Dear Westgaters,
firstly, thank-you to everyone for all your stellar efforts to help make stout Extravaganza a resounding success. It's always a club effort and without that, we would have been stuffed. We had over 130 entries. To those that collected them, thank-you. To Michael, who entered all of them into the database and transported them to The local, to Clare who organised the majority of prizes and collection (and help split them with Dawn, to JK who washed glasses all day (and got Ellerslie stuff too) to the crew behind the bar, to the stewards, the data entry folk on the day, THANK-YOU. To everyone that came and filled in the gaps, bought a meal, bought a raffle ticket and supported your club, thanks. Unfortunately, we didn't win the club of show (very controversial and hilarious) we did run close.
For those that were nor there on the day, we also undertook the unusual step of awarding John Kingston life membership as he won't be at the AGM. John Kingston has been a stalwart of the club for many years and took us from also rans in many ways, to a proud and passionate club. His leadership and advice has always been for the benefit of the club and he puts the club before anything else. Under his leadership, the club has become extremely strong both financially as a competition entity. Whilst we aren't all about winning, John encouraged us all to be better, brew better and then put those beers into competition, to simply show that we are good enough. It was fitting that the committee made this decision. Both John and Michael now have life membership medals that Grant organised when he got the extravaganza medals.
Brewer of the year was a very close call. It's wonderful that it came down to the last competition. It goes to prove that many of you are fine brewers. You also heed the advice of the more experienced brewers, try different techniques and want to be better. Walter has come a long way in his brewing and was the most consistent brewer at the club this year. Well done. Commiserations to the rest of us. Not forgetting that we start again next month and BOTY is once again up for grabs.
Unfortunately, Warthogs have decided not to run pale ale mania this year and will be winding themselves up as an incorporated club. The interest simply isn't there from members. We, as a club, don't have that issue. We've had several new faces this year on the committee and I'd like to thank everyone for their efforts and work over the last twelve months. It hasn't always been easy but we got there in the end! I make special mention of Grant who has indicated he won't be treasurer again after 5 years. He has been a great counsel, very meticulous and bought a wealth of experience to the role. Thanks to Peter for his work this last year. He too has indicated that he won't run again. All positions are open and anyone is welcome to nominate on the day for any role. As long as your constituents vote for you, you may get a role! There are a few holes to fill...
The bulk buy is on. You've had an email. Peter has done a lot of work on this. It's a mammoth task. Please support the club and buy some stuff. Stuart included the links to the pages in the mini newsletter. This bulk buy will end in two weeks. There will be no late ordering. If you're not sure about what to buy, ask Sunday! Monies will be paid into the club account.
Anyway, thanks for giving me a go, for the last 12 months. I've done my best.
See you Sunday.
Ferg
