Tawa Historical Society Incorporated

The Tawa Historian

Newsletter #24 – November 2010

Dear members and friends of the THS,

May I convey to you all sincere good wishes for the Christmas season which is fast approaching, and I trust that 2011 will find you all in fine fettle. There are a number of matters to report to you to keep you up to date with Society matters.

Subscriptions.
Thank you very much to all of you who have paid your 2009/10 subscriptions. Enclosed with this newsletter is the notice of the ‘subs’ for 2011, which we will now gladly receive.

Good news.
Michael Steer’s excellent book, 26 Oxford Street and the Bartlett Family has now been printed. It is available for purchase at the Tawa Library for $25.00 each. We will officially launch this book at 6.00pm on Monday 6 December 2010 in the Tawa Community Centre in Cambridge Street, Tawa. All members and friends are cordially invited to this event where you can enjoy drinks and some nibbles courtesy of the Society, buy a book, and pay your subs!
The book is of 44 pages, and is illustrated by 25 photographs, maps, plans and a painting, 19 of which are coloured. We believe that it will make a fine Christmas present for anyone, and especially for friends and family who have a connection with Tawa. Our initial print run is only 150, so there may well be early demand for it. I am sure that, if you wish, the author will be on hand on 6 December to personally sign purchased copies.

Other publications.
Bruce Murray’s and David Wood’s book, Arthur Carman’s Suitcase, is approaching readiness for printing, and we hope to launch it in the first quarter of 2011, on a date to be advertised. The second of their books they have been preparing for some time, Best of Tawa Volume 3, will be published later in 2011, perhaps as our ‘Christmas’ offering. We are wanting to include an index for all three volumes in Volume 3, and that is taking considerable time. As it sells well both in New Zealand and overseas (previous volumes have been bought for Harvard University, for example) we think an index is essential.

Tawa Lookout Historic Walk.
Your Society is working with the Tawa Rotary Club to support a community walk from the Tawa Library to the Tawa Lookout, and return. We have written a brochure, which will be available to all walkers, which points out items of historical interest along the route. We will provide guides / commentators for the walk. The walk is set down for 2pm on Sunday 20 February 2011, with a wet weather option of 27 February. More publicity later.

Tawa Railway Station.
Your executive is still giving thought to “doing something with the Tawa Railway Station”. We have noted that at the Plimmerton and Paekakariki stations activities of an historic nature have been permitted. We have had some discussions with Tawa Rotary, and await the opportunity of an inspection of the Station building to get some idea of the feasibility of the kind of project which is envisaged.

A Tawa historic calendar for 2012.
We are considering producing a 2012 calendar featuring 12 photos of historic interest relating to Tawa (Flat). Each would have an appropriate commentary accompanying each photo. Such a publication could be a useful stocking filler at 2011’s Christmas, as well as bringing Tawa’s history into many homes. What do you think? Please let us know.

David Wood.
David, on our executive for a number of years, and a co-author of several of our books, will be leaving Wellington in January 2011 to return with his wife Lynette to their home in Auckland. They will be much closer to most of their extended family there. We will miss David’s work for us immensely, and will suitably farewell him at our book launch on 6 December.

Conclusion.
We continue to be grateful for the support we receive from our members, expressed not only in comments to the executive, but in the practical matter of paying your subscriptions. This continues to help us to bring Tawa’s history before the public, to publish books, to hire our rooms in the Community Centre, and to make our suburb more interesting and attractive. With kind regards, and with best wishes for a pleasant end to 2010,

Yours sincerely,