A fifteen-dollar membership fee pays for one person or a couple for one year and provides several benefits. Each member receives a membership directory, which includes everyone’s spoon collecting categories. And every member receives the club newsletter, twice a year currently. Members can place free ads in the newsletter to buy, sell and trade spoons and also to request information about spoons and other concerns. And members can attend two fun, informative, regionally held meetings each year around the first weekend in April and the first weekend in October.

We heartily welcome the friendships, energies, and creative inputs of anyone interested in spoon collecting. We enjoy meeting new friends, learning a lot, and having a lot of fun every time we get together. Click "Membership" at the top of the page to see the membership form. Let us hear from you soon!

SWSCC Officers

by Mary Bengtson

On December 31, 2003, Bill and I arrived in Auckland, New Zealand. After a few days of sightseeing, we boarded the cruise ship Star Princess. The first port of call was Wellington, N. Z. Next stop was Christchurch, N. Z. Then on to Dunedin. We were fortunate this time to enter into Milford Sound. Earlier that day it had been raining but the weather cleared. There were numerous waterfalls on both sides of Milford Sound. It was beautiful. Next stop was Hobart, Tasmania. There we were entertained by the Police Pipe Band. Very enjoyable.

On to Adelaide, Australia for an informative tour. The last port for us was Melbourne, Australia. Although the ship was going on to Sydney, we disembarked in Melbourne for a special visit with Doug and Joan Langley-Bates.

Doug and Joan showed us all around the Melbourne area. We did some antique shopping and I was fortunate to find a set of six "gold" spoons in a set depicting Australia's animals and birds. We had a delicious dinner of kangaroo steaks at Finbars Irish Pub. The steaks were very good. We traveled to a winery and did some sampling before purchasing the wine. Doug and Joan are wonderful hosts. We saw their spoons, many of which are from the United States. Their Australian spoons are very nice and wonderfully designed. They have beautiful display cabinets which were specially made for their collection.

Bill and I took a few days and flew to Adelaide for a private tour of the wineries. We stayed at Portee Sheep Station, which was very comfortable and relaxing. Geoff, our tour guide, took us into a small part of the Outback. He discovered that I was a spoon collector, so he stopped in several small towns to visit the antique shops. I was able to purchase three spoons and in a souvenir shop found the pewter tea caddy with the kangaroo (shown). We then returned to Melbourne.

We spent a few more days with Doug and Joan, and visited the center of Melbourne and the botanical gardens. We were treated to a cookout at one of their son's home. All of Doug and Joan's sons, daughters-in-law, and grandchildren were there. What a wonderful family. The hospitality was outstanding. Thanks to the Langley-Bates Family for a special visit in Melbourne.