With all of the excitement of the July meeting, the loss of our air conditioning and the auction, I forgot to take pictures this month.

President’s Corner

This is the first President’s Corner since the convention, and I want to share some of my impressions of our visit to Ireland. It has often been said that the conventions meet many needs for Belleek collectors. I believe the foremost need is to meet old friends from around the society and make new friends with whom we have such a strong common interest. The second is to learn—technical information about the manufacture of Belleek, information about new product lines, and more about antique Belleek. There is also the opportunity to purchase rare additions to our collections and, not least, to learn more about Irish history and culture.

All these needs were fulfilled in abundance at the 2007 Convention. We found plenty of warm Irish hospitality and discovered that Irish weather in April can be very pleasant and inviting. For those who had the opportunity to visit the merchants in Belleek itself, we also found an inviting atmosphere. I can testify that Irish pub grub is not only tasty but filling, particularly when accompanied by a pint of Harp or Guinness.

I believe a word of thanks is in order to the sponsors of this meeting, the Northern Ireland Chapter and the organizers, especially Patricia McCauley, our honorary member and unofficial hostess. I would like to single out the producers and players of An American Wake, a program of music and dance starring local talent from the community and the pottery. You all did a marvelous job, Friends, and we thank you for making our visit so very special. The logistics of getting people from place to place in a timely manner were formidable, and in my experience they were well-organized and entirely successful. This was my fourth trip to Ireland, and I continue to get pleasant surprises.

I can recall hearing people in the past say, “Why don’t they make things like they used to.” Part of the answer to that is that the pottery is a commercial enterprise in a highly competitive worldwide economy, and as such is subject to what people in the worldwide market are willing and able to purchase. But the management has heard the collectors and have produced a product line that duplicates the historic designs and quality of the Belleek Heritage and made them available to collectors. I would like to call your attention to the Belleek Archive Collection, a limited edition set of distinctive pieces produced in honor of the 150th Anniversary of the pottery and introduced at the 2007 Convention. The items can be ordered from the pottery. They include the Panel Vase (2,000), Echinus Footed Bowl (350), Pig (650), Typha Jug Spill (2,500), Shamrock Spill (2,500), Pottery Scene Plate (2,000), Shamrock Covered Dish (600), Henshall Basket (350), Round Tower Centerpiece Vase (800), Shamrock Three Handled Cup (1,000), Shamrock Platter (800), Shamrock Muffin Dish (800), Dolphin Candlestick (400), Celtic Teapot (600), and Belleek Flowered Pot (900). These are items of exceptionally high quality, and I urge you to take a look at them. The numbers in parenthesis show the number produced. I have many of these pieces in my collection already, but I added the Echinus Footed Bowl and the Dolphin Candlestick, and they occupy an honored place in my living room.

Moving on to our own events, we had twenty members in attendance at our July meeting. As you recall, we had deferred our annual auction from January to July, and it was the highlight of this meeting. A special feature of the auction was the presentation of flowers and shamrocks made by Gerry Dolan, who formerly worked at the pottery. He made them as a demonstration on flower making while he was a guest at our October 2006, meeting. Our own Michele Jones took the greenware flowers home and fired them in her home kiln. She also glazed them and using 14k gold posts for earrings and tie tacks and gold chains for the necklaces, she made a three part set of earrings, necklace and brooch, one additional necklace, two sets of earrings and two tie tacks for us to auction. With what was left over, she made a special collage of flowers framed in a shadow box on black velvet. This magnificent piece now graces my collection. Thanks to purchasers and to individuals who made private donations, we raised $1400 for the Degenhardt Scholarship fund this year. Thank you all for your support of this important initiative. Vicki and Bob Pearce were the hosts for this meeting, and Vicki made her well-known Shepherd’s Pie and bangers and mash for the occasion. There was also Irish beer and Meade to be enjoyed. Thanks, Vicki and Bob, for a job well done.

For those of you with long memories, we will be entering our ninth year in September. I believe the time has come to begin thinking about the future if we are going to have a long history as a chapter. We still have a solid core of members, but we are all growing older, and we need to add to our membership. We also need to think about fresh leadership. Sometime in the next two years, we need to elect a new president and a new secretary and treasurer. I am not going anyplace, and will be happy to participate as long as we have members, but we do need some fresh ideas. On the other hand, Vicki and Bob are going someplace. In about two years Vicki and Bob plan to adopt their retirement schedule of living six months in Ireland and six months in their home in Central Florida. Their stays in Ireland will be divided into three-month segments, but it is unavoidable that they will miss two of our four annual meetings. Please share with me your ideas soon about what steps we can take to ensure the future of the Sunshine Chapter.

Have a good summer, and we’ll look forward to seeing you at our next meeting, tentatively scheduled for November 17, 2007. Remember, this will be our Annual Meeting.

Flowers made by Gerry Dolan, October 2006

One of Michele’s many finished products donated for auction.

Secretary / Treasurer’s report.

In addition to the money provided by the annual Richard K. Degenhardt Scholarship Fund auction, members of the Sunshine Chapter are able to donate to the fund individually when they pay their chapter dues. Over the course of the past year individual donations amounted to just under $400.00. I would like to thank all of the chapter members for making their individual donations and in total allowing the chapter to make a significant contribution to the Richard K. Degenhardt Scholarship fund. Oh, by the way, we now have $742.56 in the chapter treasury.