President's Report
Dear members
I am leaving the post of President
at the AGM. After three years it is time to move on and it is good
for the Club to have some fresh blood to look at our projects with
a different optic.
During these last three years
we have seen the Club evolve from near insolvency to an organization
that is well entrenched for growth.
We have changed the management
system, modernized and improved our sales structure by introducing
a Point of Sales System, negotiated a temporary lease reduction
with the lease holder to improve our course, created a web page
with a section for members only, formed an association with the
other three Gulf Islands’ courses and harmonized the Club atmosphere.
But we still have lots of shortcomings
that will have to be monitored and fixed if we want to take advantage
of the hard work of the past three years.
Our membership is stagnant despite
efforts to attract new members. This is the time for a new board
to come up with ideas to attract golfers.
The Club House has to increase
its social activities to justify its existence. Social functions
and Club tournaments have been attended by the same people with
the majority of the membership not showing up. Somehow, the membership
has to increase its loyalty to Club events for it to succeed.
This Club was formed by volunteers
and has been running with the help of volunteers since its foundation
twenty seven years ago. The most dedicated volunteers have been
the past and present members of the Board of Directors. It has been
increasingly hard to find members who would like to fill these positions
and it is imperative that members with experience in management
or past leadership roles come forward and offer to serve on board
positions. Our AGM is on the 30th of December and it
is still time to show up at the plate.
Our
course
We have been able to improve our
course with the help of our lease holder, Mr. Clyde Coats. The no.
5 green was finished and greatly improved. The no. 5 fairway was
also enhanced with the addition of drainage. Other sections of the
course also had some drainage added.
We are getting a break on our
lease of $12,500.00 for the next two years and that money should
be used to improve the front of no. 1, 2, 3 and 4 greens.
Attracting golfers to come and
play our course either as members or visitors is becoming very competitive
taking into account all the available courses on Vancouver
Island. The improvement to our
course is imperative to be able
to meet that challenge.
Craig Robertson, our
course foreman, retired in the fall but has agreed to come back
for the winter to do the annual overhaul and maintenance on our
equipment and will be coming back one day per week for the next
golf season.
Thank you for giving your trust
and support during my term as president and I am looking forward
to spending more time on the course as a player.
I wish all a very Merry Christmas
and a healthy and successful 2008.
Andre Lemieux
President
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Social
Committee's Report
The Social Committee has had many extremely successful functions so
far this year with the exception being Halloween. All in all we have
made money and donated chairs (the new folding ones) to the club. We
still have plans to purchase new chairs for the deck.
Our Christmas dinner/dance was fantastic with great music and, from
what we hear, superb food.
We are not planning to have a New Year’s Day brunch as the Club
will be closed.
I have enjoyed being the Chairman of the Social Committee for the past
two years. It’s success has been based on the wonderful volunteers:
Ev Simpson, Shirley Cerniuk, Gwen L’Heureux, Miranda Barnes, Olga
Korinek, Barb Gillen, Merrilee and Ken Wur, Ann Banford, Donna Robertson,
Kelly Jenkins and the many others who volunteer for specific functions.
We have a great facility and staff - let’s keep using it!
Respectfully submitted
Carrol Craig
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House and Grounds
Over the course of the year a lot of work was done on
the clubhouse to repair defects and to upgrade the facility.
The repairs included; revarnishing the floor, rebuilding the door
to the deck and replacing the rotted window sill over the sink. Various
minor repairs were done to the counter and coffee maker area.
The chipboard cupboard doors, which
were severely water damaged, were replaced with new vinyl covered MDF
doors. The kitchen floor tiles
were to be replaced but upon closer inspection it was found that the sub
floor also required repairing which meant postponing the job until the
clubhouse is closed for the season. This
repair will be done in January 2008.
Problems with the emergency exit lighting
system ended up requiring replacement of the electronic control panel
which was accomplished.
Two “Boil Water” advisories
on our water were found to be caused by accumulation of dirt on the sterilizing
light tube during periods of high water turbidity. This has been resolved
by the implementation of a cleaning schedule and log book system to organize
and record the cleaning. Should further problems occur it is planned to
add a flow restrictor to the system to increase the residency time of
the water in the ultra violet sterilizer.
On the “grounds” side, dead trees (large
firs) were removed to prevent danger to members and to the clubhouse itself.
The upkeep of the flower beds was left entirely to our volunteer
ladies.
New problems continue to occur
– at the time of writing this report the gas stove in the clubhouse has
failed and will require repair or replacement.
House and Grounds Director
Pat Tisdall, Gabriola
Golf Course
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Advertising
& Promotion
Advertising
and Promotion: December 2007
And so there goes another year. I don’t know where, but it’s
gone. In reviewing our books, I’d like to report we had a fabulous
year financially. I’d also like to report that
it was all because of our new campaign to ‘Golf the Gulf Islands’.
However, the financial picture doesn’t allow me to do that……..at
least not with conscience.
A recent meeting with our business partners, Salt Spring, Galiano and
Pender Island
Golf Courses has left us all wanting to continue on with this campaign.
Adjustments
will have to be made for next year, but all of them are miniscule. Simple
things like
altering our circulation channel and tracking devices are part of the
picture for the
coming year. All of us are still very positive about the campaign and
feel that it
will take a couple of years to knock out all the glitches. Anything
worthwhile never
happens over night. We’ve all discussed in detail who can be eligible
to win free golf
for a year and there will be some adjustments there as well. The bottom
line here is
to entice newcomers. Either way, I feel we’re on the right track.
This past year for me has been a great experience. It’s not been
without its trials and
tribulations, but I’ve enjoyed serving on the Board. And as luck
would have it, my
sentence isn’t over yet. I would like to extend a thank you to
Molly, Andre, Carrol,
Marion, Pat, Michelle, Jim and Bob. All of you made me feel welcome
and part of
the team. All I can hope for is that next years team will be just as
great. See you at
the AGM.
Lyn Clarke,
Director, Advertising and Promotion
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Management
and Personnel
This past year has seen many changes in our Club
house staffing. Throughout
the year we have been very fortunate to have competent and friendly
people working behind the bar and in the kitchen. With Bev Bickerton
getting us off to very organized start in the new year as our interim
Manager we were prepared with the revised Policy manual, a new Manager’s
handbook and much clearer and detailed job descriptions for all positions.
This made the work of the Management Committee, Barb Gillen, Doug
Cavill, Don Clark and I much easier as we advertised, hired, and arranged
for the training of staff.
We were very fortunate in hiring as manager, Sarah
Kostiew, a whiz on the new POS system and a delightful and dedicated
worker. Kim hung in with us all year while Donna, Walter
and Deb all moved on to other jobs and Andrea went back to College. I wish them all every success in their future
endeavours.
Thanks, too to Val, Lois and Evie S. who took up
the slack for us in the fall. We now have a skeleton staff on for
the winter months. The Sunday breakfasts could not have happened without
the help of Carrol C., Carole L., Michelle, Anne, Donna, Lynne and
others who willingly volunteered to serve and help with cleanup.
Next year will be a challenge as we need to find
and train new staff for the busy golfing season.
Let’s hope the weather turns warm and rain- free earlier next
year.
Thanks to all of the staff and members for supporting
me during my term on the Board.
Tom and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and
a great golfing season in 2008!!
Respectfull submitted
Molly Henney Chair
Management and Personnel
Membership
The membership count as of today (Dec. 10, 2007) is 268. We have 174 playing members, 50 Social, 7 Honorary,
18 Associate and 19 Juniors. The playing member count breaks down as follows:
Resident Single – 62; Resident Couple – 78;
Non-Resident Single – 17; Non-Resident Couple – 12,
Resident Family – 4 and Corporate – 1.
We would like to welcome the following to the club: Allan Oliver, The Black family – Bob, Judy,
Myles and Elhe; Jake Andrew, Judy Sanders, Carl Boehm and the Terhart
family - Bert, Rosanne, Alex
and Kathryn.
Several members have already moved away this year and
others will be following in the New Year.
As well, illness will cause a few people to give up their memberships
and we will lose a minimum of 25 members by next April.
Each year the numbers seem to go down so we need everyone to encourage
friends and neighbours, as well as family, to join and keep the dues down
to a reasonable level.
The invoices for next year’s dues will be sent out in
early January, once the fee schedule as been set at the AGM. If you know that you are not going to be able
to renew your membership, please let us know ahead of time, so that we
don’t bother you with an unwanted bill.
We would also like to remind members to keep us informed of any
changes in address, phone #, email address, etc.
Our thanks to everyone who has been
a member this year and has taken part in any of the tournaments and other
activities, as well as doing volunteer work. You are the ones who make this club the great
organization that it is. Several
visitors to the Men’s and Ladies’ Amateurs and the World Cup Tournament
have commented on what a welcoming and friendly group we are. All the best for next year.
Marion Alexander
Membership Secretary
Carts and
Driving Range
Thanks to the hard
work and generosity of Peter Alexander, several improvements were
made this year to make the Driving Range more welcoming and usuable. First he put in the underground cable and did
the wiring to supply power to the equipment shed. Next he built the framework for the new mixer,
supplied by the Social Committee, to use as a ballwasher
for the range balls. Then he
put together and installed new netting for the driving range.
Charles has done a
great job picking up the range balls and ensuring that they were washed
before returning them to the ball locker.
Proof that the members appreciate all this work is shown in
the purchase of the range punch cards which have been very popular
this year.
We would appreciate
it if everyone would return the baskets when they take out balls to
the range.
This year we collected
$4200 from the Cart Levy. We
have purchased two carts – one to be used for parts and the other
one is available for rental. Some
of the money collected was used to buy parts for the carts as well.
Between the carts
and the driving range we made a profit of approx. $7000 this year,
so we know that they are good money makers for the club.
Craig works hard to keep them maintained and they should last
us for several years yet as long as people are careful when they drive
them.
Thanks also to Todd
and Janni for cutting and maintaining the range.
Marion Alexander
Chairman, Carts and
Driving Range
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Treasurer's
Report
Link to the Financial Statements
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