February 2006 Newsletter

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Upcoming Meeting - February 26th, 2006

Sayville Historical Society, Sayville, NY

Meeting Time from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM

Program: Sayville's Past in Glass by Mark Smith

And now few words from the President (or chief bottle nut notes)

Our club has faced many challenges over the years, some have been easily solved, while others have proven quite difficult to over come. One such challenge has been the clubs slowly declining membership. From a peak of over 75 paid members back around 1980, our membership has slowly, but steadily, declined to its current level of 20 paid members as of last year, 2005. The club can not continue on this path for much longer, as with the declining membership, has also brought with it declining attendance at the monthly meetings.

At the January, 2006 meeting, the members present discussed this situation, as it has brought the club to being between a rock and hard place. We had about 7 members present in a room that could hold 100, perhaps 125. After much debate, and considerable soul searching, we voted to forgo the Ronkonkoma meeting location, as it was making less and less sense to continue meeting there. However, we did agree to continue meeting, and we plan to do that, but with some changes due to the challenges facing the club, and also the remaining members.

It was decided to continue to meet, as none of us really want to see the club pack it in, so to speak. However, given the reality of today's world, and the time crunch so many of us work under (we all know the "Do more with less" thing) that we would shift to a quarterly meeting schedule.

Also, the members decided to continue to collect dues, as the club will still have expenses which will have to be paid. So, attention everyone, DUES ARE DUE.

Along with the quarterly meeting schedule, we thought that to try and get some new members, we would revive the clubs original meeting format, which was that meetings would be held in different locations. There was some discussion that this may make it easier for new collectors to attend, as the meetings would be at some time closer to where they live. While the Ronkonkoma site is nicely located in central Long Island, I will tell you the truth that even for me, and I am only 15 minutes away, getting there on a weeknight was increasingly becoming a very stressful challenge.

With the change in meeting locations, this may prove helpful in the club getting some publicity for the meetings, with the goal of attracting new members. While Newsday is a fine paper, I read it myself, getting our meetings listed on the Guide pages is proving to be quite a challenge. Over the last 2 years I sent the meeting in several times, but I never saw it printed. I am hoping that by moving around, we will be able to get listed in the local papers for the community that we will be meeting in. Again, the goal is to generate some publicity for the club, and to gain membership.

In line with the goals I have mentioned, and since we have not been in these locations for quite a few years, I thought it might be to the clubs advantage in terms of a program to go with something that would have local appeal, again to attract people

With these goals in mind, I have arranged for the club to hold its first meeting at the Sayville Historical Society's complex, on Sunday, February 26 th , between 2 and 4 in the afternoon. I will present a program on Bottles of Sayville, as I hope that this will prove attractive to potential visitors. The Sayville Historical Society is located on the corner of Collins Avenue and Edwards Street in Sayville. This will be just like a normal meeting so be sure to bring your recent finds, show and tell items and items for sale. Any questions please feel free to give us a call or send us an email. For a directions and a map please see page 3.

In terms of getting publicity for the club, I have already had our upcoming meeting listed on the community's website, which is Sayville.com. Along with the internet listing, I have submitted it to the Neighbor Newspaper which is mailed to all homes in the area, and to the Suffolk County News, which is Sayville's own newspaper.

So, now we have a site for this meeting, and we are actively exploring other sites on the North Shore in the Northport area, and the South Shore in the Wantagh area. I have also heard talk of something available in the Roslyn area. Rest assured you will be notified about future meetings.

If you would like to see us have a meeting in your area, contact me and we will see what we can work out. The club is pretty flexible on the locations, a church, the library, or the historical society are just a few examples of possible locations to look into.

I would like to see us meeting at as many different locations around Long Island as we can get. By meeting at many different locations, this will increase the exposure of the club, and provide the club with the best chance to gain members, and to one again become a thriving club. The club has not done that well with getting people to come to the meetings over the years, so my strategy is to try and bring the meetings to the people. Perhaps it will work for the club, then again, perhaps it will not, but I feel that the club has to try. As I am fond of saying, time will tell.

Now, as for the cost of this site at the Sayville Historical Society, they have not mentioned any price to me at any time. However, as they do incur some costs with us using their facility, heat and light are two that come to mind right away, I do think we as a club should make a donation to the Society as our club's way of thanking them for their time and generosity. With things the way they are today, I feel a donation of 50.00 would be the proper thing. This should keep the club in the good graces of the Society and hopefully permit us the future use of this site should we desire to meet here in the future.

That's it for now see you all at the meeting Sunday, February 26 th , till then happy collecting, Mark

Remember your memberships dues are due!

See back page for renewal form.

Along with go-withs and bottles from the surrounding towns.

Plus of course Whiskey Flasks from NYC, Brooklyn and Long Island.

The Smith's, 10 Homes Court, Sayville, NY 11782-2408 libottle@optonline.net