Fellow Apexians,
Well, another APEX year has flown past, I am not certain that it was APEX, my wife Wendy having a Baby or the extension on our house but it has certainly gone quickly. I would like to thank Wendy for her support, as I’m sure other past presidents would agree without our wives help our lives would be much more difficult.
This year has been very busy in our meeting programs thanks to Russell, and we have done everything from seeing how the Shepparton Search and Rescue operate to having guests such as Frank Gaylard from the ambulance service. We have also had good mixed nights like the film night and the progressive dinner. This busy agenda does have its downfalls though as I believe we have lost some of our meeting structure and general business at hand tended to fall behind. This comment is not a criticism of Russell but more of a pointer to next year so we do not easily move meetings or venues to the point of obstructing our actual meetings.
We have also had a busy time at our regular social functions and I will leave Andrew to elaborate on this but I would like to say that he has done an excellent job for someone who was thrown in the deep end at the beginning of the year and I would like to thank him and those that helped him in his portfolio.
I would like to comment on the woolshed night in which we did our shirts (virtually), this night can still be a very successful night as long as we maintain a close vigilance on what is played on the night and how it is played and as long as this is achieved I believe this great social event should continue.
Our end of year Christmas break up at the Farm House was also a successful night and although a bit warm I think the night went of very well and a good time was had by all. The fishing trip was also a great event and even though I was only able to make it to one night I believe a good time was also had.
A good standard of service work was kept up from the pool parties to moving little old ladies (with lots of stuff I believe) and I would like to thank David for his efforts in this area, in light of his studies. Actually David has done exceptionally well as he also won the public speaking this year and organised our exchange with Dave and Audrey Johnston from Mosgiel in New Zealand.
This was very well done by David and I believe the club participated very well in the entertainment of our guest. Membership that was a main priority of mine at the beginning of the year was not as great a success as I would have liked but if the membership night that we had is any indication I think we should have no trouble recruiting next year, but I believe that it must stay as our number one objective as we will lose more members soon and unless we can maintain a good membership level the club will have to have a good look at itself in the future.
It was with great pleasure that at Christmas I was able to join with the rest of the club and give Bill his Life Membership to Apex as an appreciation of all the work he and Gwenda have put into the club and the community. Once again the efforts of David, Russel, Rob, and others this was able to be achieved, and I look forward to Bill and Gwenda maintaining their contact with the club in the future.
Paper was once again a mammoth job this year and Mike handled it well again. With the new system of paper collection and the delays in the transfer station opening Mike did not have an easy time of it. Beside the problems of what we are going to do with the paper in the future, Mike has tirelessly continued organising and controlling the pick-up of paper around the town and at our monthly paper drive. We all must as a club put into the paper drives as it is the backbone of our fundraising and if it is to continue the support of the WHOLE club is essential. Also special thanks to Bill and others for their efforts in building the gates for the trailer and organising of the paper trailers.
Finally I would like to thank Clive as Secretary and Rob as Treasurer for their help through the year and the other board and club members as well for their assistance throughout the year and would like to wish Russell the best for the new Apex year.
Yours In Apex
Michael Hendrickson
