2014-10-23 AGM 2014 - President's Report and Financial Statement

Les Randonneurs associés

Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen and welcome to the 5th Annual General meeting of the Ramblers Association

It is indeed a pleasure to be here tonight to present this annual report to the membership after completing our 4th full year of operation and I believe I am reporting very good news about a very solid and successful club

As an organisation who’s Mission is “To provide members with interesting outdoor activities….” I truly believe we meet our mission with the following: 

25 Sunday morning hikes or snowshoe outings and 11 full day hikes on Saturday

Several members have also independently organised weekend hiking vacations.

We also sprinkled group breakfasts, pub lunches and alfresco wine and cheese events throughout the year.

As a board we continue to believe member satisfaction is more important than the number of members we have. That being said our paid up membership has increased from 78 this time last year to 85 on September 30, 2014. What to us though and considered more important is our level of participation After a suffering from perhaps the doldrums this summer when our attendance dropped on the first sign of Fall colours it roared back and the event in The Morgan Arboretum attracted a record 52 participants

We do get comments that the pace is a little too fast or too slow, that people like or dislike the non hiking activities such as having an arborist or bird watching, which is to be expected but most people come back and rapidly become habitual hikers. So on average we must be doing the right things.

As you have seen from our presentation we are in very good financial shape, having retained earning in excess of $5000. When I started this club 5 years ago one of my objectives was to achieve financial stability and security, that we have done. That is very much part of my conservative management style, I have seen too many times organisation who are constantly short of cash and never have the funding to achieve their potential or grow. But now we have reached that plateau of security we can relax somewhat and have done so to a certain extent over the last year. As you can see we have forecast a budget for 2014-2015 which is essentially balanced. To accomplish this the Club will assume Park Entry fees and Ferry fares. This program will be constantly monitored to ensure it is both feasible and achieving its goal.

A Ramblers Association membership  is now more worthwhile than ever and is a true bargain. It cost less than $1:00 for each event and if one was to go on 2 Oka Hikes and one Morgan Arboretum event they would recuperate their full cost, what a bargain

We continue to respond to the needs of the community, as we now seem to be the only organisation representing the hiking and walking community in the area.

In January we accepted again an invitation from the Town of Hudson to be a part of their Winter Carnival, Shiverfest and the Ramblers Association organised a hike across the frozen Lake of Two Mountains.

In Hudson  hiking and nature trails are not at the top of the agenda at this time, we have made ourselves known to the new administration and when the time comes we will again promote our concerns.

In St Lazare the same thing is true but this in not an easy task in a town where the horse is king.  

But what about the future, the Board already has ambitious plans for next year. The Bi-weekly Sunday morning hikes, the mainstay of our organisation will stay unchanged except that we will continue to expand our horizons and look to new destinations and leaders.

The All-Day Saturday events will continue and if enough volunteer leaders can be found will perhaps be more frequent.

Many of our members this year organised hiking weekends either independently or in cooperation with  the FQM and this is expected to grow with the full cooperation of the Ramblers Association. The  committee formed under the leadership of Edith Courchesne has had many positive ideas and will continue to function increasing the repertoire of club hikes.

The possibilities are limitless, but it must be remembered that this is a volunteer organisation.

One should realize that the annual fee paid by each member, goes to cover such administrative costs as liability insurance, Federation membership and Government registration, all other functions are performed by volunteers. It is also important to remember  that the Ramblers Association is a participatory club with everyone expected over time to contribute in one form or other with the running of the Association. We obviously constantly need people to work on researching and exploring new trails a skill that not everyone will have when they join the club. but people are also needed to help with registration and control at the start of an event, with writing articles and taking photographs and with administration. There is a place for everyone in the governance and leadership of the Ramblers Association.

We will not be able to expand the activities of the club unless more people become involved in running and managing our activities.

In conclusion I am proud to say that your club, the Ramblers Association, has had a good year and I think an even better future. None of this would have been possible however without the hard work and dedication of the Board of Directors.

Anne Bourel our Vice – President was our chief administrator, translator and principle liaison with the Town of St Lazare. Anne also took over the reins when I was away.

Claude Fortier, who manages our website creating a place to go to learn about upcoming events and activities as well as a great repository for photos and reports of past events. 

Paul Michetti , smoothly manages our registration and ensures the dues and fees are collected, this is so important to our survival.

Barb Gibb is our recording secretary editor who makes sure we have maximum publicity. She is also renown for organising the most innovative of hikes, along with her husband Al she organised the Morgan Arboretum event .

Edith Courchesne, who was new to the Board this year worked on new trail routes and has come up with many original and very attractive outings.

This year one  of our hard working Directors retired from the Board: Carole Lalonde  joined the Board in early 2013, helped with finding first aid training as well as new trails.

We thank her and  wish her  well  as she moves on and hope she will return to hike with us 

There are others that are not members of the Board but also deserve recognition:

Martin Hofton our eminence grise and ensures we are not trespassing on the hiking trails we follow. He spends many hours talking to land owners to make sure we are welcome.

I would like to also thank the following who are not members of the Board but acted as trail leaders

  • Sylvain Cardinal
  • Michèle Côté
  • Al Gibb
  • Michel Giroux
  • Martin Hofton
  • Alain Michel
  • Christine Moore
  • Marcel Plante
  • Pierre Roy
  • Brigitte Savage
  • Monique St-Onge

Plus all the members of the Board who were very active in leading hikes

Thank you for your effort and commitment,

And last but certainly not least, my dear wife Louise who doesn’t like hiking but keeps the books and financial records in great shape as our accountant.

Thank you to all these people that make sure all our events are run safely and give so much pleasure to all our members.

That concludes my report and thank you for your presence tonight. If there are any questions I am prepared to try to answer them.

Drive home safely and I look forward to talking with you on the trails

TerryBrowitt, October 17, 2014

États financiers

Randonneurs associés

  

Ramblers Association

Budget pour la période du 1er octobre 2014 au 30 septembre 2015

Budget for Period October 1, 2014 to September 30, 2015

REVENUS

            

INCOME

          
 

Frais d'adhésion

80 at 25$

  

2 000,00 $

      

Membership fees

80 at $25:00

 $    2 000,00

  
 

Dons

    

100,00 $

      

Donations

    

 $       100,00

  
 

Intérêts

    

2,00 $

      

Interest

    

 $          2,00

  
 

Articles promotionnels

  

50,00 $

      

Signature items

    

 $         50,00

  
         

2 152,00 $

            

 $  2 152,00
                         

DÉPENSES

            

EXPENSES

          
 

Assurance

    

75,00 $

      

Insurance

    

 $         75,00

  
 

FQM

    

120,00 $

      

FQM

    

 $       120,00

  
 

Avantages aux membres

  

1 000,00 $

      

Members Benefits

  

 $    1 000,00

  
 

Fournitures de bureau

  

50,00 $

      

Office Supplies

    

 $         50,00

  
 

Articles promotionnels

  

50,00 $

      

Signature Items

    

 $         50,00

  
 

Frais bancaires

Paypal

  

100,00 $

      

Banking Charges

Paypal

  

 $       100,00

  
 

Équipement

    

700,00 $

      

Equipment

    

 $       700,00

  
 

Fournitures de randonnée

  

100,00 $

      

Hiking supplies

    

 $       100,00

  
 

Frais postaux

    

20,00 $

      

Postage

    

 $         20,00

  
 

Impression

    

100,00 $

      

Printing

    

 $       100,00

  
 

Cours de Premiers soins

  

200,00 $

      

First Aid Course

    

 $       200,00

  
 

Site web

    

200,00 $

      

Web site

    

 $       200,00

  
         

2 715,00 $

            

 $  2 715,00
                         

SURPLUS PRÉVU

          

ANTICIPATED

        

(PERTE)

        

(563,00 $)

  

SURPLUS (LOSS)

      

 $    (563,00)

Terry Browitt  10 octobre 2014

          

Terry Browitt October 10, 2014