PRESIDENT’S REPORT

On behalf of the Board of Directors, we are pleased to present to our members this Annual Report, detailing our financial results for 2022.

2022 was a year of change and achievement for the Workers family. Without a lockdown in sight, we saw the completion of the long awaited $15 million renovation of the flagship club at 55 Campbell Street when the café and bistro, formerly known as Impressions, was given a beautiful refurbishment. It is now known as Blue Gum Café and features a kids play area, so it is pleasing to see families enjoying Workers Blacktown in this new space.

We saw our membership numbers return to pre-pandemic levels, which reflects the end of the renovations at Workers Blacktown, but also the return of our much-loved club activities including our generous member promotions, ticketed shows in the Diamond Showroom including our monthly Champagne Wednesday event, and the Children’s Christmas Party. It is truly pleasing to see the Diamond Showroom full of members and guests enjoying themselves, and as well as the thousands of members and their families enjoying the first Children’s Christmas Party after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic.

The Group underwent a rebrand, as we are now known as Workers Lifestyle Group. It was important for the Board to acknowledge our transition as being ‘just’ Blacktown and ‘just’ clubs, to being an organisation that spans Greater Western Sydney and features other lifestyle offerings. We did, however, honour our history through maintaining our original emblem featuring the Indigenous warrior.

Of course, the brand change coincided with the very important announcement that we had achieved the longawaited Development Application that allowed us to move ahead with the Seniors Living Development. Parkside Lifestyle Community was launched and the expressions of interest gained in the second half of 2022 proves that we are on track to deliver an over 55s living option to meet our mission of benefiting our local community and improving the lives of our members.

Our community efforts are the driving force behind everything we do at Workers and 2022 was no exception. Our commitment to $500,000 over five years to the fight against Domestic & Family Violence is well underway and we have now committed more than $350,000 to deserving local organisations that are working on the front line daily to help people in crisis. In 2022, we also donated to many programs that specialised in early intervention to ensure that we are doing our part to help break the generational cycle. Our second annual CEO & CO Sleepout saw us donate an extra $45,000 to the Blacktown Women’s and Girls Health Centre.

In 2022, Workers Lifestyle Group turned our attention to another major issue that is facing the region of Blacktown. In partnership with Western Sydney Diabetes, we have formed the Western Sydney Changing Diabetes, an initiative that is designed to combat the scourge of diabetes in Greater Western Sydney. As the President of an organisation with three member clubs within Western Sydney, the health and wellbeing of the community is a significant issue that is important to me.

13% of adults living in the Western Sydney Local Health District already have diabetes and a further 38% are at high risk of developing it. More than half of Western Sydney’s population is overweight which is a major risk factor contributing to developing type 2 diabetes. With over 52,000 members living in Western Sydney, we know that these statistics are sobering as they would be similarly represented within our membership, meaning that thousands of our members would be living with diabetes, have a loved one living with diabetes or be at risk of developing diabetes soon.

Factors such as age, family history and place of birth can also contribute to an increased risk of developing diabetes. However, some groups are at a greater risk of developing diabetes or complications from their diabetes and therefore require targeted actions.

That is why the Western Sydney Changing Diabetes program was established in response to the growing threat diabetes poses to our community’s health and wellbeing. We have committed $500,000 over five years to Western Sydney Changing Diabetes and I encourage you to explore the range of initiatives available free to our members, including the Diabetes Detection Program, the Healthy Cooking Classes and the SiSu Health Stations.

We acknowledge our 13 Tin Shed members who were founders of the club (1955 – 1960), our seven Life members, our 627 VIP (50+ years) members and our 5,913 Quarter Century (25+ year) members. We are so pleased that in 2022, not only were we able to hold our Tin Shed luncheon in December and were joined by five of our Tin Shed members, we were also able to hold our Quarter Century event in August for the first time in two years where we celebrated our members who have reached the 25 continuous years of membership milestone.

To my Board of Directors, thank you for your dedication and support this year. It was a year of major milestones and many achievements that the Board and I have been working towards as a group for many years. We look forward to seeing our efforts come together for the benefit of our members for years to come.

Thank you to the Management and Staff. The year that commenced with staff shortages due to the pandemic that saw everybody in the organisation working extremely hard, concluded with the operation in full flight again, as we were busy with many of our traditional events. I appreciate the efforts of everyone that contributed to our success.

We look forward an exciting new year in 2023. We commenced the year welcoming Douglas Kirkham into the role of Chief Operating Officer, reporting to our CEO, Morgan Stewart. Douglas brings with him a wealth of experience within hospitality and hotels, and we look forward to working with him.

I thank you, our members, for your continued support and loyalty to our clubs. I wish you all the best – in good health, love and friendship in the new year.

Keep smiling and be kind to each other.

Kay Kelly President Workers Lifestyle Group