Draft Minutes:
ROBERTSON HERITAGE RAILWAY STATION INC ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING MINUTES 2019
Held in the Fettlers Shed at 7.00pm on Thursday, 26 September 2019
ROBERTSON HERITAGE RAILWAY STATION INC ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING MINUTES 2019
Held in the Fettlers Shed at 7.00pm on Thursday, 26 September 2019
- Welcome and apologies
Present — Ian Wallace, Anne Wilson, Neil Harvey, Helen Tranter, Rona Goold, Steve Carey, Russell Bailey, Peter Glass, Sandra Wallace, Marion Harvey, Tony McCoy, Noel Rothwell, Rod Visma.
Apologies — Helen Tranter, John Hopkins. - Minutes of last AGM, held on Thursday, 20 September 2018 – Read by Rona. Moved Rona, seconded Anne that minutes be accepted. Agreed unanimously.
- President’s report for 2017/2018 – Neil Harvey.
Attention was drawn to the full text of the report which had been circulated to the committee for comment and uploaded to the RHRS website. Neil gave an overview touching on how successful the past year had been and his satisfaction with the sound state of our finances. He commented on the welcome return of the Cockatoo Run, the success of the loop train which had impressed the local business community, the Car day which had gone well and is on our events calendar again for next year, the art prize and show which was a credit to Anne, the great work in setting up the gardens by David and Helen Tranter over the past years the management of which was now being handled so well by Ian and Sandra with the help of monthly working bees and the Bowral Corrective Services crew.
Neil thanked John for his work on the gates and in building a new entry to the Common and Noel and the Modellers group for their dedication and mentioned the new project being an HO gauge set. He particularly thanked Helen for her fostering of the history group and said we should honour her and David by naming the bush track after her. He was happy to hear that the grant for the painting had been successful as this and the information signs were the significant projects for next year. Neil said he had enjoyed being president and thanked everyone for their hard work during the past year. An important aspect was to have some fun amongst the necessary tasks and this mixture was an essential part of the success of our little group. He and Ian were thanked by acclamation.
Report moved by Neil, seconded by Rona. Accepted unanimously. - Treasurer and Public Officer’s report for the past year – Anne Wilson
Reports tabled and available in full on the RHRS website. Anne reiterated that the success of the loop train and sale of model trains had provided extra funds this year. Our finances are in good shape to meet the coming year. She tabled the Auditors statement that our stewardship of RHRS finances was satisfactory and the President signed the report for our records and reporting to Fair Trading. Neil thanked Anne for her conscientious work on our finances and said she was one of the pillars of our community group.
Report moved by Anne, seconded by Neil. Accepted unanimously. - Gallery report – Anne Wilson
Anne tabled this report. The Gallery had paid its way this year and returned a small surplus. It helps to support our arts community and generates memberships. It fulfils one of our basic functions as a community group.
Report moved by Anne, seconded by Rona. Accepted unanimously. - RHRS Publicity, Promotions, Events & Recruitment – Steve Carey on behalf of RHRS Management Committee
This report has been uploaded to the website. Steve advised that we continue to use Facebook, our website set up by Rona, community radio, posters and banners, the village E Sign and the village news to get the message out about train visits and other events. Getting the dining places in the village to talk directly to ECHR about train visits and doing their own promotions such as Xmas in July had been a good move. We will continue this approach in the he upcoming year.
Report moved by Steve, seconded by Neil.Accepted unanimously. - Grounds & gardens report – Ian Wallace
This report had been circulated to the committee and placed on the website. Ian spoke of the very dry conditions and the watering done in his absence by Anne and Brett which had helped to keep the Waratahs in reasonable condition. He stressed that the working bees, the Corrective Services crew, and he and Sandra’s work had kept the garden going and preserved the legacy of Helen and David. He thanked all those who had contributed during the year and mentioned a volunteer who comes up from the coast and another who lives in the village as welcome helpers. Notable achievements had been the building of a new compost container, the success of new plantings, saving of a large Waratah and the responsiveness of the Corrective Services crew to our needs as being most satisfying.
Ian moved, Noel seconded that the report be accepted. Agreed unanimously. - Station and heritage train visits – Ian Wallace
The return of the Cockatoo Run had breathed new life into the station. Ian drew attention to it being unique in that it is a working heritage facility and train visits are essential to this role. An issue for the operator was the cost of running heritage trains from Maitland. They need to cover costs and retain their volunteers to remain viable. The monthly schedule was working well for them at the moment with good patronage. We are working well with ECHR management and they are very supportive of us remaining viable by providing us with the proceeds of the loop train. Ian hoped this would remain the case for the next year.
Ian moved, Neil seconded that the report be accepted. Agreed unanimously. - Election of the Committee for 2019-2020
President declared all 2018/2019 Office‐Bearers’ positions vacant and handed over Chair to Returning Officer (Peter Glass). The President thanked everyone for their reports and involvement and declared the present committee at an end and asked the returning officer to assume control of the meeting and ask for new office bearers to be nominated. - Returning Officer Peter Glass then proceeded to preside over election of office-‐bearers for 2019/2020 as follows:
• President. Neil Harvey nominated by Ian, seconded Steve. Accepted. Agreed unanimously. Neil new president.
• Vice-president. Steve Carey nominated by Neil, seconded Ian. Accepted. Agreed unanimously. Steve new Vice President.
• Treasurer. Anne Wilson nominated by Neil, seconded Ian. Accepted. Agreed unanimously. Anne new Treasurer.
• Secretary. Rona Goold nominated by Steve, seconded Neil. Accepted. Agreed unanimously. Rona Secretary.
Peter lead the election to appoint up to four additional persons to the RHRS Management Committee.
• Committee Member - Ian Wallace nominated by Neil, seconded Anne. Accepted. Agreed unanimously.
• Committee Member - John Hopkins nominated by Steve, seconded Rona. Accepted. Agreed unanimously.
• Committee Member. Tony McCoy nominated by Steve, seconded Anne. Accepted. Agreed unanimously.
• Committee Member. Noel Rothwell nominated by Neil, seconded Steve. Accepted. Agreed unanimously. - Nominate coordinators/ leaders for the following areas of responsibility:
• Safety
• Station and heritage train visits
• History
• Publicity & Promotions
• Gallery
• Website and RHRS E-‐Bulletin
• Buildings & Maintenance
• Gardens & Grounds maintenance
• Model railway group
• Events coordination
• Social coordination
• Membership & recruitment
It was agreed that the new committee would handle these various essential tasks on an as required basis using resources available over the next 12 months. - Returning Officer then handed over Chair to newly elected President for 2019/2020 Neil Harvey.
- Other business and questions.
Neil thanked Peter for conducting the election and thanked the new executive group for accepting their roles for another year. He said he would work with other groups in the village such as the Show Society and Business Chamber to make events work better. Falling memberships were a problem for all community groups he noted as well as the ageing of active members caused in part by how time poor young families were. There is no easy solution to this. The priorities are painting the station, the information signs, the history display and our two events, the car show and Waratah month.
Neil said that this would be his last year of active involvement as he and Marion would be doing more travelling in their caravan for extended periods. He thanked Marion for supporting him and helping out during the year. Sandra was also a great asset to RHRS he said. We have challenges ahead but let’s look forward to another good year.
- Meeting close. Neil declared the meeting closed at 8pm and invited attendees to enjoy the refreshments