What a busy meeting for the first of the year.  President Mark took the role of both Chairman and President. Frank Spiteri who is the district Protection Officer was set to speak but will come back another time.  The Farmers & Craft Market discussion took over.

  

 

 

It was not such a big secret that PP Geoff and Di Double were happy to be sitting next to each other for the first time in a long time at a club meeting. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                          PP Geoff appears to be glad he is now a Past President.  President Mark appears not to be too sure that he is now a President

 

 

 

 

PP John trying to find the sensors to turn the lights back on.....with lots of arm flapping he found it !!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The major discussion of the evening was about the Farmers & Craft Market Future.  PP Bruce spoke on how he needs to step back from the Market Manager role and there was no known replacement for him.

 

Bruce reported on the challenges in terms of time demands for the Market Manager and manpower support on the day and suggested the ongoing future of the market ought to be reviewed. Key concerns included Manager’s workload; manpower issues in some key areas; and our ageing membership vs physical demands of some tasks.

 

On the positive side it was noted changes by Bruce in his tenure have set the market on a more profitable course with larger attendances and more stallholders; funds raised by the market over this Rotary year are expected in the $30,000 to $36,000 region; and our 10 year investment in the market has built significant goodwill value which would all be lost in a sudden closure.

 

There was a lively discussion on the topic with many valid and varied thoughts put forward.  All these were taken note of and a survey will be sent to all members to gauge the feelings of the whole club.  Please respond as we all know how much the Market means to our club.

 

 

 

Gui did his final presentation to the club before his departure on Friday. 

He gave a heart felt talk on his time in Australia.  Well done Gui.

 

(extracted from the Rotary Circle no 571 22 June 1972)