2022 AGM

The 2022 AGM for Winchelsea Community House followed its usual agenda to review the past year, with reports by the House itself and also by the groups that are a part of it. In short, it's been difficult but good progress is being made.

In spite of a closing financial loss for the year, Winch House is recovering well from the disruptions that have so heavily affected everyone in the community. Expansion into the Shire Hall has taken up a lot of time and effort, and there is much more to come for that space. Occasional Child Care is seeing much change in terms of legislation, funding and demand yet remains a popular service - it too takes up lots of time and effort to manage. Ongoing activities such as the Craft Group are back. Courses and new activities are being planned.

The various groups operating under the wing of Winch House have done some great work - Men's Shed, Wensleydale Community Group, WYLD, Wildlife Shelter and Wurdale Recovery Network continue to get things done. Each one of these groups is volunteer-powered and makes our place a better one to live. Their reports will be published here in the coming weeks.

Our thanks to Councillor Adrian Schonfelder for officiating the Committee elections. All positions were declared vacant and promptly re-elected as before, so no change there! We do welcome a new Committee member, Cromwell Hooper. Over the coming year, the Committee will be continuing to develop a more detailed Strategic Plan with some specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound (aka SMART) goals.

A big thankyou to all that enable Winch House - visitors & participants (hopefully that's you), Surf Coast Shire, state & federal agencies, donors and grant funders (special mention to the Foundation for Rural & Regional Renewal and their donors The William Buckland Foundation and Equity Trustees, for a $9,000 grant towards renovating the Shire Hall kitchen - coffee machine will be online soon!). And of course, my personal thanks to the staff, the volunteers and the Committee members for pulling it all together and making it happen.

Our vision for Winch House is "To be Winchelsea's community centre for inspiration, growth and enjoyment". To achieve that, we'll need your help - your ideas, suggestions and advice on what to put on and make available (and how to resource it), your expertise as a tutor, your guidance as a Committee member, and most of all your participation in activities and events. There are many irons in the fire at the moment so watch this space and we look forward to seeing you soon.