August was Family History Month and our branch put up displays in both Carterton and Greytown event centres. The local Historical Society had a large display as well and we will look at doing that again next year. We need to choose a theme such as the early settlers or the maori or whalers and take a leaf from the Historical Society book by having a speaker on the subject we choose open to the public.
Sunday, 11th September was Daffodil Day in Carterton. The branch had a stall there to promote the Founders and hopefully get new members. We were there from 7am until 4pm on a cold day. It started out with rain, however, by the time the Steam Train arrived from Wellington, the sun, although a bit watery, came out and the weather stayed fine for the rest of the day.
We had plants, bric a brac, books & jams marmalade. We also had one of our lovely big posters, framed, on display and several people talked to us about the Founders with one taking away one of our pamphlets. We sold all the jams and marmalades and a good number of plants. Alan had donated a large number of dog figurines and all but a couple sold. One lady found a book she wanted – she had her name down in secondhand book shops as it was the one book she didn’t have in her collection.
Our stall was manned by Alan, Geoff & Jenny Doring, and Bernice Olsen. Bernice stayed all day and was able to sell all her jams and marmalades and helped with all the plants. She had bagged up a large number of old fashioned seeds which we described as ‘heritage’ and they all sold.