Exceed 4WD Magazine Jan/Feb 2021 Jan / Feb Volume #38 / Issue # 01 | Page 5

President's Report

January 2021

The start of 2021, after a difficult 2020, has been greeted with a combined sense of enthusiasm and relief. Family occasions over Christmas and the New Year, followed by our major Australia Day Trips, have brought people together again in our homes, at historic campsites and on iconic tracks. We have also received the great news that from February, our monthly meetings are resuming at the Glen Waverley Bowls Club.

The ability to be together at meetings is exciting and has been very much looked forward to. Zoom supported us well during lockdown. The committee had to quickly adapt to running monthly meetings, present awards, run raffles, training courses and virtual trips to keep members feeling the Club is very much alive, despite drastic disruption to our lives. If you are a person that supported and continues to support the community during Covid-19 – a nurse, doctor, defence force personnel, hospital support staff, police officer, fire-fighter, paramedic – THANK YOU.

With regard to monthly meetings back at GWBC - the Committee and Kitchen Team developed a Covid-safe plan that was also shared with GWBC. As a result of the plan, Club meetings will require all of us to register our attendance to ensure we are compliant with the many changes that now regulate our COVID-19-normal lives. For me, one of the best parts of resuming these meetings will be the chance to acknowledge our 2020 award winners in person. The time, effort and service our award winners put into making our club successful deserves to be heartily celebrated.

The Rules updates has received valuable feedback. Expect the focus on this to ramp up again now we’re well into 2021.

The Club Strategy Weekend completed on the 6th of February, where the Member Survey results were discussed. Overall, the survey results show our Club is travelling in the right direction, however to sit on our laurels is not an option. Many great ideas were received and were taken into the Strategy Weekend. Strategy items we agreed upon will start to be delegated to Committee members for implementing over the remainder of this year.

I’ll finish this report by urging as many members as possible to become a Trip Leader. Our Driver Training Unit runs a great Trip Planning course to help you feel comfortable leading trips and enjoying our great country. We also have a Historical Trips register on Wild Apricot that any member can reference for running your own trip.

I hope to see you at the February meeting, celebrating our fantastic Club and looking forward to an exciting 2021.

Stay safe.

Terry Barbie #1906President: [email protected]