Management Committee Report 14th May 2024

This is my first annual report for the Gold Coast Bushwalkers Club and what a year it has been. So many activities, both day walks, off track,  bike rides, base camps, kayaking, social get-togethers and road trips and trips overseas.

Something for everyone and, if you're super keen, you can walk up to 5 times a week, with our Monday, Wednesday and Thursday evening activities. 

 A special presentation was made to Stan Piper as a Life Member. Stan has been in the club for 30 years, led 123 walks and participated in over 600 club activities and been a membership officer for 7 years . He was awarded the Quickenden award in 2011 along with his wife Meriel, who he met and married while in the club. We congratulate Stan.

With the introduction of our new online platform Members Jungle, it has streamlined the process for listing activities as well as registering for an activity, a very easy process, and you can easily see who else is registered. This has cut down on the admin side considerably, and we have had a lot of new members sign up since launching. It was a big change for the club and most people are on board with it. 

A massive thank you to Jeff Crane who has worked tirelessly to get this up and running. Just a reminder that you need to renew your membership through Members Jungle. Still, some members need to renew as we won't be sending out constant reminders.

Our dearly loved Friends on Foot will no longer be there, it's saying goodbye to an icon of the club, but with no one coming forward to take on the workload, we can no longer continue with it.

The Christmas Party was another success with close to 150 people attending and great feedback with an easier option like we used to do, bringing a plate to share, and plenty of time to mingle. Memory Lane and Christmas Frame were very popular and a long term member, Geoff Carter, was the winner of the Quickenden award. Geoff has led so many walks over the years as well as fantastic camping road trips and trips to Kokoda Trek New Guinea. 

Lis Manson did a wonderful job of organising the Christmas party and, of course, all the volunteers who helped out. Without your help we couldn't have such a great party.

Discounts were organised with Kathmandu, for a week's sale in March, and Wild Earth have also organised a discount for club members. 

A bush dance was organised during the year, so another great social activity for the club. Lots of fun was had, so a special thanks to Kay and Andy for all their work. 

A special thanks to all our leaders, our events program has so much choice, and great to see all these base camps put on. They are proving very popular. 

Thanks also to the coordinators, you do a mighty job, making sure the calendar is full, and the first aid courses organised by Lis were very informative. 

Plans are under way for our special celebration next year, our 50th anniversary. 

A big weekend is planned with a great social day and activities day, so everyone can come along as we will be making sure there is something for everyone. 

Please mark in your calendar the 8th and 9th of March. It will be held at the Canungra showground. There is plenty of room for powered and unpowered sites and for those not wishing to stay overnight, it's a short drive to Canungra for the day.

Our new committee members Janina, Marek, Trish and Pam, we welcome you and look forward to your contributions to the committee, and thanks to our other committee members for continuing your service. It's vital to keep the club continuing. 

We say goodbye to two long-serving committee members, Lesley Leighton, 5 years as newsletter editor and 5 years membership officer jointly with husband Ron 2010-2016, and then again 2019-2024, they received the Quickenden award in 2014.

Brenton has also been in the committee for 10 years , president from 2016-2019 and again in 2022-2023 . Brenton and his wife Sue, another past president, received the Quickenden award in 2019. 

Michelle Jackson (President)