ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING PRESIDENT'S REPORT JUNE 2002 Forget the game - this has definitely been a year of two halves for NZRC and me. The first half had the frenzy of the current World Cup Soccer fever while the second fizzled out like Kornikova at Wimbledon. One has to take the famine with the feast I suppose and I'm confident the recent lack of attention is short-lived. We began with the heavily blinkered focus on the Modules Seminar in September. After months of hard work from Jeanette, Evelyn and myself, it was wonderful to see the master plan come alive. Watching Jeanette and Kevin working together throughout the weekend made me realise how fortunate we are to have such excellent instructors. Not only are they both highly qualified and enthusiastic, they fully understand the needs of NZRC members, which is critical, and are jolly nice people to boot! The new approach of the Modules was a little "off the wall" for some of the attendees to start with but I believe the concept was really liked by the majority. It was particularly satisfying to see such a cross range of people there, - from the Aussie nurse who discovered what a "Nightingale" really was to an elderly Maori stockman who had never used a halter in his life. The Seminar was well worth the effort and certainly something we need to consider holding on an annual basis. There hardly seemed time to mop up after the Seminar before we were getting ready for NITE. Being part of the first National Committee Team to enter was a great experience and huge amount of fun. I'm sure we'll be back with more bells on next year! Franklyn Adult Riding Group hosted a truly wonderful event and on behalf of the Committee and members I thank them again for the blood, sweat and tears. We all had a great time. Throughout the year the general housekeeping and maintenance of NZRC was well managed including updating the Constitution, Competition Rules and website, ordering more badges, rules, scorepads and ribbons. Some extra work was required on the Riding & Road Safety booklet as we were out of stock and had lost our original sponsor. However, as the police are using the booklet for their internal training we managed to persuade them to replenish our store cupboard, at no costs, with the last reprint they ordered. A great result methinks! The new NZRC Publicity Leaflet is all ready for the printers and just waiting on the final sign off by the Committee. I'm certain this will prove to be an invaluable item for NZRC and affiliated clubs for the future. Our sincere thanks to Jean Fitzgerald for her work on this, the Modules Certificates and also for maintaining the NZRC website. Once again the last twelve months have reminded me why I love to be a part of NZRC. There's a vast national clan of horse addicts who seek very similar things and happily offer help and support with "whatever". There's a dozen different projects on the go, each at different stages. There's the challenge of the Modules and the very different challenge of NITE. But best of all, there are some really super people who have become good friends and even better that they should be part of the National Committee. I'd like to give my thanks to the NZRC support crew, with special thanks to Anne for her diligent work and efficient management of the "daily doings". There are opportunities for this organisation as broad as the horizon and I look forward to it's continuing expansion in the future. Val Tester |
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