| Annual Report 2010 |
Southern Heritage Trust Annual Report 2010(covering the period July 2009-June 2010)General The Southern Heritage Trust has had another busy year. Major activities were the publication of the second Otago Harbour Heritage Trail, the continuing campaign for the conservation of the Dunedin Gasworks, and involvement in the discussions of the possible future uses of the historic Dunedin Prison. The Trust also made a number of major submissions to the Dunedin City Council on heritage matters and again gave talks on heritage to a number of organisations in Dunedin and further afield. Trustees The Trustees met monthly under the chairmanship of Barry Clarke. Following the resignation of Peter Booth in 2009, we welcomed two new Trustees during the year, Lois Robertson, who is an archivist with a background in the archives, records and library sector, and Craig Bush, who joined his partner Carol Robinson in Dunedin and has expertise in event management and information technology. Both of the new Trustees have already made valuable contributions to our deliberations and activities. Otago Harbour Heritage Trails The second of the Trust’s Otago Harbour Heritage Trails, covering the Otago Peninsula, was launched by Sir Neil Cossons, former Chair of English Heritage, at a function at the Hocken Library in November. This is another highly professional production, designed by Allan Kynaston with attractive maps. Thanks are due to Carol Robinson, who again took responsibility for the research and compiled the text. Both trail brochures are on sale from the Trust and various other retail outlets. Dunedin Gasworks Museum The Trust has gained an even stronger representation on the Gasworks Trust Board, with Craig Bush taking on the role of Secretary/Treasurer, Barry Clarke continuing as Chair, and Ann Barsby heavily involved in fundraising and planning for the Museum’s future development. The restoration of the historic Fitting Shop is now almost complete, and the Dunedin City Council in its Annual Plan has committed further funds for the completion of this project and the maintenance of the other buildings. Savoy Afternoon Teas Four afternoon teas were held at the Savoy during the twelve month period, and the introduction of specific themes proved very popular, attracting more than a hundred partici-pants on every occasion. Themes were the Yeomen of the Guard (with excerpts sung by the principals of the Mayfair production), a Scottish Week celebration (with dancing, piping. piano pieces and poetry reading), chinaware (presented by Sue Moore of Broad Bay China), and a Polish Easter celebration (featuring the music of Chopin). The Northern Cemetery The Sexton’s Cottage continues to provide the Trust with an attractive base and to serve as an information gallery for a visitors exploring the Cemetery or tracing family graves. Another successful Anzac memorial tour was conducted on Anzac Day, together with a related tour on the memorials of World War 2 servicemen; the tours were led by Juliette Stoddart, who was responsible for their creation. We also continued our special relationship with Heritage Roses Otago, who regularly tend the thousand and one roses planted in the cemetery. Dunedin Writers Project Work continued on the Dunedin Writers Guide, which is the second part of the project which saw the production last year of online audiofiles and a CD of readings of extracts of works by a dozen writers with Dunedin connections. The Guide will cover a wider range of writers and will be organised by location, so that visitors and residents can follow a trail of places linked with the writers concerned. Publication is expected by the end of 2010. Membership During the year Trust took concerted steps to set about establishing a membership category, the object being partly financial but mainly to gain support for our objectives and help with our various activities. An attractive membership brochure is now available for wide distribution, and a computerised data base has been set up to facilitate communication with potential members. A downloadable application form for membership is also posted on the website. Membership benefits include not only a 10% discount on all our products but three full-colour Newsletters a year and a personal invitation to all our activities. Programme of Events As part of the membership drive but also to increase our public profile, the Trust has instituted what is planned to be a series of Special Events to complement our Savoy Afternoon Teas and other regular activities. The first of these was held in the Skeggs Gallery of the Municipal Chambers in May, when Fiona Hyland of Historic Roses Otago gave a fascinating lecture on ‘The Symbolism of Victorian Cemeteries’, which drew an audience of over sixty. This will be followed later in the year by a self-drive motor rally visiting the heritage sites of the Peninsula as described in the new Peninsula Harbour Trail. Staff The Sexton’s Cottage has been staffed for half of the year by our latest Task Force Green worker William Petch, aided by his predecessor Richard Hercus, who has stayed on voluntarily to help out. As well as assisting visitors to the Northern Cemetery, they have done valuable work in updating the Cemetery website, preparing the Trust’s 2011 Calendar and identifying leading figures from the gold rush days buried in the Cemetery as the basis of a new cemetery trail brochure for next year’s Dunedin Heritage Festival. Ideally we would have a roster of volunteers so that the Sexton’s Cottage could be open all the year round and especially at weekends. For our major projects we have necessarily relied on people out in the community, some of whom quite reasonably charge for their professional expertise; we are able to meet these charges through project-specific grants, but do not have the income to employ even a part-time assistant for general Trust activities. Acknowledgements The Trust expresses its gratitude to the Dunedin City Council for the continuing use of the Sexton’s Cottage as a base and to WINZ for the Task Force Green position. Grants from the Otago Community Trust and the Otago Motor Club Trust are also gratefully acknowledged. My thanks as always to our volunteer helpers and to the Trustees for their ongoing support and advice. Ann Barsby, 30 June 2010 |
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