Thanks to everyone who came out and attended our AGM, nice turnout which is great to see. A huge thanks to those who let their names stand for positions on the board, and of course big thanks to everyone from letting me stay on another year as President. I had hoped this year would be as trouble free as last year, but of course, that can’t be the case. I’d like to apologize to Wayne Meyers for getting it all backwards as to who was the head of the Sagittarius Archers Club. That’s now been fixed and Wayne’s name has been put back where it should be.

Continuing on the trouble free note, it is vitally important that if someone has a safety concern about operations at the club that they bring this to a board member; if you don’t get any satisfaction, alert the whole board. Rumors can be incredibly damaging to our club, both from a membership perspective as well as from a legal one. If you have a concern: voice it; attend a meeting; send emails; make phone calls – just make sure we know about it.

We have a lot of things that need to get done this year, some by our club members at work bees and some by hired contractors where we can’t do it ourselves. Please keep an eye on the calendar to make sure the range isn’t closed while some of this work is being done, and you want to use the range. The more people that show up to the work bees the more we can get done, and the less we have to hire out for. If you or someone you know is an electrician, carpenter, cement finisher, draftsmen etc, please let us know if you are willing to help out a little at the club. We’ve got people with these skills already who do help out, but it is unfair to constantly ask them to do all the work. The more the merrier.

Speaking of the calendar, again, please check it before you come down to the range. We do have closures that occur now and then either for work, or rentals to our law enforcement agencies. I’ve heard from a number of you about how annoying it is to show up and find a couple of the ranges rented, yet then admit to not checking the calendar. I know it needs to be improved and moved to the front of our website, and that is going to happen with the revamp. But until then, please make sure you check it before coming down. Corrections Services Canada rental with us has not changed in probably the last 20 years, they have one range, usually Range 2 (the 100m) Monday to Friday until 3:30pm, but occasionally on Range 3 as well.

Rentals are a big topic right now as well as some members feel that we have been renting out the ranges too often. I would love to hear some more feedback on this. Do we rent too much? Should we rent less and raise our fees next year? Let me know your thoughts. You can email me at president@abbotsfordfishandgameclub.org. I’m excited to be working with our new board, the most new faces I’ve seen in a long time, and hope to get some more great projects started (and maybe even finished) before the year is up.

Stay safe and watch your muzzle direction,

Rob Engh