Management Committee Feedback

---- We open most Fridays from 5 pm. Everyone is welcome ---- Your management committee met on 8 July 24 and some of the highlights we can share are: 

1. 
   Facebook: We discussed the shutdown of our Facebook page because nobody wanted to take it over. It had been run by a member who is no longer with us and was outdated. Your main sources of information now are via our official email, this site (have you signed up for notifications?), our notice board at The Hut, and the quarterly newsletter The Bugle.
   
   
2. A new upright freezer: We purchased a new upright freezer to replace the aging chest freezer and that has been installed.
   
   
3. Facility booking form:  We hire out The Hut for a donation and have a form that hirers use that is also an agreement about how they treat our memorabilia and leave the Hut. This form hasn't been updated for a while, so a sub-committee is reviewing it to see if it needs changing.
   
   
4. Member of the Month Document Location: We're setting up an online location where members can access Member of the Month documents. Once done, we will advise where you can access them.
   
   
5. Christmas Lunch and Annual General Meeting (AGM): Planning for the events will commence at our next meeting on 12 August 24 as November is catching up with us rather rapidly.
   
   
6. No smoking in the surrounds of The Hut: Signs will be erected to show that smoking is not permitted within The Hut external precinct. People who wish to smoke will need to remove themselves from our premises.

There were numerous other matters of an administrative nature that we won't bore you with.

Management Committee Feedback

---- Visit our Hut at Tanunda Recreation Park any Friday evening from 5 pm for Happy Hour ---- 

Your management committee met on Monday, 17 June 24 and the highlights follow: 

Membership and Meal RSVP Bookings

We dealt with some administrative concerns regarding processing of membership applications and RSVP and booking processes with the major meals events.

Both had some issues that we've rectified that will enable us to work more efficiently and effectively in future.

Garden Furniture

If you have visited the Hut recently, you'll have noticed some changes at the front and right-hand side, one of which is the appearance of a bench seat set for members to sit during the sunny, warm evenings we have later in the year. The committee has decided to consider adding two or three more similar bench sets and is researching costs as I write.

If the costs are within our budget, you can expect to see some more garden furniture appear in due course.

Cleaning Roster

When I studied management and human resources, I learned about the "Pareto Principle" and while it is mainly focused on business outcomes, it is also evident among groups in society.

From a human point of view, the rule suggests that 20% of any group of people is the most productive. 

That is evident in clubs like ours. Twenty percent of members do most of the work - like cleaning up after we have Happy Hours or other events.

We are looking for a few people within that 20% to help us clean your Hut after events. We don't expect anyone to turn up every Saturday (or another day) to vacuum, check the toilets, empty wastepaper bins and generally return the place to it's best state. But we do need someone other than the few.

We'll place a roster on the Hut notice board each Friday and ask for someone to volunteer to turn up Saturday and spend a half hour or so helping out.

Facebook Tanunda RSL Site

As nobody on the committee is willing to take over the Facebook site, we have decided to contact the person responsible for it and have the site deleted. 

Our main channels for communication will be the Notice Board, Email, The Bugle newsletter, and this blog site as well as announcements during Happy Hours.

Barossa Gallery Closure

The Barossa Gallery and Soldiers' Memorial Hall is going to close for a lengthy period between September this year and January 25 so we are arranging for any of our assets to be returned to the Hut during that period.

Donations for ANZAC Day Bands

Every year we present those bands that support us on ANZAC Day with a donation. This year, we will be inviting members of the bands to visit us on 12 July to collect a cheque.

We are also required to send an amount to the RSLSA Office as a result of our fundraising activities which we are doing at present. This helps fund the running of the state office.

Preferred Night to Open the Hut

We considered whether it might be in our best interest to change the Happy Hour evenings from Friday to perhaps Thursday but as a majority of members prefer Friday evening, that is where it will remain.

So there it is for this meeting. 

We look forward to seeing you soon.

Management Committee Feedback

---- Our email system is now back to normal and attended to at least once daily ----

Our meeting for Monday 13 May was rescheduled for 9 May and I'm pleased to give you an overview of the main points of discussion.

ANZAC Day

All reports indicated that ANZAC Day activities were a success with a large number of attendees. Several issues were discussed that we believe will help improve commemorations in 2025 and President David said he will call a special meeting to discuss those issues shortly.

Tasks for Volunteers

We needed to discuss the various duties that need to be attended to and which Committee members would do them. For example, organising meals is a big task that also requires table setting, cleaning up afterwards, and ensuring food is not wasted. 

The Hut needs to be cleaned after our Friday Happy Hours and cans and bottles need to be disposed of. There's much more and we rely heavily on individuals to help with these activities.

We're drawing up a list that will be available to everyone shortly so we know who does what, when and why.

Food Handlers Course

Some of us have already completed the mandatory Food Handlers Course but we have decided to do it again to ensure we are up to date and clear about hygiene requirements of the Department of Health.

Grant from Barossa Cooperative

We were delighted to receive a $100 grant from Barossa Cooperative that we can use to buy some of our foodstuffs, perhaps for one of our sausage sizzles or evening dinners. 

Our local community is very generous in supporting us with gifts of wine and these type of grants for which we are always grateful. As a self-funded organisation we wouldn't be able to operate without the revenue obtained from generous organisations and individuals.

Advocacy Training

For several years we haven't been able to provide an in-house Advocacy Service, however, we're pleased to advise that our member Dr Jack Urlwin (whom many locals will know) has agreed to undertake an Advocates Training Program and become our Advocate. 

Poppy Project

We were invited to be involved in a Poppy Project which is about producing a variety of poppy objects including wooden poppy signage to display on Remembrance Day outside our Hut. The Committee agreed it would be a worthwhile project for us and Vice President Patsy Biscoe has taken charge of it.

The next meeting is scheduled for 17 June 24.

Management Committee Feedback

---- We open most Fridays from 5 pm. Everyone is welcome ---- Your Management Committee met on 5 February 24, the first meeting of your new committee. We like to provide feedback to keep you informed about what is happening or planned for your club.

While much of what we discuss is routine, relatively low-key topics such as bill payments, there are other topics that we feel might be of interest to you, our member.

With ANZAC Day on the horizon, we began planning for the event, perhaps our most important of the year.

 

There's much to do to ensure a smooth, efficient ANZAC Day is provided for our members and community. This planning will continue now until after ANZAC Day when the crosses we erect at the Garden of Remembrance will need to be removed, cleaned and stored away until Remembrance Day.

Member Neville Jaeschke has been doing this for years with the help of a few other members and a handful of students from Faith College.

Committee Roles: As we have a new committee we had to review the roles that each of us has so that nothing gets missed. Apart from the obvious roles as president, secretary, and treasurer, we also need a catering team, someone to look after maintenance, rostering for our donation activities, social media, and veterans' health. A team needs to be available to clean the Hut after each Happy Hour or open session. These arrangements need to be flexible enough to cover members on holidays, in hospital or for other reasons, unavailable.

Maintenance Issues: We had to have the Hut sprayed to keep an increasing number of tiny ants from infesting the bar and decide how we could ensure hygiene would be sufficient to discourage them from searching for food scraps. 

Our water heater in the bar is leaking and we had to decide how to remedy the situation. We're buying an on-demand gas heater to replace it.

Wall Planner: Commonly known as a Gantt chart, the wall planner is displayed on our noticeboard and shows significant dates for meetings, holidays, and special events such as our sausage sizzle and other fundraising activities plus significant days within our military history.

It will be kept accurate when things change or are added. Later we'll add it to this site.

Member of the Month: Vice-President Patsy came up with the idea of a Member of the Month who will be asked several questions and the answers displayed on the noticeboard. Treasurer, Craig Dunning was the first lucky person to be grilled by Patsy and you can read all about it on the notice board.

The idea of Patsy's is for us to get to know each other a little better.

Who will be next?

Going forward: We have had an extension of our liquor licence area and can now consume alcoholic beverages in the area between the Hut and the canon placement. We plan to install three sails in that area that will be erected when we are using the area. 

Two fans, generously donated to us by members Elizabeth and Tony Boyle have been erected in the Hut, and dimming of the LED lights in the main area of the Hut has been made.

President David wants to see if we can rearrange our display cabinets by theatre of war if we have sufficient memorabilia from each of our major theatres. This will be a long-term project.

We have some insulation material and hope to insulate the main shed with the help of some friendly tradies and several of our own members.

Expanding some of our activities is a work in progress and could include:

1. Opening for an hour or two on significant historical ADF days eg, Korean Veterans Day; we already do this for Vietnam Veterans Day
   
   
2. Opening on ad hoc days inviting any members who wish to attend for an hour or two
   
   
3. Inviting guest speakers to address us on significant and interesting topics
   
   
4. Showing short military-related videos on our overhead projector screen
   
   
5. Visiting other RSL sub-branches by arrangement

The idea is to provide more opportunities to engage for our members and also to promote what we do to the public.

Well, that's it folks. I hope you found this interesting and informative. You can always tell us what you think by sending a comment below.

Our Annual General Meeting 2023

---- Our last Happy Hour for the year will be 8 December and we will close until 9 February 24 ----Annual General Meetings tend to be more simple meetings than our bi-monthly meetings because the main functions are to present the end-of-year audited financial report and elect Management Committee members.

This years meeting was typically short and swift, taking less than an hour and many people remained to have lunch at The Clubhouse afterwards.

The key features of this AGM were the financial review that shows our sub-branch in an excellent financial position and significant changes in Management Committee positions.

Our long-standing President, Trevor Klose stood down as president and was elected as a committee member. All Executive Office holder's positions changed hands and several other changes occurred. Final appointments are:

Executive

President            David Babbage

Vice President    Patsy Biscoe

Treasurer            Craig Dunning

Secretary            Robin Henry

Committee

Andrew Hart, Christina Henry, Charmane Klose, Dawn Klose, Trevor Klose, Elliott Nuttall, Susan Riebke, and Denis Tompkins.

We look forward to 2024 with optimism and the determination to continue providing our members with many Happy Hours of good companionship, occasional good food, and good wine should you choose to drink it.

Management Committee Meeting

---- We open most Fridays from 5 pm. Meals on the first Friday of the month ---- 

The Management Committee consisting of 11 members, two of whom were newly elected at our 2022 Annual General Meeting in November, will meet on Monday, 13th February 23 for the first time this year.

Your committee meets every second month to discuss numerous issues relating to the efficient and effective running of the Club.

At this meeting, one of the key agenda items is preparing for ANZAC Day 23. Although it's a one-day event, preparing for it and similarly Remembrance Day takes a lot of work and requires a lengthy lead time.

We also plan and carry out two major fundraising activities at pop-up kiosks outside Foodland Tanunda preceding ANZAC Day and Remembrance Day and three sausage sizzles at Mitre 10, Nuriootpa.

During 2022 we held two highly successful Fashion Parades in conjunction with Lambert Estate and Dressed4Success.

Everyone on the committee is a volunteer, we have no paid staff and do not receive any financial assistance to run the club, our expenses are all covered by donations as we are a not-for-profit organisation. Fortunately, other members who are not on the committee assist us with fundraising and commemorative activities. 

If you are interested in volunteering for any of our activities, please contact us.

The names of our committee members may be found here.

The Hut is Open!

Happy Hour is back on track following our most recent lockdown.

Every Friday we open for Happy Hour and on alternative Fridays we have a two-course meal for $10 first-come, first-served.

We call the meal a "Mystery Meal" because we never know until the evening what it will consist of. 

Our meals come from the Tanunda Lutheran Home kitchen and the good news is that there is always something nice to eat. Nobody ever complains!

A range of beverages is available at very good prices, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic.

You could be part of this happy group and we look forward to you joining us soon. 

Attendees will be expected to comply with whatever government COVID-19 requirements are in force at the time.

Management Committee