The latest edition of our quarterly newsletter Spreading Branches is out this weekend and again we say “Well done” to our newsletter editor, Pam. But that’s not all we want to say, we’re very excited to be able to say that Spreading Branches has been judged runner up in this year’s (2011) Nick Vine Hall Award for family history group newsletters.
Introduced by the Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations (AFFHO), the Nick Vine Hall Award was instituted to promote good practices in the production of family history journals and newsletters and also, to honour the memory of Nick Vine Hall who is remembered for advancing family history and genealogy in so many ways, but especially, for fighting to change the law with regard to the Australian Census and ensuring that name identified forms would be retained instead of being destroyed, in accordance with government policy since the first Census was held in 1911.
So, we’d like to congratulate Pam for the well deserved prize and give ourselves a pat on the back too. A lot of members have contributed content for the newsletter over the years, every piece, whether long or short, serious or funny has its place in contributing to an interesting balance of topics and making a newsletter something that members look forward to receiving. And getting that balance right is the newsletter editor’s job – and Pam has done a terrific job over the past four and half years or 19 newsletters, refining the efforts of previous newsletter editors and adding her own personal style to the mix. Pam added colour, interactive links and bookmarks to the pdf. editions that went out by email adding a little sophistication to the publication.
Sadly, we have to also say that this edition is Pam’s last for the Group, with the next issue of Spreading Branches being produced by our new newsletter editor, Lyne. Or, perhaps, that should be our new old editor or, our old new editor – because, Lyne put Spreading Branches together for the Group in 1998/99, so she already knows what she’s in for and yet, Lyne has put her hand up for the job again and I’m sure members will get behind her too and submit content and ideas continuing the tradition of excellence in both content and production that we have come to expect from our newsletter.
This edition contains all the news and pictures from our 2011 AGM including the presentations made to Jenny for Member of the Year 2011, and Di and Lynne with their surpirse honorary life memberships, as well reports fromt the President and Treasurer, plus news from the Research Room, new additons to resources, new websites, and an article on blogging.
Hello Laurie,
the tour went very well, we had 30 people walking around the cemetery with us. We sold quite a few books and of course deposited copies with the State Library and National Library. We acknowledged your contribution and thanked you for the Pickersgill story and will direct any enquiries from the tour to you.
Lynne . I was wondering how the visit to the Lang Lang cemetery went . Laurie