NSW AGM - June 2008
Hello everyone,
Welcome to a new year in the OTVA. Especially we welcome our new
committee members:
Chris Bull as our Webmaster, Bob Emanuel as our Newsletter Editor,
John Eades, & Col Kelly. Thanks for volunteering to serve on
the committee. I hope your experience will be enjoyable and interesting.
Please find below the minutes recorded at the recent AGM. For your
advanced information, the next committee meeting will be held at
the NSW Bowler's Club, 10am on the 23rd July 2008. Looking forward
to seeing you there.
Best regards,
Will Whyte
OVERSEAS TELECOMMUNICATIONS VETERANS ASSOCIATION
52nd ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING MINUTES
Meeting held at the NSW Bowler’s Club on
Friday 13th June, 2008
Members present
Welcome
The Vice President opened the meeting and welcomed
those present to the 52nd Annual Meeting of the OTVA.
One minutes silence
Held to remember those departed this last year and their families.
Apologies
Brian Callaghan, Ross Craig, Tony Farrugia, John
Hughes, David Izatt, Gerard Lazerone, Ron Lukin, Noel Martin, George
Maltby, J.J McDermott, Bryan Nell, Martin Ratia, Cyril Vahtrick.
Treasurer’s report
The treasurer’s report was presented by Bernie
White and is attached. The report had been audited by Ken Theaker
and Tony Farrugia who were thanked for their astuteness and continued
support. The treasurer highlighted two issues: the failure of Fincorp
and its affect on us and a missing deposit made at the NAB.
Newsletter Editor’s report:
Bob Lions said that he hoped everyone had enjoyed
the Newsletters he had edited but now has been forced to retire
due to other pressures and demands.
Minutes
A motion was moved by the secretary, seconded by
Henry Cranfield, that these meeting minutes be read and acted upon
at the next OTVA Committee meeting. Carried.
The president replaced the vice president at this stage
Presidents address
Well it is now almost 12 months since you elected
me to the position of President of the OTVA and it has been an eventful
year that has been a mixture of disappointment mixed with many highlights.
The passing of a dozen or so of our members or
their spouses is of course a disappointment but it is our challenge
to not dwell on their passing but to celebrate their lives through
the memories that they have left behind.
To this end Bob Lions has continued to produce
a Newsletter each and every quarter that is full of interesting
stories and informative pictures. The Newsletter has been the source
of stimulation and nostalgia over many years under Bob’s significant
editorial prowess.
The OTVA web site has progressed in leaps and bounds
thanks to the initial work of Joe Collister and over the past year
Chris Bull. Chris has loaded all of the past Newsletters and developed
a means whereby members can search those issued over the past 10
years looking for specific stories or articles of interest to members.
The information on the web site has been securely partitioned to
maintain the confidentiality of the information retained within
those Newsletters which may be easily misunderstood if viewed by
someone without an understanding of OTC and the characters who made
it great through their efforts and their personalities.
The Executive of the OTVA continues to grapple
with the issues relating to the display and storage of the large
amount of OTC memorabilia. The Telstra Museum at Bankstown is the
repository for most of the archived equipment and materials with
some significant items in the possession of the Power House Museum.
Telstra will be moving the entire contents of the Museum to a new
site in the not too distant future. Our challenge will be to work
with Telstra to ensure that the OTC archives are preserved for the
future.
The Executive has sought input from the OTVA membership
in regards to the method of delivery for future Newsletters through
the survey that was distributed with the last Newsletter. Your responses
are being collated for consideration by the Executive so as to better
improve the balance between the effective delivery of information
to our membership and the management of costs.
The next social outing is being organised for the
Kurrajong Radio Museum and is dependent upon your responses so check
out the details in this Newsletter and let us know whether you can
make it.
Many of our members have complimented the Committee
on the change of venue for our quarterly social functions to the
Bowlers’ Club in York Street. The Function Manager continues
to work with the Executive to ensure that we continue to enjoy a
balance between good value for money and the satisfaction of our
members.
I thank each and every member of the Executive
for the support that they have given me in the past 12 months and
for the effort and dedication that they continue to deliver to the
task of providing service to our members.
Life membership
Keith McCreden was nominated for life membership
by Bernie White, The nomination was seconded by Tom Barker. Keith
McCredden recommends that Mick Wood be considered for life membership.
Re election of office bearers
Bob Lions was elected as retuning office and after declaring all positions
vacant, took nominations for the following positions:
President: Peter Bull. Moved Henry Cranfield, seconded
Bernie White.
Vice President: Will Whyte Moved Tom Barker seconded Allan Hennessey.
Secretary: Will Whyte Moved Henry Cranfield, seconded Allan Hennnessey.
Treasurer: Bernie White Moved Allan Hennessey, seconded Peter Bull.
Auditors: Ken Theaker Moved Bob Lions, seconded Henry Cranfield.
Tony Farrugia Moved Bob Lions, seconded Henry Cranfield.
Newsletter Editor Bob Emanuel Moved Peter Bull, seconded John Eades
.
Webmaster Chris Bull Moved Allan Hennessey, seconded Henry Cranfield.
(it was requested that the Webmaster also be made a committee member)
New Committee members: John Eades and Collin Kelly
New Committee in total: Peter Bull, Chris Bull,
Henry Cranfield, John Eades, Bob Emanuel, Allan Hennessy, Ray Hookway,
Colin Kelly, Bob Murray, David Richardson, Bernie White, Will Whyte.
All positions were elected by the membership unopposed.
New President address
Peter Bull welcomed the new office bearers and
committee and encouraged everyone to keep their interest up. There
were many areas to participate in and things to do this year:
- A visit to the Kurrajong Radio Museum has been loosely planed
for Spring. A survey by way of hands was conducted for member’s
preference in the day. 16 preferred a week day, 20 preferred a
Saturday and 5 preferred Sundays. It was suggested that community
busses could be obtained for free. Bob Murray advised that he
was qualified to drive. Another show of hand for the mode of transport
was taken. 10 preferred their own transport while 8 preferred
a bus.
- Paul McCann has offered the services of his band for a function.
Several members spoke in support of the idea. 6 of those present
indicated they would attend.
- To stimulate new members to join, the following ideas were
offered:
a. Need to target those still in the workforce
b. Place signs at the Kurrajong and Bankstown Museums.
c. Circulate at the Grand National during Friday luchtimes.
d. Suggestion that the work “Overseas” may be an inhibitor
e. Bob Lions will investigate advertising in magazines similar
to the Telecom Journal.
- We are progressing towards sending the Newsletter by email as
well as post. The recent survey has not been completely analysed
and there were still a few replies coming in.
Constitution
1. A draft constitution was presented by Bernie
White. He and Allan Hennessey had updated a previous version. A
motion was put to the meeting by Bernie White and seconded by Bob
Murray:
“That the Constitution submitted at this meeting having been
adopted by the Executive Committee be confirmed as the Constitution
of the OTVA as and from the 14th June, 2008.” Carried unanimously.
2. A motion was put to the meeting to amend paragraph
18.1 by Bob Murray and seconded by Henry Cranfield, to say: “This
Constitution may be amended by the agreed votes of a simple majority
of members attending an Annual General Meeting or Special General
Meeting of the Association convened for this purpose or by the committee.”
Carried unanimously.
General Business:
1. Suggestion to provide name badges for members
at future functions was referred to the committee.
Meeting closed: The meeting closed at: 1:32 pm
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