March 2009 Next General Meeting – Wednesday 4 March All members are invited to attend our next General Meeting to be held on Wednesday 4 March, at 8.00pm. Graham Boulter will be hosting the Office Staff ‘on the couch’. Prior to the meeting, from 6.30pm, we will be holding a sausage sizzle for tea. $5.00 per person for all you can eat sausage / steakette and onion sandwiches. Please notify the office of numbers attending for catering purposes by Friday 27 March.
From the President – Michael Keenan Clubs are like cars – they are made to go places and so they need to be going somewhere to give them purpose. The Sporting Car Club has a destination – the 2020 vision but it is a long, long way away, a road map or two is needed to give us direction, a vehicle is needed that will get there and we will need a few comfort stops on the way. In management terms the maps are annual plans, the vehicle is the constitution and structure of the Club and the comfort stops are the various events, celebrations and achievements that can relieve the passengers and give the drivers a chance to reenergize. To structure and manage this process, the Board of the Club has agreed to organize itself into three committees or key areas of action. 1. Governance: addressing the mechanisms of the Club, succession, participation, communication and management of the Club. With application there should be agreed improvements to present to the AGM to foster greater participation and connections within the Club. 2. Finance: the settling of the financial future of the Club, the recognition of the cost pressures on the Club and the identification of the means to obtain further income, including the oldest self help mechanism available to clubs – membership. 3. Facilities: the properties and capital of the Club, assessing what they need, what else is needed, how are they managed and maintained. As the year is half over, the committees will be developing an annual plan to be followed through next year, as well as responding to what is happening presently around the Club. It should be remembered that the Board has achieved some of the early goals agreed by the Club. It has met the Human Resource goals by settling the staffing of the Club, it has developed a new interactive website, it has, and is identifying, potential income streams to be assessed, and it is anticipating a property management report. In going forward the Board always has need of feedback. The website is an ideal means to get a democracy of opinion within the Club. If used by the members it can be a “Nav man” (with an Australian accent) assisting the Board in keeping on track. However in terms of any future, one must always return to the root of all evil – money; be it in real cash or in the form of time and volunteer effort. We can see at the present a government using debt to fund a future but it can rely on taxpayers, a Club has members. It is thus important that the Club assesses its mixture of fees, income activities, sponsorships, donations and grants. The Board is presently assessing the contribution of the membership fees to ensuring the viability of the Club and will put a position to the members. In making such decisions the board is not a font of all wisdom and it encourages debate; and should a member in a moment of enlightenment think it is all a collective mistake, they need to bear in mind the comment of Winston Churchill on
Don’t Miss March 4 General Meeting Clubrooms
March 7 Twilight Drift Mallala
March 15 Historic Vehicle and Old Crocks Day
March 15 Brunch on the Run Classic Section
March 1922 Clipsal 500
March 22 Run to Agapanthus Farm Vintage Section
April 1 General Meeting Clubrooms
April 5 Working Bee Collingrove
April 5 Dawnbuster Run Fleurieu Group
April 1113 HRR Easter Weekend Mallala and