Good afternoon and welcome to the 28th Report Back of the NHT. A particular welcome to our president Vice Admiral Simpson-Anderson and Mrs Simpson-Anderson. It is always a pleasure to see you here and your support is much appreciated.

I would also like to welcome our new Board member, Admiral Allan du Toit who joins us from Tasmania. You volunteered to join this happy band, Allan, and I hope we come up to your expectations.
It has been another successful year due to entirely to the effort that the trustees put into the NHT every year. 

To begin with:

ORAL HISTORIES

The trust now holds 371 completed Oral Histories. There are five OH`s in the proofreading stage as well as three being self-written. Unfortunately, we have lost four due to poor recording, but we have also downloaded 195 summaries. This is a remarkable record, and I want to acknowledge the foresight of the original trustees who began this exercise. Oral histories are recognised more and more as integral to heritage collections.

Whilst most of the histories come from local men and women, we have identified some folk who are willing to be interviewed in other parts of SA. We will try to get to these people in the coming year.

BOOKS AND NAVAL DIGESTS

We have Naval Digests 42 and 43 published and ready for delivery. ND no 44 has been proofread already as have a few more. There are at least 13 more in the pipeline. 

“Just Nuisance” by Terence Sissons remains very popular, and we have had to order more copies several times.

There are 31 books and 41 Naval Digests in the NHT collection. All these Naval Digests and books are available for sale in the NHT Office.

The full list of publications can be viewed at the NHT Office.

NH Society members and the public can buy our publications through the NH Web page as well as at the Naval Museum, ASG Office, STADCO and Enkosi gift shop in Simon`s Town. These outlets have a limited range and sell the publications at retail prices. Paid up NHS members can purchase all the publications at discounted prices from the NHT office.

BOOK COLLECTION

Naval Heritage has more than 600 Naval and military books and this number continues to grow. Most of these books have been donated by NHS members during clean ups. Where there are duplicates, these books are offered to the NHS members at a low price or passed on to either the Naval Museum or Naval Cadets. 

Please remember us when you are thinking of getting rid of your “old stuff”. It may not appear to be significant or interesting – especially to the younger generation – but it may add to the wealth of heritage that we are trying to preserve.

FACEBOOK SITE

The Naval Heritage Facebook page was started ten years ago and has been growing each month with new members joining on a regular basis. The membership of this site is now 7455.

The daily Day by Day is added each evening, and this usually draws positive comments and reactions. Historic photos of the events mentioned are included in most of these posts and these bring in many interesting responses.

The daily Shipwreck report issued by SAHRA is added which is also proving beneficial to the site.

NH WEBPAGE

Our Web Master is Nicholas Dunn, and he has put together and maintains our attractive Web page. The site covers Membership, Newsletters, Book`s and ND`s, Naval 100 slideshow, History of the SAN, videos and submarine project updates when they are available. The NH webpage site has had 25 837 visitors to date.

NHT VOLUNTEERS

The daily work of the NHT is conducted at the office on Mondays and Thursday between 0930 and 1200 by the “volunteers”. We upgraded our equipment during the year with a central 6TB hard drive with a backup drive, which has made us more efficient, and our records are stored more safely.

The coffee and scones/muffins are good, and visitors are welcome to join the team on these days

HERITAGE MEMORABILIA

• Naval Heritage pens are still available in the office at R30 each.
• Naval Veteran Caps at R140 and
• Car licence stickers at R5 each

MEMBERSHIP

According to our membership secretary, Andre Wessels, we had 237 members including Honorary members and Trustees at the end of the financial year. This number has not grown but has not decreased, even though we must be getting older.

SAS ASSEGAAI PROJECT

A good few years ago Arne Soderlund told us that a submarine museum would be a huge success – as all submarine museums have been worldwide. I believed him and visited a number of museums out of interest. I know I am biased, but I honestly think ours is the best by far. Certainly, our guides are much better qualified and more interesting than the Australian, UK or American guides. And all the visitors have commented on how much they have enjoyed their experiences – usually because of the excellent guide.
There have been over 37 000 paying visitors to date, and they have contributed very satisfactorily to the reserves – which will be needed when maintenance work has to be done.

Submarine Park is looking good, and we have been able to honour the fallen with appropriate plaques and ceremonies.

OTHER ACTIVITIES

We were represented at the Military Heritage Symposium by Admiral Soderlund, Captain Glen Knox, Captain Chris Dooner and Commander Leon Styen. This has been useful in strengthening our links with the Military Academy and the possible establishment of a central document repository.

Capt Knox expanded on this to say that whilst the Academy and Stellenbosch University had proposed full access to our oral histories, we were not happy with free access. He has prepared over 300 summaries of the OHs which can be read, and if a researcher wants to access the whole file, they may do so in person in our offices.

OUR TRUSTEES AND MEMBERS OF THE EXECUTIVE

Finally, I want to pay tribute to the members of our Executive committee:

Capt Glen Knox is the incredibly hard-working man in charge of producing the Naval Digests and books, controlling sales and supplies, reporting on sales and restocking of outlets, reporting on our Facebook page and website, administering our office – the list goes on. He has his finger on the pulse in every aspect of the Trust.

Our secretary Capt Trunell Morom does all the necessary administrative work – Minutes of our meetings, Notices etc. She also manages the protocol involved with the laying of wreaths at the Memorial parades we attend.

Glynnis Helleman has the unenviable task of Treasurer and keeps a beady eye on our finances. She says she is “only a bookkeeper” but she is essential to our clean audit.

Adm Arne Soderlund has SAS Assegaai under his wing. It was his dream and now is his consuming passion. As he predicted, Assegaai would become one of the highlights of any visit to Cape Town and the number of fascinated visitors grows every day.

Cdr Leon Steyn manages the Naval Museum of which SAS Assegaai is just one of its assets and he manages to juggle all his duties whilst welcoming guests, answering queries and keeping up with research. He keeps us posted as to the current status of things naval.

Capt Chris Dooner not only serves on our committee and the Assegaai management committee but looks after other Naval interests such as the guns on Robben Island and the Noon Day gun. He offers grounded advice whenever needed. 

Cdr Eddie Wesselo is head of the hard working and uncomplaining volunteers. His knowledge and connections to technology always amaze me.

Cdr Mac Bisset is a never-ending source of knowledge and wise counsel. He also has the ability to access information from obscure and distant sources. 

Warrant Dave Harrison is the techno fundi who can convert old manuscripts and photographs into comprehensible digital resources. He also serves on the Assegaai team and as a retired submariner brings extra experience to Assegaai and to the NHT.

Warrant Andre Wessels looks after our membership and the many headaches that that raises. The Newsletters (thanks to Glen again) are never a simple distributi1on task, but he manages it brilliantly. He also volunteers at the Museum.

Warrant Harry Croome just gets on with whatever needs to be done without a grumble. He is the most self-motivated fixer upper that I have ever met.

They are the most dedicated team of passionate heritage preservers and I salute them.

Thank you.