January 2025 Newsletter
Chairman’s Corner
Roger Parks
Presentation Day
Our annual Presentation Day will be held on Saturday 1 February with bowls concluding at 3:15pm when afternoon tea will be served. The presentation to the club championship winners will commence about 20 minutes later.Due to the shorter bowling day, green fees will be $10.Future Challenges
Like many other small businesses, our club is facing cost pressures.Later this year we are due to renegotiate the greens maintenance contract which has been fixed for the last 2 years. This contract makes up almost one third of our expenditure and we will most likely need to allocate additional funds to meet future costs.Staff costs have increased by 11% over the last year and energy by a similar amount. New fire regulations cost more than $6,000 over and above the existing contract and we are anticipating an increase in insurance premiums following the California bushfires. Council rates, another major expenditure item, are also increasing faster than inflation.The Club’s income is derived mainly from rent (45%), members (33%) and bar (18%).While the major rent items have indexation, this has been less than the underlying rate of inflation. Also, because we have long-term agreements with our major tenants there is no scope to increase rent beyond the agreed indexation. Members contribute through subscriptions, green fees, the bar, raffles and donations. Member numbers have been steady over the past few years but there is a recent trend of declining bowling numbers which has a flow-on effect on green fees, raffle numbers and bar income.Finding new members is difficult, and opportunities to recruit from Probus and other bowling clubs, as we have in the past, are very restricted.Carrying on as we are and making up any shortfall with increased fees will not be sustainable in the long term. The Board is examining these issues and may have to make some changes to existing arrangements.Vale Brian O’Connor
Brian was Chairman of the Northbridge Bowling Club for 18 years before crossing to Roseville after NBC wound up. He continued on to Lindfield until a couple of years ago until he was no longer able to drive. He was well respected by everyone, particularly the Northbridge members.Grant Application for Disabled Toilet & Women’s Locker Room Refurbishment
Unfortunately, the Club was unsuccessful with the grant application for this project. No specific reason was given but one suspects that us seniors in a relatively well-off area are not a priority.Happy bowling!Roger Parks
Chairman
Financial Update from the Club Treasurer
Ian Kimmorley
Notes From the Treasurer
In what feels like a flash of time, we have completed the first six months of the new financial year.I have finalised the Club’s financial results for the six months to 31 December 2024 and reported to the Board.As our chairman has pointed out our results, whilst acceptable, show there have been some challenges over the past six months. Also, some ‘head winds’ have been identified particularly with the new Fire Safety regulation, known as AS1851, to be effective 13 February 2025. This regulation for our club, in short, revolves around compulsory five-year servicing of our fire hydrants, at street level and at the front of the club premises. An initial quote indicates the cost will be around $6,500 each time and I wouldn’t be surprised if the servicing exercise uncovers further as yet unknown work. This is on top of the project we undertook over the past year or so to upgrade all of the club’s old smoke detectors. That was also an expensive exercise. Hopefully, when we become compliant with AS1851, the club will then be on top of all of our Fire Safety requirements.For those of you who are not aware, each year we need to have our fire service company, Betta Fire Protection, sign off a compulsory Fire Safety Statement (FSS) to council, indicating all of our equipment is compliant with current regulations. The FSS needs to be submitted to council by 30 June each year and regulation AS1851 will now form a part of the club’s annual FSS.For the six months to 31/12/24 our trading performance can be summarised as follows: 31/12/24 31/12/23 Movement · Total Revenue $180,067 $187,175 -$ 7,108· Total Expenses $174,660 $188,445 +$13,785· Net Profit $ 5,407 -$1,270 +$ 6,677Some of the larger movements for the period have been:· Green fees $41,448 -$ 4,093· Bar sales $30,152 -$ 3,030· Council Rates $19,613 -$ 1,247· Rents received $85,469 +$ 6,277· Repairs & Maintenance $3,069 +$11,857Bowling numbers for the six months were 2,180, the reduction of 152 being a major reason for the decline in bar sales and green fees. We lost six playing days to wet weather and two days of very high heat reducing numbers. In addition, Christmas Day fell on a Wednesday this year. The number of lost playing days was very similar to that of last year.Overall, we are in a good financial position, our Balance Sheet is sound, we have a very small amount of Creditors, our cash holding is $368,272 and I expect we will make a profit for the year, albeit it will be softer than last year.If any member wants to view and of the club’s financial records, please don’t hesitate to ask me.Ian Kimmorley
Treasurer
What’s Been Happening?
2024 CHRISTMAS LUNCHEON
The 2024 Christmas luncheon was held at the Northbridge Golf Club, which proved to be a popular venue. Attendance was strong, the food was good and the ambience up to the usual Lindfield Rollers high standard. Our thanks go to those responsible for making the gathering a success, especially Nick Wiener.Here are a couple of photos from the day.
Our 2024 Christmas function, held at the Northbridge Gold Club
Is everyone paying attention?
Competitions
The results of the 2024 club competitions are, of course, all listed on the club’s website. I refer you to the website for more information, with photos of winners and runners-up (in most cases). It is pleasing to see a variety of faces appearing in the finalists parade, including many of the “usual suspects” and some not so familiar stand-out performers.Perhaps it was fitting, given how much they do for our club, that our Chairman and President, Roger Parks, was club Singles Champion in the men’s competition, and Louise Amos was club Singles Champion in the women’s competition.
Roger Parks & Louise Amos
Looking ahead …
It is, of course, now 2025, which means that Pennants Season will soon be upon us. This year the Open Gender competition has been shortened to six weeks and begins on Saturday, February 15th.A practice round against Chatswood club has been arranged for February 8th, with Grade 5 matches taking place at Lindfield and Grade 6 matches at Chatswood.Before then, as noted in the Chairman’s report above, our annual Presentation Day will take place next Saturday, February 1st, from 3.15 onwards.A Smile on Your Dial
(And some images to interest you)
Here are some good comebacks:
And here are some unusual photographs:
Mercury, Venus, and Saturn aligned with the Pyramids of Giza on 3 December 2012. This happens only once every 2737 years.
Above the mouth of the Catatumbo River in Venezuela, lightning occurs 160 nights a year, 10 hours a day, and 280 times an hour. This is what that phenomenon looks like.
The MGM Lion's roar was recorded using a gramophone after the lion was filmed. The roar was used in MGM's first sound film, White Shadows in the South Seas, which was released in 1928.
A strawberry under the microscope
The skin of a spider, much magnified
“The Weight of Intellect”,
or perhaps how you feel after a heavy night out?
Here’s an evil little thought:
And speaking of texts:
Finally
“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”
- Oscar Wilde
“In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.” - Abraham Lincoln
Till next time …
