Taranaki Gay Society Newsletter – Meeting Notice, January 1979 (Agenda & General News)

Organisation: Taranaki Gay Society

Date: January 1979

Location: New Plymouth, Taranaki, Aotearoa New Zealand

This page is part of a Taranaki Gay Society newsletter outlining:

📅 Meeting details

• Location: St Aubyn Street, New Plymouth

• Start time: 7:30pm

• Purpose: Planning the group’s programme and priorities for 1979

📋 Agenda items

1. Apologies

2. Minutes of last meeting

3. Accounts

4. Financial Statement

5. Correspondence

6. General Business

This shows how formally structured and organised the group was by the late 1970s, operating with committee processes, finances, and documented correspondence — important evidence of early LGBTQ+ organisational life in regional Aotearoa.

📰 General newsThe newsletter notes that Friday night drinks at the Sportsman Bar of the State Hotel on Devon Street had become a regular social meeting point for members, with people gathering from around 8:30pm onwards and often continuing socialising after the pub closed.

This is a valuable historical record of:

• Early informal queer social spaces in New Plymouth

• How community connection often relied on mainstream venues used discreetly

• The blend of activism and social life in early gay organising

✍️ Sign-offS igned by Les (Secretary/Treasurer) — a recurring and important figure in the early organisation of gay groups in Taranaki.