News: WA Bulletin 2011/32 Wednesday 21st December 2011

WA Bulletin 2011/32 Wednesday 21st December 2011

• Contents : All Hands 211/3 available to download; Website photos; Subscription due date 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.

My best wishes for a vey happy Christmas to all Association members and their families around the world.

(I shall be in France 27 Dec - 3 Jan and unavailable for website support during that time. Only if seriously urgent please contact Peter Longden or Jim MacIntyre (order of preference), otherwise please await my return.

All Hands 2011/3

What better news to end the year? The latest edition of our journal is now available on the website to download - use this link >> All Hands (2011/3)!.

For members opting for a printed copy, our UK printers are mid-production and hope to get them in the post this week. Electronic versions are also with our Australian and New Zealand Branches for printing and distribution to branch members.

If you would like to change your preference to an online version instead of a printed copy ifuture 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. Otherwise 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.

New photos on the website

In case you haven't yet seen them here are links to some 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)

Changing your annual subscription Bankers Orders

Annual subscriptions were increased to GBP15 at the WA 2011 AGM on 10 September. 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 and two forms (see below) 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. You can download these documents via the links below if required. Except for the aforementioned Branch members, if you 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.

As previously notified the new annual subscription d date for all members is 1st January starting in 2012. Branch committees have ratified this change at their Branch AGMs.

Letter 17 September	From WA 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, 161 News articles, 26 Events to date, 1,414 photos in 246 Galleries and 2,549 Forum posts
• Website uptime in the month of November 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 440 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.