News

Welcome …

… to this winter newsletter. I was going to say spring but that would be a lie. From where I am writing this the mountains have a good covering of snow, but the fruit trees are in blossom, so take your pick! From where I sit there is lot going on in the philatelic world. With fewer stamp collectors around, the burden on the individual organisers (of anything) is large. This applies as much to societies as it does to exhibition committees. Here at Federation, we recognise this, so I see one of our many purposes is to help where we can. So that is how I have ordered this newsletter.

Incorporated Societies Act 2022

I am sure you are aware we all need new constitutions that meet the requirements of the 2022 Act. In fact, we have until 5 April 2026 to have a new constitution in place. How long this takes is a bit like a piece of string. However, more or less concurrently with the issue of this newsletter will be an advice note and a couple of examples. We are trying to assist where we can and there are two approaches to this, either follow the model in the Incorporated Societies website or keep it simple and write your own in plainer English. Be assured – the easy bit seems to be getting approval. The difficult bit is satisfying yourselves that you have got a usable constitution you can work to, getting it through your own committee and then an AGM or similar.

Banking

I am aware many societies really struggle with their banks. It took the best part of 9 months to change the signatories on Federation’s account, so I know what I’m […]

From David Loe, President

I am glad to report your new executive has now met for the first time and is getting organised to function efficiently.  As you know, when a new group gets together, it can take a bit of organising. Here is a bit of what we have been doing (and leaving aside the boring stuff).

Strategic Direction

The Federation met in mid-2023 to examine its role in the New Zealand philatelic scene and to understand what its priorities were.  At our March meeting we affirmed these priorities, and (again, without boring you) said they were:

• To promote the hobby of philately within New Zealand
• Support societies and individuals
• Actively shape world and Asian philately
• Be the voice of philately in New Zealand.
• Communication

All this under the headline “Connecting collectors in NZ”.  So, it’s rather less about international exhibitions and rather more about supporting clubs and societies to retain membership and grow interest in the hobby.

You can be a participant in this and if you need support and have some great ideas then ask your delegate to raise it with the Executive.

Website Update

Our internet service provider and web host, The Support Desk NZ Ltd, has decided to shut up shop. They have hosted us for many years. We have migrated the website to a new provider and there should be no changes to how you access the site. A reminder of Federation email addresses:

• president@nzpf.org.nz for David Loe
• secretary@nzpf.org.nz for Jeff Long
• treasurer@nzpf.org.nz for Anna Whitehead
• webmaster@nzpf.org.nz for Bob Gibson

One of the main areas that we can assist your society membership is through acting as an information source for your own club website or your calendar of events.  One statistic […]

Newsletter 86 – December 2023

From David Loe, President.

It is nearly 18 months since the publication of the last newsletter from NZPF and I wanted to bring you up to date with the latest news after the AGM in mid-December and ensure that you know what’s going on in 2024 in time for Society secretaries to circulate information to their members at the start of 2024.

Annual General Meeting of NZPF

We have quite a few new faces around the ‘table’.
David Loe (Nelson), has taken over from Stephen Chivers, who has been the president since 2016.

Even more of a wrench, Bob Gibson (Wellington) resigned as secretary immediately prior to the AGM after 16 years and Jeff Long (Christchurch) has stepped into the role.

Anna Whitehead (Wellington) took over from Leigh Gravestock in the treasurer position halfway through the year.

One of the Northern Region delegates is now Elizabeth Rogerson (Whangarei) having taken over from Denise Rosenfeldt (Auckland), Denise having done her ‘stint’ of 2 years in the role.

Leigh also resigned her role as central region delegate, so we are now on the search for a new delegate in her place.

To all the outgoing office holders and delegates, a huge vote of thanks. The last few years have been especially burdensome dealing with COVID and a multiplicity of resulting challenges, not the least being rescheduling of major exhibitions that you have all been heavily involved in.

Thank you for your time, dedication and effort.

A full set of AGM minutes has been sent to member societies.

Going Forward

It is a little early to say what our ‘mission’ is going forward.

While I attended a strategy workshop the Federation held in the middle of the year and therefore know what we said then, the delegates and […]