Management Committee Feedback

Have you visited our Hut? Join us on Fridays from 5 pm. Everyone is welcome to our Happy Hours, you don't need to be a member. 

In the spirit of keeping our members informed, we like to provide feedback on what your Management Committee is doing. 

We held our last meeting on 7 April 25 5 May 25 and the following topics were discussed:

ANZAC DAY: As would be expected, we spent most of our meeting reviewing ANZAC Day which we considered to be one of our most successful.

The new march route leading to the Hut through an honour guard of football players was considered a highlight however, the Gunfire Breakfast was disappointing for several reasons. We will ensure we do a better job of that in 2026.

Entering the Recreation Park - Photo J Allanson

In summary, we thought the day went exceptionally well and we thank those many members and others who contributed to make the day special.

The inaugural ANZAC Day Poetry Competition was a positive with our two young winners delivering their poems at the Dawn Service and again at the Lunch. The perpetual plaque has been completed and will be visible within the Hut.

REVENUE: Having spent a considerable sum rejuvenating the Hut and some of our equipment during the last year or two, the committee agreed that we need to now focus on revenue and reduce expenditure. 

Treasurer Craig reported that we had increased our bank balance substantially with successful memorabilia sales days at Foodland Tanunda and Murray Street Wines. Interestingly, donations exceeded revenue from sales. We are blessed to live in a community with very generous people.

Other revenue from bar sales was excellent, aided by our opening during Easter and while football was in play. Our strategy of opening at other times instead of Friday evening is paying off and will be continued as you will have noticed by our next meal date, a luncheon on Sunday, 18 May.

GARDEN SETTINGS: We discussed the need for a couple more garden tables with bench seats to go on the area near the cannon and will obtain quotes for same. They will likely be our last major expenditure but will provide more outdoor seating for members and guests.

ENTRANCE SIGNAGE: Vice President Patsy was able to obtain a $1,000 grant from the Barossa Council to assist with payment for our new entrance sign that you may have noticed on the right-hand side of the Tanunda Recreational Park entrance. The remainder of the cost was generously donated by her and husband Jack.

That's it for this meeting.

Are you ready for Winter?

Management Committee Feedback

---- We open most Fridays from 5 pm. Everyone is welcome ---- Your Management Committee met on 5 February 24, the first meeting of your new committee. We like to provide feedback to keep you informed about what is happening or planned for your club.

While much of what we discuss is routine, relatively low-key topics such as bill payments, there are other topics that we feel might be of interest to you, our member.

With ANZAC Day on the horizon, we began planning for the event, perhaps our most important of the year.

 

There's much to do to ensure a smooth, efficient ANZAC Day is provided for our members and community. This planning will continue now until after ANZAC Day when the crosses we erect at the Garden of Remembrance will need to be removed, cleaned and stored away until Remembrance Day.

Member Neville Jaeschke has been doing this for years with the help of a few other members and a handful of students from Faith College.

Committee Roles: As we have a new committee we had to review the roles that each of us has so that nothing gets missed. Apart from the obvious roles as president, secretary, and treasurer, we also need a catering team, someone to look after maintenance, rostering for our donation activities, social media, and veterans' health. A team needs to be available to clean the Hut after each Happy Hour or open session. These arrangements need to be flexible enough to cover members on holidays, in hospital or for other reasons, unavailable.

Maintenance Issues: We had to have the Hut sprayed to keep an increasing number of tiny ants from infesting the bar and decide how we could ensure hygiene would be sufficient to discourage them from searching for food scraps. 

Our water heater in the bar is leaking and we had to decide how to remedy the situation. We're buying an on-demand gas heater to replace it.

Wall Planner: Commonly known as a Gantt chart, the wall planner is displayed on our noticeboard and shows significant dates for meetings, holidays, and special events such as our sausage sizzle and other fundraising activities plus significant days within our military history.

It will be kept accurate when things change or are added. Later we'll add it to this site.

Member of the Month: Vice-President Patsy came up with the idea of a Member of the Month who will be asked several questions and the answers displayed on the noticeboard. Treasurer, Craig Dunning was the first lucky person to be grilled by Patsy and you can read all about it on the notice board.

The idea of Patsy's is for us to get to know each other a little better.

Who will be next?

Going forward: We have had an extension of our liquor licence area and can now consume alcoholic beverages in the area between the Hut and the canon placement. We plan to install three sails in that area that will be erected when we are using the area. 

Two fans, generously donated to us by members Elizabeth and Tony Boyle have been erected in the Hut, and dimming of the LED lights in the main area of the Hut has been made.

President David wants to see if we can rearrange our display cabinets by theatre of war if we have sufficient memorabilia from each of our major theatres. This will be a long-term project.

We have some insulation material and hope to insulate the main shed with the help of some friendly tradies and several of our own members.

Expanding some of our activities is a work in progress and could include:

1. Opening for an hour or two on significant historical ADF days eg, Korean Veterans Day; we already do this for Vietnam Veterans Day
   
   
2. Opening on ad hoc days inviting any members who wish to attend for an hour or two
   
   
3. Inviting guest speakers to address us on significant and interesting topics
   
   
4. Showing short military-related videos on our overhead projector screen
   
   
5. Visiting other RSL sub-branches by arrangement

The idea is to provide more opportunities to engage for our members and also to promote what we do to the public.

Well, that's it folks. I hope you found this interesting and informative. You can always tell us what you think by sending a comment below.

Committee Meeting Feedback

---- We open most Fridays from 5 pm. Everyone is welcome ----

Your committee had its most recent meeting on 14 August and some of the highlights are as follows:

Veterans' Health Week is being planned to be held on or about 29 September 23. The theme this year is mental health. We'll provide more details about the exact timing and content as we get nearer to the date.

Work on the Cannon Cover is progressing well with the recent preparation of the ground on which our cannon will stand. The structure will be built soon and we can replace the cannon juxtaposed with the existing shed which will ensure it is more visible to the public.

Our Annual General Meeting will be held at The Clubhouse, MacDonnell Street, Tanunda at 11 am, Sunday, 26 November 23. This year, the meeting will be held before our traditional dinner. We anticipate some significant changes in the committee and ask that you consider nominating for one or more of the positions which will all become vacant at the AGM. Nomination forms will be distributed to all members well before the meeting. 

Arrangements are being made with the Barossa Council to install a permanent RSL display at the Barossa Regional Gallery. This will increase awareness of our sub-branch and also the need for everyone to remember our fallen heroes.

The Father's Day Raffle is ongoing and tickets are available. You can see the array of excellent prizes here. Don't miss out, get your tickets before they run out. 

We are working on two Government Grants that are available that will benefit our club should we be successful in our endeavours. During the past few years we've been successful in obtaining substantial funding through the Department of Veterans Affairs, Barossa Council, and SA Veterans.

The next committee meeting is on Monday, 11 September 23. If there is something you'd like your committee to consider, please let one of the committee members know or email Secretary, Dawn Klose.

 

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