President's Letter

by Ann Byrne, President

July saw the cold weather intensify our work on moving to new premises.

Now it doesn’t sound too difficult does it? Find some new premises and move.... We wish! The actual search began back in January, with Hugh Bambrick, Gabrielle Wright and Craig Gibson given the criteria we were looking for and told to sally forth and find. Location was topmost on our list of wants. By April we had a short list. And luckily, a place which fit all our requirements was on the list - thanks to Darrell Burkey, who alerted us to the property.

Nothing is that simple, however. The rent is higher than our present premises BUT it has air-conditioning, heating, inside toilets, a training room that is separate from the main area, and is ground floor level, adjacent to a bus interchange and close to shops. For those interested, commencing around the middle of September, Northpoint Plaza in Belconnen is where we will be calling home.

The Committee has spent a great deal of time working out what will go where and what we will need in the way of electrical outlets, cabling, fitout, etc. In fact, all our cars can now almost find their own way there!

The Committee feels that a move from Fyshwick is prudent for several reasons:

a. Our membership has increased to the point that we have outgrown our present premises. That is, we simply need more space!

b. Public transport to and from our present premises is inadequate, and with the recently-imposed restrictions, parking facilities are lacking.

c. Our present training room is hard to access, difficult to lease commercially, and too small for further expansion.

d. The Centre in Fyshwick lacks adequate heating and air conditioning.

In addition to Belconnen, we considered locations in Phillip and Civic. Commercial sites in Phillip are still not close to transport, and ground floor accommodation is prohibitively expensive. Also, very few sites in Phillip offer heating or air conditioning. And Civic sites were just too expensive. Hence, the site at Belconnen got the go ahead.

No matter where we move, there will probably be a few members who find the new location to be inconvenient. After all, no location is right next door to everyone. Nonetheless, I hope most members will support our choice.

Nomination papers for the new committee are included in this month’s Sixteen Bits and once again I appeal to you to consider nominating. We are moving into an exciting time and I’m sure you will find it rewarding.