This post from the desk of the Superintendent will be the last for the 2024/2025 program year. As of this writing there are no suggestions or plans for a summer activity but we remain open to the possibility if a viable opportunity presents itself.
This is also my last communication with the membership as your Superintendent. I have held this position for the past three years. I will be handing over the reigns of the SMD to Dan Mulhearn for the 2025/2026 program year. Thanks to Dan for stepping up to assume the position of Superintendent.
I have mixed feelings about my tenure. We have had some success in rebuilding the SMD’s membership following the steep decline associated with the pandemic. While this is good for the Division, I am somewhat disappointed with the failure of the general membership to participate in our regular monthly meetings. I have seen a number of new faces at our meetings, but these have only served to offset the loss of older members who are no longer participating for various reasons. Overall meeting attendance has been fairly stable, but I was hoping to see it grow. I am confident that your new Superintendent will continue the membership recruiting programs that we have established over the past year.
2025 SMD Mini-Con:
We had a good turnout in terms of presenters and modular layout groups. Unfortunately the public did not respond this year. Publicity was pretty much the same as in past years. For some reason the turnout was the lowest it has been since we restarted the Mini-Con after the COVID hiatus.
Regardless, I want to publicly offer a huge “Thank You!” to Grant Berry for taking the lead again this year, and to all of the others who helped run the event and share a presentation.
2025/2026 SMD Officials:
New officer elections were held at the March meeting. As previously mentioned Dan Mulhearn is taking over as Superintendent and Ray Price is the official Clerk/Paymaster. We are still looking for someone to take the Clerk’s (secretary) position. Since this is an elected position you need to live within the boundaries of the SMD to officially hold this position. That being said, if one of our many “unofficial” NMRA members living outside of the SMD area would consider assisting Ray with some of the Clerk’s duties please let Dan know.
In addition, we need a number of volunteers to serve in appointed positions (especially Wheel Report editor). You can find a list of positions in a previous post, here.
Upcoming Meetings:
The last meeting of the program year will be held on Sunday, 18 May (3rd Sunday), at Quincy Village Presbyterian Senior Living. The May meeting is always pushed out a week to avoid a conflict with Mother’s Day.
Dan will be looking for volunteers to host the 2025/2026 meetings of the division. Ideally he would prefer volunteers that have not hosted in the past year. That being said – if there is a shortfall we will be wiling to do a repeat visit. Start thinking about it now and let Dan or myself know if you are willing to host by the start of August if possible.
