October 2009 President's newsletter
At the end of 2008 Queensland’s licensed “not for profit” clubs were offered the opportunity to respond to a survey of their operations in order to quantify contributions, both in monetary and voluntary labour, to their communities, as well as other benefits that could be established. The “socio economic impact of Qld clubs report” has recently been released and sent to all state and federal members of parliament, as well as other interested parties.
Figures from the report show that:-
There are almost three and a half million club memberships.
Direct cash donations, grants and sponsorships were estimated to total over
$222 million, with in-kind services and benefits of an additional $22 million.
Club members contributed 4.83 million hours of volunteer labour, valued at over
$100 million of labour input or 2998 full time equivalent jobs.
Clubs have provided community assets such as sporting facilities, welfare offices,
memorials, museums, and equipment to the value of $1.776 billion.
Clubs have contributed economic benefits of taxation in paying more than $76
million in GST and more than $196 million in poker machine tax.
The total estimated value of these direct community and economic benefits in
2008 is $668 million or an average of $711,000 for every community club. Clubs
also incurred net wages of $480 million and directly employed 26,900 staff with
a further 3,400 contractors engaged in club employment.
Community clubs generated, coordinated, and oversaw 51.64 million active hours
in social and organised sports and leisure activities in 2008. On average this
equates to 55,000 active hours for each club during 2008.
The above figures show that membership of your local club has many benefits not only for yourself but also your community. If you are not a member and would like to join our club then talk to one of the staff at the reception desk.
The recent dust storm was something to marvel about, with tonnes of being moved from central Australia to the Pacific Ocean. It affected our area for most of Wednesday afternoon, finally settling overnight. Anyone with breathing difficulties would have suffered considerably with others in the population being traumatised with what was happening. It probably was worse than the continuous smoke emanating from the fire in the Army training area.
Just a reminder that “The Lost Arts Heavy Horse Field Day” will be held on Saturday 3rd October at 81 Osbourne Road, Wallu. All proceeds will be channelled to the “Angel Flight” charity so get along and learn about the “olden” days.
Elections. Nominations for positions on the club’s Board have now closed and ballot papers should be received by eligible members shortly. The ballot box will be located in reception and votes will be able to be lodged up to 8am on the Annual General Meeting date of Sunday 18th October, 2009. The positions of President, Vice President and Honorary Treasurer have received only one nomination for each position whilst 8 candidates will contest the 6 positions of Board members.
Trading. Trading for the previous two months has shown that the world economic crisis is slowly making its way into our local area. It has been slow during this period and the Board has subsequently reduced its overall spending over the next few months until trade increases.
Sport. The men’s bowls club ran a successful open fours championship over Sunday 20th and Monday 21st September with teams entered from the Sunshine Coast and Wide Bay areas. Tin Can Bay bowlers shared in the prize money with two members (Hilly and Stubbsy) being members of the winning team and two more members were in the team that ran third. The men’s bowls club were grateful that the ladies were able to supply two teams to make up the numbers on short notice. One of the ladies teams went as far as showing one of our men’s teams what winning is all about – should take about 6 months to stop the skiting.
The ladies golf club were the hosts for the North Coast zone Foursomes held on Monday 21st September, the same day as the men’s bowls open fours, and this certainly tested all our staff in keeping over two hundred members and guests in a happy mood. Thank you to all concerned for the effort you made. The golf day was extremely successful with Tin Can Bay winning the “A” grade gross and net scores.
The ladies golf club will be holding their 72 hole club championships over four days in the late part of October and the 36 hole mixed foursomes championship will be held on the last weekend of October.
The Clubs Queensland “Smile for a Child” charity golf and bowls day will be held on Friday 30th October. Proceeds from this fun day will be given to the charity along with other money making activities (wobblers, raffles, etc).
Developments. The Board has approved a request from Gympie Regional Council for approval to resume part of our leased land for a State Emergency Service (SES) building. If the resumption is approved it will be built along side the fire station in Snapper Creek Road. As this parcel of land is closer to the golf course we have requested that the conditions of the approval include the building of a fence bounding our leased property and indemnity against any stray golf balls causing damage.
Our head greenkeeper Mick Hall finally admitted that some of his equipment (green keeping that is) had finally seen better days and that in order to keep the golf course and bowling greens in the condition we have become accustomed we would need to purchase newer equipment. The Board agreed cautiously to purchasing a new “lovingly cared for” Cushman and a greens mower that should last for the next decade.
The new “smaller” bus has been updated with signage so that patrons are not confused when being picked up. You will often see both buses outside the club with the number of patrons determining which is used. The smaller bus is more economical to run.
The dining room has recently been going through a number of renovations to make it more appealing to its customers. The food has been of high quality but the surrounds had previously left a bit to be desired. We are still discussing the use of table clothes or place mats to complete the picture but all come at a cost and increases in dining prices are not attractive to all.
The large LED screen has been installed and was distributing messages to all passing traffic. Due to some technical difficulties it has been out of action for a short time but will be operating the way it should.
A change in a number of poker machines will take place at the end of September / beginning of October.
Promotions. October will see the next money jackpot during our Sunday raffle and will be advertised on our large screen so keep an eye on what’s happening.
The Friday barefoot bowls fun nights being organised by the cricket club appear to be a huge success with all the beginners playing and a very social night being the result.
See you at the T.C.B. Country Club.
Stephen Wallis.
President TCBCC.