It’s time for ‘Handover’ again as we enter the 40th year of the Mooroopna Apex Club. A lot of water has passed under the bridge in the past 12 months. Time to forget about `M.U.A. here to stay’, the stamping out of the Y2K bug, and, ‘Who was the runner up in last year’s GF’.
Apex is not a place for individual recognition, but I must recognise the efforts of Michael D’Amore as Secretary, Steve Rogers as Treasurer, and all of the various directors and members who have made my job a pleasure. The Club has been very active in Programs, Service, Social, Debating and Travel which highlights the reason for being a member of Apex. A very successful year within the local, district, national, and international communities.
May I also take this opportunity to thank the club for their support to develop and grow as a community organisation into the 2000′s. It has been a year of consolidation as we build toward the coming years. Certainly our focus of being a community group has changed as the needs of the community have taken a new direction.
Andrew’s reign as District Governor is nearing an end. He has served our district with diligence and a great knowledge of Apex concerns. Thank you Andrew.
I must admit that I thought that the Club Membership could be down to as few as seven for the new year. Those stats have turned a corner to now boast a healthy membership of twelve. If we can continue to build at this rate, the Club can look forward to many rewards in the future. We have been graced by the induction of Tony Duncan, David Collier and Michael Sleeth. The Club has been very fortunate to welcome three energetic and community minded members, partners and families who have already shown their worth toward the club goals.
On a sad/happy note we applaud the 17 years of service given by Michael Nethersole. His outstanding efforts to represent the community through Apex have finally come to an end with his decision to retire at the ripe age of 40. Mick has always displayed high expectations of himself and other members. This characteristic has set a trend amongst his peers to achieve great heights. Well done Michael, Vija, Megan and Jack. We will certainly miss your presence around the club and look forward to a continuation of our valued friendship for many years to come.
To Michael D’Amore and his team, may I wish you all the very best for the year ahead. Apex is a place of learning and growing. I predict that you will enjoy the role of President and help guide the Club throughout the community and prosper as a group.
Now the year as President has come to the end. The new Millennium has started with some great events to the club. Paper drive on the Sunday’s has come to an end, the age of membership is now 45 years, and we had the 900th dinner meeting for the Mooroopna Apex Club.
My year as President has been most rewarding, expensive (3 times l00% attendance) and totally enjoyable. Special thanks to my wife Sue who has been a great help in supporting me and the family over the busy year.
During the year many hours of community service work was performed. The New Year’s Eve Mardi Gras spinning wheel, BBQ for Fruit Salad Day, selling Christmas Lanterns, and catering for the Make A Wish Foundation Christmas steam train. Also working with the Apex Club from Shepparton hours putting service hours towards the Grutzner House project.
Membership still remains a vital issue for our club and organisation. With the membership night held we had over 25 potential members. Welcome to Neville Fiegert to our club.
We had changes to the previous structure of members being on Board. Positions appointed are President, Secretary, Treasurer and two members from the club, as oppose to the whole club. With present numbers, this structure has worked quite well.
Mooroopna Apex Club is famous for being a friendly social group. Highlights this year have included our Christmas night, the annual fishing trips (men’s and ladies), Father Child, the Kiwi visit, and the paper drive finale. All great events for prospexians and families to enjoy.
A special thanks to the Life members, Senior Active and past members who have been involved in Club activities during the year. I believe it is essential that this group actively support our club as this promotes the club to new members as well as making the club more social and broadening ideas.
The entire board has done a terrific job with their portfolios. The reports from each director outline our many achievements during the year. Special thanks to the Board, Kim Banfield (Secretary), David McKenzie (Treasure), Steve Rogers (Debating) and Andrew Farago (Social).
I would like to conclude by wishing Kim and his board all the best for the coming year. Also seek that all club members provide support to Andrew Farago who is the incoming D.G.
Thank you to everyone involved with our club for their efforts this year.
To use an old cliché, it seems like only yesterday that I was writing a Vice President’s report for our annual report.
My year as President has been most rewarding and totally enjoyable. This has been greatly due to the support and help of many people. Firstly, thank you to my wife Lyn who has been a great help in what has been a very busy year. When taking on the role I certainly didn’t anticipate we would have twins during the year. Thanks also to Lyn for coordinating the ladies activities and to all the ladies who helped with these.
The entire board has done a terrific job with their portfolios. Each is to be congratulated on their efforts. In particular, thank you to Kim (Secretary) and William (Treasurer/VP).
Also, thank you to Life, Senior Active and Past members who have been involved in Club activities during the year. I believe it is essential that this group actively support our club as this promotes the club to new members as well as makes the club more social and broaden ideas (and workers for community projects).
Mooroopna Apex Club is famous for being a friendly, social group. Highlights this year have included our Christmas night, the fishing trips (Men’s and Ladies), Father/Child and the Kiwi visit. These events certainly are great fun, but do tend to knock the liver around.
Our Club has been able to sharpen our focus in fundraising with the issue of paper becoming clearer for the first time in many years. We now have the opportunity to control more of our own destiny in this area.
We have also set future directions with role statements for Board Directors and have planning in place for a new catering trailer.
During the year we once again performed many hours of community service work. The New Year’s Eve Mardi Gras spinning wheel. Daffodil sales, BBQ’s etc were complimented by painting at The Performing Arts Centre, moving a fence for the Fig Tree garden and the new projects of selling Christmas lanterns and the catering for the Make a Wish Christmas steam train party.
Membership remains a vital issue for our club and organisation. We must all follow up on the potential members list and get prospective members along to meetings.
I would like to conclude by wishing William and his board all the best for the coming year. We all must strive to make our great club even better.
This year, 1997 – 98, we celebrate 36 years of Apex in Mooroopna. Welcome to this 36th Annual Handover Dinner. With the dinner comes the release of our Annual Report. When reading the report one reflects on the year that has been.
For me, there have been several highlight this year. There was the induction of three new members, our successful exchange with Mosgiel Round Table, State convention and a Life Membership awarded to Jim Hepworth. Let’s keep working hard to ensure that our strengths carry us into a future with many more such highlights.
The presidency was more taxing than I had originally imagined. My job was made easier due to the efforts of my directors. When required to perform they responded to the challenge with the usual high standard. A special word of thanks to David and Brian for their extra efforts. Changed commitments outside of Apex put some pressure on all members. In true Apex tradition it was still a good year with well attended service projects, social events and dinner meetings.
Some difficulties were experienced with paper. We are still collecting but the situation could change without notice. We need to be flexible and ready to act. Other major service projects have been discussed. With more members we can take better advantage of opportunities that come our way.
The Handover sees our "old" friends Perry Broad and Jim Hepworth retire. Perry introduced me to Apex and he will be missed. Jim was awarded with a Life Membership. It was an honour to make this presentation to such a worthy recipient. I wish Perry and Jim along with their wives, Jackie and Janette, all the best for the future. Sadly, Trevor Forsyth also leaves us. Good luck Trev. We hope to see you back.
Behind every good man there is a good woman. I take this opportunity to give due recognition for the wonderful work that Andrea did and all her support for my work.
As well as the charter I pass on to Steve my congratulations and all my best wishes for his year as president. I know that his vision for the club takes us in the right direction. I look forward to Steve’s year as president and beyond.
It is with pleasure I welcome everyone to the 35th Annual Handover Dinner of the Mooroopna Apex Club.
As I sit here reading David’s Report from last year, not many things have changed. The clubs number one priority was and still remains to increase our membership if the Mooroopna Apex Club is to remain the leading club in the District. Some very positive steps were taken on our membership night and it is crucial that we follow up these prospective members and their wives.
It was on this night I had the pleasure to award Russell his well-deserved Life Membership. The look in his eyes said it all – a complete surprise.
As per previous years the Mosgiel Exchange was once again one of the highlights of our Social Calender. Many thanks to all who made it such a success and may I wish the lucky winner of this year’s draw all the best in New Zealand and to maintain the tradition of don’t let the Kiwi’s get you.
Once again our Social Director kept up the high standard of social events which contribute to our clubs success within the district.
Apart from this night being very important for Andrew to receive the Presidency of the Club, we must also acknowledge the retirement of two members Russell Hall and Geoff Rowlands May I wish both Russell and Geoff, along with their wives, Sandra and Lisa (Monster) all the best and many thanks for the untold hours of work, they have put in whether it be service or social. Who could forget the Father and Child Weekend or Moon God!!
Many thanks to my very active board this year, who handled their portfolios competently and always for the best interest of Mooroopna Apex Club. I must give special mention to my Right and Left hand executives, Steve and Trey, who both put in extra work to assist myself in the running of Mooroopna Apex for 1996 / 97. I must say that I look forward this year to sitting up the back and having a few cans with Trey and Steve.
In closing I must give special thanks to my wife Jackie who has been so supportive this past year during the Good times and also the bad.
May I wish Andrew all the best for his upcoming year and I urge all members to get behind the president and support Andrew as he strives to build the Mooroopna Apex Club.
Welcome to the 34th Annual Handover Dinner of the Apex Club of Mooroopna. At the beginning of the Apex year three challenges were established for the Club to strive towards during the year. Firstly, to increase membership from 13 to 25, secondly to take on a significant hands on service project, and thirdly to increase mixed meetings / functions.
We got off to a great start on our membership drive with four inductions and two transfers in the first two months and a further induction in March. However, three members also left during the year leaving us with a membership of seventeen. The pleasing part of this result is that we have seventeen active contributing members. Nevertheless, this is one area of our Club that we must continue to work at to ensure the Club’s ongoing future.
The Club was fortunate to be offered an opportunity for a hands on project at the Kids Connection, to build a Fruit Bin Climbing Pyramid. This was originally estimated to take the Club approximately 6 hours, as long as we had a good roll up! In excess of eight hundred man hours and "just one more day" later we managed to complete what turned out to be one of the Club’s finest achievements, and certainly something that we can be proud of for many years to come. The really pleasing aspect of this project was the involvement and commitment of the whole Club, including both past and present members.
During the year we had quite a number of mixed functions including the Handover Dinner, Brownlow Medal night, Snow Skiing trip, Combined Services Club dinner, NZ Exchange Welcome Home Progressive Dinner, Christmas Dinner at Monochino’s, State Convention at Ballarat, 800th Dinner, New Zealand Exchange Week, Mixed ICV to Tongala and the District Convention. I believe that these functions, along with the ladies nights and ‘footy trip’, continue to contribute significantly to the strength of our Club.
The Mosgiel Exchange was once again one of the highlights of the year and with continued enthusiasm and hard work this can continue for years to come. The Father/Child weekend and Annual Fishing Trip were also well attended and enjoyed by a large number of members, both past and present. The Club’s 800th dinner was also a milestone passed during the year.
Thank you to the Board. All portfolios were handled competently and enthusiastically and certainly made my role easier. The Club received the State Dinner Notice award for the second year in succession, a reflection of two admirable editors and good input from Directors. Congratulations to Jim on his year as District Governor. Once again I believe Mooroopna has been the club that the district looks to for direction and leadership and Jim has certainly enhanced this perception. Thanks also to the members that assisted Jim during the year by attending ICV’s, taking minutes etc. The Club took on the role of running the district convention and what a fantastic family weekend it was, special thankyou’s to Jim & Jeanette and Andrew & Andrea.
This year two of our most popular and respected members in Rob Rosaia and Chris Mitropoulos have reached retirement age. Their sustained contributions to all facets of the Club over many years have been outstanding. While their presence, knowledge and experience will be missed and will certainly be difficult to replace, their friendship will be valued for a lifetime. Congratulations to the both of you. Thank you also to Glenys and Maria for supporting the guys during their time in Apex and especially for your own contributions to the Club over many years.
I would like to express my sincere thanks to Helen. Her enthusiasm and support not only made the job easier but also that much more enjoyable.
Finally, good luck to Perry for the 1996/97 year. I believe the Club is currently in a sound position and will continue to thrive and grow stronger under his leadership.
Well, once again another apex year comes to a close – they go by so quickly. I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience of being the 33rd president of the Apex Club of Mooroopna.
This year has been a great year for our club. I believe we have shown many of the clubs in our district how to work and socialise as a team with a common objective – the advancement of apex. We really haven’t done anything different ourselves; it’s just that we were put on show at several district functions throughout the year that we attended with great gusto as usual.
Our membership is looking very exciting at the moment, with a number of prospexians about to commit and with a couple, if not more transferees wanting to join our club – all looks good. With membership, as with anything in apex; if you put in the hard work early, the rewards will be reaped later. This is something with regard to membership that we are just starting to realise.
Socially our club is at its best – our ladies informal nights and annual ‘fishing trip’ is building something of a cult following. The New Zealand exchange with our new found friends at Mosgiel has become something really special within our club. I don’t think we realised the potential of this exchange when we started it last year. In its short life there has been friendships made here that I’m sure will last a long time.
This year the club committed to raising and donating $10,000 over four years to the Mooroopna Secondary College Performing Arts Centre of which our first instalment has been made. Congratulations to Treasurer Terry for putting together a submission to the Apex Foundation offering a total of $10,000 for distribution to clubs within the association for community based projects. We were fortunate in gaining one-tenth of this Australia wide offer – $1,000. The association went on to say we should apply again in 1995-96.
Thankyou to all board members – your efforts have made my task all that much easier.
Congratulations to Jim Hepworth on accepting the nomination for District Governor 1995-96. As mentioned earlier I believe Mooroopna is the club the district looks to and we must all get behind Jim and give him our total support.
To our retiring members – Bill Winters – Tony Blake – Terry Hall – Clive Wood – it is very difficult to put into words the appreciation we feel for the contributions put in by these members over their time in Apex. Their lost experience in all manner of Apex, especially physically and socially will be very hard to replace. You should all be justifiably proud of your time in Mooroopna Apex.
Thankyou to David for his enthusiasm in the secretary’s role. and I look forward to helping build the Apex Club of Mooroopna even stronger under his guidance in 1995-96.
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.
I cannot believe this Apex year has finally drawn to a close, previous Apexians and past presidents informed me that my year as president would pass so quickly that I wouldn’t even know it (how right they were).
This year was extra special to Mooroopna Apex as we celebrated 30 years of Apex in Mooroopna. The night was a great success with 120 past and present Apexians and partners in attendance. My thanks go out to the committee (Jim, Bill Parsons and Clive) for organising such a great night. Feedback is of great importance to any organisation, and the general comment on the evening was "our club should hold one of these evenings every 5 years, so that past and present Apexians have the opportunity to socially interact with one another" ( I hope I get an invitation).
One low point of the year, was that of the fire which destroyed our paper shed (again) but it showed how resourceful our members can be in the face of adversity, special thanks must go out to Bill Parsons and EDP Engineering for without the use of their facilities our paper collection days would be just that more difficult.
The agenda this year seemed to be filled with social events, firstly it was our turn to organise the Combined Service Clubs dinner – great night had by all. Possibly the biggest event for the year was being involved with the Mooroopna Back To celebrations where our club organised and hosted the combined Service Sportsman’s and Community Organisation Dinner with MERV HUGHES as guest speaker. Within excess of 270 people in attendance we raised over $2,000 on the night on behalf of the Mooroopna Historical Society. I must extend my thanks to the organising committee (Perry, Terry and Ricky) for a job well done and also to Bill for organising Merv to speak.
The other event we hosted was the District Board meeting at Mooroopna Golf Club, this event should (if we play our cards right) become an annual event thanks to all who helped on the night. As a service club we are committed as a club for the betterment of our community, whereas our club might not be involved with meals on wheels, wood drives or helping old ladies we do have a serious commitment to recycling of unwanted paper which not only is beneficial to the environment and ecology of our world, but the proceeds allow us as a club to pass on money to individuals or organisations as we see fit (eg. junior sporting clubs, salvation army etc.) if that is not to the betterment of our community I don’t know what is.
Our talent in cooking was brought to the fore as was shown when our club catered for 4,000 girl guides, congratulations to Jim and Chris in having the confidence and ability to successfully organise this huge event. It brought a smile to my face when we were asked to cook a BBQ for 150 people for Ian Parsons at one of their promotional nights; I said "is that all."
I must thank my board members on the past years effort, for it is not an individual that runs the club, it is a combined team effort that makes a successful club (which it is). Special thanks to Secretary Bill for the guidance throughout the year. Also to Treasurer Tony, a job well done on the extra work load encountered this year.
In closing I would like to thank and congratulate Ricky Hall on his contribution and commitment to Apex over the past eight years. Ricky, as you have reached the ripe old age of 40 we as a club welcome and hope to see you at our regular dinner meetings.
Finally I would like to take this opportunity to wish Mick H. all the best for his coming year as President.
On reflection of my year as President, the first thing coming to mind is how quickly it has passed.
Due to work and family commitments my term as President has not been as organised as I had imagined, however I feel at times there has been some order, a fair bit of fun and generally I have enjoyed the year immensely.
This year has been an eventful one for the club. We have had a club member participate in Apex at the Zone level. Congratulations to D.G. Ken, a job well done and the club too has to be commended on its support of Ken during the year.
We have seen a dramatic increase in the size of our waste paper collection and the price paid, to a point where it has again become a significant income producer for our club. We are probably at the turning point where we must either commit to dealing with the bulk collections on an ongoing basis or revert to simply doing the town collection.
Other clubs are often admired for their large income earning activities e.g. Cobram Peaches & Cream, Shepparton Home Show and Stanhope Dairy Field days to name a few. I can see no reason why Mooroopna cannot make paper work for us. (Granted, it may not be as glamorous but it could produce the dollars).
Everyone talks about the lack of hands on service work available. My rough calculation says we have notched up approximately 680 man hours on paper this year. Isn’t this SERVICE? It is certainly earning us the money to donate to local charities and projects. What more could we ask for. All it needs is a full club commitment to make it work. It’s up to you.
The club has been very supportive of my involvement with the Life Education Program. I thank the club for that, and its determination to establish a District Service Project to raise funds for the Life Education Unit. Without that support the unit would probably have been $16400 poorer by January 1993 when the project is to be completed. $8000 has been collected from the nine participating clubs as the first stage of the project. The
support of D.G. Ken has been instrumental in this project having the highest acceptance among the district that I have ever seen. Thankyou Ken.
Late in the year we have secured the use of the disused Mooroopna Railway Station for our club rooms. We have always considered the Royal Mail as part of Apex however, having our own roof over our heads will probably have quite an impact on the club.
At the moment the club is negotiating with the Ardmona Cannery regarding the possible future relocation of our waste paper shed. As the cannery wants the space they are prepared to relocate the shed. This I feel has a significant impact on the future of our paper collections and I hope will complement our future plans.
During the concluding weeks of this Apex year plans are being made for the celebration of the 30th Anniversary of the inaugural dinner of the club. This should culminate as a major activity for the club during the forthcoming year.
On contemplating this report, I thought, "it’s been a pretty ordinary year of Apex" I now think differently as I look back over what the club has achieved. I thank the club for its support and guidance during the year and particularly secretary Tony and my board members for their efforts. Without David’s persistent phone calls you would never have had President’s reports in the Midlanders.
I wish Rob and his incoming board well for the forthcoming year and trust that he will get the support from the club which I have enjoyed.
Congratulations must also go to our newest Life Member Ken. I am sure that the club will join with me in wishing Ken, Robyn and family a long and happy life after Apex.
