Nick

He is now banned for ungentlemanly conduct.

Competition and Gallery now back up and running !

I am sure that you have noticed the speed increases if you have been lucky enough to find GMIC online in the last 24 hours. I apologise for some of the downtime, crashes and the gallery not working over the last few days. GMIC has been migrated to its own dedicated server and like all things in the IT world, the transition was not as smooth as I would have liked. It will take a few days for all the errors to be smoothed over and the forum to be fully functioning again, but the speed increase will make all this worth it, as if you are reading this you will have noticed the forum is now flying along compared to the slow chug of before. Please be patient as errors are not always immediately noticeable, if you do find any errors post them here and I will look into it.

As long as you own the full copyright, and do not have any contractual obligations, you can post whatever photos you want, regardless where they previously have been used or published.

Ok issue should be resolved for Basic Members

I am looking into this will update you soon

You can upload the entries HERE

Following the success of last years competition Mervyn has been working hard to bring together the 2012 Photographic Competition, so I would ask members to take consider participating in this years competition. There are some great prizes on offer and also entries have the opportunity to win a place in the 2013 GMIC Calendar. PHOTO COMPETITION 2012 COMMENCES MONDAY 15th OCTOBER 2012 CLOSES MIDNIGHT THURSDAY 15th NOVEMBER 2012 (GMT) There are three categories for 2012 and each person will be limited to 5 (five) entered per category so make them count. The judges are looking for not only for photographic technique but more importantly creativity and imagination. A picture which shows a lot of imagination, but lacks in technical skill, still stands a better chance in winning over a technically perfect photo which is unimaginative and dull. I will also be looking for 12 images to represent the 12 months of 2013, so if members can enter photos within Categories 1 & 2 which have a seasonal (and military) theme I will be considering those entries separately to the main competition, so it will not necessarily be category winners who earn a place in the calendar. RULES AND REGULATIONS 1. Members - and Family Members are permitted to enter this 2012 Photo Competition. Name of member must be shown. These rules apply equally to any non-members and by entering the competition they show their assent. 2. The panel of judges has been appointed - their decision is final. 3. Ownership of the image remains with the person posting. However, by entering this Competition he/she grants permission to GMIC to use any of the image entered - in any way or, for whatever purpose - and at any time. The member posting the entry must OWN the copyright to the image being entered. 4. There will be no change in the announced dates. 5. There will be one overall prize - The Chairman's Award. Each category will have a 1st , 2nd. and 3rd. place and will receive a GMIC plaque. 4th and 5th in each category will receive a small nominal gift. ALL 5 in each Category will receive a GMIC Certificate. 6. To keep numbers managable the maximum number of entries - per category - will be LIMITED TO 5 (FIVE) 7. The categories will be : Please include a few words of description 1. Personal Militaria collections - pick your own items for entry. 2. Militaria from any source. Graves.Bands.Processions etc.. Your choice. 3. Non- Militaria. Any source or, subject. Be original and creative. 8. Entries for the 2013 GMIC Calendar will be considered separately to the main competition by the Chairman. Note category winners will not necessarily be entered into the GMIC Calendar. Entries will only be considered from Categories 1 & 2 (or of a military theme) and images which have a seasonal aspect i.e. Spring, Summer, Autumn (Fall), Winter will be of benefit.

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At a good guess I would think it is a police medal to celebrate the establishment of Kwazulu/Natal Homeland ? I think similar medals were awarded to other homelands on their establishment. Mervyn will probably provide more details?

It has come to my attention that an error in the system has affected some members ability to start topics or post in ongoing threads . This has mainly affected joining members (who joined in the last couple of months), as well as some members who have recently upgraded or downgraded their membership. I am glad to say the issue has been rectified for new joining members, however there may well be a few members that are still being prevented from posting or starting new topics. Without individually logging onto and checking every membership account, I cannot retrospectively apply an easy fix for all members. Therefore I am having to rely on members reporting the issue to me. Can i ask that all participating members check this functionality and please PM (PM system is not affected by this) or email me if you think you have problems posting. If you identify, you have been affected I can easily and quickly repair your accounts and rectify the situation for you.

Pages 14 & 15 do not seem to be uploaded properly

Excel is now supported but it will need to be saved as a .xml .xls or .xlsx file. I can format other file types so let me know what type of file extension is being used. The system is designed to allow uploading of new versions. It is easy to update with new versions and by default the system will archive the old versions. To keep track the system asks you to apply version numbers to the files to make things easier.

Document Archive I have recently refreshed this area and want to explain its purpose and use. The document archive allows members to upload and download files in a large format. It is like an online library which allows the archiving of material in a variety of formats including PDF files which our members can access to support their research of military history or military collectables. I see it as an area to upload scans of books, or lengthy documents. This is primarily a free resource in that it is free to upload and download files. However there is is the facility for members to upload files which attract a fee for other members to download. This essentially allows members posting the document the facility to charge a cost per download. GMIC handles this fee (a small administrative charge is made to the member selling files to support the forum) and passes it on to the member via electronic payment. As with all uploads on GMIC the member uploading must be clear on who owns the copyright to any work, especially when a charge is being made to download it. For further information on costs and methods of payment please contact me direct. When an article is uploaded a support post is automatically created in the Document Archive Forum which allows members to comment or ask further questions to the members posting the documentation.

This photo is earlier than 1920s, the style of the uniform, the type of photo and his medals are for Egypt so I would guess it is late Victorian era. As for the force others may be able to help as it is a County Constabulary Police Uniform.

Replicas often lack the detailing of the originals, the Golden Jubilee medal replicas are often easy to spot as the hair on the queens head just does not look right. But until you get it in hand it is often hard to tell from photos.

PC George Kitching W/N 113756 serving on N Division when he got his PLSGC Medal.

By either taking out a membership subscription which gives members extra features or by donating any amount no matter how small via the new Donations box on the sidebar.

I had an opportunity to snap this yesterday. Seems as though the powers that be have got their act together this time. Unlike the Golden Jubilee the Diamond Jubilee medal has been issued prior to the official date of wearing. The ribbon can be worn already but the medal cannot be worn until the procession on the 5th June. No certificate or ribbon off cut with the box this time.

Due to ongoing technical difficulties I have had to upgrade the server significantly so I hope that you have noticed an increase in speed. Any voluntary contributions from taking out a members subscription will be appreciated as I now have a significant monthly cost to keep this ship afloat. I really do not want to have to go down the route of advertising to generate income ! There has also been a change in the way the forum loads and some of you may have noticed that there is a slight pause when loading the index page. But when it loads it should fully load. I am still working on remedying that issue which is being caused by a slow mysql query around Topic Markers, but if I switch them off then it impacts on what topics are marked as read with your individual accounts. Work in progress......

I have been updating a few of the back end functions of the software/server to bring it up to date and close a few security issues. It may have meant that some members received the occasional database error over the last few days, but I hope the bulk of the work has now been done. There should not be any real major front end changes. GMIC is still growing in size and despite some slow down in posting which is reflected across all military collecting forums (sign of the economic times maybe ?) the traffic actually has increased. This combination of traffic and database size can challenge the server. Of course if money was not an issue then a fast modern dedicated server would make a vast differences. As GMIC is essentially a free service then unfortunately this is not an option and I rely on voluntary subscriptions to pay for what I can afford to run. So speed is dependent on subscriptions, the more of you that pay a small annual subscription, the faster server I can afford and the better the service we all get ! If anyone has noticed any significant differences i.e. slow downs or speed ups in the forum please let me know as it is good to get feedback either way. GMIC is eight years old next month and there is a lot of images and information stored on the forum. Over the coming months I will be getting some of the moderators to do a bit of housekeeping as I intend to start archiving some of the old posts to reduce server space. The information will still be there and retrievable under searching, but because it is old and not regularly accessed it will be stored in a slightly different way to save space and make the forum run more efficiently. I have also changed my username to Nick rather than Chairman (although I still am the Chairman) as have the Vice Chairs as I felt titles were a little too impersonal and I want to promote the use of peoples real names. If you would like to adopt your real name (even if it is only your first name with a last initial or tag to retain a agree of anonymity) let me know as it makes it a bit friendlier than some forums where members adopt juvenile usernames as par for the course.

Greg Interesting life. The badges are on their way !

As of Monday 5th March 2012 new levels of membership will be introduced at GMIC. To make it simpler to understand the new membership categories are listed below: Basic Bronze Silver Gold Platinum All of these membership categories can be achieved without cost and are based on a combination of active participation and time served on GMIC. There is also an option to achieve higher levels of membership on joining or by a reduced level of participation time. This is through voluntary monetary contribution which assists GMIC in remaining a free service open to all. To understand the different levels of membership please click here Enamel Membership pins are also now available for purchase. Cost is dependent on membership level but for basic members the cost is £5.99 including (worldwide) postage. To purchase a membership go to Members Store

There will be an update at the weekend.