Another very important milestone this year which created a huge amount of fanfare, was the 140th Sailing Season Opening Day on Saturday 7 September and, after all the formalities, one of the biggest Opening Day parties ever was enjoyed by our Members and VIP guests. So, everything you have already read has been about what has been achieved in the year past but, looking to the future, we have set our sights on building a Strategic Plan to help set objectives and the key goals for continued improvement of not only our physical assets and infrastructure but also our long-term financial security and sustainability. In conjunction with the new Strategic Plan, and its measurable annual targets, we are also about to embark on the development of a Masterplan which will reassess all our current assets and explore opportunities to ensure the Squadron’s continued success and growth for many more years to come. Obviously, it has been an absolute delight to be able to summarise all the positive achievements and accomplishments over the last year and I honestly could not do it without the support of an outstanding team of great leaders including Wendy Johnston, Mark Dingley, Glen Scott, Alicia Soszynski, Simone Hasker and Rob Brown. Equally, they are only able to do their jobs successfully with the support of their own departmental teams as well as the various Committees and Volunteer groups which work tirelessly in tandem with them. It is not really appropriate to single out any others but there are a few people who I would particularly like to thank and acknowledge for their support in the past year. First, Lynne Jackson, who everyone knows as a very long-serving employee, who retired late 2021 to become ‘just’ an Honorary Life Member, and who I then dragged ‘kicking and screaming’ back out of retirement on the promise of “just a few more months, Lynne …” and who is now still here nearly three years later! Thank you, Lynne! To Fraser Spencer — Life Member, Club Architect, Chair of Works Committee and someone who I worked side-by-side with through both the Longhouse project and Clubhouse renovations — we did have some testing moments and a few ‘battles’ over colours, textures and decisions, but both agree we would do it all again in a heartbeat! Thanks, Fraser! To the Flag Officers — Commodore John, VC Curtis and RC Todd — you are ‘The Three Amigos’ and I’m glad you all have my back as I have yours! Thank you for your trust, help, support and advice over the last year. Together we have all achieved so much! To all of you, our Squadron Members: sure, we all have our ups and downs, and things don’t always go the way we hope or expect, but you are all amazing and give me the encouragement to keep doing what I do. We all want RQYS to be the best it can be, and no one person can do it alone. It is the combined efforts that all of you give that make the Squadron special. Thank you and let’s have a fabulous 140th Year! n OPENING DAY: Squadron Patron Professor Graeme Nimmo rfd, Naval ADC Cdre Stephanie Moles ran and RQYS Cdre John Warlow Fraser Spencer and Melissa Hardy 7 Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron Yearbook Mainsheet 2024 Chief Executive Officer’s Report
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