Prior to 7/05/04, any proposals to change the constitution had to be put on notice and voted on at two consecutive General Meetings. The motion passed only if it gained a two-thirds majority at each vote. This was a tedious process that discouraged change.
On 7/05/04 the Members voted to drop the requirement for the second, validating, vote.
The Constitution put the quorum for the general meeting at 35. Relatively recently, there has been such a poor attendance at the meetings that there was seldom a quorum. However the matter has been resolved on 1 August 2008 by a change to the Constitution making the quorum 30.
Some years ago (4 or 5?) there was concern that attendance at the general meetings was falling. Members were asked why. Some expressed the opinion that it was the business that put people off. Some suggested that reading out of the minutes was a cause. There was some argument but it was decided to put copies of the minutes at the back of the hall for members to read when they arrived at the meeting. Some members felt this arrangement was unsatisfactory.
At the General Meeting on Friday 5th Sept 2008 a motion was put that the Club revert to the practice of the minutes being read out at each general meeting as had previously been the norm. The motion was passed.
The Tasmanian Tramp No 37 was launched on 15th Sept 2008. It is a publication for which Helen Daly and her team are to be congratulated. Gill Fitzgerald's front cover picture taken at Crescent Bay is eye-catching. The sketches are of a high standard. Mary Armsby and Bill Slattery have been contributing for a long time.
I overheard someone commenting that there were a couple of articles not about Tasmania. Up till about 1990 the Tramp accepted only articles about Tasmania and some members were fond of describing it as 'the only Tasmanian geographical publication'. But some argued that Tramp was, first and foremost, the Club journal and as such it should aim to serve the interests of members. It was agreed that a few articles not about Tasmania would be accepted provided they had a Tasmanian connection such as a Club member writing about their overseas trip.
Peter Allnutt claimed that there were no mistakes in the Tramps produced while he was the Editorial convener and he always appraised successive productions critically. He would provide a list of 'errors' and this became irksome to the editorial committee. There is no denying that his nit-picking set a high standard. So far I have found only two nits to pick. The first line in each paragraph is inset in some articles and not in others. 'Mount', 'Mt.' and 'Mt' are all used. For consistency, if Mt is used at all it probably should be used throughout. The abbreviation 'Mt.' is not consistent with the Australian Style Guide.
The monthly general meetings were lively and entertaining. They were well attended and there was a good proportion of young people; failure to get a quorum (35) was unheard of. It was taken for granted that members of the Executive, sub-committee convenors and leaders of recent walks, would attend.
Each convener gave a report on the activities of their committee. This helped to keep the members up to date with committee activity and gave members the opportunity to question the conveners and comment on their activities.
Leaders of walks for the previous month were each asked to give a brief report on the walks they had led.
It was comparatively easy to get a handle on who was who and what was going on in the Club.
The situation has changed dramatically. It is difficult to get a quorum of 30. Some club officers seldom, or never, attend the general meeting. Some officers and sub-committees seem to be separate from the Club. Membership is falling and there are no young people joining.
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