Jim Moran
Sarah Ritchie-Crowther
Aaron Silver
Jack Connell
Andy VanSchoick
Dan Crowther
Pat Grossi

The very first topic to be brought forth was the location and date for the next CDBA Gatherings.

Of particular note was the offer from the NYS Dept of Parks and Recreation for CDBA to have a Gathering at the Copake Ironworks State Park. This information was passed to us through Lee Harvey. At this time the Park has suggested a spring demo. Both Sarah and Pat will be working closely with Lee and the Park officials to arrange the specifics.

In addition to any results from the Copake Gathering, the Core Group was interested in having a midwinter Gathering. After consideration of possible "winterized" venues, the next Gathering will be at Dan & Sarah's house on January 19th from 12:00pm-4:00pm. The basis of this Gathering will be a workshop designed to allow members hands on and walk away with a useful tool in addition to skills learned. As of this printing Jim Moran has offered to teach how to make cold chisels. This "simple" project will cover basic tapering and heat treatment.

Since this meeting is at a private residence Andy suggested that members RSVP so that enough seating, accommodations and other supplies can be procured.

Sarah relayed a conversation that she had with Tom Carol, of the Hudson Industrial Gateway, regarding the restoration of Burden Ironworks. In short the Burden building is missing much of its original architectural ironwork. Although Mr. Carol originally wanted to have a wall of horseshoes with the former employees names on them, CDBA has only one farrier in the membership, so this would be difficult. Another suggested CDBA project, therefore, was to reconstruct the railings, gates, fences, chandelier or similar ironwork. The Core Group really liked the idea of a large CDBA Team Project so, Sarah will get in contact with Mr. Carol to get the ball rolling for the early stages of one of these projects.

Aaron suggested a tear off section (or entire page) for the return of dues. At this time it was suggested that any checks be made to Kevin McGlynn with "CDBA Dues" written in the memo field. This page should also include a check box indicating whether the person wishes to be a "Forge Buddy" and/or wishes to be published in the membership directory.

Aaron also pointed out that dues should probably all be due at the same time because the overhead of keeping track of individual due dates would be too great. In addition, it was suggested that dues not be prorated since they are only $10.

Pat wanted to know about the status of the CDBA Logo. Currently there are three variations. Since the logo would be used in large and small formats, with the small format being the most stringent, each will added to the Newsletter cover page and sent to Core Members. They will then vote on which on works best.