PRESIDENT’S REPORT - FOR YEAR ENDED 2022

We closed our first post-Covid year of 2022 with a few financial stings, but as you will read in the Treasurer’s Report, we remain a financially strong and well managed organisation that is poised to prosper once the stock market picks up again. Late in 2022 we sadly accepted the resignation of Hayley Goss as our Welfare Manager. The detailed Secretary’s Report covers the key Welfare and Administrative points that you should know about, as well as the many individuals who we thank for their generous support; Please take the time to absorb this information as it is germane to our existence as a sub-branch.

Committee

I thank all my colleagues on the Committee for their support in 2022. The Committee continues to struggle to fill all vacancies and hold on to new board members, especially those who still have the responsibility of professional careers and a growing family to support. On your behalf I would like to thank all my fellow committee members for the effort they put in during 2022 to ensure we maintained an effective and financially strong sub-branch. Later in 2022 we welcomed Jennie Jones to the Committee and look forward to her continued input at board level.

Our Vice-President Col Holbeck again led the badge & poppy selling teams in achieving a great result for us in 2022. Congratulations Col, thank you and all your team of volunteers for their time and effort.

On your behalf I also thank both our Treasurer Graeme Loughton, and Assistant Treasurer Mike Griffin, for the many hours they spend each week managing our accounts and finances to keep us ahead of the game.

Whilst he is not on the Committee per se, I would like to thank our energetic Providore Dennis Martyn for both his role as Providore as well as the many other volunteer jobs he did for the sub-branch in 2022.

This is my last report during my term as your President. It has been an honour to be the leader of such a great sub-branch filled with so many like-minded and welfare focused veterans (and bloody nice people!). I hope I have managed to achieve some progress towards changes we must make in the way the Committee operates and the way we attract new members if we are to survive in the long term. It’s no use having a wealth of assets to fund our welfare and community activities if we have too few members to support.

Building Maintenance

I thank all our building maintenance volunteers most sincerely on your behalf. The backbone of our building maintenance continues to be done by a small core of volunteers – you know who you are. But I would like to make special mention of Chip and Judy Gorman who take on large maintenance projects which they do so well and by doing so save us thousands of dollars.

Welfare

This is the why our sub-branch exists. In 2022 Hayley did a wonderful job managing our Welfare and deserves the accolades accorded to her. But I would like to also mention Glenn Mostyn who almost single handedly performs our Advocacy work and mentors Ka as much as he is able.  Glenn had a very busy 2022 assisting veterans, many of whom are not members of our sub-branch … but it’s still our job to assist them. On your behalf I would like to recognize all this hard, and very effective, Advocacy work that Glenn has undertaken, and thank him on your behalf.

Volunteers

Our wonderful sub-branch is only as strong as its members. We are one of the most active sub-branches in Qld because of the help from many individuals who put up their hand to help with volunteering; this certainly includes the Ladies from the Womens’ Auxilliary; to Ann and her team, thank you. All volunteers deserve our deepest gratitude but as our membership dwindles, and we all get older, so too does our volunteer pool – so I ask you to dig deep again in 2023 to do what you can to help when and where needed.

Our Staff

Katie Townsend and Hayley Goss very capably ensured that our sub-branch ran effectively during 2022.  Well done Katie and Hayley and thank you for continuing to go above and beyond your duties, we really appreciate the work that you do, both in and outside normal hours, as well as your helpful attitude!  

We look forward to working with Katie Townsend again in 2023 to ensure that our sub-branch continues to be a happy place that is well managed. And we will soon complete the task of identifying a suitable appointment for our new Welfare Support Officer position in 2023.

Bill Cross OAM JP(Qual)
President