As was reported in the ‘Watchman’, our Inaugural Art Exhibition was a great success. We received some very good feedback from the visitors about the high quality of the Art exhibited, the stunning venue, the happy smiling faces of the volunteers at the greeting desk and the display of the art itself For our first effort, I believe it came together very well.
We raised $13,974 (net profit) for the Sailing School which is sorely needed for repairs and maintenance of the boats – if nothing else.
Of course this would not have happened without the help of many people and I would like to mention here the hours spent by the Committee prior to the event, planning every detail. Thank you to Dave Fredric, Tania Ruri, Dianne Telford, Barbara King (Volunteer Co-ordinator), Barbara Johnson, Lindsay Edmonds, Kerry Baillie, Peter Montgomery – our Patron, John Campbell (Artist Representative), Amanda Brett (our Artist in Residence) and in particular two people who carried big burdens. Jan Hughes (and Russell) who planned and provided the fabulous canapes on Opening Night, Members Night Nibbles and the Auction Night Pizza, and Chrisy Bird who with her undoubted talent for advertising and marketing wrote and published our Sponsorship Proposal and spent many hours typing, printing and compiling all the notices around the Club, not to mention the Artist’s Biographies which were provided to us in all shapes and sizes and which she then condensed and made sense of (not easy). The help did not stop there: I would also like to thank the ‘muscle men’ who shunted around the furniture – Taka, Calvin & Shaun for washing the windows at 6.30 AM the weekend before we opened (and to Russell for getting up so early to get the gear they needed for this). To June Aitken and Charmaine for many hours spent in the kitchen with Jan, and Kevin, Alan, Janet and all the other volunteers who gave up a few hours here and there to man the ‘Sales Desk’. Thank you and I hope you enjoyed the experience!
We were fortunate in acquiring some wonderful sponsors: from member Simon Mills who was the first to say ‘yes’; to Henley Propellers who were very generous; to Matua wines who gave us all the wine for Opening Night and discounted wine for the rest of the Exhibition week and to many others who gave us product or money or restaurant meals or boat lift outs. Thank you to everyone.
The Auction Night provided some light hearted relief from the rest of the activities. It was a fun night with the Honourable Nikki Kaye (MP) spending some dollars – not only buying our Dean Barker cartoon for her office in Wellington but the Sailing School lessons & lifejacket prize for her nephew as well. She also ‘Tweeted’ her compliments to the Club for a great event. There were some fabulous bargains won (from holidays to fishing trips and restaurant meals) and Robert Tulp and his helpers from Harcourts did a great job of keeping everyone on their toes.
I feel this event has given everyone a great sense of pride in their Club and we look forward (with everyone’s help) to doing it again next year.
Thank you, Pat Goldstiver,