April and our AGM are fast approaching. Hopefully, by then, we will be coming out of current restrictions with new opportunities to take the club forward, starting with a return to a sense of normality which will certainly seem new. I hope it will not be remiss of me to remind you that we need new people to volunteer for the board before the AGM. The board is where the business and planning for VCC take place. Please contact one of the current members if you want to know more.
Despite restrictions, we’re doing very well operating almost completely online. Membership has continued to grow each month for this entire season. We added 12 new members in December and January, bringing our membership up to 254. All our online events and our field trips are going strong. The mentorship program has 18 Mentors, and 29 Mentees. The information and schedules for all of these are available on the website.
Our club is turning 80 in 2024. It seems almost too far away to mention but planning for the celebration has already started. Lead times for venues and for speakers can be more than a year, so it requires early and detailed planning. With that in mind, there will be a member survey coming out later in the year. We’ll be looking for general information that will help us continue to deliver the right programming to our membership and assist us with the planning for our 80th anniversary celebration.
At our last board meeting, we were presented the budget for 2022 by our treasurer, Bob Law. We are financially healthy with projected revenue of $49,500 and with projected expenses of $50,835. The small deficit in this budget will be more than offset by the previous year’s surplus. In our budget planning, the avoidance of raising the dues is always top of mind. This budget has no increase in dues. It also assumes we will begin partial in-person sessions later in this season, with a full resumption in September. The budget passed unanimously.
The 2022 BC 55+ games are coming to Victoria this summer. There will be over 30 sporting events taking place at over 30 venues from September 13th to 17th. Thanks to a large group of volunteers, Victoria Camera Club will be providing the photography for the entire event. The images will be posted on our website and on the Flickr site of the Games Committee.
Thanks again to all the volunteers who make this club as successful as it is. We couldn’t do it without you.
Steve Sproston, President