28 December 2020 – 

A larger-than-expected turn-out of more than 40 people attended the Lord’s Taverners ACT’s first event since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the 2020 Lord’s Taverners ACT Annual General Meeting (AGM).

The strong turn-out for the AGM, which was held on 1 October at Royal Canberra Golf Club and conducted in accordance with pandemic social distancing protocols, was, in part, attributed to it being the first major Lord’s Taverners ACT event since February.

The AGM reflected on Lord’s Taverners ACT activities in the preceding 12 months, which was well summarised when Ric Smith delivered his President’s report for 2019/20. In presenting his report, Ric said the pandemic presented a range of challenges for a charity such as the Lord’s Taverners, but that the organisation has done its best to try to overcome these.

“In the absence of opportunities for fundraising events of the usual kind, we have had to focus hard on other ways of raising money to meet this year’s commitments,” Ric’s report said. “Membership renewals and donations have been encouraging and we have benefitted from sales of the excellent wine which Geoff Merrill has bottled and labelled especially for the Taverners.”

As of 30 June, there were 139 financial members of the Lord’s Taverners ACT.

The AGM also considered amendments to the Constitution of the Lord’s Taverners ACT which were, among other things, designed to:

  • Align it with relevant ACT legislation;
  • Ensure it is compliant with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission;
  • Reflect more accurately the current focus of the Lord’s Taverners ACT; and
  • Simplify and update some of the language used.

All of the proposed amendments to the Constitution were supported.

The process of developing the amendments for consideration by members at the AGM was led by Dr Peter Lundy and Lord’s Taverners ACT Secretary, Chris Hunter.

“We are greatly indebted to Dr Peter Lundy for his invaluable assistance with this work and to Chris Hunter for his hard work in presenting the draft changes to the AGM,” the President’s report said.

In recognition of the exceptional service Dr Lundy has given to the Lord’s Taverners ACT over many years, he was admitted as an Honorary Member of the Lord’s Taverners ACT.

On the election of committee-members and office-bearers, Hamish Arthur, Nan Bak, Deb Clayton-Baker, Mike Crane, Keith Hardy, Chris Hunter, Kit Morgan, Murray Radcliffe, Ric Smith and Asoka Wijeratne were re-elected to the committee of the Lord’s Taverners ACT. Two new members were elected to the committee – Bruce Calder and Adelaide Jones. In 1998, Adelaide was a recipient of a Graham Wilkinson Memorial Junior Taverners Award – and she brought along to the AGM a photo of her receiving the award 22 years ago!

Noel Smith, who has done an outstanding job as Treasurer for many years, stood down from the committee, but he will continue in an ex officio role, primarily to coordinate the Lord’s Taverners National Raffle in the ACT.

Also retiring from the committee was David Nicholls, who, in 2017, became the inaugural life member of the Lord’s Taverners ACT.

On David, Ric’s report said: “He will be missed from the Committee, but we hope he and Larraine will remain close to the Lord’s Taverners, to which they have both given so much.”

To read the complete version of Ric’s President’s report, please click here.

The following office-bearers were elected: Ric Smith, President (re-elected); Nan Bak, Vice President; Keith Hardy, Treasurer; and Chris Hunter, Secretary (re-elected).

The AGM also recognised a number of people and organisations who supported the Lord’s Taverners ACT in the past year. These included Mrs Muriel Wilkinson – whose generosity continues to underpin the Junior Taverners Awards – Gail Farr for her work on the disability scholarship program, Konica Minolta, Kookaburra, Doma Hotels (owners of the Hotel Realm), Fox Antiques, Rebel Rebel restaurant, Cricket ACT, Canberra professional golfer Brendan Jones and the honorary auditor of the Lord’s Taverners ACT, Dennis O’Connor.

Another feature of the event was a presentation delivered by the Chief Executive Officer of Cricket ACT, James Allsopp, about past/future initiatives, including the upcoming summer of cricket.

A raffle was also held at the event.