September 2009 President's newsletter
Summer or spring was not due until September but the last few weeks of August have turned around those theories. Our competitive sports of golf and bowls have had no complaints about the temperatures for their outdoor activities. It does however seem to forecast an extremely hot summer in a few months – thank goodness the forestry boys have been burning off whilst the conditions were favourable.
Members are reminded that you need to have your membership card with you when purchasing drinks from the bar. Staff has been instructed to enforce producing your card to receive the member discount – no card, no discount.
The Tin Can Bay Lions Club charity day will be held on Sunday 27th September with a golf competition and the usual gigantic raffle in the afternoon with all proceeds going to this worthy organisation. The bowlers have other commitments on that day and will be playing their competition on Sunday 4th October. Please support the day by playing one of the sports or by purchasing raffle tickets.
Tin Can Bay Chamber of Commerce will be running the ever popular Seafood Festival on the middle Saturday of the school holidays the 26th September. The festival is getting larger with more rides and exhibits every year and this year should be better than previous festivals. The Gympie Regional Council has been working on the park area near the library with the construction of a new stage and the fencing of the picnic area. A must-attend day. Prior to the festival there will be a dinner and auction of donated gifts to help fund the festival. The dinner will be held in the restaurant at the Tin Can Bay Country Club on Tuesday 22nd September commencing with drinks about 6pm. Tickets will cost $40 and will be available at reception of the club. Come along and see if you can snare yourself a bargain.
Elections. The elections for the committee of the Tin Can Bay Country Club Inc. are again looming. If you want to be a part of the executive running the club then the following will be of interest. The Annual General Meeting has been set down for Sunday 18th October, 2009 in the function room commencing at 9am. The elections for the nine positions on the Board (President, Vice President, Honorary Treasurer and six Board Members) will be completed prior to the meeting. Nomination forms for these positions will be available from Sunday 6th September at reception and must be submitted into the nomination box by 12 noon on Sunday 20th September, 2009. Only full members of the club can be nominated for the positions and the nomination forms must have a nominator and seconder that are full members. Voting forms will be sent to eligible members during the week after nominations have closed and ballot papers will be accepted in the ballot box, located at reception, until 8am on Sunday 18th October, 2009.
Trading. The Board has decided that the August excise increase on alcoholic drinks will be absorbed and reviewed next year when the February increase takes place. Copies of the financial statements for the 2008-09 year will be distributed at the Annual General Meeting, although members will be able to view them at reception prior to the meeting. They will show that even in the most changeable conditions (world economic crisis, continuous rain for extended periods) the club managed to trade favourably. The profit for the year was down slightly on the previous year but many changes and additions to building, plant and equipment was implemented. Trading for the previous month was also down slightly on the previous year but with our new caterer bringing in the crowds we hope to reverse this trend.
Sport. Congratulations to the Mens Bowls Pennant team in winning the number 1 pennants in the Gympie zone for the third year in a row. They will now play the champions of the Wide Bay North zone for the right to progress to the State preliminary knockout, an achievement they made last year. If they can go this one step further this year then they will be in the last eight of the state, promoting the Tin Can Bay name. The club will again be sponsoring the mens and ladies teams that enter the Superchallenge competition and we wish them better luck than last year. The mens bowls will be running their two day open fours championship on Sunday 20th and Monday 21st September with teams entered from the Sunshine Coast and Wide Bay areas – some great bowling can be expected
The golfers and bowlers charity day for Angel Flight was held on Sunday 23rd August with brilliant prizes and a more than adequate bar-be-que thrown in. Along with the proceeds of our regular Sunday raffle an amount of $2000 was raised for the charity. The club was happy to be associated with the organisers of the lost arts heavy horse field day which will be held on Saturday 3rd October at 81 Osbourne Road, Wallu.
The mens golf championships for the club over 72 holes was held over two weekends and after some deliberation with members, a decision was made by the golf club to keep most players satisfied as far as access to playing was concerned. For those players who played to the maximum of their capabilities in winning or being runner up in the gross score events and to those who managed to snare a handicap win in the net score events our congratulations are forthcoming. A number of competitors had hard luck stories and aim to do better next year.
The Holden Scramble for golf will be held on Sunday 6th September for its second comeback season to our club and a large attendance is expected. Teams of three will compete in this ever popular Ambrose event.
The Tin Can Bay Ladies Golf Open will be competed for on Friday 11th September with entries from the Sunshine Coast and the Wide Bay area expected. The ladies will also be hosting the North Coast zone Foursomes on Monday 21st September as well as holding their match play finals on Wednesday 23rd September – a busy month for our lady golfers.
Developments. The on line golf booking system has been installed and is now being used for most events. There has been an education period with the system but most problems have been resolved. The option of booking on the touch screen kiosk in the club or remotely via the internet on our website www.tcbcc.com.au (follow the golf prompts) is now available.
Fairway watering of the golf course is almost complete with only the par 3 ninth fairway to go. The weedy growth known as “Parramatta Grass” is being treated to remove it from the course.
The large LED screen will be installed shortly so that information can be displayed to members and visitors regarding club events. Hopefully it can also be used for any local disaster to get messages to all who pass the club.
For those patrons who enjoy having a flutter on the poker machines a change in a number of the machines will be taking place over the next month. A new link jackpot and updated machines will be installed.
The club has purchased a new (second hand) bus after our oldest bus became too hard to maintain. The new bus (still to be decorated with club information) is smaller than the previous bus, being a 14 seater, including the driver. It will be used for a majority of the time doing the local pickups in Tin Can Bay and Cooloola Cove. As it is a smaller bus the club hopes it will prove more economical purchase.
Catering. If you have not tried the club’s culinary delights available in the restaurant then you are missing out on a dining experience. Our club caterer Craig has developed a menu that should please all tastes. To see a copy of the menu go to our website at www.tcbcc.com.au
Our next trivia night will be run on Saturday 5th September, 2009 commencing
at 7pm. There may be places still available on tables of six and if you want
to be part of the fun night let Leisa at reception know as soon as possible.
See you at the T.C.B. Country Club.
Stephen Wallis.
President TCBCC.