Presidents Report Year Ended 31st December 2014
I am pleased to provide my second and final report as President of Skål International Broome for the calendar year ending 31 December 2014.In many ways it has been a great year for our Club; good attendance at our monthly meetings, our fundraising efforts, membership growth and the launch of our website. In March 2014 at the Brisbane National Assembly, our Club was endorsed to host the Skål International Australia 91st National Assembly & AGM in March 2015 which coincides with our Club’s 20th anniversary. The first and last time Broome hosted a National Assembly was on our 5th anniversary fifteen years ago.
I look forward to Broome hosting the National Assembly; I have no doubt our Club will do a fine job welcoming our National and International guests. Thanks to all involved in the organisation of the 2015 National Assembly.At our Christmas lunch meeting, the inaugural Skål International Broome Kimberley Training Institute Tourism & Hospitality Student of the Year Award was presented to Bart Pigram. I look forward to seeing many more students being presented with this prestigious award in years to come.In 2014 I was honoured to represent our Club at two National Assemblies (March, Brisbane & August, Albany), Skål International Perth 50th Anniversary Dinner in March, 43rd Skål Asia Congress Nusa Dua Bali in June and the Skål International World Congress Mexico City in October.
At the World Congress, Broome was acknowledged for a 10 per cent membership growth for the third year in a row. Also at the World Congress, Broome Past President, Bernard Whewell was named the new International Skål Council President – the first Australian member to hold this position. Congratulations goes to Bernard Whewell for his hard work over the years to achieve this endorsement, I’m thrilled to have a Broome member on the Skål International global stage. I would sincerely like to thank the 2014 committee, Matthew Clowes, Brad Symons, Don Bacon, Melissa McDougall, Justin Weibrecht, Lynne Ralston, Patina Farnham, Ashley Munn, Michelle Spinks, earlier in the year Tanya Barnes and IPP Darren Banfield for their time, generosity, dedication and enthusiasm for our Club. Once again, I would like to make special mention of Brad Symons for the amount of time and effort he has put in to our Club to ensure everything runs smoothly. Brad has been a committee member and Treasurer since 2010. Sadly Brad is leaving the committee due to commitments. He will be sorely missed and has been instrumental in getting our website up and running plus other procedures in place for the club to run more efficiently. Thank you Brad for all the work you have done over the years.Thanks to Past President Mike Dunnett for auditing and being the Chairman for the 2015 Planning Committee for the National Assembly. Thanks also to Past President Michele Hodgson for looking after our club history and attendance record.
Our club is in a good position and I believe that this due to dedicated past presidents and committee members. We are fortunate to have good quality, passionate members who will continue to help develop and improve our club moving forward.I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time as President, it’s been a good experience and I thank all members and committee members over the last two years. I can highly recommend to members to join your Club’s committee. You won’t regret it.Lastly, I would like to make a special mention and thank IPP Darren Banfield. Darren comes off the committee in 2015 after many years of service to our Club. Your generosity to the Skål movement has been extraordinary and is sincerely appreciated.
