<%@LANGUAGE="JAVASCRIPT" CODEPAGE="1252"%> Overseas Telecommunications Veterans Association (Australia)
 

NSW AGM - June 2008

Hello everyone,

Welcome to a new year in the OTVA. Especially we welcome our new committee members:

Chris Bull as our Webmaster, Bob Emanuel as our Newsletter Editor, John Eades, & Col Kelly. Thanks for volunteering to serve on the committee. I hope your experience will be enjoyable and interesting.

Please find below the minutes recorded at the recent AGM. For your advanced information, the next committee meeting will be held at the NSW Bowler's Club, 10am on the 23rd July 2008. Looking forward to seeing you there.

Best regards,
Will Whyte


OVERSEAS TELECOMMUNICATIONS VETERANS ASSOCIATION

52nd ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING MINUTES

Meeting held at the NSW Bowler’s Club on Friday 13th June, 2008

Members present

Welcome

The Vice President opened the meeting and welcomed those present to the 52nd Annual Meeting of the OTVA.

One minutes silence

Held to remember those departed this last year and their families.

Apologies

Brian Callaghan, Ross Craig, Tony Farrugia, John Hughes, David Izatt, Gerard Lazerone, Ron Lukin, Noel Martin, George Maltby, J.J McDermott, Bryan Nell, Martin Ratia, Cyril Vahtrick.

Treasurer’s report

The treasurer’s report was presented by Bernie White and is attached. The report had been audited by Ken Theaker and Tony Farrugia who were thanked for their astuteness and continued support. The treasurer highlighted two issues: the failure of Fincorp and its affect on us and a missing deposit made at the NAB.

Newsletter Editor’s report:

Bob Lions said that he hoped everyone had enjoyed the Newsletters he had edited but now has been forced to retire due to other pressures and demands.

Minutes

A motion was moved by the secretary, seconded by Henry Cranfield, that these meeting minutes be read and acted upon at the next OTVA Committee meeting. Carried.

The president replaced the vice president at this stage

Presidents address

Well it is now almost 12 months since you elected me to the position of President of the OTVA and it has been an eventful year that has been a mixture of disappointment mixed with many highlights.

The passing of a dozen or so of our members or their spouses is of course a disappointment but it is our challenge to not dwell on their passing but to celebrate their lives through the memories that they have left behind.

To this end Bob Lions has continued to produce a Newsletter each and every quarter that is full of interesting stories and informative pictures. The Newsletter has been the source of stimulation and nostalgia over many years under Bob’s significant editorial prowess.

The OTVA web site has progressed in leaps and bounds thanks to the initial work of Joe Collister and over the past year Chris Bull. Chris has loaded all of the past Newsletters and developed a means whereby members can search those issued over the past 10 years looking for specific stories or articles of interest to members. The information on the web site has been securely partitioned to maintain the confidentiality of the information retained within those Newsletters which may be easily misunderstood if viewed by someone without an understanding of OTC and the characters who made it great through their efforts and their personalities.

The Executive of the OTVA continues to grapple with the issues relating to the display and storage of the large amount of OTC memorabilia. The Telstra Museum at Bankstown is the repository for most of the archived equipment and materials with some significant items in the possession of the Power House Museum. Telstra will be moving the entire contents of the Museum to a new site in the not too distant future. Our challenge will be to work with Telstra to ensure that the OTC archives are preserved for the future.

The Executive has sought input from the OTVA membership in regards to the method of delivery for future Newsletters through the survey that was distributed with the last Newsletter. Your responses are being collated for consideration by the Executive so as to better improve the balance between the effective delivery of information to our membership and the management of costs.

The next social outing is being organised for the Kurrajong Radio Museum and is dependent upon your responses so check out the details in this Newsletter and let us know whether you can make it.

Many of our members have complimented the Committee on the change of venue for our quarterly social functions to the Bowlers’ Club in York Street. The Function Manager continues to work with the Executive to ensure that we continue to enjoy a balance between good value for money and the satisfaction of our members.

I thank each and every member of the Executive for the support that they have given me in the past 12 months and for the effort and dedication that they continue to deliver to the task of providing service to our members.

Life membership

Keith McCreden was nominated for life membership by Bernie White, The nomination was seconded by Tom Barker. Keith McCredden recommends that Mick Wood be considered for life membership.

Re election of office bearers

Bob Lions was elected as retuning office and after declaring all positions vacant, took nominations for the following positions:

President: Peter Bull. Moved Henry Cranfield, seconded Bernie White.
Vice President: Will Whyte Moved Tom Barker seconded Allan Hennessey.
Secretary: Will Whyte Moved Henry Cranfield, seconded Allan Hennnessey.
Treasurer: Bernie White Moved Allan Hennessey, seconded Peter Bull.
Auditors: Ken Theaker Moved Bob Lions, seconded Henry Cranfield.
Tony Farrugia Moved Bob Lions, seconded Henry Cranfield.
Newsletter Editor Bob Emanuel Moved Peter Bull, seconded John Eades .
Webmaster Chris Bull Moved Allan Hennessey, seconded Henry Cranfield.
(it was requested that the Webmaster also be made a committee member)

New Committee members: John Eades and Collin Kelly

New Committee in total: Peter Bull, Chris Bull, Henry Cranfield, John Eades, Bob Emanuel, Allan Hennessy, Ray Hookway, Colin Kelly, Bob Murray, David Richardson, Bernie White, Will Whyte.

All positions were elected by the membership unopposed.

New President address

Peter Bull welcomed the new office bearers and committee and encouraged everyone to keep their interest up. There were many areas to participate in and things to do this year:

  1. A visit to the Kurrajong Radio Museum has been loosely planed for Spring. A survey by way of hands was conducted for member’s preference in the day. 16 preferred a week day, 20 preferred a Saturday and 5 preferred Sundays. It was suggested that community busses could be obtained for free. Bob Murray advised that he was qualified to drive. Another show of hand for the mode of transport was taken. 10 preferred their own transport while 8 preferred a bus.
  2. Paul McCann has offered the services of his band for a function. Several members spoke in support of the idea. 6 of those present indicated they would attend.
  3. To stimulate new members to join, the following ideas were offered:
    a. Need to target those still in the workforce
    b. Place signs at the Kurrajong and Bankstown Museums.
    c. Circulate at the Grand National during Friday luchtimes.
    d. Suggestion that the work “Overseas” may be an inhibitor
    e. Bob Lions will investigate advertising in magazines similar to the Telecom Journal.
  4. We are progressing towards sending the Newsletter by email as well as post. The recent survey has not been completely analysed and there were still a few replies coming in.

Constitution

1. A draft constitution was presented by Bernie White. He and Allan Hennessey had updated a previous version. A motion was put to the meeting by Bernie White and seconded by Bob Murray:
“That the Constitution submitted at this meeting having been adopted by the Executive Committee be confirmed as the Constitution of the OTVA as and from the 14th June, 2008.” Carried unanimously.

2. A motion was put to the meeting to amend paragraph 18.1 by Bob Murray and seconded by Henry Cranfield, to say: “This Constitution may be amended by the agreed votes of a simple majority of members attending an Annual General Meeting or Special General Meeting of the Association convened for this purpose or by the committee.” Carried unanimously.

General Business:

1. Suggestion to provide name badges for members at future functions was referred to the committee.

Meeting closed: The meeting closed at: 1:32 pm

 

 

 
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