Welcome and Apologies

John McKenna opened the meeting at 2.13pm and welcomed all in attendance. He advised that the Annual General Meeting of the Friends of Linnwood would be incorporated in today's Public Meeting, and that the President would give her report as part of the Annual General Meeting.

Apologies: Carol Duane, Brian Duane, Tiffany Duane, Melissa Duane, Audrey Murphy, Leah Armstrong, Margaret Childs, Eileen Clarke, Lillian Ford, Gwen Kearns, Jean Shaw, Noelene Pascal, Russ Werner, Merle Warwick, Margaret Moulds, Shirley Donohue.

Minutes of the Public Meeting held 11 July 2004, which were mailed or emailed to members, were accepted by the Meeting.

Correspondence inwards and outwards was noted, as per the agenda.

There was no business arising from the previous minutes or the correspondence.

John McKenna then gave a financial report for the months of July and August 2004. The bank balance as at 31 August was $13,904.34.

On behalf of Christine McKenna (who would be joining the meeting later), John McKenna gave a brief update. The Committee, comprising Christine, Pam Zopf and Dorothy Warwick, meet on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month, and record details of items donated to The Collection using a method recommended by the Museums Association which includes numbering and tagging, making notes on each items, measuring and photographing them. So far over 80 items in the Drawing Room have been catalogued, and the Committee hopes to move on to another area very soon. Progress has been slow but methodical and although The Collection includes many everyday items of their time, they may be future antiques. Many items donated but not yet on display will be progressively catalogued and then rotated into our display spaces. The Committee would be glad to receive any additional information about any items in The Collection which member or guests may have.

Winston Tattersall, the Committee's Chairperson, gave a brief summary of the "diggings and trimmings" that have taken place since the committee's inception. The Committee consists of Winston, Yvonne Tattersall (Secretary), Pam Zopf (Treasurer and Research Officer), Coral Hamilton, Christine McKenna, Flo McMaster and Russ Werner. Pam is maintaining a photographic record of all their activities.

The $500 provided by the Friends of Linnwood Committee to start the gardening projects is being used "with judicious frugality", and the first task carried out by an enthusiastic working bee, clearing out the South Terrace garden and new planting, has been completed. The 42 native shrubs and ground covers are doing well and a roster has been set up to keep the plants watered "with no assistance at all from the natural elements".

Two subsequent working bees have been spend weeding, tidying up close to the house, clearing a lot of rubbish from near Faulds House, and transferring the mulch (kindly provided by Holroyd Council's mulcher) to the South Terrace garden.

The next working bees will take place on Sunday 31 October and Sunday 28 November, both from 9.00am to 3.00pm. If anyone would like to volunteer their services in helping to move mulch and planting plants in the garden, please contact Winston (9688 2551) or Pam (9632 6454).

John McKenna welcomed the three new Committee members - Carol Duane, Coral Hamilton and Joan Flood.

John advised the meeting that we are looking into the possibility of having a Trading Table at Public Meetings and Open House days, as a way to raise money for Linnwood. Members are invited to bring along any second hand or unwanted items, cakes, plants etc, and purchases would be by a nominal amount or donation. We will have a trial run at the next Public Meeting to gauge the potential.

We are also looking into purchasing a couple of items:

Dorothy Warwick is being asked to be a guest speaker at various community group meetings, and we are considering putting together a presentation which can be viewed by portable overhead projector. We are currently looking at second hand projectors via E-bay.

We are also looking into purchasing a traymobile which will assist greatly in moving crockery etc around the various rooms. This is also being sourced through E-bay.

Next year we are also considering running a Bingo afternoon or evening, or a Trivia night, for FOL members. Winston Tattersall also suggested Crazy Whist. We may set up a Co-ordinating Committee for these type of events, and any members interested in becoming involved in their organisation are invited to call Dorothy Warwick.

Our Christmas function for FOL members will be held again in December, immediately following the Open House on Sunday 12 December, at 5.00pm. The usual chicken and salad will be on offer, and the cost will be advised to members in due course. Bookings will be taken at the October Open House, Sunday 11 October, through to early December.

Christine McKenna advised that the Young Textile & Fibre Group have booked another workshop in October next year.

Today's Guest Speaker

John McKenna welcomed Jacqui Douglas who spoke on the Guildford Road Project. Quoted below is the majority of her talk.

The Guildford Road Project began with a dog and a horse, not just any horse, but HYPERNO, the winner of the 1979 Melbourne Cup. The name was inscribed in the wet cement of a Guildford Road pavement and before it was set, a dog wandered by, leaving its footprints. This led to musing over the ownership of the dog and the motza, won or lost by the scribe, the same year that our family came to live in Guildford.

In 1994 I shared my musings with three Artfusion colleagues. We decided to make a commitment to the Guildford Road Project by creating an exhibition called "Four Artists and the Road" which would pay some attention to the past, but focus on the people who work, play, shop, drive, walk along Guildford Road 2161 in the mid 1990's. The Project members were Liz Hale - a local sculptor; Warren Munce - Project photographer; Erica Portelli - character doll maker and myself - Project documentation, coordination and Exhibition panel assembly.

You may have seen the "Four Artists and the Road" when it was completed and exhibited in the Tom Collins Room adjacent to Guildford Library in May 1996. Eight display panels, a terra-cotta pavement, handmade paper suspended in sash chord windows, character dolls and found objects. Eight pounds of Lilly Pilly jam was put in tiny jars and given to the first 80 people to visit the exhibition. Over one week about five hundred people saw the display.

In spite of the fact that a Grant could not be secured, the four artists decided to finance the Project, with the support of Parramatta and Holroyd Councils, Guildford Chamber of Commerce, Hewitt House Community Centre, Artswest Foundation, and Guildford residents.

The History of Guildford 2161 Project is unincorporated and is auspiced by Hewitt House Neighbourhood Centre. In 2001 the Centre agreed to support the Project by convening a small Committee that successfully applied for a Holroyd Council Grant. This year a new Steering Committee began working on implementing some short term goals of the Project with Hewitt House's Cultural Development Worker, Justin Han, Dorothy Warwick, Pat O'Brien, long time Guildford resident, Frank Haden and a Project Secretary.

You may ask why does Guildford need a History? After all it can be found in publications about Parramatta, Holroyd, Fairfield and in Thomas Fowlies's 1919 History of Granville? That's exactly why . . . Guildford deserves a History of its own! It would be a wonderful community resource, but publishing is an expensive exercise. Books have beginnings and endings and we all know history is a work in progress. Setting up mechanisms that encourage community ongoing participation is a Committee goal.

Yes, it will take time. The Committee has recently lodged another Grant application with Holroyd Council which will, we hope, employ a writer/historian for the History of Guildford 2161 up to 1919. Grace Karskens, the author and copyright holder of "Holroyd, a Social History of Western Sydney" has generously offered free access to it. This material will underpin the Project, and with the addition of local newspaper items, the History of Guildford 2161 will be on its way! Subsequently, other Grants will be sought to continue the process.

A short run of a quarterly magazine would be one way of affording publication. The sale of each edition should finance the next and so on. Engaging local youth is vital in a Project such as this. Thus the Committee is exploring generation of a Project Web site, with the help of volunteers perhaps. This will give easy Project access for local school students, Youth Centres, Libraries and those with Internet facilities on their PC's.

There will be several ways for the Guildford community to participate in History 2161 by:

Lodging a short family history. Local institutions, services, organisations and commercial businesses will be invited as well.

Loaning photographs and/or memorabilia about local events for photographic copying.
Being a volunteer Project researcher. Granville Historical Society has extensive local newspapers, a valuable mine of Guildford history.
JOINING THE STEERING COMMITTEE!

The next Public Meeting of the Friends of Linnwood will be held on Sunday 14 November at 2.00pm, and our Guest Speaker will be Trish Skehan who will continue her very interesting talk on historic "Yaralla".

The raffle was won by Irie Olde.

There being no further business, the meeting closed at 3.30pm.