Conchology Section
Auckland Museum Institute

President's report
Our A.G.M. in December was very well attended. We sincerely thank the out going committee members. Nancy Smith, Margaret Morley, Rae Sneddon, and Glenn Carter, for many years of great service on the Section's committee and for their many acts of untold generosity.
Presidents Report for 2003 is attached.

Officers Elected for 2004:

President	Doug Snook	299 6476
Immediate Past President	Glenys Stace	09 415 9930
Vice-Presidents	Fiona Thompson	828 4855
	Patricia Langford	473 0147
Web Site Producer	Peter Poortman	817 5697
Secretary and Newsletter	Rosa Tyson	620 4523
General Treasurer	Neville Hudson	360 0378
Librarian	Gladys Goulstone	634 2823
Committee	Betty Headford	09 420 5223
	Heather Smith	524 5068
	Luen Jones	674 5195
	Bruce Hazelwood	525 0065

The Poirieria Prize: Congratulations to Mike Eagle who is the winner of the Poireiria Prize for 2003.
We would like to thank Margaret Morley and Mike Hart for their generous gifts of shells for prizes.

Next Meeting: Tues. 10th. Feb 7:30pm.
This will be held in the Ranfurly Room. Epsom Community Centre. 202 Gillies Ave. Please park at the rear of the Centre - entrance is via Kimberly Rd.
Topic: Holiday finds and recent acquisitions. Doug Snook will be the main speaker and we show some interesting short videos. Please bring along your latest finds for Identification and discussion.
Door Prizes: there will be two lucky door prizes to be won.
Feature Shells : Limpets; Acmaeidae and Patelloida from N.Z. or W.W. will be our feature shell this evening - please bring a display tray of your favourites

Shell Auction: Sat 29th May, Albany Hall.
Please note that our annual shell auction will be held eariier this year. Contact Doug Snook urgently if you intend to enter shell lots.

The 5th New Zealand Shell Show
This will be held in Auckland in October 2004. To register your interest please contact Peter Poortman as soon as possible.

Field Trip to Burgess Island, Mokohinau Islands - Sat. Feb 28th.
There has been an excellent response from members for this off-shore island trip and all 19 places are now booked.

Membership
We send best wishes to our life member, Lorna Douglas who has not enjoyed good heath recently. We hope that she will have a speedy recovery.

75th Anniversary Celebrations
The Section will be 75 yrs old in 2005.

Lapel Badge
Our new style lapel badge will be available in March.

Field Trip: World Wetlands Day 2nd Feb
Several members took the bus tour organised by the National Wetland Trust of N.Z. Dept. of Conservation Waikato and Auckland-Waikato Fish and Game Council, to visit the three wetlands with Ramsar Status in the greater Waikato region; the Whangamarino Wetland, Kopuatai Peat Dome and the Thames Estuary, where the Miranda chenier (shell plain) is considered the best example of its type in the world.
The Shorebird Centre at Miranda has a display of shells organised by our member Miss Joan Coles and about 120 shell species are found on the shell plain.
There are two other Ramsar Wetlands in NZ; Waituna Lagoon in Southland and Farewell Spit near Nelson.

Poirieria
Peter Poortman has kindly offered to write our nostalgia article 'Twenty Years Ago'.
The Editors Tony and Jenny Enderby. P.O Box 139 Leigh, require articles for the next Poirieria issue - All queries: ph.09-422-6127 or email enderby@enderby.co.nz

Web site
Our Web site Officer is Peter Poortman (poortman@xtra.co.nz)
Conchology section web site http://nz_seashells.tripod.com

Library news
Glenys Stace at Auckland Museum reports that she was delighted to meet up with member Jack Godden of Warkworth who is currently working on the shell display at the Kauri Museum at Warkworth. He was delighted to be shown our library in the Matapuna Gallery and says he will need to use it often as he now makes frequent trips to Auckland Hospital with wife Nina. We wish them both good health.
To borrow any of the Section's books please contact our Librarian Gladys Goulstone - address 38A Church Rd. Mangere Bridge, Auckland - ph. (09) 634-2823. Please contact Gladys regarding books on the list mailed Sept 2001 - she has extra copies of this.
Gladys will deliver book orders to the meeting. If you send her an A4 P.0. handy bag with $2.95 in stamps per book, she will mail the books. Please return books to Matapuna as soon as possible or to Gladys at the next meeting, or return them by mail.

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Subscriptions are due for 2004. Annual subscription is $20.
Please send to: The Treasurer, Conchology Section, Dr. N. Hudson, 4/20 Hayden St. Freemans Bay, Auckland 1, N.Z.

I/we enclose $20.00 for my/our annual subscription:

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