President’s Annual Report for 2019/20 As President of the ACT Branch of Lord’s Taverners Australia, I am pleased to present my report for 2019/20. Support for the Young and Disadvantaged We were pleased in this financial year to be able to disburse $38,107 to deserving causes which support our aim of giving the young and disadvantaged a sporting chance. As in past years, this included “Spirit of Cricket” awards for Cricket ACT’s competition; Junior Taverners Awards to the value of $1500 each, plus a Kookaburra cricket kit to two promising young cricketers from the region – Clare Levings and Ethan Fitzpatrick; funding for Cricket ACT’s program for the development of cricket for girls; a contribution to the National Cricket Inclusion Championships, which are played among all-ability teams annually; and a contribution to Sunrise Rotary’s Dream Cricket Gala Day, which enables young people with disabilities to play cricket. This year we also provided tickets to enable a group of 70 indigenous children from the Clontarf Foundation to attend an international match at Manuka Oval and funding to enable Variety Every Chance to Play to meet club fees for economically disadvantaged young cricketers. In response to the extraordinary conditions faced last summer, we provided $2500 to help five cricket clubs in drought-stricken rural areas of NSW keep going through the season and $1650 for Cricket ACT’s fundraiser for bushfire-affected clubs. As well, for the 13th successive year, the Lord’s Taverners ACT Disabilities Scholarship scheme provided scholarships and grants to the value of $8500 to 13 young athletes. We also continued to provide support to Pegasus to assist riding for children with disabilities. Details of the funding provided for each of these activities and projects is set out in the Treasurer’s Report, together with details of funds raised during the year. Membership and Fundraising Members numbered 139 as at 30 June 2020. Their subscriptions and donations were, as ever, the foundation of our fundraising, and their support was greatly appreciated. The fundraising highlight of our year was the breakfast we hosted at the National Press Club, in partnership with Cricket ACT, on the day of Australia’s match at Manuka in the Women’s T20 World Cup. Phil Lynch MC’d a panel comprising Mel Jones and Leah Poulton, who were joined by the Australian coach, Matthew Mott, and Australian players, Erin Burns and Delissa Kimmince. The 100 guests included the Governor-General and Mrs Hurley and the Chief Minister. The former Governor-General, Sir Peter Cosgrove – a member of the Lord’s Taverners ACT – and Lady Cosgrove were guests of honour at our Prime Minister’s XI/Annual Dinner. We were again pleased to be named as the designated charity for the Prime Minister’s XI match. As noted in the Treasurer’s Report, due, in part, to the coronavirus pandemic restrictions, our disbursements for the year exceeded the funds raised. We entered the new financial year with -2- a bank balance in excess of $15,000, plus a further $700 in the “Tavs Fund” (donations to which are tax deductable). In the absence of opportunities for fundraising events of the usual kind, we have had to focus hard on other ways of raising money to meet this year’s commitments. Membership renewals and donations have been encouraging and we have benefitted from sales of the excellent wine which Geoff Merrill has bottled and labelled especially for the Taverners. Under Noel Smith’s leadership, we are also investing a lot of energy into preparing for the National Raffle. We are hopeful that it will be possible to hold a winemakers dinner and one or two cricket- related events over the next six months. These may include a function to which we would aim to attract a new cohort of younger potential members. Should these events not prove possible, we will consider further some of the ideas that have been put to us for possible online (or virtual) fundraisers. Committee Matters Your Committee worked hard again in 2019/20. We were delighted to welcome Nan Bak and Murray Radcliffe to the Committee in 2019/20, and have benefited from their presence. The Committee will undergo further change after this AGM. After five years in their positions, Kit Morgan, our Vice President, and Noel Smith, our Treasurer, will step down; Kit will re-nominate for the Committee and Noel will remain on board to run the raffle ex officio. We are indebted to them both for their service in their respective offices. Committee member Keith Hardy has nominated for the position of Treasurer and we are fortunate that our long-standing Secretary, Chris Hunter, has renominated for that position. David Nicholls, our longest serving committee member, a former Branch Secretary and Chairman and one of our two Life Members, will stand down at this AGM. He will be missed from the Committee, but we hope he and Larraine will remain close to the Lord’s Taverners, to which they have both given so much. We used the period of pandemic lock-down to address a number of governance matters. In particular, we revised our Constitution to ensure it is in line with ACT legislation as it effects organisations like ours and meets Australian Charities and Not-for-Profit Commission requirements. The revised draft Constitution will be put to the AGM for its consideration and decision. We are greatly indebted to Dr Peter Lundy for his invaluable assistance with this work and to Chris Hunter for his hard work in presenting of the draft changes to the AGM. Communication with members and the community continued to be strengthened through a website diligently maintained by Hamish Arthur. Whether through the website, personally or through the Lord’s Taverners ACT’s social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn), we remain open to feedback from members, especially about our major events. A number of sponsors and supporters have continued to be good to us this year. We thank especially Muriel Wilkinson, whose generosity continues to underpin the Junior Taverners Awards; Gail Farr for her great help with the disability scholarship program; Konica Minolta; Kookaburra; DOMA Hotels, owners of the Hotel Realm; Fox Antiques; Rebel Rebel restaurant; Cricket ACT; Canberra golfer Brendan Jones; and our honorary auditor, Dennis O’Connor. Ric Smith 1 October 2020 .