Members of the branch may be interested in latest update from Dave Soule, our Executive Director.  Dave may reached at ExecutiveDirector-NAC@outlook.com.

Starshell Editor

I am pleased to announce that the new Starshell editor is Ms Carmel Ecker from Victoria. Now for a little bit about her.

Carmel is a graduate of UVic, and is a graphic designer and writer/editor by training. She did her apprenticeship with LOOKOUT and comes highly recommended by Melissa Atkinson, the Lookout editor. She is engaging, personable, and switched on about the Navy.

Carmel has been contracted on an interim basis to produce Starshell, at least for the next two editions. As some you are well aware, we are assessing the future of Starshell from many aspects to include format (in view of the pending "kick off" of our Naval Affairs program), cost of production, distribution and frequency of publication to name a few. If you have any ideas please pass them to me for consideration (some of you have already). All to say producing a publication these days is not a cheap endeavour and there may be ways we can do it better while continuing to provide a service that, based on emails to me, still meets members needs. 

Carmel's email address is starshell@shaw.ca (same as George Moore's old account)

NAC News

Rod Hughes is doing a great job (in my opinion at least!) in generating NAC News. This is not an easy "job", this is a big country and, as I have reminded some folks, what is news in your part of Canada, may not be news elsewhere. You can assist by bringing articles of interest to him that would be appreciated. He is also looking for comments to improve the "News" so let him know if you have any good ideas. While we try and post all links received, this is not always possible and where there are several links to the same material we try and post the best.

For easier distribution, NAC News will use Mailchimp to distribute the "News" so if you do not get your weekly "fix", check your junk mailbox. This service should ensure we spend less time on admin and more on hunting content. 

Naval Affairs

NAC will be "standing up" a Naval Affairs program, hopefully by end March. In the coming weeks we will be advertising for two part-time positions to support this activity. For those of you who may be interested in the program, the following link provides some background on what it is about. 

http://www.navalassoc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/NAC-Naval-Affairs-Strategy-and-Plan-Info-Brief-to-2017-AGM-201710140800.pdf

Branch members who are interested in pursuing these positions, please stay tuned as more details on the qualifications required with be forthcoming and posted in the coming weeks. 

Governance Review

A review of current NAC guidance documents is nearing completion. The aim of the review is to ensure related documents such as the NAC Admin Manual and By-laws agree as well identify/rationalize the need for current processes and committees as listed in a variety of documents. More to follow on this in the coming weeks and months.

Membership Cards and Numbers

Some folks have been asking if they get a membership card and number when they join. While I am aware that a couple of branches do this, National is not in the position to provide these without a national level registration process. That said, if there is interest we may be able to provide a template that all Branches could use as well as address cost issues. I am open for suggestions. Certainly the card option has merit and could be done; assigning a membership number may be a bit of a stretch at this point in time.

Regalia

After some lengthly delays, I am going to receive a shipment of ties and blazer badges in the coming month or so. I have also placed a small order for a lapel pin, based on the ship logo, that I will distribute to all Branches (small numbers) to seek your opinion if I should order some for all members. I will be suggesting that these be sold in the order of $5 per pin. More to follow. 

Blazer buttons - I have a reasonably healthy stock of blazer large buttons but am out of the smaller ones used on a blazer sleeve. I am not sure when I will order more as these are slow moving items so if there is great interest, let me know so I can order more. Some of these types of items are costly and not many folks are in the business of supplying these as far as I can tell.