2021 President’s Report
Club President Neal Swancott delivered this report to members at the 2021 AGM, Sunday 24 October:
Members will be well aware that our club has weathered a second year of disruption resulting from the COVID 19 pandemic, coinciding with falling membership and revenue in many of the small bowling clubs in our region. In recent times, Brush Park has closed and the property sold off by the Carlo Group, Gladesville Sporties has ceased bowling and has converted the greens into children’s playgrounds and off-street parking, Beecroft has amalgamated with/been taken over by North Sydney Leagues Club, Pennant Hills has amalgamated with Seven Hills RSL, and, while West Pennant Hills and the Asquith Bowling Club both had talks with larger clubs about amalgamating, both withdrew after members objected.
It is in this context that the Board has worked to plan for the future, and I will focused on two major issues.
Supported by a generous grant of $45,000 from the Bendigo Bank Epping Community Branch and a similar allocation from club reserves, the work on updating and remodelling the kitchen was all-but completed during the recent Covid-19 shutdown. We still have a couple of minor jobs to complete but the new kitchen is functional, and will be officially opened next week.
And the final hurdles to making effective use of the multi-purpose sports courts have now been removed. Thanks to the tireless work of Trevor Carlyle-Hoggan, who is the Public Officer and former President of North Epping Rangers Sports Club, and with the assistance of a professional planning consultant, an NEBCC/NER revised Development Application was finally approved by Hornsby Shire Council in September.
Basically, the amendments to the usage clauses in the new DA mean that the Sports Courts are available for hire for 7 days per week from 9.00 am through to 9.30 pm except on Saturday and Sundays when usage must be completed by 6.00pm.
While this was not all that we requested, it will allow for better functional use of the courts by the local community and increased revenue.
Of course, bowling will continue to be our club’s main activity, but it is an expensive pastime and we will need to continue to recruit new bowling members if we are to stay afloat. Our greens’ upkeep cost is about of $90,000 per year and land rental costs $22,000 each year, a total of about $112,000 per year.
Vice President Ken Douglass was able to negotiate a reduced care and maintenance program with our greens’ contractors to cover the COVID shutdown period. This ensured our greens remained in good weed-free condition and were ready for use when the shutdown ended.
Members will have noticed the significant improvements made to the bar area, in particular the new panels that have lowered the ceiling, new paint work, a Whale Rock feature wall and new, hand-made furniture. This has been the work of Scott Parkinson, a retiring Club Director, and I offer warm thanks to Scott on behalf of the Board, and of club members.
We had planned to have introduced new magnetic strip membership cards by now. This has been delayed as the club suffered a robbery in which the card printer, and money and other equipment, were stolen. We have since replaced the card printer and are in the process of installing and updating our data base. We have installed a new Point of Sale sales system which, together with the new member cards, will allow the club to offer benefits to our members and associated clubs. Hopefully we can get this up and running in the near future.
I also wish to make special mention of our staff – Steve, Jon and Caroline – who endured disrupted working conditions due to Covid-19. Again this year, like most businesses in the hospitality industry, we were forced to resort to stand downs, reduced hours and requests for staff to take both annual and long service. We acknowledge the difficulties these decisions have caused the individuals concerned and we thank them for their understanding, and their loyalty and support
I wish also to make mention of the good work in maintenance and renovation of the gardens and club surrounds done by Robyn and Paul Delves, Judy and Mark Havron and Viv Riley. This involved cleaning up of the banks, replanting the gardens, the removal of flower boxes, and concreting. And I also thank the team that cleared out and cleaned up the office, liberating space I didn’t know we had.
I also acknowledge the assistance of our major sponsors:
- Cale Property Agents
- Bendigo Bank Epping Community Branch
- Living Choice Retirement Villages
- Epping Medical Centre
Finally, I thank all members of the outgoing Board for their contributions during the difficulty times I have mentioned. The Board has worked cooperatively and efficiently, using email and Zoom for its meeting during lock-down. Ken Douglass has been particularly busy, working with Steve Colquhoun to navigate our path through Health, Licensing and Bowls NSW directives and our post-lockdown return to normal service, working with Secretary Rob Phillips to coordinate applications for Government assistance and other available grants, with Lyn Walsh on functions, with Treasurer Ron Peterson balancing our cash flow, and with Scott Parkinson on modernising the clubhouse.