GUFF 2009 is now on.
Candidates for the Europe to Australasia race are: James Shields and Douglas
Spencer. You can vote via Paypal
or
send cheque or money order or cash in person to Angela Rosin, 26 Hermitage
Grove, Bootle, Merseyside, L20 6DR, United Kingdom (cheques made out to ‘GUFF’,
email ang.rosin[AT]gmail.com), or Sue Ann Barber PO Box 249, Pascoe Vale South,
Victoria, 3044, Australia (cheques made out to ‘GUFF’ email activeim[AT]hotmail.com
– paypal to the same address).
Voting ends 5th
April 2010 23:59GMT.
About the candidates
James Shields is thrilled at the prospect of meeting
up with groovy Australian fans. He has been an active fan since stumbling into a
Dublin convention in 1991, and has since run conventions, published and written
for fanzines, run fan clubs, built various fan and convention websites, and
helped with the YAFA (Young Adult) programme at the 2005 Worldcon. He has become
enthusiastic about Fan funds, and after helping with two TAFF reports and
hosting GUFF delegates on their Irish stop-offs, would love to experience
Australian fandom and promises to publish a timely trip report afterwards. He
also likes Lego.
James’ nominators are Claire Brialey, Dave Lally, Dave Langford, Danny Oz and
Juliette Woods.
Douglas Spencer,
besides being an SF fan, is also a fan of food, science, computers and bad puns.
He can cook a bit, he can write a bit, he can act a bit.
He's appeared in convention musicals.
He's published fanzines under four different titles.
He's participated in many convention programme items over nearly twenty
years, including "Sumo Wrestling", "Science of Chocolate", "Songs of Praise",
"Origami Workshop", and getting his head shaved for charity.
He's hoping to meet lots of fans in New Zealand and Australia, sharing
some stories, and maybe providing raw material for a new legend or two.
Doug’s nominators are James Bacon, Fran Dowd, Mike Scott, Zara Baxter and Gene Melzack
The above button is also available for those of you who may just want to donate directly to GUFF.
On to other business. Below is a summary of expenditure during my trip and also the current status of the fund.
| Income | Cur. | Expenditure | Cur. | Balance | Cur. | |
| Received from previous administrator | 2368 | £ | 2368 | £ | ||
| Australian visa | 20.00 | A$ | 2359.35 | £ | ||
| Flights: Manchester to Perth, return. | 660.54 | £ | 1698.79 | £ | ||
| Flights: Adelaide - New Zealand - Melbourne | 379.00 | £ | 1319.79 | £ | ||
| Flights: Perth - Adelaide | 249.39 | A$ | 1201.71 | £ | ||
| Hotel, New Zealand | 595.00 | NZ$ | 968.11 | £ | ||
| Flight: Melbourne - Perth | 361.00 | A$ | 802.48 | £ | ||
| Correction - conversion artefacts* | 0.06 | £ | ||||
| Total remaining in UK fund after the trip | 802.54 | £ |
*Total cost does not include misc. amounts from other sources. The hotel and some other costs were dealt with by the Australian side of the fund and also my parents gave me approx. £500 spending money to cover other costs. Also not included are many generous donations from Australian fans in the form of transport, dinner etc.
Despite intending to do so quite early on I only opened the dedicated GUFF account in November of 2008. As a result the exact dates of various cheques received are missing but bookkeeping will be more accurate from now on. At all times the League of Fan Funds have been kept informed of the status of the fund and also of the costs associated with my trip.
All amounts are in UK pounds.
| Income | Expenditure | Balance | |
| Balance after my trip | 802.54 | 802.54 | |
| cheque - LFF | 200.00 | 1002.54 | |
| cheque - art sale | 26.00 | 1028.54 | |
| cheque - LFF | 850.00 | 1878.54 | |
| Nov 2008 - voting proceeds | 134.00 | 2012.54 | |
| April 2009 - contribution to UK costs of 2009 delegates* | 400.00 | 1612.54 | |
| Sales of trip report May- Sept '09 | 37.66 | 1650.20 | |
| Postage May-Sept '09 | 5.49 | 1644.71 | |
| Donation - LFF Sept '09 | 200.00 | 1844.71 |
*The delegates also received a direct donation from the LFF while at LX. I also extend my thanks to the committee of LX who graciously donated membership and a hotel room.