Executive Reports Head Office Updates

EXECUTIVE REPORT

Here I sit again writing another Executive Report for my first year as State Secretary. This is my third report and after Good Friday I thought I was going to have a little breathing space. How silly of me to think that!

Uncle Bobs Club does not stop! Every day there is someone volunteering their time or coming up with an idea to raise money for the Club. I am still flabbergasted at the commitment of our people. I am not going to name people here because I would be concerned if I did not mention someone so I will say to all members thank you for all your efforts and dedication.

Of course Good Friday 2011 is not that far away, for some it is always on our mind as to how we can improve, change or just do it better next year. But we cannot forget what a huge effort was achieved this year, $401,300.00, and that is just the money handed to the Royal Children’s Hospital. We also collect for all sick children of Victoria.

Before we start talking about next year’s Good Friday we have a lot of Annual Meetings coming up. Each Branch/Group has their own meeting that is an important part of the running of the Club. I will not go into dates of each Annual Meeting; you can find those in the reports from the Branches & Groups. If myself and other magazine contributors have done our job you can find it on the web page under events and calendar, it is on the home page of www.unclebobsclub.org.au

I will however mention that the next Annual General Meeting of the Uncle Bobs Club will be held on Sunday 10th October 2010, and is being hosted by Drouin Group at the Drouin Bowling Club.

This meeting will be our 68th Annual General Meeting that means we are heading for 70 years since Uncle Bobs Club was formed. There have been some suggestions we should make next year a big one for instance one idea is a dinner dance the night before our Annual General Meeting. Maybe we need to hear of your ideas or even if you plan celebrating in your own Branch or Group. Would you come to a dinner dance or some other type of celebration? Please let the members of State Committee know your ideas.

Sunday 20th June 2010 - General Meeting

Firstly we had a lunch downstairs, that was a very filling terrific spread. Thank you to the Riversdale Hotel, the staff was terrific and went out of their way to make us feel at home. (Funny when you think about it, it was our first home.)

Here we see some of the members enjoying their meal.

　

After lunch it was upstairs for the meeting.

Clem Kleinig gave an emotional report. "I came to today’s meeting to the foundation of where the Club began nearly 70 years ago. Thanks to those 4 wonderful gentlemen that gave, in a time when money was tough to come by and polio was rampant. It was a pleasure and privilege to be in the place where The Uncle Bobs Club was started"

A good attendance at the meeting of which was a fairly important meeting to attend seeing we were going to vote on changing some of "Articles of Association" that were distributed in the June newsletter. Thank you to those people that could not attend the meeting but sent through their thoughts before the meeting on these changes.

At the June General meeting the following changes to the Clubs Memorandum and Articles of Association were approved. There were 7 changes in total a brief summary of each follows.

    • Clauses 2(a) and 2(b) The objects for which the Association is established – These were changed to make it clearer that the Club is a Charity, rather than a Fundraiser as the previous wording suggested.

    • Clause 7. General Meetings – This was changed to allow more flexibility in when the Annual General Meeting and three General Meetings are held because over the years we have meeting dates that have clashed with the AFL Grand Final week or years where the Good Friday date changes from one month to another.

    • Clause 19. Eligibility – This has been changed to clarify that the positions of President and Vice President can only be filled by members who are current directors and have served a minimum of two consecutive years as members of the State Committee.

    • Clause 32. Sub-Committees Voting – This was changed to allow elected and or co-opted subcommittee members ratified by the State Committee to vote.

    • Clause 56. Notice of General Meetings – This clause was changed to allow for the option to have notices to be forwarded by facsimile transmission or electronic transmission.

    • General Change – A general motion to replace the word "Handicapped" with the word "Disabled" throughout the document.

    • General Change – A further general change was made to make the Memorandum and Articles gender neutral by changing references to him to him/her etc.

    Another highlight of the meeting was that Craig Broderick from State Committee was celebrating his 21st Birthday. Craig had to listen to a few stories of how his family goes back a long way with UBC and Craig said he could tell some stories too, but thought he would leave them for another time.

    Emoke Bakacs gave a report on the wonderful amount of money collected on Good Friday and that the country board is a very big talking point already for 2011 because it is a problem.

    We then had Emoke draw the raffles.

    Friday 25th June 2010 – Good Friday Appeal Cheque Handover and Thank You

    This is the night where the Good Friday Appeal hands over the cheque to the hospital and says "Thank You" to representatives of the groups who help collect for the Appeal. These people include representatives from the MFB, CFA, Pied Pipers, Uncle Bobs Club, the RCH Auxiliaries and other groups that I didn’t get to write down their names as I wasn’t taking notes at this meeting.

    We had the Hospital CEO, Channel 7 representative, 3AW representative, Herald Sun and Christine Unsworth all speak about the amazing amount of giving that we all do and how much they appreciate all the work that goes in to the Appeal, especially behind the scenes, that everyone does. To break another record with $14,462,000.00 was just outstanding.

    The greatest part of the night was to see Isaac (the 2010 Appeal poster boy) who stole the show. It was great to see him being a little boy after hearing what his father had to say and the journey they had been on with Isaac and his illness.

    Then it was time for Isaac’s surgeon to give a presentation on how they performed the operation on Isaac and how if it wasn’t for all the people who give of our time and effort and commitment this would not of been possible.

    I can honestly say that when you walk out of the hospital after holding a $14 million dollar cheque that you, in some small way have contributed to, you walk out with your head held high. As a representative of the Uncle Bobs Club I felt so proud of the great Club we have.

    I think I had better finish off now, as you are probably wondering, do I ever shut up? I can tell you now I won’t shut up when it comes to the Uncle Bobs Club raising money for the sick and disabled children of Victoria. I cannot say enough about the Club and how much hard work I see people do or hear about. To all of you again I say "Thank You" for your hard work.

    Just a curiosity question. Have you signed up a new member recently? You never know we might not only get a member we might get a person that has been looking for some way that they can give back to the community especially for children.

    My last comment for this report is, don’t forget to visit our website at www.unclebobsclub.org.au

    Daryl Gates

    Honorary State Secretary

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    What has gone on?

    Saturday 1st May 2010 - Luncheon.

    The State Committee invited Dinah Reddihough, Andrew Kornberg, Julie Browning and Vanessa Whatmough along to have a look at our office and warehouse. This was an idea the State Committee had after these lovely Royal Children’s Hospital staff (heads of departments and media people) invited the State Committee to the hospital to see how the new building was progressing and gave a presentation of the end result of the new hospital.

    This was a great opportunity to show off our building and the workings of the Uncle Bobs Club. We showed our video "Memories from The Past." This was well received and showed off how we began and old pictures of the hospital (Frankston) of which the media ladies showed a keen interest as they are putting together a history of the hospital. We had a terrific couple of hours over lunch and a cuppa. The get together was a great way to get communications between us and the hospital to continue and also made them aware of what the Uncle Bobs does year round, not just on Good Friday.

    Following is a letter received from Dinah Reddihough in appreciation and I think this sums up the whole experience. The letter is not only to the State Committee, it is to all members of the Club.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Executive Report Good Friday

    WOW $401,300.00, a record amount, the second time we have passed $400,000.00! The Good Friday Appeal total was another record amount of $14,462,000.00. Well done to all our volunteers and hard workers and this year I saw so many.

    This being my first Good Friday as State Secretary just blew me away. I was not on a corner this year, no, I was one of the Visitation Teams.

    For the cameraman (Matthew Lee) and myself, it all started with the MFB and CFA 24-Hour run around the city block on Thursday morning at 9.00am. Our Honorary State President, Ian Jager, along with Bob Bunyip and other leading MFB & CFA dignitaries, sent off the marathon runners. It was just outstanding to see the dedication and tireless efforts of the men and women from the MFB & CFA to run around the city for 24 hours. This has never been done before and I would have to say it was a resounding success from all reports. We left the team for a few hours and came back around lunchtime and they were still as keen as mustard. The best part was to see the Uncle Bobs Club banner flying high with the Good Friday Appeal banners, MFB & CFA Banners, catching the city traffic in Burke Street Mall. "Who is Uncle Bob?" I was asked, well this gave me an opportunity to really give us a plug, (never let a chance go by). We left the crew to continue their running. Back to UBC Office to help with final touches in getting everything ready for loading up on Good Friday morning.

    About 5.30pm in came the first lot of money to count for the 24-Hour marathon at MFB Headquarters. After counting this amount of money we had to go back and interview the runners again at about 8.30pm and tell them how much they had collected so far, this seemed to give them more stamina. I don’t know where from but they were excited looking forward to the night ahead.

    Good Friday morning found Matt and myself down with the Peninsula Group at about 7.00am, watching the Boneo clan preparing for the day. The enthusiasm was ecstatic. It was hard to get them together to get a group photo, they had work to do and wanted to get going.

    Then we were off to Sorrento to watch the start of the Sorrento to Safety Beach Wheelbarrow Push. That is about 30 kilometres, maybe more, a long way to push a wheelbarrow filling with money. Again the enthusiasm was electric by all Wheelbarrow pushers, collectors, fire trucks and emergency vehicle drivers. Clem Kleinig, Secretary/Treasurer of the Peninsula Group, a mastermind behind the Wheelbarrow Push. Clem has been running and organising this event for years with resounding success every year. We followed them along for a couple of kilometre’s, the loud speaker announcing that they were coming along with the occasional siren. The people donating where popping up from everywhere, some still in their pyjamas.

    From the Peninsula back to Princess Highway and Lonsdale Street, Dandenong. No photo’s here, but a bit of video footage and pick up and drop off needed supplies. A bit of a yarn meeting some of the members of the Club that I haven’t met face to face before.

    Then it was off to some 7-Eleven’s where the Freemasons were also hard at it.

    We then headed into MFB headquarters to catch up with some of the collectors there.

    We were going to go to Etihad Stadium to drop off some supplies but we had to head off to the Hawthorn area to pick up supplies that had to go to Etihad.

    As we got to Hawthorn we were surprised; there were doctors in scrubs collecting on the corners. This gave it a real personal touch, students and doctors collecting for kids, on their day off too!

    After a few pick-ups in the Hawthorn area we finally got to Etihad Stadium Kids Day Out Program. Just in time to see a long line of kids wanting to get their faces painted and our Bob Bunyip Bunnies selling UBC goods to the crowds of people.

    Then to the noisiest room and the main room where all the money was brought to be counted.

    Then there was a heap to do at the Etihad Stadium. I had to introduce myself to people, get to know people I have only spoken to on the phone. Standing outside explaining to people what and who "The Uncle Bobs Club" is. I was doing a lot, cannot recall all that I did but I know we finally left after midnight and security was trying to lock up Etihad.

    Speaking of Etihad that was a bit different this year. Three weeks before Good Friday Etihad copped a massive storm and rooms and structure was damaged. I was at a meeting there two weeks before Good Friday and I could not see them having it ready for the operation to happen there. It was a real credit to see the repairs fixed as much as they could so that we could perform our operation and I will quote from Christine Unsworth: "Hats off to the MSL/Etihad team for their miraculous effort in having the Victory Room ‘restored’ in time for the telethon – a (much appreciated) huge effort!" To see the rest of Christine’s letter go to the UBC website and click on the "About Us" tab, then click on the section called "Letters". We all know things were a bit different this year but a credit to us all for getting around the issues and problems that developed through the day.

    As I have said the enthusiasm and dedication to raise money for the Royal Children’s Hospital from all our volunteers just blew me away. "WOW" To think this is only one day, maybe our biggest as an organisation, but to think that every day of the year our volunteers don’t stop thinking about sick and handicapped children of Victoria or stop working for the kids. Have you tried to get a new member to join, don’t forget it only costs $5.75 a year to be a member of such a committed organisation.

    I will end this long-winded report, of Good Friday, by saying if the photos aren’t in this report in the magazine then they will be on the web page. We are going to try and get as many photos up on the web so you can show your friends the enjoyable time spent on Good Friday. If we could get some sponsors for our magazine then we could have more photos in the printed magazine.

    General Meeting Sunday 14 March 2010.

    The meeting was well attended with 26 members attending.

    The hospital was very supportive and supplied a very good spread of food and drink that sufficed everyone’s palate.

    Our guest speaker was Tania Withers 2009 UBC Scholarship winner. Tania’s enthusiasm about winning the scholarship was marvellous. Tania gave a Powerpoint presentation of what she does in the hospital and what she is going to learn overseas at other hospitals. Bringing back information to Australia going to other hospitals helping performance and to be more efficient. Our thanks to Tania and we look forward to her return where she is willing to come back and show us what she has learnt thanks to the scholarship. Tania would like us to put up this link for organ donations.  Organ donations are important in Tania's field. http://www.medicareaustralia.gov.au/public/services/aodr/index.jsp

    Special thanks to the Royal Children's Hospital for supplying a wonderful lunch, also their support in suppling projectors etc so we could show members Tania's Powerpoint presentation. Thank you Vanessa, Media Advisor.

    Daryl Gates

    Honorary State Secretary

    /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

     



    Our Sponsors