18 January 2008

41st Annual General Assembly (AGA)
Charities
Interliners' charitable donations at the AGA in the Bahamas will be divided between the Children's Ward of the Princess Margaret Hospital and the All Saints Aids Camp. Donations of  books and educational materials will be most welcome. Further details will be announced in due course.

Grand Venture Bonanza
Further to her message in the last All Clubs Message, Acting V.P. International Events and Special Projects, Elaine Miller, is appealing to all Member Clubs to donate prizes for the 2008 Grand Venture Bonanza. Can your Club donate a prize to assist WACA in this most important revenue generating initiative? Elaine will be delighted to hear from you!

Membership Cards and Grand Venture Bonanza Tickets
New Cards and Tickets
WACA membership cards have also been used as Grand Venture Bonanza tickets while the current WACA HQ stock lasted. The HQ stock is now depleted so separate membership cards and Grand Venture Bonanza tickets are being produced. Member Clubs will, however, only need to utilise the new membership cards and Bonanza tickets once their current stock of the current membership cards has also been depleted. Until that happens, Member Clubs should continue to issue the cards for both membership and Grand Venture Bonanza purposes as in the past. Once the Member Club's stock is depleted, the Club will be issued with new membership cards for that purpose only and separate Grand Venture Bonanza tickets.
Bonanza Ticket Sales
The Bonanza tickets will continue to sell for USD 1.00 each and the ticket holders name, e-mail address and Member Club should be clearly written in the areas indicated on the right-hand portion of the ticket and returned to WACA HQ. The left-hand portion of the ticket should be kept by the purchaser. Payment to WACA for tickets sold can be made in the same manner as Member Clubs pay their WACA Membership dues.
Membership Fees and Bonanza Tickets
As part of its membership fee, many Member Clubs currently give their members extra membership cards so they can be entered into the WACA Bonanza draws. As an example, a Club's membership fee is $18.00 but it will charge an individual $20.00 to join and he/she will be given a membership card and two more cards which are used as Bonanza tickets (the extra $2.00 collected is sent by the Member Club to WACA HQ). This is an important source of revenue for WACA which should continue the only difference being that the Member Club will now provide its members with a membership card and separate Bonanza tickets.
Quantities Required
Member Clubs are requested to advise how many of the new membership cards and Grand Venture Bonanza tickets they require bearing in mind that they will only need to utilise the new cards/tickets once their stock of current membership cards has been depleted. To save on excessive mailing costs the new cards/tickets will be distributed at the Regional Meetings whenever possible.

Memories of Poppy Shiakalli Bowen
Regional Vice President, North America, Ann Gritis, would like to share with interliners her experience at Poppy's funeral.
The priest was half an hour late so Poppy's husband Roy asked if anyone had anything to say. The people that spoke knew Poppy from her time in Florida and so they knew her while she was ill. They spoke of experiences with and about her illness.
I had the opportunity to speak and was able to share what I knew about Poppy from a different perspective: the Poppy that was full of life and was such an asset to the WACA world. I spoke of how Poppy will be missed by our members through all WACA's regions of the world because that is where Poppy's friends are. Roy commented of how he had received hundreds of messages from all over WACA's world. Afterwards, there were many comments made to me about how nice it was to hear about that part of Poppy's life. I was so glad that I could participate and represent WACA.
I was accompanied by Sandy Hutchinson and I was happy to be present as WACA Regional V.P. North America and Member of Honour. WACA Auditor and Member of Honour, Marie Scott-Kosick, was also present with her husband Ray as was Past Regional V.P. North America, Ellie Masters.

Memories of Gwen Pilypas
The following message was received from Margaret Lee, Vice President, Sydney Interline Club.
We have received many beautiful messages from our interline friends which were passed to the family following Gwen's funeral. Thank you all so much. Gwen would be touched by all your prayers and kind words.
Member of Honour, Trevor Thredgold, has sent the following tribute to Gwen.
Gwenny, or as many of us from the Far East and Australasia Region affectionately called her, Madam Lash, was a truly elegant lady who guided many of us through our WACA years and our own life.
A second mother, and wonderful friend to us all, her home was always open to interliners from around the world.
Gwen was a WACA Member of Honour, Past President of the Sydney Interline Club, Assistant to Past WACA President, Wally Gibbes and Assistant to former Regional V.P.s of the Far East and Australasia Region, Peter Wiltshier and Trevor Thredgold.
Gwen was a true WACA interliner who lived life to the full and travelled extensively. In her younger years she could be seen at fairs riding a motorcycle in an iron ball called the wall of death. In her later years she enjoyed her wonderful lake view from her home on Lake Maquarie.
We have lost a wonderful interliner, a beautiful person and a much loved friend.
Gwenny you will always be in our hearts. Love Trevor Thredgold.

Events Calendar
Updates
The New York Interline Club has extended the registration deadline for the North American Regional Meeting until 8 March. The Meeting is scheduled to be held from 9-11 May.
Information is now available for the Interline Club of Portugal's "Lisbon Weekends" being held throughout 2008 and the Golf/Tennis Tournaments being held from 25-29 March.
The Jordan Interline Club has finalised a programme for the "WACA Get Together 2008" which will be held from 28 April to 3 May cruising the river Nile in Egypt. The Africa, Indian Ocean Islands and Middle East Regional Meeting will be held during the cruise.
Details on all the above events can be found in the Calendar of Events section of the WACA Web site: /waca/events.

Indianapolis Interline Club
The following message was received from the President of the Indianapolis Interline Club, Angie Zam.
I regretfully announce that that Indianapolis Interline Club is no longer a functioning Club. It has been inactive for some time now. Perhaps in the future someone might be interested in taking over the Club and bring it back to the viable club it once was.

Yours in interlining,

Keith Miller
Manager, WACA Headquarters
World Airlines Clubs Association
Tel.: +1 (514) 874-0202 (ext. 3243)
Fax: +1 (514) 874-1753
info@waca.org
www.waca.org