Important News About S A U N S W

[N1GTR]

Hi all,

It's with mixed emotions that I write this thread which is for the benefit of those who weren't at the AGM on Sunday and for those that were there, here's a review from my eyes of the major points of the year gone by.

Firstly I'd like to say that as President for the last elected term, it has been a very busy year not only running the events that you see, but the massive amount of hard work, time and effort that has been put in behind the scenes to make it all happen. It's not as easy as simply starting a thread in the events area. Everyone has an opinion on how things should be done, but not everyone is willing to make the sacrifices needed to step up and get them done. I have a new found respect for the effort past Presidents of successful years have had to go through, it truly is something you have to experience to understand

The club 12 months ago was in a bit of a "lull", the only continuous events/get-togethers were the Texi's which I was running anyway from their inception years before and there seemed to be a sense of quiet around the NSW forum in general. Attendance at other clubs events was down and myself and other club Presidents put this down to the tough financial times many young people were experiencing. The club under Neils leadership had just pulled off a Show and Shine which was a success (the best SnS yet!) and that had raised spirits so to speak.

It was clear that some big changes had to happen, and fast. Texi's were booked and already running smoothly so it was time to move the effort to another area of the club

So first thing was to appoint someone to run Social Cruises, that was a VP role so I gave that to Matt. Regular social cruises are something the other interstate clubs do and the result is a positive one, being more interaction between members aswel as more membership signups as those members come to other events. These cruises all ran smoothly, with zero incidents, zero Police interference, lots of new faces and many happy people. It has been great to see some of those faces at other club events since first meeting at one of the cruises. The Social cruises were also positioned for the most part in between any track based event to avoid the feeling that the club isnt doing anything. Overall, success and positive result achieved.

Next up was the dinner at Trackside with Jim Richards. Our Terry was a great help with this, and he was a pleasure to work with on it. The event was a long time in the planning but the feedback since the night (im still getting people saying nice things about it even now) was all positive. It was nice to have an event for members which was different compared to the usual sort of event, this was a great night out with mates and some guest speakers in a more formal setting with an awesome selection of food and entertainment on offer. In addition to our members buying tickets as quickly as they could, other clubs were buying tables of 10 at a time, which was great to show them what some motivated execs can do from SAUNSW. Another "Win" in the bag.

Now came the tough one; Trackday bookings for 2011.

Since Oran Park closed, Wakefield and Eastern Creek which were already booked solid, have been bombarded by organisations wanting to secure dates. Wakefield had enough people wanting bookings there that they could double book every weekend and still have bookings left over. Yep, crazy!!! The Texi skidpan was also getting like this, since I have a great relationship with the person who looks after that, we are fairly safe there. So with Wakefield not needing our business at all, it was clear to me that something had to be done or the annual trackday simply would have nowhere to be held!

Re-enter, RENEW. I say re-enter as years ago under Abo Bob's Presidency we held mutually successful trackdays for quite some time at all different tracks (including Eastern Creek). RENEW since then have changed almost all their Execs though.

My plan was simple; get the alliance between the two clubs going again so that we could go to their trackday if we couldn't get a booking and vice versa for them. Don (President) from RENEW and I struck up a deal in which we go to Wakefield and get as many bookings as we each can (no deposit is needed to make the booking, so we ran no risk here if we got too many dates, which wasnt going to happen anyway). Don managed 1 booking while I did my thing and managed to get 2 bookings. It was a case of get half of what you ask for and how convincing you can be over the phone, there was another prominent Sydney club who got absolutely shafted on bookings, which was a sign of how trackdays will be from now on without Oran Park. We agreed to split the day in half (including costs) to be as fair as possible to each club, so each club had 24 entries and paid for those 24. The first day we sold 29, second day (just past this weekend gone) we sold 23, next one isnt until December 17th. These have been a success overall even though there has been some differences between the clubs in terms of various small issues. One more "Win" for the bag...

I wont say too much about Texi's as most of you still reading this will know they're still going strong since the first one myself and some of the now "Old School" members pulled off at Sutton Road on 16th September 2007 - that's right, almost 4 years!!! I'm proud to say I've been the lead guy on this since the first one and never missed one, my second in command for these days (DRDOOF) though had taken a new job and his time was quite scarce. Im happy to say he still comes on the day and helps out where ever he can. If I drop dead, he knows how to run the day perfectly. With DRDOOF's time being smaller and smaller due to work commitments, Aggroman has stepped up and for the events since Christmas this year I have been showing him the ropes and teaching him as much as I can so that there is someone getting close to ready to take over when I've had enough. Afterall, 4 years worth of standing there, watching others have fun etc can be tiresome. I'm not quite ready to hand over "my baby" yet though.

I had planned on making the end of 2011 Texi round at Sutton Road, this wont happen and that's out of my hands. I would like to run a combined runway sprint and Sutton Rd Texi event as the opening round for 2012 though and this is a very realistic possibility. Given the increase in annual profit during my term (more on that below), I would like to see some more equipment invested in for the club to benefit the ongoing Texi days which are now WELL established as a tradition of sorts. I will bring this up with the execs.

As I mentioned club profit earlier, here are some figures (Courtesy of Duncan who was Treasurer for those years);

In 2004, records show a profit of $1480

In 2005, records show a profit of $3950

In 2008/2009, after expenses the club books show a profit of $6612

In 2009/2010, after expenses the club books show a loss of ($8879)

This past year, 2010/2011, after expenses the club books show a profit of $12,191

There are some slight adjustments as advised to me by Duncan for equipment and venue bookings which changes year by year as SAUNSW is a club and not a business (FYI Wakefield is approx $8500 in 2009/2010 I believe), but I think you get the point. The club is moving in the right direction through the continued help of the exec team and the things I've mentioned above so everyone should be proud of that! There are other clubs out there that are ready to fold and go their separate ways, SAUNSW is in a strong position and I feel its important for the members to know that. Without the members and guests coming to events, participating, buying merchandise, renewing memberships etc the club wouldn't be in the position its in today.

Speaking of events, here's the wrap up of current events organised by the outgoing team; The final Wakefield in the 3 part series with RENEW is open for entries, both remaining Texi's are open for entries (due to their close timing), the next Texi (June 12th) is sold out, the Drag Day at WSID is open for entries and about a quarter full currently and filling slowly. For the first time since I've been in the club the entire years events are listed for everyone to see (Sticky in this section) rather than a few weeks notice per event, more events means more feedback and communication between execs and members than I've seen before.

I'm proud to say the club over my term of 12 months is definitely in full swing. And on that note, here's the AGM results from Sundays AGM;

Outgoing team;

President - N1GTR (me)

Vice President - DRDOOF

Vice President - MBS206

Treasurer - Duncan

Secretary - Shell

Incoming team;

President - Duncan

Vice President - Aggroman

Vice President - Pezhead

Treasurer - MBS206

Secretary - Shell

So some new faces into elected positions moving up from non elected positions, some well earned retirements from the committee and two separate clubs offering me spots on their committee's after witnessing the last 12 months. What a pleasure it's been as President for the last 12 months

I hope the club continues to experience the growth its had over the last year which has been all positive and I hope everyone can post up and wish good luck to the new team in 2011/2012.

Cheers,

-Steve

Now EX-President SAUNSW

[D_I_F]

What an essay Steveo!

In saying that We all know you'll still be around to help out.

Club doesn't run without the help of the volunteers that help make the days run a lot more smoother.

[GTR-N1]

I think you have understated one important achievement....

By June 2010, the membership numbers were on a slide; but now...

Membership numbers have "J-curved" upwards.

From a human element, I'd like to see all those new members be emailed and asked what more things they'd like to happen this coming year and how they can contribute - time permitting.

[Pezhead]

Totally agree here SteveO. You've done a stellar job of making all those "Other" clubs jealous of all the cool stuff we do. Kudo's.

And THANK YOU! for all the time and effort you've put behind making all of our events come off so well. You've put your heart and soul into them and it shows!

[MaTBoY]

Thanks for all the fish Steve-O.

You've done an awesome job of making sure our calendars are all full of skyline related events and given the club a massive push! Heres to you and here's to the club continuing that momentum

[fatz]

congrats all!

[zebra]

Pete for PM lol

[blk180]

I cant belive its been four years, sutton rd Texi is probably some of the best fun i have had with SAU, Thanks to all the out going Exs, and good luck to the new.

[GoldZilla]

Massive thanks to Steve-O for the past year! We've had (and are continuing to have) a massive year, and it's awesome to be part of such an incredible club with so many different ways to enjoy our cars and the company of their owners, due to the work you've put in over the years.

Also, as already mentioned, a huge thanks too to Steven (DR-D00F), our outgoing VP, who has chosen to retire his role due to work commitments, but yet still works his butt off behind the scenes whenever he has a spare moment.

[DaveO74]

Congratulations to all involved in making SAU (IMO) the best car club in Australia, and possibly the world.

It is the hard work that goes on behind the scenes that does really go unnoticed.

I wish I had more time to give and then I could be involved in helping out and giving something back.

Without SAU a lot of us would not know so many things, from maintaining our rides to finding a good workshop etc etc.

Thankyou all for the work you do

[DP13B]

On behalf of the Rotary Enthusiasts of NSW (RENEW) I would like to acknowledge Steve, the outgoing President of SAUNSW for his services over the past 12 months.

We found Steve a man passionate about his car club. We found him fair, honest and driven. His enthusiasm to promote, foster and grow club level motorsport is undeniable.

He holds great repect amongst the membership of RENEW and its committee in particular. He invited us many SAU events, including social events. We were always made to feel welcome. He genuinely wanted to see RENEW grow and develop too. The hours he dedicated to his club over the past 12 months must have been phenominal!

We wish Steve the best for the future.

Regards

Don Smith

President

RENEW

[N1GTR]

Thanks Don that means a lot, much appreciated

[FST513]

Thanks for everything Steve-O, wish you the best. Maybe one day now i will see your 32 lol.

Welcome to the new execs even though you are not new haha, wish everyone the best!