POHOS chairpersons report 2003

 Polish Heritage Trust of Otago and Southland

It gives me great pleasure to present the Chairman’s Report for the year 2003.

I first offer my apologies for not being able to attend this AGM due to family commitments out of town.  I am disappointed that I cannot be with you to thank you all personally but my thoughts will be with you.

The Trust has a lot to be proud of with their achievements this year.  Firstly the work that has been done at the Broad Bay Church is a credit to our Group and a lot of hard work by members and some of the local Community to achieve a Bell Tower to house the Historic Bell that was originally on the Church.  The garden that has been created is also due to some extremely dedicated members who have put hours into getting this established.  My thanks to all those donated funds or roses for the garden.  The dedications ceremony on Sunday the 23rd November was a truly memorable occasion with distinguished guests; the Charge de Affair and David Benson Pope.  Thank you to Patricia Clark for her initiative in obtaining the bell for us.

Many thanks to Paul Klemick and Ludmilla Sakowski for their most professional Power Point presentation a the seminar in September.

Our Dance Group has been active again this year with several engagements.  We have danced at the Portobello Plant Fair, Portobello Forge Gala Day, Portobello Market Day, St. Joseph’s Parish, Waverley Parish, Francis Hodgkins Home, Anniversary Day Carnival, Early Settlers Museum (twice), Whare Flat Folk Festival, Dance Otakou, AFS Otago Chapter, Opening of the Green and White Christmas Exhibition, and the list goes on.  We are certainly getting a name for ourselves and are getting more engagements all the time.  Our group has been asked to present a Polish Christmas a the settlers Museum on the 12th December.  We seem to be getting our photos in the newspaper frequently as well.  I would like to thank the members of the Dance group who have put hours of practice and dedication into our performances, not forgetting the Dads, Graham Dooley and Steven Holmes for their attendance and help with the music. We were lucky enough to obtain a grant from the Polish Embassy for some lovely new dancing skirts.  These were purchased in Poland fir us by two of our dance Group members, Mariusz and Ula.  Our thanks to the Charge De Affair for his assistance with this.  It gave us great pleasure to wear the skirts for the first time to perform a the opening of the exhibition with the Charge De Affair in attendance.

Anzac Day again saw a small group of members attending the Dawn Service and laying a wreath.  This prompted me to make investigations and found that my father had three medals which he had never claimed.  I will wear them proudly next April 25th.

First of May celebrations began with the Polish flag flying above the Civic Centre and ended with a mass in the Allanton church followed by afternoon tea and a dance display.  Even 90yr old Mona Todd participated in the dancing.

A group of us attended a Celebration Mass for Pope John Paul on the occasion of his 25 years as head of the Catholic Church.  We dressed in National costume and sang the Lourdes Hymn in Polish.

Sadly we lost one of our oldest members of the Trust this year with the passing of Rosalie Prescott (nee Klimeck).  Rosalie generously donated a beautiful bronze and amber Crucifix and amber Rosary Beads, purchased on her behalf by Cecylia Klobukowska while in Poland.  These can be seen at the Church at Broad Bay.

Our congratulations to Paul Klemick in being awarded a very special Medal for the work he has done on behalf of the group in researching and promoting the Polish Region of Kociewie.  This medal along with a citation was brought back from Poland by Mariusz and Ula and must have been a thrill for Paul to have them presented to him by the Charge De Affair.

One of our dedicated members, Mona Todd , also celebrated a very special 90th birthday this year and was presented with her Polish family coat of arms and a  beautiful embroidered Polish vest which she wears proudly to our functions.

We have also approached the Mayor of Dunedin and had a meeting with her to discus the possibilities of some type of Sister City relationship with Poland.

We have obtained a digital camera for use with our website.  This was made possible with the help of a grant from the Community Trust of Otago.

Our week long exhibition 21st – 28th November at the Community Gallery in Princes St. was well attended, with a theme of Traditional Xmas in Poland and in New Zealand.  We also had some wonderful Polish Tapestries on display.

My special thanks to Patricia Clark for her 5 years service to the Board and two years as Chairperson.  Patricia has given so much time and effort to the Board and we wish her well in the future.

Gay Scott also leaves our Board and I wish to thank Gay for her hard work during her term on the Board.

I have been proud to serve my term as Chairperson of such an industrious and positive group of people and thank you all for your support during the year.  I wish Ludmilla and the Trust the best of luck with their future.

Angela Donaldson

Chairperson

26th November 2003