2019 Goondiwindi P & A Society AGM – Presidents Report
Welcome to the AGM for 2019 for the Goondiwindi P and A society and thank you for making the effort to participate.
I thought the lead up to the 2019 show was one of the driest I had seen, until we got 8 inches of rain at the showground in March. I would be glad to get just a fraction of that right now as we approach “Sounds Of The Borderline “,the first major music festival ever held at the Goondiwindi Showgrounds starting at 2pm on Saturday 26th October. The months of September/October have been busy with the B and S Ball having a crowd of 1500 people, Goondiwindi Camp draft 500 and an estimated crowd of 3000 for “Sounds of the Borderline” in a period of 5 weeks. Much of the spend from these events is new money [money from outside the district] which is good news in the midst of this record breaking drought. I feel the ground is slowly transforming its self from a country showground into a multi-faceted events centre.
The 2019 Show posted a healthy profit of $47,000 with the star performer’s financially being the Aspects Art Show and the camp draft .Fridays crowd was the biggest for many years mainly due to
the good work of Kerri and the Entertainment committee in securing the MONSTER TRUCKS for Friday night.
What have we been spending all your money on? Well here is a quick over view.
- Ground re-plumbed throughout with poly (tremendous savings in repairs)
- Connection to artesian bore (100psi at ring fence, ability to irrigate on large scale)
- Dam water from East of cutting pen connected into same system (big savings on town water costs )
- New irrigator plus quick fill for trucks at caretakers house
- 20 new stalls plus 30 double tap water points and 3 raised stall pads in back paddock (20 stalls funded)
$18,000 power and lighting connection to new shed on mound. (Joint venture with camp draft and cutting clubs.( These clubs have poured many thousands of dollars into the ground in recent years).
- Exclusion fencing on 3 sides of ground completed by Goondiwindi Town council
- Extensive modifications to stock yards and announcers box area (completed by camp draft club)
- Installation of dump point and fencing at Caravan Park.
- Completion of extensive drainage works enabling the capture of the bulk of rain fall run off within the ground and some airport run off as well for future use through new irrigation system. (Thank you to the Gore Family and particularly to Peter Gore for the outstanding job he did on this project.)
I am sure I will have missed something but that is the bulk of it so I feel the ground is progressing quickly which is in line with what the management committee and staff envisaged. Just a few projects in the pipeline include
Compliance for both staff and ground infrastructure (Kerri has done a lot of work on this and to help navigate this minefield we have periodically used an HR expert from Toowoomba.)
The show ground is the official evacuation centre for Goondiwindi. That means funding may be available for certain upgrades linked to its performance capability in that capacity. Representatives of GTC are investigating these possibilities.
A large fencing project has been proposed on the Boundary Rd side of the ground .It would enable
- Large scale contained car parking
- Possible low cost camping
- Cut out a large amount of repetitive temporary fencing which currently happens at a number of events including the show and Band S
- Significantly enhance our capability regarding large scale crowd control, e.g. ”Sounds on the Borderline”.
In conclusion I would like to thank our key staff led by Kerri Robertson, our secretary, whose diligence and work ethic have played a major role in getting the ground to where it is today.
Our Treasurer Cath Billsborough continues to handle an often difficult role with apparent ease and she plays a large part in the financial success of the ground.
To the Management committee, thank you for your ongoing commitment .Well done and my apologies for long agendas. Thankyou to the Women’s Auxiliary for their continued work as well as the Men’s Shed, Women’s Shed, and to all the user groups who have contributed to the grounds success this year. Thank you, to Ally Sutton our caretaker for many years whose tireless capacity for work and attention to the cleanliness of the ground has played a key role in establishing a reputation for the Campgrounds and Caravan Park.
Surely the 2020 show will see us in a much better season, let’s hope so!!
Cheers and good luck to you all,
Robert Mackay
P & A Show Society President
