Valley Club saved again but is under constant review
1 Nov 11
Local Directors of the Nowra Bowling Club made a determined stand at the board meeting after some weeks of intense negotiations, once the intention of some Nowra based directors to close down the Kangaroo Valley operation became known.
Ken Crocker and Ron Burcher prepared arguments persuasive enough to achieve the passage of the resolutions above and gain some “restoration or breathing space” for the Valley Club.
Ken Crocker said “The vote was close at four to three but if the club does not turn a profit in this quarter then we will probably no longer be able to continue”.
“I appeal to all residents and visitors to the Valley to make use of the facilities of the club which are first class”.
The Editor
Scotching the rumours about the Valley Club and asking for support.
As you know a meeting was held at the Nowra Bowling Club on Tuesday 25th October 2011 to discuss the current financial position and future of the Kangaroo Valley Bowling Club.
This meeting came about due to the continuing losses at the KVBC and the extreme pressure it is putting on the NBC finances and its ability to continue to carry these losses.
The outcome of this meeting is that a special Members Meeting will be held on Sunday December 4, 2011 seeking the Members approval to convert the Core Assets (Land and Buildings) to Non-Core Assets for the purpose of selling those assets if necessary to recoup the money invested by the NBC over the past 5 years that we have been involved.
The financial position of the KVBC is to be reviewed each quarter and it will be those reviews that will determine whether or not the Club is kept open.
This news should not be a shock to those who attended the Members Meeting held 2007 where the then President of the NBC, Mr Max Watt and I attended an open meeting to discuss the proposed amalgamation and answer questions.
At that meeting, I was very clear that the KVBC wanted the NBC to get involved and this meant that the Valley Club had to be strongly supported because the NBC wouldn’t be in a position to carry losses at the Valley for year after year.
They were told that if it didn’t get to a breakeven point and start to show a profit, we would take the assets and sell them to get our money back.
They were also told that we would never allow the Valley Club to drag the NBC down to a point that put the Nowra Club at risk.
Unfortunately we are now at a point where this may happen and things need to change and the first change must be the KVBC.
The continuing losses and the threat of massively expensive “pre-commitment technology” being forced upon us means that we have to take steps now.
At the same meeting in 2007, I outlined what the NBC was prepared to do to get the KVBC up and running again and what improvements and services we would introduce to give the Club a fighting chance at survival.
To-date we have fulfilled those commitments and done even more than we said we would do. Examples include a total refurbishment of the Club, purchase of a Courtesy Bus, introduction of Keno, Tourist Information Centre to name a few.
What have we done so far to help stem the losses? Over recent months we have spent additional funds on a new marketing strategy and most recently we were forced to make harsh but necessary cutbacks to the operational expenses.
Over the past two years, the Staff at the KVBC has had to endure a constant barrage of nasty rumours and accusations of wrong doing by the NBC toward the KVBC.
The most disappointing of these is that the NBC was only ever interested in getting our greedy hands on the assets to sell them out and leave with a massive profit.
This is totally absurd, what sort of business plan is that?
Why would we invest over $500,000 and put ourselves though this much stress to sell it all and walk out maybe breaking even?
If that was our plan, we could have easily done that for a lot less expense and heartache.
The person or persons responsible for starting these rumours should be ashamed of themselves and if they put as much effort into promoting the positive aspects of the Club as they have into trying to tear the club down, maybe we wouldn’t be at the point we are at now.
To date we have been unable to make a profit at any time at the Valley and the Club is now at a critical point.
What are you going to do about it?
Yours Sincerely
NOWRA BOWLING & RECREATION CLUB
Stuart Christison
Secretary Manager