At the AGM, and in a subsequent letter from a member, the question was raised “what are we saving money for?”. Certainly the Skeptics bank account is a reasonably healthy one, after ten years of frugal saving on the part of Treasurers past and present.
Last year, in the Chair-entity’s Report, I asked members for suggestions as to activities or measures which the society should undertake, mentioning:
- increasing the page count in the NZ Skeptic
- providing school information kits
- promoting a paranormal challenge with a prize
We haven’t had any suggestions to date, but these ideas still stand, and any others are welcomed.
At the AGM, members approved a $2,500 donation to the Peter Ellis Trust which is looking to lodge an appeal against Ellis’ conviction on child sex abuse charges in the Christchurch Civic Creche case. The main reason for this, judging from the comments made during the discussion, was concern over the use of inappropriate investigation methods and claims of ritual abuse paralleling many of the now-dismissed cases overseas. (For an excellent article on the concerns that have been raised, see North and South, August 1996.)
We also spent some money on the recent tour by Richard Dawkins, but this was well-covered by our first try at gaining sponsorship, thanks predominantly to the British Council and the Royal Society of New Zealand.
A third item of recent expenditure was the production and distribution of an information pack on the Natural Law Party and their “scientific” claims (see p8). This has been sent to major media outlets, print and broadcast, for their files so that they will have some real information when interviewing the flying candidates.
So, what else should we be doing?
