Welcome to the first President Column for 2023. I hope your year has got off to a good start. The Club has got off to a busy and active start for the year. Trips have been taking place regularly with some excellent and popular trips to the South Island, Taranaki and the Tararua range. Most of the trips this year have been tramping but we have had a tubing trip, a day trip and a pizza orientated glamping tramping weekend.
Hello Club Membership System.
After a great deal of work by David (membership officer) and Juan (webmaster) the Club has an up-to-date online membership system. I found this very easy to use and it took me 5 minutes to register and renew my membership. This new system does away with the old spreadsheet based method and will make maintaining the Club membership database much easier. Over time we will be able to incorporate trip sign-ups into this new system as well. I think this is a fantastic achievement and really helps to set the Club up for the future. Please see https://wtmc.org.nz/membership/membership-system-hello-club/ for more information.
Meetings.
We have had some popular and interesting Club meetings so far this year. In January I gave a presentation about a navigational tramp that a few of us did in September last year to the Hauhungatahi Wilderness area (https://wtmc.org.nz/trip-report/hauhungatahi-off-the-beaten-track/).
We had a talk by Everard Halbert about whakaaro and tikanga (Maori thoughts and ways of doing things) and how these practices can be considered while we are in the outdoors. We also had a very successful and well-attended new members night recently. A few of us gave presentations about the Club, how to join, what to expect on Club trips plus an entertaining talk from Monique giving her perspectives of the Club along with fun anecdotes from her many tramps with the Club. I’m hoping that lots of the attendees will join-up and start to participate in Club activities.
Committee Activities
The Committee has been busy behind the scenes – we have been especially working on issues to help ensure the long-term viability and efficiency of the Club. We have recently started investing some Club funds into managed funds in order to make a return on our funds. Over the long-term this will help ensure the Club can continue to function effectively as well as help with the longer term maintenance of the Club Lodge on Mt Ruapehu.
The Committee has also agreed to implement a new governance/committee structure. At the moment lots of Committee time is spent on the day to day running of the Club. This leaves very little time and energy to look at longer term issues facing the Club (for example climate change and the affect this will have on outdoor and Club activities, keeping the Club relevant to people, attracting volunteers, the viability of keeping the Club van, and maintaining the Lodge and Paua hut).
A new structure has been proposed to separate the operational activities of the Club from the more strategic aspects of keeping the Club going well into the future. This new structure will allow some people to contribute to running the Club but without necessarily serving on the Committee (which does put some people off).
It will take some time for the new structure to bed-in but we are not expecting any differences to members on a day to day basis with the new structure.
To discuss the new structure we are holding a meeting on Wednesday 1 March where we will vote on introducing the new structure. Please see https://wtmc.org.nz/president/wtmc-extraordinary-general-meeting-on-1-march/ for more information.
After the special meeting we will be holding a volunteer information session. We are always looking for new people to help out with the Club and this information session will allow people to find out how the Club works and how they can help out.
Annual General Meeting
We are holding the AGM on Wednesday 5 April. Please come along to support the Club, hear about the Club and vote for the new officers of the Club. More information about the AGM will be coming out soon.
Final Comments
We have our usual active schedule of excellent, interesting, fun and challenging trips. I urge you to sign-up for some of these trips so you can participate and benefit from our Club. If you have any questions or comments please get in touch with me : . See you in the hills.
Tony