I am President of a new collector club in Texas know as Capital Lights of Texas. We have tried for a couple of years to get this club started and we had our first meeting in January. I would like to have some assistance from any established club member(s). What types of meeting agendas have been most sucessful?

Congratulations on your new club, Don, and welcome to the Collector Forums. Lots of clubs represented here, including some newer ones so hopefully others will come along and share.

Our club (Hoosier Lighthousing Club) generally meets about 3 times per year for a formal meeting, and another three times per year at Michigan City for activities - our two workdays and the annual Christmas lighting. Our business meetings usually take place in Indianapolis or nearby. We have members that are located everywhere from southern Michigan to southern Wisconsin to the St. Louis Cincinatti areas as well as all over Indiana. It is a tribute to the fun we have that many of our long distance members attend not only our activities but also our meetings.

Since we have so many people coming a distance our meetings tend to be a very social time - lots of visiting and sharing. Our meetings generally use a cafeteria's meeting room, so folks gather for lunch and the start of socializing. We will have a "business meeting" portion to cover whatever business we may have to conduct. One thing I think is fun to include in meetings is to ask people to briefly share any recent lighthousing experiences they may have enjoyed. If someone has made a major trip you may want to feature them sharing their adventure. We conclude the meetings with a drawing for any door prizes we may have.

Good luck to the Capital Lights of Texas. Let us all know how you are doing and how we can help.

Dave,
Thanks a million for you ideas. I especially like the one about sharing recent lighthouse visits.
Don

Hi Don,

The Colorado Lighthouse Collector's Society is a new organization and growing despite not having any lighthouses in the area! We meet quarterly for our business meetings and other times for special events. For our business meetings we have been trying to have a presenter at each meeting. Some of the topics have been about being keepers at New Dungeness Light Station, lighthouse books and other reference materials, stain glass lighthouse art and the moving of Cape Hatteras. We have had a dinner with Bill Younger and are hoping to decide on a lighthouse to support for the coming year. It's great fun and we share stories about trips and our favorite Harbour Lights replicas. There are lots of great clubs and people to help us along the way. Good luck with your club.

Judy

Thanks to all that replied to my request concerning meeting items. Our club met yesterday and I used some of the ideas sent to me. The meeting went well and we signed up two new members. We voted to support the Sabine Lighthouse with our community project. We are now searching for ideas to raise money for the lighthouse. If any of you have ideas for this effort, we would appreciate hearing from you.
Thanks again for all your help.