Page 27 - Friendships Through the Years

CHAPTER THREE

PRESIDENT: KEITH McLENNAN 1984 - 1985

fter the hand-over by Stan Moser to the new President Keith McLennan, his
office bearers and committee, our first Birthday Cake, made by Stan’s wife, Jean,
A
was cut jointly by Stan and Keith. It was the start of a tradition that continues to
the time of this writing and will no doubt continue beyond it.
After this brief ceremony, there was a quick General meeting. The main item of
interest at this meeting was a letter from the Probus Information Centre – South Pacific
(based in Sydney and mentioned in the opening chapter). The letter gave details of their
operations and requested donations. It was moved by the President and seconded by the
immediate past President that a donation of $25 be made. This was carried unanimously.
This letter and its consequent action are mentioned here because it became the subject of
a lot of debate in subsequent years. Fifteen years later a per capita payment became
compulsory on the instructions of the Probus Centre – South Pacific.
At the conclusion of the above mentioned meeting the President gave an outline
of future speakers and outings and then explained the reasons for, and the implications of
becoming an Incorporated Association. He also detailed the obligations of a Public
Officer. 16 members, 9 ladies and 8 visitors, a total of 33 attended this meeting – easily
our largest attendance at a meeting to that date, and a tribute to Stan Moser.
In the previous chapter Incorporation was discussed. It was stated there that the
‘Model Rules’ were thoroughly examined before registering our version of them. One of
the first tasks of the new President (who was also concurrently the Public Officer) was to
hold a special general meeting to amend the rule with regard to entrance fees and
subscriptions. It stated in the original version that each of these was to be $1. A suitable
rephrasing corrected this to read that the fee and the subscription would be fixed at each
A.G.M. This involved the payment of a further fee to the Office of Corporate Affairs.
A further Incorporation error was discovered when Harry Box moved, and Alf
Morgan seconded, that the immediate past President be co-opted onto the committee with
full voting rights. This was carried unanimously. It was then realized that our Rules
required further alteration with a further payment to the Office of Corporate Affairs – so
it was decided to carry this motion as a minute only. This error went unaltered by the
Club until corrected by Clive Winnett in his year as President in 1996. Incorporation was
a much-discussed subject and some members queried the necessity for it and also
whether Public Liability Insurance was necessary when the Club was incorporated. Of
coarse the answer was ‘yes‘. Incorporation was certainly a “learning curve”. [So were a
few other subjects, but we got by!]
Before we move on to other topics, a final point about Incorporation, (however it
does rear it’s ugly [?] head several times later in the story of our Club.) At the time of
which I write there was a certain level of misunderstanding about Incorporation. A
number of letters in the quarterly Probus News, published in Sydney but distributed to
Clubs all over Australia, discussed this subject. For instance, a letter in Number 35,
summer edition 1992 by E.J. (Ted) Cocker, Probus Club of Bunbury, W.A. was an
excellent summary of the problems and misunderstandings. Some of it is quoted here.