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| The Genealogical Society of South Africa | |
| eGSSA branch | |
Port Elizabeth Women’s Club, Summer Strand, 25th February 2006
West Gauteng Branch
Report to the National Annual General Meeting – 25 February 2006
For the year January to December 2005
Management
At the Annual General Meeting held on 19 March 2005, the following branch committee was elected:
Chairman and publicity Richard Y Ford
Vice chairman and membership Lucas Rinken
Treasurer Dennis Pretorius
Training Isebelle Krauss
Presentation coordinator Frans Viljoen
Librarian Louise Dick
Secretaries Events Barbara Bouwer
Recording Margaret Humphries
Membership
Our numbers increased by 7 during the year – a gain of 25% – from 28 to 35 members.
Early in the year we were approached by the chairman and treasurer of Johannesburg branch and asked to consider an amalgamation of the West Gauteng and Johannesburg branches. Approval was obtained at our annual general meeting. But, at a special general meeting of Johannesburg branch held on 25 June 2005, the branch elected a new management committee and stopped the merger.
Meetings
The branch organised the following meetings for this year:
|
Date |
Topic |
Presenter |
Attendance |
|
|
22 January 12 February 19 March 16 April 21 May 18 June 16 July 20 August 17 September 15 October 19 November |
Effective use of search engines Genealogical software Annual General Meeting Historical tour to Potchefstroom Making best use of Family History Centre Marthinus Wessel Pretorius Early West Rand farms Influence of German Settlers in SA The Paardekraal Monument The 1820 Settlers Year-end social |
Anna Lehmkuhl Lucas Rinken - Prof Gert van den Bergh Isebelle Krauss Rev Kálmán Pap Colin C Smith Brig-Gen Heinrich Friebus Frans Viljoen Tessa King - |
18m 14m 13m 17m 26m 15m 16m 17m 18m 19m 19m |
31v 6v - 7v 5v 1v 6v 3v - 5v - |
In the attendance column, “m” means paid-up members (including members from other branches) and “v”, visitors. Therefore, attendance averaged 23 members and visitors at each of the eleven meetings.
Branch committee meetings were held every two months.
Projects
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1 West Gauteng News
Our alternate monthly newsletter, launched in March 2005, was published six times during the year. Its purpose is to inform members on forthcoming events and to carry transcripts of presentations made at branch meetings. Furthermore, it is used to promote membership and every edition is sent to a prospective member list.
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2 Hobby-X
Over the weekend of 4 to 7 March 2005 the branch managed the GSSA stand on behalf of National Office. We recorded a small profit of R88 for the branch and added ten new members. This year’s exhibition will take place at the Northgate Dome from 2 to 5 March.
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3 CDs
In February 2005 we announced the availability of two CDs – Die Dagboek van Ds Herman Frederik Schoon and the Rinken-De Wet Database of 200 000 names – and targeted sales at 25 and 75 respectively. By the end of the year sales totalled 18 and 50.
RICHARD Y FORD
31 January 2006