Conchology Section
Auckland Museum Institute

President's Report
I hope you all have had a superb Christmas and a well earned rest. Margaret, Alison and I leave on the 7th January 2007 and begin the Antarctic travel on the 15th January, so we could easily be feeling very cold when you receive this newsletter! I look forward to seeing you all again at the May meeting. I know the Committee will organize and manage three meetings in my absence!

May you find a shell wash up on every beach.
Kindest regards
Heather Smith

Happy New Year
Welcome back to another exciting year with lots of great club meetings, speakers and activities planned. I hope you have all had/are having a fantastic summer (now that it has finally arrived!) with lots of great beach finds.

Our December meeting seems a long time ago now. It was another great night with 23 members present for the AGM — we managed to get a lot achieved in one hour! The subsequent powerpoint slide show was a runaway success (many thanks Peter Poortman for your hours and hours of work behind the scenes) and it was great to see photos from meeting attendees during the year, Sydney Shell Show, "the girls" tripping around Australia and the Pacific, Peter’s secret shelling locations (I’m sure you could have earned some good money off these!) and past members — accompanied by great memories, great stories and great photos. Thank you also to those who brought in trays of special New Zealand shells — some absolute stunners which inspired us all to get back out there again this summer for that elusive rarity.

The shared supper was a festive feast with another fantastic cake provided by Rosa Tyson, and drinks by Angela Baker — thank you both. After a lot of chatting, laughter and exchanging of Christmas "secret Santa" shell presents it almost felt as though Christmas Day had been and gone.

Antarctic Update
Excerpt of email received from Heather, Alison and Margarets "Antarctic Experience", dated Tuesday, 23rd January 2007 - "21 hours daylight, 3 hours twilight. Iceburgs 8kms long, glacial burgs floating pitted teal blue. Penguins sliding, porpoise diving, Ballen whales, Humpback breeching, minkes krill eating. Fur and leopard seals, squabbling, playing, diving. Royal albatross, giant petrels wandering. Mountains and glaciers towering, creaking, moving, hiding. The sea greasy ice, pancake ice, sheet ice flat as a mill pond and yet 24 hours of waves bigger than the ship! There is no way of ever conveying what we have seen, smelt, heard and felt in a week in the Antarctic. A truly amazing trip. We are all well".

February Meeting
Holiday Finds, Stamps and Shells
This will be held on Tuesday, 13th February at Epsom Community Centre, 202 Gillies Avenue, Epsom. You are welcome to arrive from 7:00 pm onwards with the meeting commencing at 7:30 pm. Club President Heather Smith is away this month and the meeting shall be chaired and run by Patricia Langford (whose many and varied interests also include stamps).

So bring along those terrific holiday finds and photos, and memories from the Wellington Shell Show. Expected to be a wonderful night of sharing, stories and laughter.

Shell Expo
The Malacological Society Of South Australia will be holding a Shell Expo in Adelaide on Sunday 6th May, 2007 with opportunities for trading and displaying. Glenys is hoping to attend and thought others may like to join her. Full details to follow or contact Glenys Stace in the interim if interested.

Shell Auction
The date for the forthcoming auction should be able to be announced at the upcoming meeting.
Those who wish to sell through the auction (20 lots minimum) please advise Jan Munroe, email kevandjan@slingshot.co.nz.

Other Club News
Great news heard at the AGM that we may be moving our meetings back to the Auckland Museum. This shall be confirmed in May 2007.

Something to look forward to — Heather Smith and Margaret Morley will be sharing photographs and stories (and shells, if any) from their trip to Antarctica in our May meeting. We wish them both safe travel.

New books are to be purchased for the club library. If you wish to nominate a book for purchase please advise Treasurer, Neville Hudson, of the title along with supplier details.

Shells Wanted
NZ Shells Wanted by Barbera Jouvernaux.

Committee changes
Offices for the New Year remain as last year, except for changes to the Vice-Presidency and the addition of a new committee member.

	Patron :	Professor J Morton
	Vice Patron :	W O Cernohorsky
	President :	Heather Smith (last year)
	Immediate Past President :	Doug Snook
	Vice Presidents :	Patricia Langford, Martin Walker
	Secretary/Newsletter :	Jan Munroe
	Treasurer/Membership :	Neville Hudson
	Website :	Peter Poortman
	Editors of Poirieria :	Tony & Jenny Enderby
	Librarian :	Gladys Goulstone
	Archivist :	Betty Headford
	Committee :	Michael Bressolles
		Barbara Bycroft
		Angela Carter
		Lynn Gumm
		Luen Jones
		Glenys Stace

Previous Newsletters