President Sarah Young thanked Councillor Cory Amon during his recent visit to the club to see the portable PA system that his grant to the club procured for us.
The PA system will be used when we need a microphone in operation but not through the speakers that operate throughout the clubhouse. This occurs when we use another room or if we have a session or lesson operating only at one end of the room with something different happening at the other end.
"Currently it is estimated that almost 8,000 people in the Northern Beaches live with dementia. In the area it is expected to grow by 38% by 2050 and almost 150% in Pittwater alone. It is imperative that we act now, to develop communities that are safe and supportive for people living with dementia.
On behalf of Your Side, it is my pleasure to announce the Northern Beaches Dementia-Friendly Communities Project. As a valued community member and professional, I would like to invite you to be part of this project.
As many members are aware the lease on our current premises expires in 2021. The Premises Working Group has been tasked with looking at all our options.
In May we met with Kylie Walsh, the new Executive Manager, Community Arts and Culture at Northern Beaches Council at her request to brief Council on our needs. At this meeting Kylie explained Northern Beaches Council had employed consultants to look at current and future community centre needs. Kylie said Council would advise within 6 months the future of the Nelson Heather Centre.
In the meantime we are keeping alert to any opportunity for suitable premises. Clearly a key issue for us is accessible transport and parking.
Here are the results of the 2018 Member Survey conducted in late June and early July. The submitted individual answers on name, ABF number and date of birth have been removed to ensure anonymity of individual responses.
246 responses were received (more than 40%) which is remarkable in the survey world - thank you. Of these more than 85% were received online which made it so much easier - thank you again. There were a large number of members born in 2018 - hopefully this does not make it more difficult to seek Council and others' support for the value of the services we provide.
Thanks to the Benevolent Society who run the Meals on Wheels service opposite the Club, we are able to offer reservations for our mobility challenged players after 12 noon weekdays for eight of the spaces reserved for their volunteer delivery drivers. These eight spaces comprise the five left-most spaces and the three right-most spaces when facing Meals on Wheels (leaving the four centre spaces available for their volunteers to use when returning from their deliveries).
This is a favour to our club's members and it is important that we use it considerately. It is an opportunity for us to help our members with severe mobility issues.
Peninsula on Sunday 15 July successfully defended its narrow win last year in the 2018 Sydney North Interclub Pairs Challenge. We entered a full contingent in this great day played at our club - brilliantly convened by Cassandra Mitchell and supported by the generous culinary offerings of our members.
You can see the photos of the day mainly taken by Heidi Colenbrander.
The event's 58 pairs were divided by average masterpoints into three playing fields of ten, nine and ten tables. And each of these fields was divided further into two categories for the purpose of awarding points towards the pair's club.
There was an excellent turnout for the Charlie Mitchell Shield on Saturday 7 July - though it seemed several players were unaware that the Charlie Mitchell Shield had come to their normal Saturday session, despite being listed in the Diary, on the website and being announced in the previous week's session announcements.
Many were also unaware of who Charlie Mitchell was, and what he had done to help make the club the success it is today. Fortunately Sue Riley, with a little help from Ada Duignan and others, was able to fill us in on his part in the club's rich history.
The much awaited celebration of Colin and Una Mingay's amazing 75th wedding anniversary has been rescheduled for Saturday 14 July.
The arrangements are as they were originally planned. Bridge will start at 12.15pm and run without a tea break till about 3pm - and then the celebration will commence to allow all to have a good time and still not leave the club any later than normal.
Sue Riley (0412 175 367) is coordinating the event and will respond to any questions. Come and join Colin and Una if you can.
