out successfully. It also entailed drainage
work around the cottage and replacement of some rusted downpipes.
A smaller Grant was also received recently for replacing cracked window
panes and this also has been successfully completed.
We are really grateful to the Heritage Committee and Gosford City
Council for these Grants. Thanks to Ros Ellis for all the time and effort
she put into submitting these Grants.
During the inspection by the Heritage Architect it was suggested that
we remove the decaying picket fence so this was carried out by
Norman Allan. This has provided a much clearer view of the Cottage
and Museum from this angle. The lattice at the back of the Bullock
Wagon was also removed and this also provides a much clearer view
of the cottage and museum. Thanks Norman.

MEETINGS

Meetings held during the year consisted of 10 General Meetings (no
May or December meetings), 12 Management Committee Meetings,
and 1 Special Committee Meeting concerning our 60th Birthday
celebration.
Attendances at General Meetings remain at an average of
approximately 23 but we would like to see more members attending.
We have had some great Guest speakers who have been varied and
interesting – thanks to Margaret Pearce for arranging them..
Whilst our sub-committees have wound down somewhat we still have
had very hard working teams organizing our successful Street Stall,
Bunnings BBQ, Cleaning Working Bees, Administration, making Craft
items, General Maintenance, Mowing and Gardening. This hard work
is mostly carried out by a dedicated few. It would be great if we could
have a few more members becoming involved and sharing the load in
the care and maintenance of our valued Cottage and Museum.

We have been very fortunate to have Ingrid Rode who has demonstrated
her hospitality skills in organizing morning and afternoon teas
and special events refreshments, as well as organizing and purchasing
our supplies. Other members such as Brian James and Leni Raica
have filled in on a number of occasions and have been involved in
processing the Newsletter each month. Brian has demonstrated also
his willingness to organize the setting up and putting away the chairs
for our meetings as well as many other little jobs.

SOCIAL OUTINGS

About 20 Members and friends enjoyed a Cruise on Brisbane Water
on the Lady Kendall on March 29th.
In July members had an interesting and informative visit to the
Jewish Museum at Darlinghurst with lunch at the Sporties Club at
Gladesville.
We try to have 3 or 4 social outings each year. Thanks to Margaret
for arranging these.

TRAINING

A Training and Refresher Session was held on February 24th with
a Special Morning Tea. This was to help clarify many procedures to
Duty Members to assist in their museum duties. For those duty
members who could not attend we are sending a resume of the
proceedings and of course the Procedures Manual is now in our
staffroom for consultation.
I would like to thank most sincerely the hardworking members of our
Committee – Elaine, Edith, Margaret, Ros, George, Bob, Ingrid, and
Norman. Your work and support has been much appreciated. It
would be great if more of our members could share in the many tasks
that need to be done to help in caring for our valued Cottage and
Museum. Just come along to the Working Bees on Tuesday mornings,
before each General Meeting. Any help you can give would be great.

Best wishes to the incoming committee for the coming year. Thank
you for having me as President this year.
Sincerely
Shirley Rider – President