Canberra Bushwalking Club Inc
Annual General Meeting
18 September 2024
Minutes of Meeting held at Weston Creek Uniting Church Hall
Welcome
General Secretary Ana Vrancic opened the meeting at 7:30pm, giving the Acknowledgment of Country. The President’s Report was presented by Keith Thomas on behalf of Noelia Pinto.
President’s Report
What a busy year it has been!
I’ve had big boots to fill, following on from the tireless Terrylea Reynolds, but have done what I can within my time constraints.
Some of the year’s highlights, in no particular order, are as follows:
- We’ve had many great trips put on by many leaders, a mix of experienced leaders and quite a few new leaders. We thank you all for your time, effort and dedication! A huge thank you to John Evans as Walks Secretary, leader and strategist. John seems to be dedicating every minute he can to our wonderful Club, and we are eternally grateful for his dedication. Just one example of John’s tireless endeavours is his drive to increase the number of CBC leaders so that we can better cater for the high demand for all types of activities.
- We also had a new Assistant Walks Secretary, Garry Boxsell, who has helped John with the provision of first aid training to our Club members, as well as being a leader and organising the upcoming super week of walks in Namadgi. Garry has been a great source of support for John.
- Keith Thomas moved from his prior role as Assistant Walks Secretary to Web Manager in 2024, taking over from Andrew Meers. Keith has taken on his new role with gusto, assisting with many aspects of the Club’s IT needs, including moving the Club’s website from JustHost to Canberra Web. Keith has also provided a great deal of general assistance to all committee members and with Bilby with all manner of issues.
- The Club has continued with its proud history of involvement with other stakeholders in the bushwalking community, including:
- Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve
- Namadgi National Park
- Joint walks with BBC and NPA
- Our family and toddler’s walks continue to be run, providing encouragement to a whole new generation of bushwalkers. 2024 saw the baton being passed from Linda Groom to Dianne McDean. Other leaders such as Jacqui Rosier and Terrylea Reynolds have also assisted with Family Walks.
- The variety of activities that we have had has been nothing short of phenomenal. We’ve had strolls, walks, wanders, toddles, saunters, rambles, forays, ascents, bashes, circuits, circumnavigations, and loops. We’ve had morning walks, evening walks, all-day walks, multi-day walks, local walks, interstate walks and overseas walks. But there haven’t just been walks! We’ve had bike riding, paddles, navigation training, bird identification, rock climbing, caving, and on and on the list goes. How brilliant!
- Our Membership has grown to its highest number ever (424 at last count!), due to a number of factors, including the efforts of our extremely capable Membership Secretary, Andrea Coomblas, who has done so much work assisting new members and evaluating membership trends. She was also the main instigator behind the recent membership survey, to help the CBC deliver the best experience possible to both current and prospective members.
- Andrea has also been taking a lead role in the much-needed review of the CBC’s current constitution to bring it up to date. This process has commenced via our membership with Volunteering ACT and is progressing well.
- I would also like to thank Melinda Brouwer who has worked hard as our treasurer to make sure that the CBC stays in good financial shape, and that we comply with all the applicable regulations. Melinda will be retiring after many years of hard work, and we welcome Jenny Arnold into the role.
- Marlene Eggert became our General Secretary in 2023, taking over the role of ensuring that all official Club correspondence and records are kept on the Club’s Committee Google Shared Drive and that Committee meetings are documented and held in the proper fashion. This makes sure that all important documents are accessible by all committee members and helps the Club to be accountable and transparent in its activities. Marlene, like so many capable and generous people, had various commitments during 2023-2024, one of which was as a snake handler in the Queanbeyan area. Unfortunately for the CBC, Marlene is only one of a few snake handlers, and her services in that regard have been in high demand. As a result, she has had to make the difficult decision to stand down from her role as General Secretary, and the CBC is actively searching for a suitable replacement for her role. If you know of someone who could take over this role, let us know!
- In 2024, we were lucky to have Michael Clisby as our Conservation Officer. Michael has brought passion to his role and ensured that the Club has remained active on the conservation and environmental front. Michael has coordinated or assisted in coordinating a number of submissions, including:
- the Federal Inquiry into Red Imported Fire Ants in Australia;
- the Campaign to restore Lake Pedder; and
- in relation to the Notice of Intention to Grant a Lease by the NSW Government within the Gardens of Stone State Conservation Area.
- Michael will also be coordinating the CBC’s input into the current review of the Tidbinbilla Plan of Management 2012.
- Training and Safety continued to be of utmost importance to the Club, with activities such as river crossing training, snake awareness, First Aid and navigation courses. These activities would not have been possible without the involvement of numerous CBC leaders, some organising and others delivering the training. Our Training and Safety Officer, Diana Terry, continued to make sure that the CBC followed due processes to minimise both the number and severity of any incidences.
- Another important role is that of Editor of our quarterly magazine, it. A big thank you to Meg McKone for continuing to provide her services in this regard and for continuing to produce a publication for our membership that we all enjoy reading! This is a big deadline-driven role, and Meg has done exceptionally well to continue to provide a publication packed with articles and beautiful photos, whilst continuing to lead several exciting multi-day trips for the Club.
- Supporting Meg McKone in her role as Editor, has been Terrylea Reynolds as the CBC Publisher. Terrylea has also been making sure that we are all informed monthly of any important updates, as well as being that person who always jumps in to help and to try and solve whatever issue has arisen. Terrylea has been on the Committee for at least seven years now, and her previous roles included President and Walks Secretary. Terrylea’s depth of knowledge on all CBC matters is second to none, and we will sorely miss her as she takes time out to concentrate on other very important matters, such as bushwalking!
- Ana Vrancic has continued doing a stellar job as Social Secretary, organising our monthly get-togethers and suitable presenters. This is a much more time-intensive job than it may sound – it takes time and effort to formulate presentation ideas, approach presenters, and organise the events. Further, we have started to dabble with online presentations and online attendance by members. 2024 also saw Ana take on a lead role with what we now call our Social Media team.
- Speaking of Social Media – there are a number of people involved that need to be thanked in this regard. Joe Carmona passed on the baton of Facebook Coordinator to SenFei Lam, due to his calling to explore the Caminos. The CBC then moved forward and ventured into the world of Instagram. A huge thank you to Cynthia Burton for assisting us with that process and providing her invaluable expertise, which she has endeavoured to pass on to both Ana Vrancic and Kirk Hone. Whilst Kirk and Lam have recently had to take a step back due to work commitments, Greg Buckman has taken a step forward to be a member of our Social Media team, providing a certain flair that only an accountant can. A big thank you to all the people who have been involved with our Facebook and Instagram posts – those who I have specifically mentioned, as well as leaders for taking the time to write a post and select photos, having already spent time organising and leading an activity. These posts make what we do visible to other members and the general public, and help share the joy of Club membership and the great outdoors.
- I am proud to say that last week our Facebook followers reached 7,310, surpassing the number of the NPA ACT followers! Ana has now set her sights on achieving as many followers as ACT Hikers – ACT Hikers has 7,900 followers. Not that we are being competitive! In terms of Instagram, we now have 164 followers. Our big challenge now is to make sure that we try and meet the expectations of our members and followers. We will take the results of our recent membership survey and use that data to help us plan and deliver our activities in the best way possible.
- Finally, a big thank you to all our wonderful members. Without members, there is no club or sense of community.
A big thank you to the outgoing Committee of 2024, and best wishes to the incoming Committee of 2025.
Bring on 2025!
Noelia Pinto
President
Membership Secretary’s Report
- At the September 2023 AGM we had 420 members.
- Numbers reduced during the final quarter of 2023, and we ended the calendar year with 402 members.
- It’s been a steady climb since, and on 31 August 2024 we had 424 members.
- In the 12 months to 31 August 2024:
- 181 people participated in their first CBC activity.
- Of those, 88 (49%) are now CBC members.
Walks Secretary’s Report
John Evans, Walks Secretary, presented the Walks Secretary report, which summarised the achievements of the year:
A great year of activities!
- overseas expeditions
- interstate multi-day trips and car camps
- pack walks in the ACT and other regions
- local day and part-day hikes, off-track in the bush and track walks
- specialist activities
- training activities
- Wednesday Walks
Special thanks to
- Garry Boxsell – Assistant Walks Sec
- John Danaro – Wednesday Walks Coordinator
- Linda Groom/Di McDean – Family Walks Coordinator
- Rob and Jenny Horsfield – Navigation Refresher
- Jeff Bennetts – Daylight Savings evening walks coordinator
- all those who contributed special skills in providing specialised training activities
Communication Initiatives
- Sunday evening email to all members listing upcoming activities in the next fortnight
- monthly email to walk leaders containing items of interest
- a recent leaders’ survey
- Walks Waffle in the it Quarterly Magazine
- 2024 Training Plan: CBC website > What’s on? > Training activities
Bilby – CBC’s activity and membership management
- trip descriptions which allow participants to book on activities suited to their capabilities and time constraints
- privacy levels available to users, an important matter in the modern world
- most leaders, members and guests are using Bilby effectively
- frequently being enhanced, with CBC suggestions taken into account
Walk Leader Appreciation
91 leaders; 62 led activities this year
13 new leaders
17 leaders who led ≥ 8 activity-days
New leaders and those who led ≥ 8 activity-days were presented with a $20 Bunnings voucher.
Greg Buckley Award
The award for 2024 was presented to Salih Ozgul. He joined the Club in 2007 and has booked on 183 trips and led 42. He has a particular interest in nature connectedness and emphasises that on his hikes.
Web Manager’s Report
Bilby: membership and activity management
- Bilby was launched in October 2022, and has now been in use for 2 years.
- Our experience overall has been positive, despite a few minor teething problems.
- Frequent updates have added many useful features.
- Other bushwalking clubs are considering subscribing to Bilby, which will increase its long-term viability.
- Bilby as a subscription service improves security and reliability and reduces committee workload.
Website Hosting
- We have changed our website host to a local hosting service – Canberra Web.
- The new hosts are expected to provide a more reliable and responsive service.
- This was effectively a cost-neutral exercise.
- The changeover was accomplished with only a short loss of service.
Website
Further work is being done on the website to make it more attractive and easier to navigate. This is a long-term project, which will probably take at least the next 12 months.
Treasurer’s Report and Motions
Report
The Web Manager, on behalf of the Treasurer, presented budgeted and actual Income and Expenditure for 2023-2025, and the 2024-2025 Budget. The Club’s total cash balances remained strong, with $11,341 in the Operating Account at the end of June 2024.
Financial Motions
Financial Statements 2023–2025
That the Club adopt the Income and Expenditure Statement for 2023–2025 and the Budget for 2024-2025 as presented at the meeting.
Moved: Michael Clisby
Seconded: Greg Buckman
Motion carried
Transport rate 2024-2025
That the transport rate for the 2024–2025 year be kept at 45c per kilometre (per car).
Moved: John Evans
Seconded: Frank McKone
Motion carried
Members’ subscription 2024–2025
That the subscription for the 2024–2025 year remains at $40 per member.
Moved: Meg McKone
Seconded: Ian Wright
Motion carried
Appointment of Reviewer
Motion: That Peta Bergmeier be appointed Honorary Reviewer in line with Clause 6.6 of the CBC Constitution.
Moved: Greg Buckman
Seconded: Garry Boxsell
Motion carried
Handover to Returning Officer
The returning officer for 2024 was Mark Peirce.
Elections for Canberra Bushwalking Club Committee 2024/2025
| Position | Nominee |
|---|---|
| President | Noelia Pinto |
| Treasurer | Jenny Arnold |
| Walks Secretary | John Evans |
| Assistant Walks Sec | Garry Boxsell |
| Membership Secretary | Andrea Coomblas |
| Conservation Officer | Michael Clisby |
| General Secretary | Alison Killen |
| Social Secretary | Liwei Meakin |
| Training & Safety Officer | Salih Ozgul |
| Editor | Meg McKone |
| Publisher | Ana Vrancic |
| Web Manager | Keith Thomas |
The appointment of the new Committee was confirmed by the meeting.
Other Business
Nil.
The meeting ended at 8:30pm
Keith Thomas
Web Manager
19 September 2024