News: WA Bulletin 2011/31 Friday 16th December 2011

WA Bulletin 2011/31 Friday 16th December 2011

• Contents : New webite photos; UK Christmas Lunch 3 Dec; In Memoriam; Reminder to amend subscription from 1st January 2011; Website Usage; Website Tips.
• Current total number of WA members worldwide: 443
• Broken website links: Should you come across any website links which do not work please notify me by email >> Chris Clarke
• To use the links below, first login then press the Ctrl key on your keyboard whilst you click the link in this bulletin.
• Thumbnail pictures: click on the picture which will cause it to load up full size in another window.
• Please read "Website Tips" at the bottom of this bulletin and if in difficulty go to the online Help Forum.

New photos on the website

The following links will take you to photos recently uploaded to the website.

UK Social Event 9 - 11 September 2011	By Brain Hoare and David Ray (10 images)
Australian Branch AGM and Reunion 9 September 2011	From Neil Martin (11 images)
New Zealand Branch Reunion 20 November 2011	From Larry Robins (23 images)
Graduation Photo - Autumn Term 1962/3	?
Denholms Ship Managment Ltd; (gallery) British and Commonwealth; (gallery) MV Muirfield; Members aboard; (gallery) HolgateJ71 (SoN course gallery)	Jeremy Holgate 19971 (12 images)

UK Christmas Lunch

A very successful UK Christmas Lunch took place at The Royal Naval and Royal Albert Yacht Club in Portsmouth on 3rd December, thanks to the efforts of WA Secretary John Turner and, on the day, the RNYC staff and management. We hope to have some photos of the event on the website in the near future.

All Hands 2011-3 Edition is nearly ready

Expect notification by website bulletin in a couple of days that the third All Hands journal of 2011 is available for you to download. If you have indicated your preference for a printed copy these should be printed and posted next week They may of course be delayed in the Christmas post but in the meantime try downloading a copy to your computer which have the added advantage that all of the internal pictures are in colour.

If you would like to change to the online version instead of receiving a printed copy all you need do is to set the All Hands indicator to zero in your website Profile. This will save us printing and postage costs, both of which increased in 2011 due to rising VAT and postal charges. Unless you decide to change the setting you will of course continue to receive printed copies.

To read how to set the indicator go to sub-forum >> Member's Profile then load the Topic Profile - opt for online or printed All Hands. Anyone belonging to our Australian or New Zealand Branches choosing to rely on a downloaded copy only please also let Neil Martin (Australia) and Darrell Daish (New Zealand) know.

In Memoriam

It is with sadness we have received news in recent monhs that the following members have crossed the bar: Mr Paul Ogden 1944 7th January 2011; Mr Les Rimmer 1945 5th October 2011; Mr John Foot 1951 5th Sepember 2011; Mr Michael Hammond 1954 6th November 2010; Captain Keith Davie 1954 4th April 2011; Captain Keith Trayner 1946 19th May 2011; Paul Manser 1948 26th June 2011; Captain Derek Parson 1940 30th October 2010.

Reminder to amend annual subscription Bankers Orders

Annual subscriptions were increased to GBP15 at the WA 2011 AGM on 10 September. We are moving to a position where all annual subscription will in future fall due on the 1st January. There no longer is a joining fee to cover the purchase of a WA tie. Optionally a tie can be bought for GBP10 from the WA Membership Secretary.

WA Membership Secretary Reg Belcourt has explained the reasons for the increase in a letter sent with two forms to all members except those belonging to the Australian Branch, the New Zealand Branch and those living in North America where a new branch is being formed. In case you have not yet received the letter but should have done so, you can download these documents from the links below. Except for the aforementioned Branch members, will those required to make this change who have not yet done so please complete and return the forms as soon as possible to the WA Membership Secretary whose address is on the letter.

Branch committees will seek ratification with their own members shortly.

Letter 17 September	From Membership Secretary
Bankers (standing) Order form	Complete and send to your bank
Confirmation of Standing Order	Sign and post to Membership Secretary

Website usage

• The average daily number of unique visitors to the website so far in December has been 115 (111 in November).
• The Warsash Association website now contains: 4,131 names, 160 News articles, 26 Events to date, 1,414 photos in 245 Galleries and 2,541 Forum posts
• Website uptime in the month of Novemmer was 99.94% (independantly monitored). There was 1 outage of the host server (computer) in the month of less than 30 minutes.

Kind regards,

Chris Clarke (1959)

Website Tips

Your first actions after logging in:

• List recent messages and photos created on the website using the function "View" in the top right corner of your screen.
• Click on "View - Posts since last visit".
• Click on "View - All photos last 4 weeks".

Lost your password?

• Generate your own new secure password via the website click "About this website/ Unable to login?" in the drop-down menu.
• This will email to you a link to change your email address and then another email to let you know the new password which has been generated.
• Remember - passwords are case sensitive.

Gallery hints:

• The pictures you see in the galleries are only thumbnails. Hover your cursor over the thumbnail and the caption appears.
• Click on the photo and it'll load up full size showing the caption and ID (Username) of member who uploaded it. Click Username and the member's profile loads up.

Step by step website instructions

• Click here >> Forum Home then place your cursor on the forum "Help".
• Lessons from the "Help" forum are sent out periodically from the website.

Maintaining your own personal details

You will recall our website is what's known as an 'interactive' site, which allows members to create and maintain their own content e.g. personal details, Forum messages, Gallery photos. As an organisation with 430 members worldwide run solely by a handful of volunteers it is important that online members maintain their own personal details.

Each of us from time to time will change our home and email addresses. To help our Membership Secretaries, if you are able to please keep your personal details on the website up to date. Instructions are in the Forum (hover over the 'Help' link and select 'Member's Profile'). If not please remember to let the WA Membership Secretary or Branch Membership Secretary know whenever your details change.

Several email addresses have recently 'bounced' which means those members will not receive website bulletins and other information until they are corrected. Please always keep your email address in particular up to date on the website. If you have any difficulty let me know at wawebmast@warsashassociation.net and I will help you.