Congratulations Wemyss

Congratulations to Wemyss Struss, President of the Stratford Historical Society on her Award of Merit yesterday from the Royal Historical Society of Victoria.

Wemyss has been the quintessential cataloguer's president since her election to the position, that she still holds, in 1990. Always a warm and encouraging leader, she set about having the Stratford collection catalogued in the mid 1990s, not by doing the work herself, but by ensuring there were others there to do it, and always making sure they had the tools to do it and the encouragement to continue with it. She still attends for the day on Tuesday when Collection managers are working (and still cataloguing).

There was much mirth yesterday at the presentation. In her acceptance speech, she spoke about how she was told she should always have a gift for the speaker, and as she could not make sponge cakes, she set about making marmalade. Every speaker got a jar of her marmalade. So she accordingly presented Dr Andrew Lemon, president of the RHSV (above, with Wemyss), with a jar of her marmalade.

Your writer has acquired a number of pots from her over the years. But it says a lot that on other ceremonial occasions this cataloguer has received a jar of coffee, carefully gift-wrapped, to ensure that she had all that was necessary to help and encouragement to keep her cataloguing.

Congratulations Wemyss. It is so well deserved that it was a wonderful day to see.