This year’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held on Sunday 31th October with a celebratory extra WATAC ride. Five tandems and five singles headed south on a recreational ride from Lathlain to Roe, Tonkin and Leach Highways along Principal Shared Paths, returning to Lathlain via Tomato Lake. Congratulations to two new riders for a fantastic effort on their first WATCAC group ride, following a recent clinic for blind and vision-impaired stokers held in early October.
After a refreshment stop and a quick chat, WATCAC Chair Erin McGlew welcomed members and friends to the 2021 AGM held at the Lathlain Scout Hall. A number of apologies were recorded and following the confirmation of minutes of the 2020 AGM a financial report was received from Jennifer as Treasurer followed by a report from the Chair. Highlights of these reports included some outstanding fundraising efforts contributed by several members and our year to date expenses for repairs and maintenance being close to budget forecast. The Treasurer identified 2021 as the first full year of secure storage costs for the WATCAC tandem fleet and that some additional revenues would be helpful in future years to enable use of the storage facility. Chair Erin McGlew highlighted the high number of recreational rides achieved in 2021, despite constraints with a wet winter that impacted club ride frequencies. Erin also highlighted the invaluable support received from Perth’s sighted cycling community in the form of volunteers to help with rides.
With the assistance of Connie Price as returning officer, the current committee was spilled and the following nominations and elections were made from the floor:- Chair Erin McGlew, Vice-Chair Rob Loughman, Treasurer Jennifer Musgrave and committee members Jo Kennedy, Tracey Cross, Beau Tang and Yew Li Cheng. No nominations were received for Secretary and the Committee anticipate filling this position in the new year.
Under general business Rob Loughman provided an update to the meeting on the adoption by committee of a 2021-2025 Strategic Plan that focuses on members and our activities and associated processes required to run WATCAC in support of blind and vision-impaired participation in cycling. This plan extended to a number of behind the scenes activities including management of the sizable WATCAC tandem fleet and various governance requirements. The strategic plan was circulated to members in draft form in August will be posted on the club’s website when domain hosting updates allow. It is currently available on request, please email watcac@outlook.com to ask for a copy.
In continuing as Ride Co-ordinator, Jennifer signalled a move to call on our experienced riding members to help lead some rides as we move into next year’s riding program. The Chair and all members present expressed extreme gratitude to Jennifer for her ongoing work on the ride program, the core of WATCAC’s member activities!
A number of members assisted WATCAC in ex-officio roles including online and web support, asset management and governance in 2021. Thanks to David Musgrave, Roland Parrotte and Juliann Lloyd-Smith for these helpful and ongoing contributions. Watch out for other contributions and opportunities as the committee seeks to build the volunteer base of the organisation in 2022.
WATCAC once again extends a big thankyou to all members, volunteers, old and new riding collaborators for the great support received in 2021. Check out our remaining ride program for the year at our events link here https://watcac.org/events/
WATCAC Annual General Meeting (AGM) Rec Ride 2021 (direct link)