The Woodpecker

Newsletter of the Triton Owners’ Club of the ACT

Special Edition April 2014

Message from Incoming President

Earlier this year Steve Walker resigned as President of the Club. In accordance with our Constitution and after seeking general feedback from members at the March meeting of the Club, the Committee appointed me President and Ron Bryson as Vice President. I would like to thank members for putting their trust in the Committee and me to run the Club until the next Annual General Meeting.
 
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Steve Walker for the contribution he made as Club President over the past two years. He has left the Club in a strong position.

• Financially – due to the sale of surplus equipment and the successful sausage sizzle in January – we have sufficient funds to carry on existing activities whilst also allowing us to give future consideration to a range of different options and activities.
• A major legacy of Steve’s term as president has been to organise the Club’s activities around an annual theme. In 2013 the topics for normal monthly meetings were based on the Club’s project of making a computer desk. The focus for this year is box making.
• We now have access to new Club premises which allow us to continue our normal monthly meetings. More importantly they provide the flexibility which we did not previously have to hold additional meetings and workshops.
• Steve also started the revamp of the Club’s website which should be fully operational in early April thanks to Craig Perkins who has taken over Steve’s other task as Webmaster.

 
This is not to say that we do not have our challenges. A key challenge for the Club and one which the Committee is focused on is to arrest the decline in membership. We must continue to meet the needs and expectations of existing members whilst also attracting new members. We need to cover the basics of wood working using Triton equipment but we must also add variety and advanced topics for the benefit of experienced members. I think all members whether they are beginners or highly experienced appreciated the presentation by professional box maker Fred Buckley at our March meeting. The meetings in April and May will include demonstrations of the application of router and table saws to box making. Those new to the Club will get maximum benefit from these demonstrations but there will also be aspects that are new to even the more experienced member.
 
If there is sufficient interest from members we are considering booking the hall for additional Wednesday evenings to run more hands-on workshops for members. Such workshops could, for instance, be used by members who don’t have a finger joiner to use the Club’s to construct the frames for their boxes. Let us know if this is something you want us to pursue.
 
Recent excursions to Thor’s Hammer and Questacon last year also added variety to the program and provided greater opportunities for social interaction between members. A member has suggested an excursion to a local furniture maker and we are looking at incorporating this into our list of excursions for the year.
 
The Committee is also looking at ways to increase our profile in the community. The Bunning’s sausage sizzle in January, although primarily a fund raiser, also brought home to us a general lack of awareness of Triton wood working equipment. People know about Mitsubishi Tritons with many wanting to know why a ‘Triton four wheel drive club’ makes wooden toys to give away to local charities. With this in mind we are in discussion with a local Triton stockist to run Triton demonstrations over a weekend. The store manager is considering how to make this part of a major promotion for Triton gear. We are looking at how we can use it to attract new members to the Club. We will also use this event to raffle the computer desk we made as the Club project for 2013. We hope members will be available to support this promotion by helping to sell raffle tickets prior to and during the event and to provide examples of items including toys that we have made using Triton gear. We will keep you informed as plans come to fruition.
 
The Committee is also interested in your feedback on things you would like the Club to get involved in. Someone has suggested a tool swap meet. If this is something of general interest we could arrange for members who have hand tools they want to sell/dispose of to bring them along to a meeting. Alternatively we are incorporating a classified section on the new website which will allow members to post wanted/for sale adverts.
 
My intention is to provide reports and feedbacks to members on a regular basis. If Club Members are interested and provide news items I will try to resurrect the Club’s newsletter, The Woodpecker with the intention of publishing this newsletter on a quarterly basis.

John Karas
President TOCACT