Paul Shea

PRESIDENT'S REPORT 2009/2010 It is my very great pleasure to provide an overview report on the 29th year of the Manly Probus Club Inc. Your club provided a very full program of excellent activities throughout the year. These activities include golf and bowls events, two away trips, three day outings, a trip to the ABC's Q&A TV program, monthly social walks and a regular monthly program of excellent guest speakers. We had a full range of social activities including the President's and Xmas luncheons, Bayview Golf Club lunch, BBQs at beautiful Clontarf and post meeting informal bistro lunches with regular attendances over 50 people. I would like to thank the management and staff of the Balgowlah RSL Club for their assistance. We supported all this activity with a strong member communications program including monthly newsletters, our web site, a combined club debate and open forum in October and regular welfare reports about members on the sick list. Special thanks to Hugh Massey for his dedication to this latter task. Thanks to Neville Bull and Kevin Long, we were pleased to be able to assist with improvements to the reliability of the auditorium sound system at BRSLC.

 

Our membership number was largely unchanged throughout the year at around 80 members. We were saddened by the passing of Jim Kannane, Max Nauthe, Ken Hebblewhite, Keith Phillips, Bert de Mars and Bill Hotchkiss. We welcomed new members Leigh Haines, John Ross, Jim Fry, George Paul and John Oakes. Twenty year membership certificates were awarded to Geoffrey Falkenmire, and Ross McCowan. Our highly regarded Hon Treasurer John Lush was awarded Life Membership. The seminal achievement of the year was addressing the problem of the low level of new membership applications which culminated in a proposal to be voted on at the 2010 AGM to change the status of the club from a male only club to a combined gender club. The assistance of Probus Centre and District Chairman Gary Blackler in this process is gratefully acknowledged. All your committee members offered themselves for re-election unopposed and are duly elected for 2010/11. The club is indeed fortunate to have such talented and committed people running its affairs. Special thanks to David Beard past President and Secretary. I wish new President Doug Stockwell all the best for the coming year and would like to thank the membership for the privilege of acting as your President in 2009/2010.