Murray Valley Bushwalkers Inc Newsletter Number 1 August 2011
Welcome to the first newsletter of our fledgling club! It features no images, no bells and whistles and best of all no need to have a pdf reader installed. There are lots of links in this newsletter to articles on the club's website - they should all open in a new tab or window. To get back to the newsletter just close the newly opened article. Ive restricted links to those that are publicly accessible. If you come across a failed link please email me
In case you've forgotten who we are you can access the office bearers and their contact details in the minutes of the inaugural meeting held on July 7th at the Commercial Club Albury
This newsletter updates you on how the club is developing, what directions we are heading in and most importantly what's on the program.
The Program
So you should have a look at the fantastic program summary of what we have offered in the first month or so of our club's existence. Thanks particularly to Hans for putting on so many fun walks usually on both days of the weekend . There are also regular midweek bird observing activities and cross country skiing on weekends happening at the moment.
We would love to see other members propose an event. Did you know that when logged in to the website you can go to the Program menu item and choose Add Event? You just need to fill out the mandatory fields (marked with an asterisk) then press the next button and write a description and finally choose Save and Trish will pick up from where you left off. It doesn't even have to be you who leads the event you can nominate another club member and Trish can do the negotiations!.
Whats On
The event calendar under the program menu or go directly to it here is available on the website at all times. Please note that if it looks a little threadbare this doesnt necessarily mean nothing is on! One of the hallmarks of our club is a willingness to schedule events at short notice that are approved by the coordinator Trish Madden. Also note that there have been a few cancellations recently due to poor weather and an update for an event to indicate a postponement or cancellation will always be made. If in doubt check the website calendar of events.
Founding Members
We have a total of 10 founding members to date with another 2 months in which founding membership can be obtained. The idea for this came from David Gordon and has been a resounding success as we have a healthy bank balance as I write and we are now in position to refund Hans and Tony for the money they put in to get the club established. For a list of founding members you will need to firstly login to the website and then go to the Members option from the Main Menu.
Club membership
The club now has 27 paid up and registered members. We are anticipating a growth in membership as a result of the publicity surrounding the official club launch event hopefully to be held in September. You can always update your membership details by logging in to the website with your username and password and choosing Members, My Profile and exploring the contact info and membership info tabs. Most (but not all) fields can be updated and saved by you. If you need any help with this contact Tony
Incorporation
We are now an officially incorporated body - Murray Valley Bushwalkers Inc. This has lots of implications for our operations.We have now applied for affiliation with the Confederation of Bushwalking Clubs NSW. We can also apply for not for profit status with our website hosting service WebHosts Australia which will then give us free hosting. We can now also apply for funding when grants applications become available. Finally we can apply for a Paypal account which will enable us to receive credit card subscription fee payments.
The Website
The Event subscription tool (booking in to events by email accessible from the Details view of an event) has undergone an overhaul and hopefully should be much easier to use now and provide better feedback to both leaders and members/guests.
Dont forget to check out the new event reporting process offered on the website. You can access the submit event report form from the Program main menu option and you can view reports on club events by clicking on an event name here
Website Tips and Tricks
You should be aware that there is some content on the website that requires you to login before you can view it - eg the founding members page. If you follow a link and get an access denied message then you need to go the Home page and login to the website.Then try to access the content again.
Similarly if you were logged in but then had an extended period of inactivity the website will (secretly) log you out and next time you try to access an article that requires a login you will get a red 404 error message. The solution is go to the Home page, log back in again and then access the page again and this time it will magically appear. These are security measures to protect the site from hackers - a necessary evil unfortunately.
The Clubs Photos on Flickr
We have a free Flickr website with currently 5 sets of photos from club events which you can access at
the Murray Valley Bushwalkers Flickr Site
We encourage members to upload their photos to the clubs Flickr site for the purpose of sharing the experience and to assist in the generation of reports of club events. You can email Tony for instructions and login information and help if you get stuck.
Insurance
At this point in time we are still in limbo with regards to insurance coverage for our members and guests when participating in club events. Please be aware of the advisory regarding insurance on the website located under The Club, Insurance and Affiliation link in the main menu.
Acknowledgement of Risks
Once we have affiliation and insurance stitched up we will require members to agree to the acknowledgement of risk advice (see under Members in the main menu on the website when logged in). We will require visitors to sign an acknowledgement of risk form and pay a fee of $5 for temporary insurance coverage during the event. Please note that until this occurs we are not charging visitors for participation in club events.
Club Policies
These are a work in progress but a high priority. Draft policies will be available for comment on the website soon and you will be notified and asked for feedback. Our policy on children's participation in club events is already available on the website.
MVB Official Launch
The committee held an impromptu meeting on Thurs July 28th and the main topic of discussion was when and where to hold the official launch event of the club.
It was agreed that the activity would be delayed until such time as the affiliation and insurance applications were successfully in place. We are currently aiming at Sunday September 24th.
For more details you can view the committee meeting minutes
Murray Valley Bushwalkers Inc Logo
This has been discussed at the inaugural meeting and some great ideas were suggested but unfortunately not recorded on the night! If you can recall any details or have some thoughts then please get back to me
Feedback
Please note that you are encouraged to fill out the Feedback form - accessible under the Home main menu entry - to suggest changes, report problems or comment about just about anything you like. We would love to hear from you.
regards
Tony Marsh