Your Board members are: Jane Hobday; Sue Wilson; David Pooch; Duncan Mackay; Pierre Mitchell.
Wangapeka has a board of trustees and we meet monthly. Once a year we have a longer meeting in the form of a “board retreat” and this was held at Wangapeka earlier in February. Most of what was discussed was procedural stuff but some is newsy and some affects all those who go to Wangapeka. Here is a sampler of what we talked about.
Special diets. We had previously decided to charge a premium for special diets such as gluten free to cover the extra costs and management involved but this was met with some dismay. Some people felt this was discriminating against those who had special diets. The idea of a surcharge has now been dropped but the cost of all food is being increased by $3/day as from the first of June. The food budget is designed to break even over the year and the amount you pay at a course also covers food for the teachers and any other volunteers the Centre is supporting. Food costs have not been increased for some time thanks to good purchasing but now we need to catch up with inflation.
Accommodation will also be increased by $2 per night from 1st June 2017 so that we can keep ourselves in the black
Waterfall track bridge. Readers will remember that the bridge was washed away during heavy rain that caused a slip. Keith Rowan designed a replacement bridge and preliminary work has started. The two massive laminated beams needed have arrived at the Centre and are currently having a rest near the main hall. It will take a gang of people to get them to the actual site as I understand they weigh about 100kg each. Concrete blocks for the foundations have already been Sherpa carried up to the actual site. There is quite a bit of preparatory digging to do as the site is steep and we need to create some level ground to position the footings.
Annual General Meeting. There will be free food and free accommodation for the AGM weekend, the same as last year. This will be on 29 and 30 July, the actual AGM will be on the Sunday morning. We look forward to seeing you there.
New Accommodation. Conversion of Mike’s tool shed Irene and Patrick have done a great job of emptying Mike’s tool shed ready for conversion into accommodation. Currently it is being used to store construction materials for the new waterfall track bridge. Keith Rowan has drawn up plans to convert it into two accommodation units that will be suitable for volunteers. He is currently talking to Tasman Council about it all. Donations towards this project would be very welcome.
Pema Ling. (that’s the hut a little below the chook office) Brandon, Guy and Patrick, successive land caretakers have made their home in this hut. It is a really nice hut but its composting toilet apparently never has worked properly. It does have a septic tank though and the hut has a building permit so we are currently looking at putting in a flush toilet.
Mike’s caravan. Irene is living in it just now and she has tidied it up even further. Irene has been a real treasure for Wangapeka and has put a huge and sustained voluntary effort into clearing tracks, cooking and house keeping. A big public thank you to Irene.
Financials. We are trucking along quite nicely and our “operations” are expected to break even this financial year. And that is pretty good for a not-for-profit organisation. However, our capital works e.g. the waterfall track bridge and converting Mike’s tool shed will come out of reserves. These are currently running down and we need to keep them at a safe level so this something we are watching. Course deposits (apart from weekend events) have been increased fro $50 to$100 and are non-refundable. Further, retreatants will be encouraged to pay their course fee in full before they arrive to reduce arrival pressures. Most payments are being made electronically nowadays so we are looking at having an eftpos machine at Wangapeka as well. This will help people who wish to buy a book or make a donation and don’t have cash, an increasingly common trend amongst millennials.
– Dave Pooch