RNZA Historical Trust Regional Teams
Date: 
Tuesday, 5 March, 2013

Dear Fellow Gunners

The RNZA Historical Trust was established on 26 September 2012.(Please see the RNZA Association website for a copy of the Trust Deed and a list of the inaugural trustees).

It came about as a result of a request for assistance from 16 Field Regiment to the RNZA Association to help with the cataloguing and on-going preservation of artillery items in Linton Camp.
At the inaugural meeting of a group of willing helpers in Linton on 24/25 July 2012, it was decided to establish a `Trust` with the authority to act on behalf of the RNZA, to catalogue and preserve Artillery items throughout New Zealand.
One of the factors driving this decision was with the closing down of units, messes and RSAs around the country, many of which have possession of items belonging to previous RNZA units, it is very likely that valuable RNZA items could `drift` into private ownership, never to be seen by the wider gunner fraternity again. 

Cataloguing of items in Linton is about to commence, with Kerry Lee as the coordinator (and curator) of the Linton/Palmerston North area. Recording of items will take place using Microsoft Access Database, with the master file being held by Kerry. Those sections of the database which are suitable to be open for public viewing will be posted on the RNZA Assn Website.

It is now our task to establish regional teams which will comb their regional areas to identify any and all RNZA items, establish the provenance of the item if possible, and take appropriate recording action.  It is not intended to remove items from the regional areas, simply to record their existence and establish a procedure for ongoing control (where appropriate).

In the first instance I have plucked a few names of people in the regions who may have some interest in helping with the project;

Auckland; Kemp Solomon, Ross Goldsworthy, Colin Jansen; K Force vets (Colin Stanbridge, Alan Taylor available for advice on Korea)
Waikato/BoP; Hugh Vercoe, Graham Black, Jack Mills, Danny and Bernie McCort, Ian Forster
Central; (Taupo, Wanganui, Hawkes Bay,Taranaki); Mick Pearce, ?
Wellington; David Weston, Rob Munro, Lindsay Skinner, Steve Newman,
Linton/Palmerston North; Kerry Lee, Tom Roche, 16 Fd Regt Liaison Officer (Michael Doughty, Matt Miranovich)
Christchurch; Skin Frances, Mike Harvey, Paul O`Connor, Pete Dawson, Russ Barron
Otago; Bill Olsen, ?
If everyone on this list were to agree to help, it would still not be enough to complete the task completely.
So, can I ask;
1)the first named in each region to advise me whether you are happy to lead your regional team. If not, who else would be suitable, interested, and available?.
2)each person mentioned in the lists to advise me whether you are willing to help in the project and provide names of anyone else you think may be interested (please contact them yourself and ask them to get back to me on rnza.association@gmail.com).

Advise on the nuts and bolts of how to record items will be provided as soon as Kerry and his helpers have had a chance to get underway, so regional activity, other than teams getting a handle on whats around the area, won`t start for a month or so yet.

This is a very important task, having significant implications for the ongoing preservation of our heritage.

On behalf of the RNZA Historical Trust Board I ask for your full support in this matter.

Best wishes to you all

Tony McLeod
Trustee
RNZA Historical Trust