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Annual General Meeting - Presidents' Reports
Eighth Annual Report for the year ending 30 June 2009 Introduction Ten years! Who would have thought that our little group would still be here after ten years? Well, we are, and we look like developing in a number of areas under the leadership that I know is there. We can’t fail, if we just remember to stick to our primary objective—to link communities with the resources or information they need to help them with their community projects. In writing this report, I have reflected on what I wrote last year. I have decided that I could almost write, for this year, ‘mixture as before’. It has been a ‘steady as she goes’ year, with consolidation in a number of areas, but nothing really startling to report. The one thing that I am personally very pleased about is that, unlike times past, I am able to see an enthusiastic succession in the committee, and I therefore feel entirely comfortable about leaving the committee that I have been steering from various positions for ten years. Following on from last year’s report: Admin At the last AGM, the position of Secretary was left vacant, the remainder of the Executive agreeing to share the secretarial function. This has been difficult to maintain, and I hope that at this AGM, RAPlink will again have a Secretary, because this position is really the engine room of the organisation. During the year, Sylvia Boyle was able to return to the committee in a non-executive role, and it has been good to welcome her back to help as meetings officer and to undertake some liaison jobs in Albury for the Carson River project. During the year, also, we welcomed Chris Mackay to the committee. Focus To August this year, we had produced 94 newsletters, and my thanks go again to Geoffrey Hardwick for his efforts to keep the world informed through the newsletter and the website which maintains internationally acceptable standards consistently. Special thanks This link project is still of a highly sensitive nature, and it is imperative that tight control of RAPlink’s part in it be maintained. Members involved in one way or another are: Terry Byrne, Sylvia Boyle, Ron Wiggins, Gloria Jones and me. It has been agreed between us and the Carson River personnel (main contacts Hugh McKenzie, lawyer in Geelong, and Peter McEntee, Albury, representing Kimberley Livestock Management) that ALL contact between the RAPlink committee and any aspect of the project will be through me as Facilitator. It is not appropriate for contacts to be made with individuals except through me. No mention of the project is to appear in the RAPlink newsletter until the project comes to fruition. I will report to the RAPlink committee on project progress in time for reporting at all RAPlink meetings, no matter where I am at the time. The year under review Membership Newsletter and other news links Our website has also been streamlined in some areas. I think we can be proud of the present format—it stands up well in the international arena. Media contacts Visits, activities and outcomes
Committee changes Elizabeth Murphy, President (also remaining Newsletter Editor) Giles Pickford, Vice President Position of Secretary vacant Ted Briggs, Treasurer (also Membership Officer and Public Officer) Other committee: Shirley Byrne (Meetings Secretary), Dr Elisabeth Patz, Chris Mackay Geoffrey Hardwick agreed to continue as Webmaster. Grainger|Platt decided not to continue as Auditors but recommended Andrew Maroc and Associates as successors, and were thanked for their support over a number of years. Thanks to our supporters 2009–2010 We need new blood—making membership attractive to people is a top priority. Our state/territory representatives need to be supported and encouraged. We need to be seen in the community, both locally and around the world. We need to develop the means to tell the world about RAPlink—making better use of our banner, of speaking opportunities, of our website, newsletter and brochure is important, as are our members and our past presidents—all these people are waiting to be invited to help. As I indicated last year: people take us seriously—so should we. I hope the new committee will seek ways and means of ensuring that these areas of concern continue to be addressed, so that we all work towards achieving RAPlink’s mission—to be the link between communities and the information or resources they need for their community projects. Conclusion This concludes my report on the year under review. Elizabeth M Murphy
Seventh Annual Report Introduction As President, I want to express my pride in the organisation and in everyone who has helped me to bring it to this point. I only realised a few days ago that, in 2009, RAPlink, in some form or other, will celebrate its tenth birthday. Double figures! That was an exciting milestone in my own life, my tenth birthday, and I want us to recognise this achievement in RAPlink in as many ways as we can -it’s on the agenda for discussion by the first committee and members’ meeting after this AGM later this evening. This has been an interesting year, with several new projects receiving our attention - and not just any little projects: these are potentially huge. Details later in this report. The streamlined administration procedures, instituted during Geoffrey Hardwick’s term as President, continue to work well. We now do nearly everything by email or phone, including keeping track of members, subscriptions, receipts and all correspondence and papers such as minutes of meetings. We meet physically only four times a year, but committee meets by email as necessary, with decisions being acted upon immediately and ratified at the next physical meeting. We still have a way to go, and I hope that minute-taking can be streamlined as well, and that we can soon have our first committee meeting by phone hookup. The technology exists to make things easy and inexpensive for us, so I would like to see us make full use of it. As predicted last year, the main focus remains our monthly newsletter and our web site. There have been 85 newsletters so far. I want to thank Geoffrey Hardwick for continuing to keep our website up to top international standards. During the last twelve months, our Secretary, Sylvia Boyle, has had family and personal health problems to deal with, and I am grateful to her for hanging in and doing what she could. I have personally been grateful to our Vice President, Giles Pickford, for wise counsel on several occasions during the year. And I want to thank also all the present committee -Giles, Sylvia, Ted Briggs, Elisabeth Patz, Jean Underwood and Shirley Byrne - for sticking with it, and getting on with their tasks cheerfully and efficiently. Indeed, Shirley deserves special thanks for coping, from Melbourne, with many secretarial matters in the unavoidable absence of Sylvia. Other members who have contributed considerably during the year have been Terry Byrne, Chris Mackay and Terry Grainger -I thank them all for their support and friendship. The year under review Membership Newsletter and other news links Our website has also been streamlined in some areas. I think we can be proud of the present format - it stands up well in the international arena. Later in this meeting our web master, Geoffrey, will have some statistics about hits on our website pages. Media contacts Visits, activities and outcomes
In June, our Canadian member, Dr Shripad Pendse of Halifax, Nova Scotia, visited Canberra and saw, for the first time, the freestanding banner that we had made as a result of his generous donation to RAPlink. Last year, we reported that one of our most significant achievements during the year had been to appoint state representatives of RAPlink in three states - Shirley Byrne in Victoria, Roger Scales in Tasmania and Graham Nicholls in Queensland. We are even more delighted that we now have two more state representatives - Leon Ashby in South Australia and Giles Pickford in NSW. We are grateful to these five people for agreeing to promote RAPlink in their states, and we will keep them supplied with material and personal support to help them in their endeavours. This support is a top priority for discussion in our later meeting this evening. Our regular links with the ACC network, BushVision, the RuStiC project, continue as before. Committee changes Elizabeth Murphy, President (also remaining Newsletter Editor) Thanks to our supporters 2008–2009 We need new blood - I have personally introduced two new rural members in the last few weeks. It’s not hard to do if you take a brochure with you wherever you go. State representatives have been given information packs, but there are brochures for everyone to take to help promote what we do. We need to be better known in the community, particularly in the internet network. We do excellent work in the links we make between communities and resources or information. We need to tell the world about ourselves. We don’t need to be huge, but we do need to be seen. People take us seriously—so should we. Areas such as media, membership, further streamlining, contributing to the newsletter and website, finding projects to support, making use of the internet and other technology, and so on, are ongoing areas of concern to all of us. I hope the new committee will seek ways and means of ensuring that these areas of concern continue to be addressed, so that we all work towards achieving RAPlink’s mission. Conclusion This concludes my report on the year under review. Elizabeth M Murphy Sixth Annual Report Introduction As before, our main focus this year has been the monthly newsletter and the information on our website, and I predict that this will remain the case for the ensuing year. During the last twelve months, former Vice-President Elizabeth Murphy had a great many personal problems to deal with. This meant that, officially at least, she felt obliged to step down from committee and from much of the work associated with the newsletter. However, she maintained her active interest as a member, and, as her personal situation began to ease, she contributed to RAPlink’s effort as far as she was able, and managed to see that we did not miss a beat with newsletter production. Her private situation finally allowed her to agree to return to the committee and she was duly co-opted onto the committee formally at our August 2007 meeting to fill a vacant “other committee” spot until this Annual General Meeting. While this is strictly not part of the activities of the financial year under review, it is appropriate to mention it here and to thank Elizabeth for her continuing contribution to our overall effort. I also cannot let this moment pass without referring to a sadness for RAPlink which has occurred very recently. Co-founder and Second President, Dr John Champness, died peacefully in hospital in Geelong on 22 August 2007. It was largely John’s illness that caused Elizabeth Murphy to have to devote much attention to his welfare. John will be remembered in RAPlink for his enthusiastic liaison work on behalf of the organisation with people from many walks of life, but particularly with members of his own psychological profession, and for making it possible for RAPlink to be represented at a number of important conferences over several years. It was typical of John that, even while he was in a convalescent home following a recent bout of illness, he persuaded a new legal acquaintance to pass on to RAPlink, through Elizabeth Murphy, details of a community problem in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Elizabeth has only recently received the details of this problem and it is due to be discussed in the general meeting that will follow the AGM. We salute and farewell John whose vision helped to found this organisation, along with Elizabeth and Roger Scales. Your committee struggled a little during the year under review, with reduced numbers and problems caused by health problems of one kind and another, but we survived. I would particularly like to thank our Treasurer, Ted Briggs, for his efforts in helping to streamline financial and membership practices and in implementing new cost-saving administrative practices regarding payment of subscriptions and acknowledgment of payment. And I thank again our Meetings Secretary, Shirley Byrne, who continues to work efficiently for us from Melbourne, often with minimal contact with the Secretary, Sylvia Boyle, who has had several bad family health patches during the year to cope with. My thanks go to the whole committee for their dedication to their tasks during the year. The year under review Membership Newsletter and other news links Although Elizabeth Murphy formally stepped down as Newsletter Editor, handing over to me at the time, her editorial skill has been invaluable and she has continued to produce stories for inclusion in the newsletter. In recent months, she has virtually taken over that task again, all except the distribution, and is now back in full swing as Newsletter Editor. During the year, we experimented with a more colourful version of the emailed newsletter. This didn’t altogether pay off because we have subscribers in rural and remote areas of Australia, and those with less than up-to-date equipment, some of whom were unable to receive the newsletter in a readable form. After several months, we reverted to the plain text, plain format style for emailed newsletters, and there have been no further problems. Our website went through a period of restructuring in an attempt to consolidate some of the information appearing on the site. Some of this initiative, too, turned out not to be in the best interests of the archival aspect of the website, so has now been restored. However, in the process, we took the opportunity to streamline some pages, along with navigation and other links, and the RAPlink website is once again a site to be really proud of, with some improvements in format and particularly in navigation. You may recall that, at this time last year, I was able to produce some initial statistics about hits on the website. This year, for the first time, we have some statistics which show the overall usage of the site and specific usage of certain pages. With the introduction of our new web host, Avial, we have been able to obtain specific raw data on usage. You will be interested to know that, in the 12-month period since the new host came on board, I am able to report the following: We had 1731 hits, and each visitor looked at approximately 2.21 pages. The average length of time spent on the site has increased from 117 seconds in 2006 to 145 seconds in 2007; and we had 117 visitors who spent more than 5 minutes on the site. Our average daily hits in the last three months have doubled from less than 100 to over 200 a day. The main visits came from servers in the USA, Australia and Hong Kong. We had some interesting key phrase searches including: Telstra easymail, John Champness, Lloyd Worthy, Sandra Green, Elisabeth Patz, and recently the Woodbridge Smokehouse (perhaps because its proprietor is Roger Scales, RAPlink’s founding President). Key words such as ghost, raplink, Murphy, john and champness were used. The three main search engines were Google, Google images and MSN search. Although only a small number visit the site, we are pleased that the numbers and the time they spend on the site are both increasing. I believe, as webmaster, that there are lessons to be learned from these statistics, and I would urge the incoming committee to study them well and keep in mind the fact that a website needs to be updated frequently and needs to contain material that is interesting to a wide cross-section of the community that we are targeting. The graphical representations of the statistics make interesting reading, and are tabled here. They are to be attached to this report and will be discussed in committee later. Media contacts I cannot emphasise too strongly the fact that RAPlink will not be known in the community without some input from the media. I would urge the incoming committee to take steps to develop regular media contact with meaningful and newsworthy material. On a positive note, I can report to you that our affiliate, the Emeritus Faculty of the ANU, consistently publishes relevant news of RAPlink activities in its own publications, and that the Rural and Remote Interest Group of the Australian Psychological Society reprints large slabs of RAPlink newsletters in its own newsletters and on its website. Our thanks go to Giles Pickford and Ailsa Drent respectively. Visits, activities and outcomes On 4 and 5 June this year, Meetings Secretary, Shirley Byrne, attended the Communities in Control conference in Melbourne, representing RAPlink. She reported that the conference was highly relevant to RAPlink, that speakers were interesting and that it was a great opportunity for networking with other community workers and volunteers from all over Australia. She distributed brochures for RAPlink over the two days. In the Queen’s Birthday Honours in June 2006, RAPlink member Pam Sandoe and her husband David both received awards of Medal of the Order of Australia for their work in campaigning for awareness of prostate cancer through the Prostate Cancer foundation of Australia. In September 2006, former President, Dr John Champness received an Award of Distinction from hie peers in the College of Organisational Psychology of the Australian Psychological Society. John’s connection with RAPlink was highlighted in the speeches and presentations made at the dinner in Melbourne. In October 2006, we were able to announce that RAPlink’s web address had changed to its present one www.raplink.org.au, considerably less cumbersome than the previous URL. This was part of the streamlining of RAPlink administration, and, I believe, played a large part in easier recognition of RAPlink. During the year, we had some enquiries about help for people wanting to write applications for grants. Our member Ron Wiggins updated his brochure and this is available for anyone who wants it. Ron is prepared to undertake training on-line for anyone, with RAPlink members receiving a substantial discount off the fee. In April this year, we were able to report that RAPlink had made a new link with the Country Education Foundation of Australia. Members Elizabeth Murphy and Dr Elisabeth Patz met with the new CEO of the Foundation, Jocellin Jansson, and subsequently the Foundation joined RAPlink as a group member. We look forward to a productive liaison with the CEFA. Another link, that with Broken Hill Community Incorporated, has re-surfaced during the year, and we have been in touch with them recently on the matter of their website which is now up and running. Probably one of our most significant achievements during the year has been to appoint state representatives of RAPlink in three states—Shirley Byrne in Victoria, Roger Scales in Tasmania and Graham Nicholls in Queensland. We are grateful to these three people for agreeing to promote RAPlink in their states, and we will keep them supplied with material to help them in their endeavours. On the subject of contacts, I would add my plea to that of others who would like to see all RAPlink members, whether committee or not, take every opportunity to represent RAPlink when they travel around Australia, or even overseas. Our regular links with the ACC network, BushVision, the RuStiC project, continue as before. RAPlink is pleased to be able to support and work alongside these entities to further their community-based aims. I can’t end this section of my report without congratulating our founding President, Roger Scales, on his success in the smoked trout and salmon business he has started at Woodbridge in Tasmania. He has received a number of prestigious awards for his product and was recently the subject of a visit from the ABC television program, The Cook and the Chef. And, of course, a select few of us had a wonderful evening of food, wine and song at our Christmas dinner at Teatro Vivaldi on 15 December last. Committee changes Geoffrey Hardwick, President (also Webmaster) I should repeat here that Elizabeth Murphy was co-opted back onto the committee, in an ordinary committee position, at a meeting held on 22 August this year, and will be standing down with the rest of the present committee shortly. Thanks to our supporters 2007–2008 Conclusion This concludes my report on the year under review. Geoffrey Hardwick Fifth Annual Report Introduction May and June of the year under review were marked by a remarkable piece of self-examination and a realisation that RAPlink needed to take a good hard look at its administrative practices if it was to survive. I am delighted to say that, as a result of the threat of closure, stakeholders came out of the woodwork to support what we do and to tell us that we were needed in the community. In addition, we looked at the cause of our administrative hiccup, and have, during May and June this year, and since, reorganised our administrative practices to make life very much more tolerable for all committee members. Some of this story belongs in next year’s report, but it is only fair that I should indicate here the changes that have been made or are still being formulated. First, the position of Meetings Secretary has been created to take some of the load from the Secretary. The Meetings Secretary attends to all agendas, minutes of meetings, notices of meetings, apologies for non-attendance at meetings etc. The position is currently filled by committee member Shirley Byrne who now lives in Melbourne and is performing this task admirably by means of email, mail, phone advice and tapes of meetings. Second, the current separate paper receipt and laminated membership card for new and renewing members will shortly be replaced by an electronic version with an acknowledgment of payment and a membership ‘card’ on the one document. The Treasurer, currently Ted Briggs, will take on this task and will also maintain the membership database. Our thanks go to Shirley and Ted for their willing participation in this administrative shake-up. In the process of setting up these new practices, certain savings have been made. It was decided to scrap the sending of abbreviated minutes to members, thus cutting out a large chore – from now on, all members will receive the full draft minutes of all meetings. And the electronic receipt and membership card means that no postage need be involved at all. At the same time, renewing members have been given the option of paying their subscriptions by direct payment to our bank account. If they avail themselves of this option, they will save postage themselves. Additionally, the sub-committee system is to be changed to something simpler to administer. The load on Elizabeth Murphy will thus be considerably reduced, leaving her to concentrate on her role as Newsletter Editor. So much for the exciting news about our revamped administrative procedures. Let me now look at the year under review as a whole. It has been a challenging year for all of us, and I want to thank the whole committee for its dedication to the task. As predicted in my last annual report, our main focus this year has been on the newsletter and the website. These two are the main images of RAPlink. It is here that we provide the information and links to resources that communities find helpful. The year in review newsletters and other news links Elizabeth Murphy continues to write, edit and publish the newsletter, and has been introducing ‘theme’ topics every now and then. Member profiles, diary dates and community success stories seem to be popular. She needs more contributions from members all the time, so please pass on anything of community interest. Our website continues to receive complimentary comments. Although this is properly part of next year’s report, I need to let you know that we now have a www address and our own domain name. The web address is now www.raplink.org.au. In addition, not only is the new web address cheaper than the old one and considerably more elegant and in line with the rest of the world, but we also have considerably more space than we had before. The new web address will mean progressive alteration to all of our printed documents. These are being addressed as they become needed. Media contacts Visits, activities and Outcomes In July Elizabeth Murphy and John Champness attended the Small Towns Conference in Bendigo. In November, Dr Elisabeth Patz was our guest speaker at our Annual General Meeting. She brought us up to date on the RuStiC project. In March, RAPlink was well represented at the inaugural annual conference of the Country Education Foundation of Australia—Elizabeth Murphy and Sue Law Smith attended, while Elisabeth Patz was a speaker, and the whole event was organised by Nik Fominas, CEO of the CEFA. Another speaker at the CEFA conference was Lloyd Worthy from Outward Bound—he later provided us with an interesting article for our newsletter. We had arranged for Shirley Byrne to attend a large Communities in Control conference in Melbourne, but we withdrew when it appeared that RAPlink was under threat of closure. I hope that there will be suitable conferences and other meetings where RAPlink can be represented in the coming year. I should note here that, in the past, much of this liaison work has been undertaken by Elizabeth Murphy and John Champness, acting as a team. Unfortunately, during the year under review, John has suffered increasingly poor health, and this has left a hole in our liaison effort. I would like, on behalf of the committee, to recognise John’s liaison effort in recent years and wish him well. Our regular links with the ACC network, BushVision, the RuStiC project and many others, continue as before, with the addition during the year of the Country Education Foundation of Australia and the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia. The inter-meetings begun last year appeared to become devoted more to administrative matters than to projects that RAPlink could help. The administrative documents, including the Members’ Code and the Speakers’ Kit, are now largely dealt with, and we intend to have workshop inter-meetings only as necessary in future, spending more time consulting by email and phone instead. COMMITTEE CHANGES Geoffrey Hardwick, President Immediately after that AGM, we ratified a proposal that all Past Presidents (so far, Roger Scales, John Champness and Terry Grainger) be accorded special status as Distinguished Past Presidents, which allows them to contribute to committee meetings, while not actually being members of the committee, as long as they remain financial members of RAPlink. Once again, we were able to let our hair down for an enjoyable Christmas dinnerin December—this time at the Silk Road Restaurant in Isaacs. THANKS TO OUR SUPPORTERS 2006–2007 CONCLUSION That concludes my report on the year under review. Geoffrey Hardwick Fourth Annual Report Introduction Let us look at the year that has passed—well and truly passed, as this year’s Annual General Meeting is a bit later than originally scheduled. The year under review that I refer to in this report is that from 1 July 2004 to 30 June 2005. Administrative costs. We are still managing well, because of the generosity of our members and because our needs are few, but this year I need to highlight the fact that membership is of concern. We can function in RAPlink on a very small membership base, but as this base dwindles, so does our income from membership subscriptions and so does our skills database. Recruitment of new members is at a virtual standstill, and I recommend to all members and to committee in particular that we think of some way to boost membership and with it boost funds and strengthen our skills database. In the year under review, we have again stuck to our mission—to be a conduit between communities and what they need to source. This year, we have moved further away from the original modus operandi of responding to pleas for assistance from communities to one where we provide information and suggest resources that we think will be of interest to all communities. We do this almost entirely through our monthly newsletter and the website, with some personal contact with groups being made at conferences and other gatherings by a very small handful of members. The year under review Newsletter and other news links
However, we lose newsletter subscribers with every issue—people who forget to tell us when they change jobs or email addresses. We have very few actual requests to be unsubscribed from the email version of the newsletter, and this is gratifying. Elizabeth Murphy has been doing most of the work on the newsletter since its inception in June 2001. In the period under review, she wrote, edited and published twelve editions and arranged for it to carry an ISSN number. I should note that this month our newsletter reached its 50th edition, no small achievement for a small voluntary group. The newsletter only works because Elizabeth personally scouts contributions from all over Australia and the world, but she can’t keep up this pace forever—she needs help to keep it lively every month. During the period under review, the newsletter was given a facelift. At a meeting on 22 February this year, the following was suggested: ‘that the newsletter should focus on specific topics each month, such as diary dates, successful “links”, special interests etc.’ As a result of this, Elizabeth has incorporated some new ‘themes’ into the newsletter—community success stories, member profiles, websites we like, and very recently a new Q & A segment. We have never had a complaint about the newsletter and we occasionally receive encouraging complimentary remarks about it. Our website The website in its present form is easy to navigate, pleasant to look at, and packed with information. We try to keep things up to date, but I rely heavily on Elizabeth for content, and she in turn needs help to maintain a flow of information for the website. Media contacts Personal visits, Activities and Outcomes - Broken Hill Community Inc, at their round-table on 31 July 2004. Elizabeth ran a workshop on effective writing and fulfilled mentoring obligations on behalf of RAPlink. RAPlink was also instrumental in securing the presence at the round-table of representatives from the Australian Prostate Cancer Foundation. -The Rural & Remote Interest Group of the Australian Psychological Society, at their conference forum in Sydney on 30 September 2004. Elizabeth gave a PowerPoint presentation about RAPlink, including mention of the RuStiC project with which we were associated, and she and John distributed about 200 brochures and added a number of new names to the newsletter mailing list. -The Northern Territory Area Consultative Committee in Darwin in November 2004—Elizabeth met the Executive Officer, Heather Sjoberg, in the course of a private visit. This was part of an ongoing campaign to try to visit as many ACCs as possible; the NT ACC is special in that it is the only ACC in that huge area. The Canberra Sunrise Rotary Club. Sylvia Boyle arranged for Elizabeth to be guest speaker at their breakfast meeting on 15 December 2004. This was a successful exercise in spreading the word about RAPlink, and resulted in one new member and a number of additions to the newsletter mailing list. -The Australian Prostate Cancer Foundation, at its Sydney launch of the Prostate Cancer Awareness Campaign. Elizabeth attended this event on 19 January 2005 with Graham Nicholls, and RAPlink was the only other organisation permitted to distribute brochures in Martin Place that day—Graham and Elizabeth distributed about 500 to the lunchtime crowd in Sydney. -The APS ‘Power of Compassion’ conference at Caulfield Racecourse in Melbourne 6–7 May 2005. Our poster presentation was impressive, with our new banner being aired publicly for the first time. The presentation was very well received and was manned by John Champness and Elizabeth Murphy. In the course of the year, also, these important events for RAPlink occurred: -First, The RuStiC (Rural Students in the Community) Project reached a climax with the completion of a survey of community needs and available help to rural young people seeking university education and later employment in rural communities. RAPlink has been pleased to be associated with Dr Elisabeth Patz on this project, and looks forward to continuing to be of assistance when necessary. At this point, I would specially like to thank the RuStiC Project team’s RAPlink members Elizabeth Murphy, John Champness, Giles Pickford and Ron Wiggins for their contributions to Elisabeth Patz’s project. The team has now been disbanded for the time being. -Second, our member from Nova Scotia, Canada, Dr Shripad Pendse, had previously donated $500 to RAPlink, and we decided to spend most of this on a permanent free-standing banner to be used for promotion of RAPlink at conferences and other gatherings. The banner was completed in April 2005, and its design, by Bytes ‘n Colours in Canberra, has become the basis for our corporate image. Our sincere thanks go to Dr Pendse for his generosity and his continuing belief in RAPlink. I would also like to thank the design group who helped to put it all together—Elizabeth Murphy, Anne Greiner, Ted Briggs and Pierre and the team from Bytes ‘n Colours. In addition to all these contacts, links have also been developed with: · BushVision who now have a provisional community television broadcasting licence in Mt Gambier, SA. Elizabeth Murphy has been actively helping that group, and particularly their President, Leon Ashby, with administrative mentoring. They have met on several occasions in Canberra, most recently just last week. RAPlink has been pleased to be associated with this group by giving it publicity in our newsletter. · Mt Taylor Estate Residents Association in Kambah, ACT, responsible for the Firestorm Story Tree that we have been promoting in words and pictures in our newsletter. Thanks for the story go to our member Judy Schou. · The Royal Society of Victoria, who regularly distribute promotional material for us in Melbourne · Some local government offices—thanks to our member, Ian Sayers, a start has been made on contacting local government offices in the area near to Canberra. All these contacts are valuable, and it is my hope that the pattern will continue through the efforts of the new committee. During the year under review, we initiated informal workshops between regular meetings—we call them ‘inter-meetings’—to focus on and workshop just one or two items that need concentrated work. At the two meetings during the period, on 16 March and 2 May 2005, we worked primarily on getting the Strategic Plan into a more manageable shape, and started on updating the Code of Practice. These workshop meetings have proved very successful, and it is my hope that they will continue during the present year. (Already in this year, we have had one such meeting, this time at Jean Underwood’s property at Tarago, but we’ll detail that in next year’s report.) A review of our year would be incomplete without mentioning the great time a number of us had at Teatro Vivaldi on 14 December 2004, when we had an excellent dinner and watched the show ‘Nunsense’. It was a fun way to wind down for Christmas. Committee changes · Geoffrey Hardwick, President · Sylvia Boyle, Vice-President · Elizabeth Murphy, Secretary · Ted Briggs, Treasurer · and committee members John Champness, Anne Greiner and Jean Underwood I would like to thank everyone on that main committee and those on several sub-committees, who continued to work hard all year for RAPlink, with special thanks to the Chairs of several sub-committees—Admin: Elizabeth Murphy, Liaison: Graham Nicholls, and the RuStiC Project team: Dr Elisabeth Patz. Past Presidents Thanks to our Supporters Change of Secretary Last year, President Terry Grainger reminded us that our committee was set up as a working committee—with everyone on the committee sharing in the work. Those words have particular meaning as we get on with RAPlink with a new committee. They are especially apt this evening as we move from the Elizabethan era to a new administrative era with a new Secretary. I urge everyone to pull together to make the transition as seamless as possible and to give the new Secretary as much support as possible. 2005–2006 Conclusion That concludes my report on the year under review. Geoffrey Hardwick Third Annual Report Introduction RAPlink depends on membership for funding. This is a choice we made, in order to avoid having to deal with funding bodies who almost invariably cut or withdraw funding after a time. It means we have to be economical in the use of resources such as communications, stationery, telephone and the internet. This is not a bad thing – it keeps the administration focused and disciplined. Our needs are few, and as our committee so far has been happy to absorb many administrative costs as their contribution to the voluntary effort, we will hear later that we have built up our bank balance to the point where we can now reimburse committee members for some expenses. In the year under review, we have stuck rigidly to our mission – to be a conduit between communities and what they need to source. We have not engaged in any projects ourselves, and this is as it should be. This is not to say our members have not been involved in projects connected with RAPlink – we certainly have, and I will mention these in this report – but we are generally involved in our private capacities because of our expertise. RAPlink’s main task is to make “links” between communities and resources, in person, through our monthly newsletter and through our website. The Year In Review Newsletter and other news links
Our website Media contacts Personal visits
My hope is that the new committee will maintain these contacts, build new contacts and keep up a regular contact with the media. While I have always held that RAPlink does not ever need to be “bigger than Ben Hur”, we still need to let people know we are there to help, and such contacts are invaluable. Committee changes · Terry Grainger, President · Geoffrey Hardwick, Vice-President · Elizabeth Murphy, Secretary · Anne Greiner, Treasurer · and committee members John Champness (Immediate Past President), Sandra Green and Ted Briggs I would like to thank everyone on the main committee (Geoffrey, Elizabeth, Anne, John, Sandra and Ted), and those on several sub-committees, who continued to work hard all year for RAPlink, with special thanks to Geoffrey, Anne, Sandra and Ted for their work on the website. Thanks also to Graham Nicholls, Dr Elisabeth Patz, Ron Wiggins, Terry Byrne and Jean Underwood who added their contributions to getting projects up and running or administration ticking over. Special thanks to Sandra Green who is standing down from committee now. Her contributions to website design, strategic planning and other areas have been huge, and will be felt for a long time as we gradually work through many of the suggestions she made for the betterment of RAPlink. And I cannot leave out my thanks for the ongoing commitment of our Secretary, Elizabeth Murphy. As you are aware, Elizabeth has been Secretary and virtual CEO for more than six years from when the idea was first mooted. Every organisation needs a driver, and she has been the driver of RAPlink since the beginning. At the same time, this committee, at various times, has agreed that it is a working committee – that everyone on the committee has to share in the driving. Well, the time has come for us to all buck in and live up to that expectation, and not leave it to one person. I hope the new committee will see it that way. Thanks to our supporters Outcomes The Minutes of our second AGM listed some undertakings to be achieved in the ensuing year. Let me list them again and tell you their outcomes: Briefly, some of the activities started, completed or planned since 30 June 2003 include: · In July 2003, Elizabeth visited Area Consultative Committee representatives in Kempsey and Brisbane. The Executive Officer of the Greater Brisbane ACC, Margaret Blade, responded with some points for communities to bear in mind when approaching ACCs for the first time. These were published in our August and September newsletters that year. · Then, our inveterate traveller Elizabeth visited Area Consultative Committees in Griffith, Mildura, Broken Hill, Nuriootpa, Adelaide and Mt Gambier during September last year; these were very positive meetings, largely centred on promoting the RuStiC project for rural students. Peta Beelen, Executive Officer of the Riverina ACC in Griffith, sent us a great summary of what an ACC really is – this was published in our December 2003 newsletter. · Also in September 2003, Elizabeth spent a week in Broken Hill undertaking mentoring for Broken Hill Community Incorporated on behalf of RAPlink – this was very productive, concentrating on administrative procedures, and we were invited back to attend their February 2004 RoundTable and to present some workshops in aspects of communication skills. In fact, the February RoundTable was postponed to July 2004, so will be reported on at our next AGM. It has already been written up in our newsletters, however, and you will know that RAPlink has established a multi-faceted link with Broken Hill Community Inc – our mentoring activities have included helping volunteers there with administrative and communication skills strategies, participation in the RoundTable, liaison with the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia (initiated right here through Graham Nicholls) and subsequent establishment of a support group through their ‘Men’s Shed’ activities, and most recently assistance with setting up a website for them – the team undertaking this is Geoffrey Hardwick, Anne Greiner and Elizabeth Murphy, with Steven O’Reilly in Broken Hill. Full reports on all these activities will have to wait until next year. · During the year, we embarked on a print media campaign with the help of Graham Nicholls and the Canberra City Lions Club. While the story looked good in the “Lion” journal, regrettably it had no tangible result. We hope, however, that publication of our story in this journal will have meant that more people around Australia know about RAPlink. · This time last year we were talking about the problems of trying to get a new bus for a community group in Cooma. That project has developed, under our project coordinator, Terry Byrne, to the point where The Variety Club of Australia seems to be willing to supply a bus, provided the group can raise the first $10 000. This is proving to be a major stumbling block, but we have been in touch with politicians Gary Nairn and Steve Whan who represent that area, and they have suggested funding possibilities. · A major achievement in the period under review is the new-look RAPlink website which I am sure you have all seen. The new banner is a composite of photographs representing aspects of community life, and this banner has now been taken up as the basis of letterhead stationery, media releases and other documents, in keeping with the notion of maintaining a consistent image. My congratulations again to the team responsible. · Nothing further has been done about providing a PowerPoint slideshow package that members can borrow when they address groups. This is largely because Elizabeth has been too busy. However, she has developed a specific slideshow for use when addressing the Rural & Remote psychologists – this actually happened on 30 September this year and was a great success, but will be reported in full at next year’s meeting. · The Rural Students project now has a name – RuStiC – standing for Rural Students in the Community. The project team has met several times in the period under review. All information from ACCs has been collated and analysed, and the next step is to undertake the survey of community needs and attitudes to tertiary education. It will be a very large project in the end, but RAPlink is pleased to be associated with it and its Chair, our member Dr Elisabeth Patz, to help with any ‘linking’ activities that will ensure that it runs smoothly. Members of that team are Elisabeth Patz, Elizabeth Murphy, John Champness, Ron Wiggins and Giles Pickford. · A major activity during the year was the National Volunteering Conference in Melbourne, attended by Elizabeth Murphy and John Champness. RAPlink had a poster presentation, and enhanced this by running a loop version of the PowerPoint slideshow ‘RAPlink on Wheels’ which was called ‘RAPlink on the Road’. The booth was very well attended, and many people took away brochures about RAPlink, RuStiC and the various training links on offer. · And finally, our initial link to training – Ron Wiggins’s online help with writing funding applications – has been joined by links to training in personal development, assertiveness, presentation skills etc through our member Kevin Norton of the Nurturing Nortons, and to training in project management for communities, offered by our member Sylvia Boyle Community ‘links’
The emphasis in the year under review has been on information and on developing contacts. Informational links A major development during the year under review has been the design and production of brochures and leaflets covering all aspects of RAPlink’s activities. These have been produced to publicise RAPlink in general, all our training providers, the RuStiC project and the Prostate Cancer support that is available. Elizabeth, with occasional help from Anne Greiner, has developed a template for these brochures so that they can be put together easily, given appropriate text from individual members concerned. All brochures include a form and contact details for more information. They are particularly useful as handouts at large conferences etc, in which case they are personalised with a greeting to delegates to the conference concerned. Brochures can also be emailed to inquirers as .pdf documents. Projects · A training program for community representatives who want to improve their skills in writing applications for funding – Ron Wiggins’s program. This program resulted in online training for community groups in Tasmania. This has been joined, as mentioned earlier, by personal development and project management programs. There are brochures for you to take away on each of these. · Secondly, the RuStiC project aimed at making pathways to university and other tertiary education more clearly defined for rural students and devising ways in which communities can be the drivers in helping to make tertiary education more accessible to all. This project is proceeding on track, and will shortly be conducting its planned survey. 2004–2005Our plans for the new financial year are the same as they were last year: to continue improving our public image on our website and in our newsletter, building membership and our skills database, and making even more efforts to liaise with other organisations in the community help sphere. And we will continue to stick to our mission: to link communities with the resources and information they need ConclusionMay I conclude by saying that RAPlink has again had a good year, despite a small drop in membership numbers, and I have felt well supported as your President during this time of great activity. In looking forward to a further year of activity for RAPlink, I urge you to continue to support your incoming committee as you have supported the present committee. In particular, I urge you to actively support your Secretary so that her workload is not onerous. That concludes my report on the year under review. Terry Grainger Second Annual Report Introduction RAPlink’s mission statement says that we are ‘a self-funded voluntary organisation that LINKS communities to information or resources they need for community development projects. “Links” are made between communities and resources, through our monthly newsletter and through our website. We are based in Canberra, but operate Australia-wide.’ More than two years ago, we made a commitment to stick to this one task and try to do it well, and it is for this that other organisations, both government and private, respect us and the way we operate. The year under review
the Australian Psychological Society, under a heading of links relevant to rural and remote psychologists
The Ipswich ACC site quoted in full an article by our member Ron Wiggins – 10 tips for writing funding applications. This was taken direct, with acknowledgement, from a RAPlink newsletter – this sort of information sharing is what RAPlink is all about. Our website
As a result of these activities, RAPlink is gradually becoming very much better known and regarded all over Australia. Personal visits
As well as these, the Secretary visited:
In all instances, RAPlink was welcomed warmly, we received promises of further liaison, and one – the Greater Brisbane ACC – has already contributed an item to our newsletter about approaching an ACC for the first time. Our intention is to continue and to intensify this contact with other organisations and with the media. Committee changes · John Champness, President · Geoffrey Hardwick, Vice-President · Elizabeth Murphy, Secretary · Terry Grainger, Treasurer · and Shirley Byrne and Kerry MacDermott were elected as committee members
Kerry MacDermott subsequently resigned, and his position on committee was filled by Marylou Pooley. I would like to thank everyone on the main committee (Geoffrey, Terry, Elizabeth, Shirley, Sandra and Marylou), and those on several sub-committees, who continued to work hard all year for RAPlink, with special thanks to Sandra and Marylou for stepping in to fill those vacancies and for their enormous contributions to RAPlink – Sandra’s contribution to strategies, possible sponsorship links and website improvements have been huge. Thanks also to Graham Nicholls, Robert Moore, Di Coghlan, Dr Elisabeth Patz, Ron Wiggins, Ted Briggs, Terry Byrne and Jean Underwood who added their contributions to getting projects up and running or administration ticking over. And I cannot leave out my thanks for the ongoing commitment of our Secretary, Elizabeth Murphy, who has been the glue that has kept the whole thing together. Thanks to our supporters
The Minutes of our first AGM listed some undertakings to be achieved in the ensuing year. Let me list them and tell you their outcomes: · a RAPlink Roadshow tour to parts of northern NSW and Queensland. – this was achieved by our visits to Forbes and Dubbo in NSW and Mt Larcom and Yarwun near Gladstone in Queensland in August/September 2002. In addition, we visited Tasmania in March 2003. We met community leaders in all places visited. · development of a set of training modules and guidelines to help community representatives to write better applications for funding and grants. – this has been a major achievement which I will discuss in a moment. · development of a marketing strategy to further promote the existence of RAPlink and its services. – this is developing all the time; a great deal of work has already been done on media links and website review to help ‘sell’ RAPlink. · development of the membership base, more substantial funding options and a useful skills database. – I think the report card on this item reads ‘doing well, but can do better’ – we need to make this a priority for the coming year. · liaison with other organisations to develop joint-venture projects. – excellent links have been forged with organisations such as the ACC network around Australia, AESOP Business Volunteers, various Colleges of the Australian Psychological Society, Lions Clubs and others, and we have projects in hand which will involve universities and other tertiary institutions, and other service organisations.
We linked the NSW Farmers’ Association with information on sources of funding for carting bales of hay to drought-stricken farmers. · After the disastrous firestorm and bushfires of January 2003, we assisted a very small Canberra street community with an information leaflet about resources available to fire victims at the time and further down the track. · We acted for farmers in the Captains Flat district of NSW to find information about insurance and drought relief. · We started to build a link with a new venture in South Australia, BushVision, which aims to bring news of the bush to the rest of Australia through television. · At the request of the Community Centre in Cooma NSW, we started to look for a new bus or help to maintain their current bus which they use for disadvantaged youth activities. This matter is ongoing. Informational links Projects · A training program for community representatives who want to improve their skills in writing applications for funding – this started as five points and then ten tips in our newsletter, and finally grew into a full-blown training program brochure put together by our member Ron Wiggins. During this period, Ron has conducted one full on-line course of training under this scheme and is negotiating further courses. The brochure and tips are in heavy demand, and a pdf version is available to be emailed to anyone who wants it. There are hard copies here for you to take away as well. · Secondly, a project is under way to look at community-driven tertiary study opportunities for rural students, with the aim of getting them to return to their communities to apply their newly learned skills where they are needed. We will be hearing more about this in the coming year. The convenor of the project group is our member Dr Elisabeth Patz.
2003–2004
That concludes my report on the year under review. John Champness First Annual Report Short history A lifestyle pilot survey of six rural towns was conducted, and this confirmed that rural dwellers were dissatisfied with local governments, lack of services and lack of a future for young people. The survey report became the basis of several papers and submissions, including for the Regional Australia Summit in Canberra, October 1999, and several conferences of the Australian Psychological Society. The group’s plans to assist rural towns by providing voluntary mentoring, informational and other resources as required met with the support of the National Farmers’ Federation and later that of the Emeritus Faculty of the Australian National University, to both of whom we are grateful for their continuing and practical interest. Thank you both for allowing us to put ‘Supported by …’ on our mastheads – it means a lot, and for facilitating distribution of our newsletters to members and member organisations. Our small group aroused interest in the community but did not start the ‘link’ program in order to achieve measurable outcomes until incorporation on 5 June 2001. A linking service The year under review In the year under review, RAPlink has achieved a number of community ‘link’ outcomes, including the following: · Providing contact details for a community in Toowoomba Qld wanting psychologists to conduct a lifestyle survey · Linking a community in Forbes NSW with a community in Broken Hill NSW for mutual support and assistance with stress problems related to withdrawal of medical services · Seeking and finding, through the newsletter, offers of farming help for an indigenous community in South Australia · Providing both social worker assistance and legal advice to a community in Mt Larcom Qld where an ageing population of small farmers needed help in dealing with problems resulting from industrial activity in their area (this link resulted from a lead provided by the ANU Emeritus Faculty – our thanks to Giles Pickford and David Ingle Smith of that Faculty) · Providing a contact with a Commonwealth Government resource and a scientific communicator to a group of researchers in Tasmania seeking funding and scientific assistance. Other important ‘links’ that we have achieved during the year include those with government agencies, businesses, other volunteer groups and academics. These include: · the Commonwealth Department of Transport and Regional Services – particularly their Area Consultative Committee Network and most recently their regional information service; · AESOP Business Volunteers; · Broken Hill Community Inc – on whose mentoring panel we are included, · and numerous community groups. RAPlink has been represented by committee members John Champness, Elizabeth Murphy and Judy Whyte as presenters at a variety of conferences during the year, including two Australian Psychological Society conferences and the International Year of the Volunteer conference in Melbourne at the end of 2001. A major support group has been the Rural and Remote Interest Group of the Australian Psychological Society – its members are a large core group receiving our newsletter. We have also achieved, through the newsletter, many more links by putting readers in touch with information about conferences, available expertise etc which they would otherwise not have known about. A number of publications have included information about RAPlink in their editorial and advertising pages. These include:
The new year Thanks Conclusion That concludes the report of the year under review. John H Champness, Vice-President
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