What a wonderful day we had at our Mid-Year lunch at Simpson. A great meal, lots of fellowship, laughs and the chance to meet many people from our organisation. We only get together 3 times a year and this certainly was a highlight. Thanks to the Ball and Chain Hotel in Simpson for hosting us. 50 in all!On Friday 14th June we had a great session with the documentary “Niagara’s Gold”. 43 members enjoyed the story of the salvaging of gold from a ship in WW2 off the coast of New Zealand. It was a great story of local Helen Langley’s father, Arthur Bryant, and his role in the salvage. Afterwards at afternoon tea, there was lots of fellowship, laughter, discussion and fun.

We recently received a grant from Corangamite Shire which has enabled us to purchase a speaker system for our IT set up. We also have 2 mobile carrying units for this gear. We thank the Shire for the grant.

We would like to thank the many members who’ve assisted with taking on activities, setting up, the technology challenges, cleaning up etc. It really helps the leaders and committee and shares the load.

Recently we had a very successful Course Leaders Development day. Leaders are the backbone of our programs and we hope we can continue to call on our wonderful group of leaders. Thanks to Dominique Fowler for her work with this program and we hope those present take what they gained into their programs.

As you will see later we again have several new activities for you. We hope you continue to enjoy what we do provide. Keep enjoying your programs, keep well and laugh a lot.

Gary Kimber, President