Routine Orders
Last Post
New Members
Gordon C Revell, Peter Baker
Urgent
When paying subs, reunion fees etc. please make the cheque payable to NZPFOCA, which is our official name and the name of our Bank Account. At the AGM last year it was decided that we should be 'KNOWN AS' the Royal New Zealand Artillery Comrades Assn because the NZPFOCA did not indicate that we were a Gunner organisation, but that did not alter our official title.
Coming Events - Warning Order For the 70TH Anniversary Reunion
As previously advised the Reunion this year will be the weekend Friday 5 to Sunday 7 November. The format will be much the same as previous years with the confirmed costs as follows:
Spa Chalets per 2 people $100. Each extra person $10
Spa Studio per 2 people $75. Each extra person $10
Breakfasts $10 per person. Bowling Club dinner $35 per person, buy own drinks, Port supplied.
If numbers allow (minimum 20 @ $25.00 per head), there will be a buffet dinner on Friday night at the Spa. If numbers do not allow there will be Spa bistro meals as per the menu board.
The buffet menu is as follows:
Meats: Chicken, Beef, Ham on the bone.
Veg. roast: Potato, pumpkin, kumara.
Veg. boiled: Carrots, peas.
Mushroom sauce/gravy
Salads: Lettuce, seafood, red coleslaw, cucumber and tomato.
Bread rolls
Desserts: Pavlova, cheese cake, ice-cream
Spa Hotel Accommodation
Book through the Association Secretary.
The Raffle
As with previous years if you can provide a prize for the raffle it will be greatly appreciated. Remember the proceeds of the raffle help to defray the weekend's costs e.g. taxis, port, Bowling Club bar staff, etc. Already Tony Tustin has made a beautiful model cannon, Henry Salt a very generous contribution, Bob Blankley cannon key rings and I will provide my normal selection of 'Mother's Finest Preserves'!!!
Some Very Interesting Reflections From Previous Newsletters
A certain soldier once said 'We trained hard, but when it seemed we were beginning to work as a team we would be reorganised. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganising, and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency and demoralisation.
Pretorius, First Roman Legion, AD 65. Truly saith the Sage, there is nothing new under the sun. (So what has changed?)
Contacts
Peter 'Tibbo' Tibbett invites those of you who are 'on-line' to visit the Australian Gunner Old Comrades web-site at http://tibbsau.com/gunners.html. A very tidy website that is well worth visiting. Also you can email him on [email protected] . As an aside, have a look at what they call themselves. Nothing wrong with 'Old' is there?
John Osborne, Commandant of the Armed Constabulary Re-Enactment Society and the NZ Society of Gunsmiths. Website http://gunsmithsociety.com/ . John has been a power of strength helping people, and myself, enquiring through our website about guns and cannons. He is very happy to help with queries and can be contacted on [email protected] .
Following is an excerpt from 'The Police Bulletin Dec 1983�:
John Osborne was born in Inverness in 1941, father was a RN submarine skipper and with his early years so close to the smell of cordite and gun oil his interests quickly turned to weapons. In addition, the Osborne family had been involved in the manufacture of guns and bayonets since 1760. John and wife Anne began collecting shotguns bearing the family name but in the late 1960's saw his direction change to Police and Military history.
Early appeals to the Ministry of Defence were ignored due to a disinterest in the past. John was dismayed with this and the flow of artefacts off shore, at the same time bureaucracies were destroying valuable records and artefacts. Fortunately, Maj Gen Hassett came to realise what was happening and under his patronage the idea of an Army Museum materialised. Gen Hassett had had earlier correspondence with John and appointed him as weapons history adviser to the Museum. Of course due to all this going on John and Wally Ruffell became colleagues with a common passion.
My, and now our, association with John came about from my plea for help in the last Newsletter for information regarding the Armstrong Rifled Muzzle Loading 6 pounder. This was requested by the 1st Michigan Light Artillery. Sherwood Young's wife Marie suggested Sherwood put me on to his very close friend John Osborne. The 1st Michigan Light Artillery now have the plans to build their guns thanks to John. As an aside for those who do not know, Chief Inspector Sherwood Young was our guest speaker at the 2002 Reunion, is the NZ Police Historian and now our Honorary Historian.
Notice of Motion AGM 2004
As your new Secretary, I am not prepared to sit idle and watch the Association slowly loose membership and finally die. I mentioned in the last Newsletter that it is my intention to submit a Notice of Motion at the 2004 AGM to amend, mainly Membership, in our Rule Book.
Briefly, all mention of RF will been removed. Life Membership will be for those who have rendered valuable service to the Assn over an extended period, (current Life Member and those who turn 80 before the AGM will not be affected). Immediate family of a Life or Full Member will become eligible for Associate Membership and the Rule where membership is terminated through being in arrears reduced from three years to two. However, the Secretary must inform members that their membership is in jeopardy.
At present, the 'Notice' is being fine-tuned with input from the Committee and members. If anyone out there would like to see and comment on my 'Notice', please do so by contacting me at the address on top and I will send you a copy as it is to date.
Graeme (Jack) Black
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