YEAR A RECORD ONE FOR A. & P. SOCIETY

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 16, Issue 7, 13 October 1950, Page 5

YEAR A RECORD ONE FOR A. & P. SOCIETY

The past year has been a record one, states the president, Mr lan B. Gow, in his report to be presented to the annual meeting of the Whakatane and Rangitaiki A. and P. Society tonight. The report reads:— It is pleasing to be able to report that the past year has been a record one, not only in respect to the number and quality of entries on show day, but also in respect to the support received from the public on that day. Finance: From the financial aspect the' year’s working has been satisfactory; show day itself, without taking into account other receipts for the year, providing a surplus of £6B 16s 4d. This, together with membership subscriptions and other revenue left us with a balance of profit for the year of £231 -5s Bd, making the accumulated funds of the society now stand at £1270 4s Id.

Membership: While the progress being made may allow us to feel some quiet satisfaction, there is no justification for complacency of attitude until such time as we can say that at least 90 per cent of those who should be members are members. I am afraid that this matter of membership will still engage the attention of successive executive committees for some years to come. Grounds: While the society has a number of years tenure of its present grounds available under thd existing lease decision will need to be made in this coming year as to whether we desire to continue to hold our shows on the domain grounds or whether we should seek grounds of our own. With the work which has already been done to improve the grounds materially benefiting our position there and having 'regard for the assurance of our local councillors in control of the domain area that our interests will be fully conserved. I am of the opinion myself that we cannot do better than to throw ourselves into the effort to improve those grounds both for the general public and for ourselves.

Meetings: Meetings of the executive had been held throughout the year as needs warranted attendances being uniformly good. We have received invaluable and very able help from the women’s committee —a committee which is comprised of representatives of the various organisations, elected by them and functioning through their delegates on the executive. I cannot speak too highly of the work f additional to their other activities, which they did for us on show day in catering in such splendid fashion for judges and other officials. As far as the general work done by our male members of the executive is concerned, I feel that any president who was not satisfied with that work would be very hard to please.

I have been particularly gratified at the spirit of unselfish, friendly team-work which has been displayed.

Once again I tender sincerest thanks from all executive members to our secretary, Mr Hamilton Morgan, whose attention to every detail of his work continues to gratify and amaze us.

I shall not attempt in this report to make any analysis of receipts and expenditure for the year but our secretary has made comparisons with previous years which should be of interest to the meeting. For the benefit of posterity and the residents of 1970 Whakatane, that sizeable port of the Bay of Plenty I append below an enumeration of the entries received in our major events on show, day, February 25, 1950. They will, perhaps, be microscopical to them. Cattle: Jersey (principal breed) 208. Pigs: (A 1 breeds) 154. Sheep 60. Exhibition shed 771.