President’s Update – November 2023

November 2023 Update: Taieri Recreational Tramping Club 

Hi everyone, 

Running a bit late with this, but following our birthday party and AGM, a bit has been happening so  here goes. Firstly …. 

Welcome 

Who needs marketing teams to drum up business when our reputation for visiting interesting places  and walking, talking, drinking coffee and eating ice-cream is out there. So welcome to Carolyn  Pridham, Heather Reid, Chris Bezett, Val Cayford, Katrina McKenzie, Lenore Armstrong, Wendy  Langley, Sylvie Watt, Adrienne Ensor, Vivienne Manning, Karon Read and Jenny Wilton. We are  enjoying your company. 

Photo Show for 35th Birthday Celebrations 

After a bit of experimentation and playing around with options Ross has placed these photos on his YouTube site and these can be accessed at https://youtube/004hkDp4xt4. On your smart device/TV  they can happily be displayed to add background to a romantic dinner or showing others that we  have not aged down through the years or….. 

Summer Trip Programme 

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions and for the teams putting the programme together. The programme is presented in two ways on the website.  

  1. listed under “Recent Posts” – “Upcoming Trips”  
  2. can be printed direct from the link “copy of trip programme for printing”. Due to the dynamics  around trip organisation please note the “Upcoming Trips” is the most timely information. 

Fuel costs have been adjusted for the summer programme and a reminder that the club will  reimburse a driver for doing a recce where the fare is $10.00 and over per person times 3 = $30.00.  An email to the Secretary ([email protected]) confirming the recce was done and the date will be  sufficient for the reimbursement to be arranged. 

There are some trips where a grading is not shown, this can be due to a variety of reasons, maybe a  first time, or the exact details are not finalised until the recce is complete and the leader provides a  confirmed grade for the weekly email. 

One of the actions being undertaken by the Webteam is to build a master spreadsheet of all the  tracks that we use/ have used. We intend to add to this list the grading of the track as well as when  the walk was last undertaken. This spreadsheet will have multiple benefits, not the least being having  one master rather than multiple lists to comb through when compiling upcoming trip programmes. 

We have also made some small changes to the Grading document to emphasise that we are grading  the track, not fitness. The grading of a track is the same regardless of which group is undertaking it.  To assist in getting track profiles completed, feedback on gradings is always welcome and could be  included in the feedback when write ups are completed etc. 

With the ongoing changes to the contact list of members the Committee has agreed that a hard copy  will not be kept with the locator beacon bag; members (and Committee) can download a copy onto  their phones.

Webteam 

The team met recently to review how they are operating and to discuss detail, which happily most of  us don’t see, but which is critical to the functioning of the team and maintenance of the website. The  eagle eyed amongst you may notice some subtle changes. Subsequently myself, Jenni Wright and  John Gardiner joined the team. 

It was agreed that 

  • a session will be run for those interested in sending in photos to the Webteam  from time to time, the master photo (Saddle Hill) on the home page be refreshed  we assess options for refreshing the website 
  • we assess back up options for maintenance of the more IT aspects of the website; this is  quite critical as what may appear as quite easy requests or functions actually require  multiple pages of instruction! 
  • we evaluate what information sets require passwords/be restricted or unrestricted 

It was also agreed that a fourth web team member be added to the team to give more flexibility and  that also we identify a back up for the Communications Officer especially in the more detailed areas  of the website administration. If anyone is interested in assisting in these roles, please contact/  discuss with Ross Davies. 

Kelvin Heights 

Arrive Sunday 25 February 2024 – depart Friday 1 March 2024 

Just a reminder to pencil this in and detail will follow in due course. This will focus on walks with no biking organised this time. Contact Anne at [email protected] if you require more  information at this time. 

Xmas Lunch and Walks 13th December 

Pencil this one in, to be held at the North Taieri Church Hall. More information shortly. Note the first walk in 2024 is on the 17th January 2024. 

Track Clearing 

A separate note will follow very shortly but as mentioned the aim is to continue the work of Neil  Morrison and Arthur Heenan by taking a working bee approach under the umbrella of the Green Hut  Group. I have met with Arthur, Neil and Graeme Elliott from the Green Hut Group to confirm how we  could assist and under what terms and conditions, as the Green Hut Group has formal arrangements  with DCC and DOC. All we need now is volunteers! 

Thanks everyone and looking forward to a warm dryish summer of walking. 

Phil Keene 5 November


Link to President’s Update information Library  for previous updates

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