Murray Valley Bushwalkers AGM Aug 23 2012

Location: Thurgoona Community Centre

Present Hans Kaspers, Tony Marsh, Jenny Marsh, Peter Presutti, John Jamison, Nicole Eirth, Claire Sandford, Marijke Korting, Rowena Smith, Neil Brown, Jan Douglas, Cheryl Duncan, David Saxton, Joy Hayden, Neil Offner, Vera McClusky, Anne Hopkins, Marie Rule

Apologies Kay Hardie, Tracey Barkley, Cheryl McCarten, Nicole Stephens, Joy Turner, Sonia Nettelbeck, Neville Nettelbeck, Diane Ryan, Bill Krautz, Sasho Dillo, Michelle Crofts

1. Confirm the minutes of the last AGM and any special general meeting

As this is the first AGM the club has run there are no minutes of a previous AGM to examine. However reference was made to the inaugural public meeting held on July 7 2011 attended by 14 persons and the minutes are available here. 

2. Reports on the activities of the association

Presidents report

Hans welcomed those in attendance referred to the inaugural meeting of the club and the extensive program of activities that have been developed since. The official launch of the club was held in September 18 2012 starting in the Albury Botanical Gardens with a walk along the Murray and up over Nail Can Hill followed by a bbq in Hovell Tree park.  Hans also referred to the clubs constitution which requires that the number of office bearers / committee members is determined by the number of financial members of the club as of Jan 1 of the year in which the agm is to be held.

There were 60 MVB members at that time so we are required to have a committee of 6 persons. At the committee meeting held on Feb 17 2012  it was decided the additional 2 positions on the committee would be designated Website Manager and Publicity and Development Coordinator

Membership / Activities report - Tony Marsh

From a couple of dozen inaugural members in July 2011 the club membership grew rapidly to reach about 75 by the end of the first year. Walking is our core activity mainly because we are a bushwalking club after all and unlike some of our pursuits its something that can be done all year. And anyway hardly a weekend goes by without one and very often two walks hosted predominantly by Hans, but also by Iris Joss from Corryong and other club members. Where would a bushwalking club be without a walks program? Paddling upstream in a barb wire canoe perhaps…. Fortunately not for us!

It must be acknowledged how significant the canoeing program has been for club development. A quick scan through the membership reveals more than half  participated in paddling in the 11/12 daylight saving period. Altogether about 25 canoeing events took place with anything up to 20 participants per event. I would like to acknowledge the role Tracey Barkley played in this outcome and of course to thank the canoe leaders and especially to thank Dave Breedon from Murray River Canoe Hire whose generous support (and membership) of the club is greatly valued.

Abseiling – it was very rewarding to see this program become established in the program of activities we run. Thanks to Neil Brown for his diligence, persistence and professional manner – all hurdles in the way were eventually dealt with and we hope to continue with this activity in 2012/13

Winter evening walks – thanks to Peter Presutti for conducting approximately 6 evening events which were well supported and great fun to participate in – who would have thought so many members would be prepared to walk after dark in the depths of winter?

Social activities – a couple of evenings at the German Austrian club have been successful and well attended.

Snow sports – a few members have enjoyed two winters of MVB skiing activities now – the Kangaroo Hoppet is the highlight and at least 3 club members will be participating on Saturday.

Quite a few of our members hold dual club membership which is something we encourage – why not make the most of what both clubs in Albury Wodonga offer? Marijke recently participated in the Howmans Gap weekend and with her permission we will look at some photos of that weekend.

Geocaching – it’s a bit of a poorly kept secret but we happen to have one of Northeast Victoria’s premier geocaching practitioners in the club – Mick Webster has put out over 70 caches and it adds a lot of interest to the walks that Hans and Peter put on to find them. The club also has a number of our own that we have installed.

Cycling – thanks to Kay for organizing a couple of successful cycling events.

Membership process – we have invested heavily in technology with the website and membership procedures and it appears to be paying dividends. For example about 90% of all recent membership renewals were completed using the Paypal facility that is accessible from the website. The resounding success of the "founding member" innovation suggested by David Gordon should also be recorded - an extraordinary number of 16 members have chosen this option and their contribution is recorded on the founding members page on the website. This has resulted in a signficant boost to the clubs funds at a critical time in club development. The website continues to be heavily used – Tony to demo stats of usage

Blogs are the newest part of the website – don’t be afraid to voice your opinion on activities and the club in general – if adding a blog post is a bit daunting just send an email to blog@mvb.org.au and I will do the rest!

Tony referred to the Risk Management strategies and policies in place and indicated where they could be accessed on the clubs website. The acquisition of a Spot emergency alert device was discussed and Peter undertook to write an article explaining its usage for the website. Tony also spoke about the upcoming leadership skills training weekend to be run by volunteers from the VNPA and encouraged members to participate

3. Receive the association's financial statements

The financial statements must give a true and fair view of the association's affairs and must include an income and expenditure statement and a balance sheet that sets out the sources of income and expenses, assets and liabilities.

Profit and Loss Statement for the period 01/07/2011 to 30/6/2012

 Trial Balance Sheet as at August 28 2012

A motion was put by Tony and seconded by Jan that the treasurers report be accepted as a true and accurate record of the clubs financial position as at Aug 23 2012 – the motion was carried

 

3 Elect office bearers and ordinary members of the committee

The following were elected unopposed for the 6 positions on the committee for the 2012/2013 year.

President Tony Marsh

Secretary Tracey Barkley

Treasurer Peter Presutti

Event coordinator Hans Kaspers

Website manager Neil Brown

Publicity and Development Coordinator Nicole Stephens

There being no other business of which notice has been given to members to conduct Tony introduced the Guest Speaker Anthea Packer Ranger in Charge of Parklands Albury Wodonga

Anthea showed a presentation and talked about the amazing range of projects completed and in progress and the land managers and groups that PAW have engaged in their 15 year history.

Tony thanked Anthea for her informative talk and slideshow and presented her with a symbol of our club’s gratitude as a thank you. The meeting closed at 9pm and a light supper was enjoyed by those who stayed on.

May 8 2012

Postponement of Public Meeting

Due to issues with gaining sufficient publicity we decided to postpone the meeting to be held this Friday May 11 - a decision will be made at the next committee meeting to be held this Friday May 11 at 2-30 pm at the Piano Lounge of the Commercial Club about a rescheduled date and time. Which reminds me - club members and guests are always welcme to join us at committee meetings.

Successful funding submission

We have finally been successful with a funding application! The City of Wodonga has awarded the club $700 for the purchase of safety equipment under the financial assistance to community groups program. We are greatly appreciative of the support for our fledgling club especially as this program funds a whole range of groups and activities that are not necessarily sports related. The club will be represented at an award ceremony to be held on May 18 at City of Wodonga offices.

Club developent workshops

Peter attended the first of 3 club development workshops being promoted by the City of Wodonga - this one was on financial management and Peter has now converted the financial information of the club into MYOB. A wealth of resources for club development were presented and Peter wrote a report that the committee will be examining

Neil Brown will represent the club at the second workshop on digital and social media which is entirely appropriate given the work he has done promoting our club on Facebook We are still looking for a third person to represent the club on Wed June 6th which will be looking at ways to boost club membership. All are from 6pm to 8-30pm at the council offices Hovell St Wodonga with light refreshments and snacks provided.

Computer Based Training Workshops

We are canvassing the idea of running evening workshops at the Thurgoona Community Centre to skill up our members in how to maximise the use of the club's website. Workshops may cover any or all of the following:

1. Logging in and updating your membership details
2. Making electronic payments
3. Creating and managing new events
4. Maintenance of event booking forms 
5. Submitting event reports
6. Use of Personal Locator Beacons and GPS
7. Using software such as Google Earth to plan and document club events

Any further ideas gratefully received. Email and /or ring Tony or submit a Contact Us message from the website to express an interest.

Walking Poles

Having acquired a new pair of state of the art walking poles Peter Presutti is a font of knowledge on this topic of increasing interest to our members. We will approach him to write a short article for the next bulletin.

Nail Can Hill Event 2012

Bonegilla Block 19 report

A short walk (about 4km) and guided tour of the Bonegilla Block 19 migrant facility on Saturday April 28

Whats On

Peter Presutti is leading a walk up McFarlanes Hill Thursday April 10th in the morning and looking for geocaches.

There are two great events on this weekend.

Iris Joss is leading a walk from Koetong to Shelley Station for lunch on Saturday May 12th

An intermediate abseiling event at The Rock on Sunday May 13th 

Note that full details of abseiling events are available on the MVB Abseilers page

There is an ongoing program of Wed afternoon bird observing and easy walking activities in the Wodonga Retained Environment Network - we have now visited 4 WREN reserves . This is a great opportunity to learn about the birdlife of north east victoria. Check out the bird watching program here

Geocaching

We have established a geocaching group in the club called Team MVB with its own email list and a premium geocaching.com account that allows us to download and explore this fun activity.

Regards

Tony Marsh

Secretary Murray Valley Bushwalkers Inc

Murray Valley Bushwalkers

Committee Meeting 5

Date: Friday May 11 2012

Location: Thurgoona Community Centre 2-15pm

Attendance Hans Kaspers, Tony Marsh, Peter Presutti Apologies from: Trish Madden

 Apologies to: Cheryl McCarten who wasnt informed of the change of venue and turned up at the Piano Lounge

 Minutes of Meeting Feb 17 2012

The minutes of the previous meeting accessible here were reviewed and accepted as a true and accurate record of that meeting

Moved: tony

Seconded:peter

The motion was carried

Business Arising from Previous Meeting

1. Logo - Hans to send me a copy of the logo he designed - recall that Rob Newman suggested we approach tafe colleges re logo design - Tony to follow up

2. Tony reported on MVB postcards created with Vistaprint and 50 printed cost $5 for postage on a special - also 20 larger ones (by mistake) printed at Office Works at 80 cents a card. Hans suggested we approach Rob Newman re printing postcards.

3. Review of Rob Newman meeting and the VicHealth Everyone Wins which provides practical tools and resources to help Victorian community sports clubs become more inclusive and welcoming of everyone in their community

4. Discussion about postponement of public meeting that was to be held May 11 - lack of publicity was the main reason but also suggested that its difficult to get people to attend evening meetings this time of the year - alternative arrangements discussed in an agenda item

5. Leadership training weekend - wide ranging discussion took place - see agenda item

6. Car pooling policy - policy decision deferred to another meeting

7. Tony reported that PAW have offered the use of their building for committee meetings in the evening

8. MVB events are being displayed on the new Ecoportal website unfortunately this involves duplication of the event info - if anyone is available to assist keeping the Ecoportal supplied with our event info please get in touch with Tony who will be more than happy to show how its done.

Correspondence 

In

A summary of approximately 100 email messages received to the secretary account since last meeting

1. New membership registrations and payments - about 4 since last meeting 
2. Responses to weekly bulletins to members re program of events
3. Registrations for events - numerous
4. Tracey Farrant COW re successful funding application
5. Megan Freeman re club development workshops
6. Rob Newman re CARN and Sportslink.org.au
7. Paypal notice of policy updates
8. Notifications of event report submissions
9. Sherylyne Moran from Thurgoona CC - various re hall hire / computer workshops
10. Coodinator regarding event management issues 
11. Kay Hardie re event listing changes
12. Australian Tundra Experiment OzTex re Flickr site
13. Member David Saxton re barking owls
14. Jacqui Bertalli from CARN re registration
15. Maralee Vogel Albury City Council - failed community development funding application
16. Richard Rhodes re remote area first aid course
17. From Peter Presutti re finance workshop report
18. From Peter Presutti re various google earth walk route files

Out

A summary of approx 100 email messages sent as the secretary since last committee meeting

1. Weekly bulletins to all members, 
2. To admin Gail at Confed re membership numbers for insurance purposes and listing on Confed website
3. To Neil Brown re thank you for abseiling establishment 
4. To Access for All - Rob Newman re club development options
5. To Sherylyne Moran at the Thurgoona CC re hall hire and computer facilities usage
6. Australian Tundra Experiment OzTex re Flickr site
7. Monique Thompson re Nican database entry for MVB
8. The Hon. Graham Annesley Minister for Sport & Rec NSW - failed funding application
9. Maralee Vogel Albury City Council -  community development funding application
10. Tracey-Anne Hooley from the VNPA re leadership trainng program
11. Richard Rhodes re remote area first aid course
12. City of Wodonga funding application
13. Successful registration of an Australian Business Number for MVB

Reports

Event Management

1. Review of website procedures  event notification to be modified to ensure three exec members notified when new events added and / or changes made. This means newevents or changes to existing events will need to be approved by one of the executive before being published (available to the public) - current issue with slideshow making events hard to see to be fixed by tony
2. Abseiling update - first intermediate abseil activity happning May 13 at The Rock - 5 participants - went off like a rocket report available here
3. Canoeing update - some of Dave's canoes and equipment are currently stored at Corowa and are available for use in his absence - normal charges apply
4. Evening walks update - an evening walk and bbq was held at Baranduda recently - indicative that this kind of activity is feasible. Suggestion also for a Hidden valley / Mistletoe track in Huon Hill Kiewa river area be an evening walk option. Jan Douglas to program a full moon walk at Slaughteryard track chiltern mt pilot np

1. Weekend walks update  - a great program continues with a range of leaders and activities
2. Cycling update - Kaye is offering a second cycling event on May 21
3. Snow activities - Tony to be coordinating these events in 2012

Website developments - the club continues to have a presence on Facebook which is maintained mainly by Neil. We have also established a geocaching group called Team MVB

and the Flickr site continues to be a great vehicle for club photos

German Austrian club social events with FOWP an option?

Approach wodonga council re support for Leadership training weekend?

Treasury Report

Peter tabled a report indicating a healthy balance in the club account and also reported that he has now setup the clubs finances in MYOB and subsequent to the meeing a Trial Balance and Profit and Loss statement for the period July 2011 to May 2012 were tabled.

The funding grant of $700 from the City of Wodonga has not been received yet.

A motion to thank Peter for this and to accept the treasurers report was moved by Tony and seconded by Hans and was carried.

Membership report

4 new members have joined since last committee meeting all of whom have participated in a canoeing, evening, weekend day walk or abseiling event - this takes our current financial membership to 74

With end of financial year approaching most memberships will expire on June 30th

Presidents summary

Agenda

1. Program for 2012 - timetabling public meeting and AGM PAW speaker? when, where etc - positions - lengthy discussion ensued meeting agm to coordinate agm suggestion that we have a agm as a weekend daytime activity? bbq Noreuil park or Browns Lagoon ag m to be a weekend actviy

2. AGM membership drive - discussion took place about using the Farmers market as a potential vehicle for more publicity - Tony to contact Nicole stephens re potentioal stall on the fortnight before the agm and perhaps to hold the agm after the farmers market (on the back of) with a bbq and maybe a walk - Tony also to contact anthea to discuss a presentation proposal possibility same arvo

   Lots of issues to negotiate re power tables chairs - very cold that time of the year and will need an indoor venue perhaps - farmers markets on july 7 and july 21

   Market - AV display / photo board / couple of laptops showing flickr and website facebook?

   set up to take memberships

   Tony to contact Nicole to confirm all this

3. City of Wodonga funding grant - how to spend the $700? 

   Tony referred to the email Peter sent with a Adventure camping quote for a ResQLink plb for $400 - should we get a gps as well - tony to resend this msg to peter and hans

4. Who is going to the COW award ceremony? - Hans and Peter - an rsvp was sent on may 15

5. Peter's financial management workshop report and  - action from this?

    

6. Feedback from Albury council re failed bid - Tony to pursue and enquire about next funding round
7. ABN and Registration as an incorporated body in Victoria
8. New arrangements re adding events to program
9. Leadershp training weekend -  Tracey-Anne Hooley from VNPA to be approached again re leadership training w/e in spring prob october with a proposal that we try and do it on the cheap. Our preference would be to do it at Chiltern with an overnight camp in the park at tuan campground. Tony to enquire re porta loo hire Tony to enquire re potential usage of parks vic facilities - to contact ranger John McDonald

10. Possible participants were identified 

11. Evening workshops
12. Meeting with Rob Newman follow up

General Business

Meeting location - 

Next meeting : 

There being no further business to discuss the meetng was closed at 4:30 pm

First Aid discussion took place - peter to enquire re options and to check with glenda re minimum requirements - should we buy an off the shelf kit or make up our own? and ask for advice on what the kit should cntain.Raised the invetibale question about location of storage of this gear

First aid policy

That each person on a club activity bring along an appropriate first aid kit for their own usage which may include their own medications. A suggested list to include bandaids, bandage, panadol, swabst, mobile phone - kits can be bought from aldi at times for $10

Moved peter sec tony carried

Rego in victoria - decided to pursue this at a later date - perhaps when a funding submission is close at hand.

Workshops - perhaps to be held on weekends? at tcc?

Tony and hans to contact non email users in the club to discuss their options