Neil Castle despite being in his nineties, delivered another exuberant talk at the March 2023 meeting of the club, this one about his gold fossicking sojourns to the South Island.
He brought along his homemade sluice box, his shovel modified with welds down the sides and vials containing gold flakes.
Neil had anecdotes to tell about gold mining people such as Atherton Blackadder, Graeme Hobbs and Allan Birchfield, and first-hand advice about where to look when prospecting for gold in rivers and streams.
There are articles in the newsletter about a trip to the Tip Top ice cream factory in Mt Wellington and a coffee morning at Huckleberry Café in New Lynn.
The coach to Tip Top went on a bit of a tiki tour, first for some sightseeing from the Achilles Point lookout on the headland at the eastern end of St Heliers Bay, and then to Mission Bay for coffee. Members wandered off to the various cafés in the shopping area. The newsletter item mentions the Coffee Club and has a reminder about Gold Card discounts at Coffee Club establishments.
Ian Smith has said he will not schedule any more coffee mornings at Huckleberry Café. We have been there many times, and it has always been a great place to meet. The item in the newsletter discloses what has changed at Huckleberry Café.
