Knox U3A Wanderers
AGM & Planning Meeting Report
Tuesday, 24th Sep, 3.30pm, Parkhills Campus.
Thank you: Thank you for the excellent attendance of 52 members and the thoughtful and valuable input that will enable informed decision-making in the interest of all members. Brigitte pointed out that all our decisions are guidelines only and not prescriptive, however we must abide by U3A policies.
2019 rally and function organisers were thanked.
Christmas break-up: It was decided that the cost and format be kept as in 2018, ie $10 per head, chicken bought by organiser and salad followed by dessert brought by volunteer members.
The website:The amalgamation with the U3A website was discussed. Information is currently unclear, but advantages would definitely be continuity and support. Disadvantages could be the loss of forms, time delay in that the WCC leader would not publish but rather supply the information to the U3A IT staff who the would in turnpublish it, and relearning by all. It was decided that Brigitte should wait until the meeting with the U3A IT staff and report back at the Christmas break-up. Password protection is no longer an issue as the WCC site can already be accessed via the U3A site now.
Website backup: Robin Nelson volunteered to act as back-up webmaster, by learning to run the site in an emergency.
Thank you very much Robin.
Group and rally sizes: It was agreed not to have a waiting list for the group but rather to increase the group size if member numbers grow throughout the year. Rallies can be capped by availability of sites or by rally organisers' decision.
Visitors: It is U3A policy to allow visitors up to 2 times before joining. All U3A members have signed up to abide by U3A policy. Non-U3A members must be informed of and abide by U3A policy especially in terms of insurance and ambulance policy. Members wishing to invite visitors must ask the rally organiser and the rally organiser is free to decline if the enrolment looks like becoming too high, eg that we may run out of available sites or dinner venue is small.
Publishing accurate arrival dates: There has been confusion in the past. It was agreed that unless clearly otherwise stated,rallies would normally run from Thursday to Monday, Thursday being the arrival day without planned activities and Monday being departure day. This is in no way meant to be restrictive in that organisers are free to offer any dates they wish and members may arrive and depart whenever suits them. However if rally organisers depart from the Thursday to Monday schedule it is important that the webmaster is informed clearly so that the dates can be published accurately, and if members themselves would like to come and go at different times please inform the rally organiser upon enrolment. Equally if an enrolled member needs to cancel, please notify both rally organiser and Brigitte.
Enrolment: Please enrol one partner only when re-enrolling for 2020.
Medical certificates: In order that they be accessible at all times Brigitte recommended that rally organisers carry the envelopes of attending members and their own mobile phone at all times. All other attendees please carry the phone number of the organiser. That way if there is an incident when the group is not all together the information is only a phone all away. Rally organisers please also check at each rally that forms are up to date.
Cancellation of a rally: If there is a natural disaster, we follow the instruction of the relevant authority or caravan park. On top of this rally organisers must have the right to cancel if the need arises. Where possible appoint a deputy.
Pet friendliness: We have quite a number of members who own pets so other things being equal, rally organisers are asked to consider the pet-friendliness of caravan parks. It was acknowledged, however, that there are many factors which rally organisers have to take into account.
2020 Rallies: The following rallies were tentatively agreed upon for 2020:
Feb Port Fairy Lawrie and Alison Gaylard
Mar Bright John & Bev Mills
April TBA Bob & Anne Power (?)
May Mildura Di Hayward & Sam Prestia
June no rally, too cold
July lunch Ray & Mavis Strong
Aug Maryborough (?) TBA
Sep Kilcunda Heidi Messner & Lorraine Connell
Oct Shepparton Trudi & Nevile Murray
Nov Wodonga Jan & Doug McIntyre
Dec Xmas dinner Doris Eynaud
All our sincere thanks to these people. You are the essence of the caravan club.
These rallies will be officially published when organisers have confirmed bookings.
Disabled facilities: The availability or lack of these was brought up. Because of varied individual needs and parks' varied definitions of what constituted "disabled facilities" it was decided that it would be best if members themselves check upon booking whether their needs would be met.
The meeting concluded with some photos being taken for the developing "Who's Who "page.
Thank you again to all attendees and contributors.
Rally Organisers acceptance form: