Page 241 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 16 February 2011
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In recent times, the club have made some very important strategic decisions about how they are going to continue operating. They have consolidated onto one level, they have refurbished the premises and they have made a few other exciting changes, including bringing the kitchen and the kitchen staff back in-house, which is something that they are very happy with and, I believe, is going extremely well. The food that we ate on the evening was certainly a tribute to that decision.
I would like to put on the record my thanks to the board of the Canberra Club, the president, Ray Dawson, the vice president, John Bundock, and the directors, Neil James, John McDermott, David Ward, Rick Reeks, Chris Stephens and Michael Jamieson.
The celebration on 5 February featured Ita Buttrose AO, OBE as the guest speaker, and she delivered a fantastic speech. She has had a very interesting life, including, of course, as the founding editor of Cleo, working for Women’s Weekly, editor of the Sydney Daily Telegraph and the Sunday Telegraph, amongst many other things. It really was a fascinating presentation she gave and a fascinating link to Canberra. The stories that she told of her time in Canberra when she was working in the press gallery and doing other media work in Canberra were quite fascinating and a wonderful link and a wonderful correlation to the work of the Canberra Club over the last 80 years.
As a piece of trivia, I understand the Canberra Club was the second venue in the ACT to be granted a licence to serve alcohol, beaten just by a few hours or by a day by the Royal Canberra Golf Club, which I think is something which might annoy the club slightly, that they just missed out, but it certainly does show the role that the Canberra Club has had in the development of Canberra as a place where men until 1995, and men and women since have been able to share times with each other in a casual and relaxed atmosphere.
I would like to commend Neil Patchett, the general manager of the Canberra Club, for the great work he is doing there. They are certainly making, as I said earlier, some important strategic decisions about the future of the club. They are tough decisions and ones that do not always rest well with the membership. In well-established organisations, that sort of change can be hard to take but I think he and the directors are doing a great job.
Finally, I would like to thank Tracee Hancock for her work in putting together the function. She does a great job as manager of the functions and the work that she did in putting that event together was superb and was borne out by everyone having a fantastic time.
So, in conclusion, I congratulate the Canberra Club on their 80 years to date and look forward to the exciting future the club has to offer the people of Canberra.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
The Assembly adjourned at 6.33 pm.
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