Dear list members

I am posting the following message on behalf of one of
our research students.  Any assistance or advice would
be most gratefully received and happily passed on to
any other interested party ...



I am currently in my second year of an MA (Applied) in
Social Science Research at Victoria University in
Wellington, NZ. For my thesis, I am conducting an oral
history project amongst older members of New Zealand's
oldest tramping (hiking/bushwalking) club (started in
1919), with a membership of 600.

As well as being involved in the activity of tramping,
club members are involved in a wide range of formal
and informal club activities and often give large
amounts of voluntary service to the club. I am
interested in
exploring what the 'glue' is that makes this formal
voluntary organisation such a cohesive community.
During the topic based interviews, I am attempting to
discover some of the attitudes, beliefs and values
that
characterise the culture within this community and to
gain some insights into how the club function/operates
as a community and why people are drawn to be a member
of such a social organisation.

I would be interested in hearing about any current
work being done in this area, or of known work in this
area of enquiry, comments or feedback.

Many thanks
Melanie Martin





Lee Davidson
Recreation and Leisure Studies
Victoria University of Wellington
New Zealand


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