• Revised Membership Fees
• New Member Packs
• Our 40th Anniversary Celebrations
• Creating our Bylaws
• The Club in the future

Revised Membership Fees

As noted throughout the year, our membership fees have not been discussed or given serious consideration for close to 4 years. With the benefit of greatly improved record keeping throughout this financial year, our new committee will have a solid base for determining a budget and fees for 2009-10. Our membership fee has remained at $45 per year since about 2001. In that time, the cost of newsletters, postage, rent and insurance have all increased. Our club is currently in a good financial position but careful planning will be needed to maintain this.

New Member Packs

This idea was raised again at our last meeting and hasn’t yet been given serious consideration. The experience with recruiting members is that new applicants are usually “left hanging” until their first newsletters arrives without getting any official welcome from the club. A “pack” could contain useful information like a club roster, club sales information, parts & service contacts, up to date social calendar, etc. The specifics of this are not important but the idea is a good one and it deserves further investigation.,/p>

Our 40th Anniversary Celebrations

The search goes on to determine the correct foundation date of our great club, but we are getting close and it is surprising what we have found. Contact has been made with members who were present when the very first club meetings were held. These meetings were held long before the Victorian club even knew we existed. In the process, some old myths about the early days of the club have been put to rest and the sequence of events leading to our founding is becoming much clearer. Further details will be revealed at the November meeting.

Creating our Bylaws

To the best of our knowledge, our club has never written its bylaws. Although our constitution (model rules) has been well discussed during the past year and appears to be usable in its current form, there is a need for bylaws to be written. Having up to date bylaws will help guide the club through times where club policies need to be explained, to clarify the responsibilities of our office bearers, and to explain the handling of day to day matters like memberships, newsletters, storage of club assets, defining members voting rights, etc. While these policies will already be known to our longer term members, many newer members and newly elected officials may not be aware of all past procedures and will need some guidance.

The Club in the future

Some of our strongest points are the growing participation in club events and meetings, the active and friendly nature of our club, the continued strong interest in Studebaker vehicles, and the general affordability of membership. We have all seen the club grow in many ways, during the last five years in particular, but it remains true that we have only just begun to realise our full potential and we look forward to the exciting times ahead.