I’m very similar to Stephen being 81 and consumed with carer’s activities.
Reading the missive by Peter it seems to me that the imminent hurdle is the AGM. Maureen please don’t resigns before the AGM. Then the five person committee fills the statutory obligation. Mauren please Resign post AGM. WAMUG exists to resolve members tech issues online from the deep understanding of MacOs iOS that members have. The forums are now too difficult to present on a monthly basis. Perhaps six monthly would work. Then perhaps an annual members fee of $15 -$20 would cover website maintenance and the mailing list and a forum fee of $50 each would cover forums separately. As well as Daniel there are several other professional Mac retail /service sites in WA. A letter to them requesting assistance to consolidate the committee is my initial suggestion. If that doesn’t work try Facebook or Instagram or Linkedin. If that doesn’t produce committee members then, WAMUG being financial could entice a student willing to commit to be an active committee member with a hardware gift- even a refurbished one. If none of these approaches work it might be possible to merge with a similarly incorporated group. Some bowling clubs are in need of a secondary interest group to bolster membership. Regards Marcus Marcus Harris Mobile +61417965618 > On 7 Aug 2024, at 10:25 AM, Stephen Chape via WAMUG > <[email protected]> wrote: > > Sometimes I wish I was a lot younger … I will be 78 in January. > > Then I may have become much more involved. > > I find driving at night difficult and I live in the Swan Valley so > physical meetings are out. > > I do not feel that my mind is sharp enough to take part in meetings > anyway. > > However I do enjoy hearing from other members and helping other members > online. > > It would be a sad day for WAMUG to disappear. > > I did notice how many people “dropped out” when the annual fee was > introduced. > > It was downright amazing that so many people actually grizzled about a > $30.00 annual fee. > > I have always appreciated the effort made by those on the committee. > > And I am sorry that I am not able to be more supportive. > > But I for one would be sad if WAMUG disappeared. > > On 7 Aug 2024, at 9:02 am, Peter Hinchliffe via WAMUG > <[email protected]> wrote: > > WAMUG as an entity is reaching an impasse. WAMUG (Western Australian > Macintosh Users Group) has been an incorporated body since 1984, ie, > the birthdate of the Macintosh computer. Long-term members will > remember the early meetings at UWA, and later Curtin University, > through the efforts of Martin Hill, Shay Telfer, John Curry and many > others. After Curtin started placing prohibitive costs on our use of > their facilities, we moved our monthly meetings to ChristChurch > Grammar > School in Claremont until clashes with school activities and > resultant > parking problems forced to find somewhere else. Member Lyn Muir > kindly > offered us the use of her real estate business premises at ProWest in > Willetton, until the premises had to be rationalised in response to > business pressures from a market downturn. so we moved to a hall in > Bull Creek. Through this time our numbers dwindled to a mere trickle > until Covid-19 hit and forced us to abandon physical meetings > altogether. Since that time we have been running our monthly meetings > via Zoom, but we have never had more than 3 or 4 members attending, > other than the committee. We have found that the effort required in > coming up with meetings themes, paying for Zoom, etc, is is not > justified given the one or two people that do regularly turn up, so > we > have greatly reduced the frequency of the meetings, which has not > exactly been met with a flood of complaints. > We now have a real problem: being an incorporated body, we are > constitutionally required to hold an Annual General Meeting, and we > are > now well overdue to do this for 2024. Maureen Smith, our erstwhile > President and now secretary, has declared that she will not be > nominating for a position on the committee, thereby reducing our > small, > tired committee to 4: Bernard Barnwell (Treasurer), Pete Smith > (Website > updates), myself (President), and Daniel Kerr, who keeps this mailing > list online and in order. Notwithstanding the fact that the remaining > members are happy to retain their involvement, if no further > nominations are received at the AGM our tiny committee will not meet > our constitutional requirement of at least 5 members. > Apart from this, we are desperate for some new blood. The current > members are generally feeilng beyond their use-by dates, and it’s > clear > that it’s up to the exisiting membership to decide if we want to > continue or not. The lifeblood of WAMUG in 2024 is this Maiiling > List, > and it is treasured by all those who contribute to it. It is > certainly > far less active than it was, but it really is all that remains of > WAMUG > is any real sense. > If no-one is willing to step up to be a Committee member at the > upcoming AGM these appear be our two options: > 1 Dissolving WAMUG, the associated mailing list and website. > 2 Changing WAMUG to an unincorporated entity in order to keep > the > mailing list. > According to the Associations Incorporation Act 2015, we will need a > Special Resolution meeting to dissolve or unincorporate WAMUG. > Changing WAMUG to an unincorporated entity. > This action Requires a Special Resolution meeting, and we still need > people to run the organisation, but our current financial holdings > cannot be retained and will need to be distributed according to the > Associations Incorporation Act 2015, which effectively means we will > be > starting again from scratch. > Whatever entity we decide to change into, we will still have to > charge > a fee for the mailing list. However, there is no insurance for an > unincorporated entity so the people running WAMUG would be liable for > its actions and results. We will also lose the use > of [1]wamug.org.au as a Domain Name. > Dissolving WAMUG > This requires a Special Resolution meeting. Again, our current > financial holdings will need to be distributed according to the > Associations Incorporation Act 2015; and again, the website and > mailing > list will disappear. > If you want to see WAMUG continue in any form, please give some > careful > consideration to what I've outlined above, and offering your services > to the committee. These days, we are running most of our meetings > online via Zoom, so there’s really no need even to leave the house! > We > desperately need some new blood on the committee and some new > directions for the future. If nothing else, we need this list to > continue. > We area aiming to hold our Annual General Meeting on Tuesday 5th > September by Zoom, in the absence of any better offers. Zoom details > will be provided several days in advance. > Kind Regards > Peter Hinchliffe > President, > Western Australian Macintosh Users Group > References > 1. http://wamug.org.au/ > -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- > Archives - <https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/> > Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> > Settings & Unsubscribe - > <http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug> > > Regards > Stephen Chape > Mac by choice > Windows because my employer knew no better > -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- > Archives - <https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/> > Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> > Settings & Unsubscribe - > <http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug> -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - <https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> Settings & Unsubscribe - <http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug>
