C/- Tawa Community Centre, 7 Cambridge Terrace, Tawa, Wellington 5028 ; Secretary ph 232 5901
Website: tawahistory.org.nz
The Tawa Historian
Newsletter #63 – August 2024
This newsletter seeks to bring you all up-to-date with what activities the Tawa Historical Society has carried out recently and what is in store for the near future.
Annual General Meeting – Monday 2 September 2024, 7.30pm.
Our AGM will take place on 2 September at 7.30pm in the boardroom of the Tawa Community Centre, Cambridge Street, Tawa. All members are invited. Please invite any friends who might be potential members along too.
A major procedural obligation that we have faced is the refreshment of our constitution to be in conformance with the Incorporated Societies Act 2022 (the Act). The Executive Committee has discussed and prepared a draft revised constitution, and it is being sent out with this newsletter for your perusal. The document is based on the constitution builder tool on the NZ Companies Office website. We do not propose to completely review and discuss the document line-by-line at the AGM, but merely formally approve it, as is required by the Act. That said, if there is anything significant that you are unsure about or want clarifying please contact me at tawaparsons (at) xtra.co.nz and I will be happy to do so for you and mention it at the AGM.
As well as the constitution and the usual administrative and governance business of the night, the meeting will include a presentation by our patron Hon Peter Dunne covering his experiences and memories of serving Tawa in Parliament for 30 years. This is sure to be an interesting and entertaining presentation for all members.
Office-holders standing again except Phil Harland and Ken Woodgate
Most committee members are again standing for re-election at the AGM. Those include David Parsons – Chairperson; Michelle Calitz – Treasurer; Michael Steer – Deputy Chairperson; together with Steve Avery, Richard Herbert (webmaster), Karyn Lo (archivist) and Donna Sherlock.
Not standing again are Phil Harland and Ken Woodgate – Secretary. Phil has been on the committee since the Tawa Historical Society was first formed in 2001, indeed he was instrumental in the society’s formation when some examples of Tawa’s heritage buildings were under threat at the time. He served as its first chairperson and has been active in promoting and writing about Tawa ever since. At the age of nearly 98 he considers that perhaps it’s time for a rest. Ken has ably served as secretary for 12 years, keeping committee meetings and AGMs on track and generally administering our activities in terms of the constitution. The contributions of both Phil and Ken will be missed from our activities.
Secretary role – As noted above, the Society is still seeking a person who can step into the role of Secretary. Current Secretary Ken Woodgate is stepping down after several years in the role and can provide transitional training for the new volunteer. The role may suit someone with administrative skills who has recently left the paid workforce or who has reduced their hours of employment. It is estimated that the time commitment may be up to one hour per week on average, with some busier periods (e.g. preparing for meetings) balanced by quieter ones. Please contact the chairperson, David Parsons, if you would like to discuss the role, and are willing and able to volunteer.
Why belong to the Tawa Historical Society? – The committee has been considering this question and has come up with some ideas for offering more activities for members to attend.
An initial idea is to host speakers from Tawa or the surrounding districts to talk about their activities, which we hope will also be of interest to you, our members. David Parsons currently commits to speaking twice per year to the Tawa U3A about some aspect of Tawa’s history. Topics covered have included the Earp Family, the families behind the street names off Taylor Terrace and the history of the rail lines through the valley. His next presentation (10am on Monday 7 October at Tawa Anglican Church) will cover the history of Tawa’s schools. Our tentative aim is to encourage members to attend those meetings and to offer two more events per year featuring other speakers and events.
We will keep you posted as and when those plans come to fruition.
Wellington Heritage Festival – We will again be participating in the Wellington Heritage Festival which in 2024 has grown to a three-week-long event. Once again our contribution will be a short presentation on the history of Tawa followed by a walk that takes in some of the area’s historical sites and buildings. The date of our event is Saturday 9 November. The whole event runs from Saturday 26 October (Labour Weekend) until Sunday 17 November and will feature walks, talks and displays in the Wairarapa, Kapiti Coast, Porirua, Hutt Valley, the southern and eastern suburbs and Wellington City. There should be something on the programme that will interest you.
Spring into Tawa – The society will again be present at ‘Spring into Tawa’ on Saturday 19 October, weather-permitting of course. We will have books and calendars for sale. Please call by at our stand and make yourselves known to those on duty.
Kapi Mana News Index - The society received an eclectic collection of material about Tawa from an estate late last year. There were a range of photographic and written records received.
Among these was a partial index of articles about Tawa that have appeared in the Kapi Mana News since its inception in 1949. Committee member Mike Steer has taken responsibility for checking the index back to the archive copies of the Kapi Mana News held at the Porirua Library, verifying its accuracy, assessing the value of the article as a source of information (e.g. is it a significant article about the topic or merely a passing reference or advertisement) and taking an image of the article for our records if warranted.
In time this information can be made available to researchers and members wishing to learn more about Tawa’s post-war history.
Calendar – The society has decided to produce a calendar for 2025 following the success of last year’s exercise. In a quiet period for book publishing, we hope that the calendar will help keep the Tawa Historical Society in people’s minds. The calendar will have the theme of ‘People of Tawa’. We hope that members will support this venture.
Books – A couple of books that the society has been working on are currently in abeyance. These were a reprint of articles that appeared in the Kapi Mana News in the 1970s and 80s and one with a sporting theme. It is still likely that the topics will be covered in some form or another, but that the committee will reassess the precise formats in due course.
Photographs – We are still looking for historical photographs of Tawa, be they from last century or just last year. It is hoped that themed calendars will continue and so we will be looking for fresh material to illustrate them. If you know you have such images at home or even just come across them when spring-cleaning in the attic, please think of donating those to the Tawa Historical Society.
On behalf of the Tawa Historical Society committee, we look forward to seeing you at the Annual General Meeting and having your continued support as members or active participants for the years to come.
David Parsons
Chairperson,
Tawa Historical Society