Annual General Meeting
Yandina/Eumundi Sub-branch, Returned & Services League of Australia (Queensland Branch)
Sunday 4 June 2017 @ 1100hrs.
Yandina/Eumundi RSL Hall 24 North Street, Yandina
Sunday 4th of June @ 1120hrs.
Yandina-Eumundi RSL Hall 24 North Street, Yandina
Opening: At 1120hrs by President David Buckley
Fallen & Departed Comrades: ODE – Silence – LEST WE FORGET
Conflict of Interest Declaration:
Delegates and Board Members should disclose all conflicts of interest that may affect dealings within the District during this meeting.
No Conflict of interest declared.
- Welcome– President David Buckley
The Ode, silent tribute, – David Buckley
- Attendance:as per attendance register
- Members – 6
- Cit Aux – 0
- Visitors -2
- Apologies: :as per attendance register
- Members – 8
- Cit Aux – 3
- Previous Minutes:
Read by the President
Moved: MG “That the Minutes as read be confirmed.”
Seconded: RS Carried
- President’s Report: Attachment “A”
- Secretary’s Report: Attachment “B”
Moved: RS “That the President’s & Secretary’s reports be accepted.”
Seconded: DF Carried
- Treasurers Report & Accountant’s Report: Attachments “C & D”
Moved: DF “That the Treasurer’s Report & Audit be received and adopted.”
Seconded: MG Carried
- Review of TCC Status:
The Executive Committee has conducted their own assessment of their TCC (Tax Concession Charity) status and is comfortable the Sub-Branch meets the criteria.
Moved: MG “That the TCC status has been reviewed by the committee, received and accepted.
Seconded: RS Carried
- Fulfilment of RSL Objects Report: “Attachment E”
A summary of Activities conducted throughout the year was distributed.
Moved: MG “That the Welfare, Commemorative and Patriotic Reports be accepted.”
Seconded: RS Carried
- Endorsement of Pension and Welfare Practitioners
Pensions: Nil
Welfare: Helen & Kerry Cook
Endorsed
Moved: TG Seconded: RS Carried
- Appointment of Auditor
Levert Audit Services Pty Ltd (Mr. Simon Green, CA)
Moved: TG Seconded: RS Carried
- Sub Branch Motions:
- Vice President: Malcom Gray was the only nomination and re-elected unopposed.
Moved: TG Seconded: RL Carried
- Board Member: Richard Slypen was the only nomination and re-elected unopposed.
Moved: TG Seconded: RL Carried
- That the newsletter be produced Bi-Monthly in alignment with the SC District Meeting
Moved: TG Seconded: MG Carried
There being no further business the meeting closed at [ 1216 ] by the President.
…………………………..
David Buckley
President
……………………………
Tracey Gilmartin
Secretary/Treasurer
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President’s Report 2016 AGM
2016 had a steep learning curve for Carole in the Ladies Auxiliary, Tracey as the Secretary/Treasurer, and myself. None of us had worked within the RSL before. We managed with the help of our committee and the steady hand of Mrs Helen Cook, former Secretary and previous Treasurer, and advice from Mr Kerry Cook and Mr Terry Jonson CSC. I am indebted to them all.
Anzac Day had a large turnout, Possibly due to our Guest Speaker, MR Dusty Miller DFM. This year we recorded the ceremony with a sound camera and still shots. This event was well advertised and posted on the internet and Facebook.
Attendance thinned out at our monthly meetings. When the RSVPs were less than six the meetings were sometimes cancelled.
With no one to produce the newsletter, we moved information to our web page. Thanks to Tracey. Unfortunately, there were some of our members who did not have access to computers and missed out, once this was addressed at the meeting in June, REV Peter Hall volunteered to copy and deliver, Paper newsletters to these members. My thanks to Peter for stepping forward.
Dusty Miller’s funeral was catered for 100, at short notice. The Auxiliary did a great job when 200 attended.
The Yandina Street Fair was a good community venue for communicating with the local population, visitors and raised funds. We had a large stall full of memorabilia which sold well. The Anzac Bear raffle was a sell-out. The helium balloons were popular but may have been a problem with light aircraft.
The Fashion Parade was a moderate success, with our ladies modelling.
The Car Boot Sale was not well-attended.
The Sausage Sizzle at Bunnings was a mammoth effort, and was the biggest single day revenue earner for the year. Thanks to all who made this day a success.
Remembrance Day attendance was small as expected. There was a problem with the notice not being printed in the RSL News. This led some of our members to think our service was cancelled. There will need to be something extraordinary for us not to remember the fallen and returned, and their families.
I owe a great debt to Carole and her band of volunteers, too many to mention. You know who you are.
You are keeping the good name of our RSL alive, and assisting to raise funds in order to continue our good work.
Unfortunately, we saw the passing this year, of 1569458 Robert “Jack” Pegg, 1501669 Richard Ashton, 1501741 William “Dusty” Miller and 1018236 Sydney Foster. Sydney passed in April but was not we were not notified ted until Christmas. These members passed with a delayed reporting to the RSL. I appreciate that there are a lot of things to do at the time of passing and it is a time of grief. If the RSL is to conduct a Poppy Service to honour and say farewell to our member with the family’s consent. It will take a little time.
If you hear of such a situation, please advise myself, or the secretary. We will then notify the appropriate people.
At the end of the year, we are financially stable due to the Hall rentals and the volunteer collections at the various activities mentioned. Our thanks to The Nambour Hospital, Eumundi markets, Yandina IGA and Bunnings Noosa, for allowing us to pitch our tents and sell our wares.
I cannot close this report without thanking the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) committee, for their help, advice and guidance over the year. Especially the font of information Mrs Kath Barry the Secretary.
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Secretary’s report 2016 – AGM June2017
The Secretary role was taken on in addition to the Treasurers role when we were looking at employing an external admin assistant.
It was agreed that I would have access to paid admin support as required upon taking on this additional role.
For a short time, during March/April I did have access to an admin person through a Workcover rehabilitation program. This was a lot of extra work for me due to the requirements of the placement. As with all these programs you cannot be certain about its consistency or its longevity so this became impractical in our situation to pursue further.
COMMEMORATIVE EVENTS
ANZAC Day
There was a lot of effort put into making our Anzac Day Service great again.
With a bit of work, we achieved getting the event out there on the internet making it easy for anyone searching for local Anzac Day Services to find us. As a result we got a great ad for the Service in the Sunshine Daily for free. We were also able to get Dusty into a feature in the paper.
This year we did some Facebook ads to entice more locals to the event. The extra interest meant that we had around 300 hits to the website before the event.
Dusty Miller was our guest speaker with an amazing story about the history of what started World War 1 and a wonderful tribute to all that have served. Fortunately, we captured this speech on Video and it was edited and is now on YouTube to honor our patron, friend and long-term member.
We were pleased the local schools, scouts and cadets all attended again, which is always lovely to see their involvement in this community event.
The service was followed by a lunch at the RSL Hall, catered for by the Citizen’s Auxiliary. The numbers for the luncheon were greater than anticipated.
In line with the other RSL’s in the District we arranged a photographer for a small donation/fee which means that we had some wonderful images of the event, including pictures of Dusty and the larger crowds as they swelled onto the roads.
REMEMBRANCE DAY
A service at Yandina Cenotaph was a small event, attended by approximately 30 people. Lunch was prepared by the Citizen’s Auxiliary at the hall after the service.
WEBSITE, NEWSLETTER AND ONLINE
We now have a new Website that is hosting all our news, minutes and events information. There is also a calendar and information about the hall hire for anyone interested in the hall.
The Newsletter is now being sent via Email to the members.
The administration for updating the website, events, CRM, communication emails and the newsletter are all being updated by our admin support and my backup.
We have official email addresses setup for the President, Secretary/Treasurer and Auxiliary which makes it easier for the separation and handover of communications as no personal emails are being used.
A CRM has also been established to manage our communication to members and supporters.
We are using a drobox online that makes it easier to share files electronically.
I have successfully setup our NFP status with ConnectingUp, a group online that allows us to access many software or services at reduced prices or free. This includes a Google grant providing access to the business applications and up to $10K per month in AdWords spend for free.
HELP NEEDED
There remains a number of roles unfulfilled. These are currently being picked up as required by the few active committee members but they are unsustainable long term.
I believe that we need to make some choices about priorities and expectations. We can either let some of these go or be prepared to pay for them, which means that fundraising is a bigger requirement for us.
Any offers of assistance would be greatly appreciated, whether it be to collect and scan the mail or to support the hall hire, or manage the communications such as email/content/newsletters or support the Facebook page.
This is an ongoing requirement for our day to day running and even more important if we intend to continue to run events like Anzac Day, Remembrance Day or other activities.
Secretary
Tracey Gilmartin
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TREASURER’S REPORT 2016– AGM June2017
The Yandina-Eumundi RSL Sub Branch is a charity registered with the Australian Charities Not-For-Profit Commission (ACNC) and has the tax status of Taxation Concession Charity and as such is not required to file a taxation return with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).
FINANCIAL POSITION
Our income for 2016 was $21,951 We finished the year with a net loss of $7374. This was largely due to the decision made by members in 2015 to contribute to the upgrade of the Cenotaph. We would have operated at a small loss if not for the large expenditure.
We have finished the year in a good financial position again, thanks to the hard work of a number of committed members, including the those in the Auxiliary.
Our revenue is based on approximately 30% from hall hire. Almost 30% is from various donations including over $3K from the proceeds of poppy/memorabilia sales through RSL QLD. With over 40% coming from Memorabilia sales and the fundraising efforts of the Citizens Auxiliary We are sincerely grateful for the efforts of our members and the members of the Auxiliary for the commitment that they show. Without them we would not be able to continue and host such special events as Anzac Day.
DONATIONS
We have supported our local Schools with donations. The requirements for the donations has been revised and we have to ensure that we are donating in alignment with the RSL’s charter to satisfy the requirements of the ACNC to maintain our own status. This means that we can no longer provide bursaries, etc.
It would be great to identify where we would like our future donations to be provided and add these to the budget.
UPDATED ACCOUNTS
There has been a lot of work gone into taking the accounts online with the Xero accounting software. We now have the accounts up to date online which is correct/up to date within 24 hours as we have overnight bank feeds. The journals and the Balance sheet has been updated in the software so we are no longer reliant on having to have our accounts be prepared for Audit by an external provider such as a Bookkeeper of an Accountant. This allows direct/live access to anyone that needs access to our financials including the Auditor required to complete our Annual Audit.
BUDGET AND COSTS
I would like to set a budget based on the costs for the last year.
It is important that we factor in additional costs that we are now incurring for administrative support and reimbursements. This becomes especially important due to the lack of support for our events such as Anzac Day. If we wish to continue with these services we either need to all commit to spreading the load amongst us for these activities or be willing to pay for them to be undertaken.
Whilst I can see that the Newsletter is being read online I would suggest the additional cost of this being prepared monthly is not required, perhaps we could look at this prepared Bi-monthly instead and align with the delegates meeting and move the Board meetings to align with this too. There is the ability to use an RSS feed so that our members could be advised anytime there is updated information to ensure that the communication is still well managed.
HALL HIRE
I believe it’s time to review our Hall hire agreements, the terms/accountability and to raise the cost slightly. There are a few things being put in place to make managing the times and invoicing better. There is some hire that is not as favorable to us and I don’t think we should sustain as it costs us to maintain it.
We would be better selectively taking on adhoc event hire at a higher rate as long as the event and risk is manageable.
Treasurer
Tracey Gilmartin
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WELFARE & COMMEMORATIVE ACTIVITY REPORT.
In reviewing the Welfare and Commemorative activities of the Sub Branch over the year, I wish to report that the business conducted has been much the same as previous years.
WELFARE
We have been kept busy in providing visits to our veterans and widows at home and nursing homes and through hospital stays. We have also provided some minor home maintenance assistance. Although our volunteer team is small we have not been overworked this year as most of our members have been reasonably healthy. I am sad to report we lost one of our oldest members who was also our Patron for many years “Dusty” Miller was a stalwart of this Sub Branch and he is missed, as will our Pensions Officer, Jack Pegg, we also lost Sydney Foster and Richard Ashton who also passed.
From the Pensions and Advocacy perspective, we now rely on the TIP Trained practitioners from the Maroochydore Sub Branch.
COMMEMORATIVE & PATRIOTIC ACTIVITIES.
As usual we visited our three local schools prior to ANZAC Day. We were received with the usual positive interest from both teachers and students.
Once again our ANZAC Day was a busy one, with the Dawn Service at Verrierdale followed by the Eumundi March and Service, then the Yandina March and service commencing at 1045hrs with a great crowd of up to an estimated 650 people gathered to take part.
The school children took an active part in our ANZAC Day Service as a Community Link group, who marched with pride and we once again had the school prefects presenting their tributes. The local Cadet unit provided our Catafalque Party, and some 9RQR members joined the march along with the SES and the local Scout Group. The Service was followed by a lunch back at the RSL Sub Branch Hall, a great spread prepared by our Citizens’ Auxiliary team.
We have also undertaken to refurbish a very tired Memorial in Yandina.
2/14th Australian Infantry Battalion. Our DVA Grant has been approved and Work is due to commence early in the New Year
REMEMBRANCE DAY
A small Service was conducted at our Cenotaph as usual the crowd was small due to it being a working day
BADGE & POPPY SALES
With our usual quite small team of volunteers, at local markets and attractions we sold our merchandise and displayed a presence in our local area.
SUPPORTING THE SUB BRANCH
It has been a hard year for the Committee this year as our membership is now entering the twilight year it is harder to fill committee position and to fill the roles required for volunteers.
Unfortunately we were not able to produce our usual Newsletter due to our Editor resigning.
Following my report is a breakdown of where our time is spent in helping comrades live in better comfort with the respect that should be afforded them.
The Sub has contributed1840 hours throughout the year in fulfillment of the RSL objects and the attributed value of this is $55200.00.
A list of donations made by the Sub Branch this Year is in the Financials.
Helen Cook
Welfare Practitioner
Period Covered: 01 January 2015 to 31 December 2016
Welfare Activities
| Activity type | No. of volunteers | Number of hours |
| Home Visits | 2 | 20 |
| Hospital visits | 2 | 11 |
| Nursing Home Visits | 2 | 48 |
| Funerals | 1 | 30 |
| Pensions | 0 | 0 |
| Christmas Lunch | 0 | 0 |
| Sub Branch Meetings | 5 | 300 |
| District Meetings | 1 | 24 |
| Office Administration | 2 | 575 |
| Other Welfare activities | 2 | 385 |
| Fundraising | 11 | 447 |
| TOTALS | 23 | 1840 |
Commemorative & Patriotic Activities
| Activity type | No. Volunteers | Hours | Dollars Spent |
| ANZAC Day _ planning | Nil | ||
| ANZAC Day | 18 | 200 | See report |
| School Visits | 1 | 9 | Nil |
| Remembrance Day | See report | ||
| Memorabilia & library | 11 | ||
| School Activities | 1 | 5 | Nil |
| Total | 31 |
