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17 May 2009
Hello Everyone
It was a great surprise,
and a great privilege, when I was nominated and elected as President of
the CGCAA at the recent AGM. I still consider myself a novice collector
of Carnival Glass, so it was even more of a surprise to take up the role.
In the short time I’ve been a member I’ve found everyone very friendly
and welcoming, and have learnt so much, with so much still to learn. I
think there are such great benefits in belonging to a group like CGCAA –
social interaction with like-minded people, along with guidance and advice
in all aspects of collecting and appreciating Carnival Glass.
With the help
and support of what I know is a very capable Committee, I look forward to
working with all members to continue the on-going success of the
Association. That success is due very much to the commitment, efforts and
enthusiasm of the previous Committee and in particular the President,
Maurice Geake, and I hope I and the new Committee will be able to build
on that success.
However, like
many other community groups today, we face a number of challenges in
ensuring a viable and sustainable future. The global financial crisis has
affected everyone, whether retirees’ income, current workers’ jobs or
long-term investments. This may affect people’s ability to participate in
the Association (or new members to join), curtail carnival purchases, or
re-order personal priorities.
The ageing of
the Australian population presents both challenges and opportunities.
Current collectors are getting older and where are the younger members
coming up? Retiring baby boomers are looking for interesting pastimes and
Carnival collecting may well provide a stimulating opportunity. But are
there enough entry-level items still available to provide the interest?
I think we need
to continue looking at building our profile and attracting new members.
Already we have looked at mounting an exhibition, though this may be
beyond our current means. We have some opportunities with an offer of
participating in an open day and submitting an article to a collecting magazine.
We need to look at what other opportunities there might be to spread the
word about the wonders of Carnival Glass collecting.
As all our
meetings are in members’ private homes, I would like to thank everyone
who has hosted a meeting, and the opportunity to experience some truly
awesome collections. I’ve particularly liked being able to get out into
country NSW to places like Orange, Bathurst and Blackheath (for me that’s
the country). It means that we’re not totally Sydney-centric, and
provides a broader scope for ‘carnival hunting’.
At the start of
my career I lived in Alice Springs for 8 years, and now live in the
Sydney CBD, so I’m very much Sydney or the Bush. I’ve measured the floor
space in our apartment and unfortunately I don’t think there’s any way I
could shoe-horn everyone in there for a meeting. To say nothing of the
challenges of finding parking and safely transporting the exhibition
pieces. So I’m personally very grateful that members are prepared to make
their homes available for meetings.
I’ve been away
on some more travels recently, with greater or lesser success in finding
interesting carnival and non-carnival pieces to bring back.
I very much
look forward to working with everyone to secure the Association’s future and
to seeing you at the next meeting.
And as Maurice
would say, drive safely and happy carnival hunting.
Andrew Mitchell
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Some of the beautiful carnival glass
on display at our last meeting
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Club members enjoying the convivial
atmosphere at the last meeting
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