Canning Vale is chartered

Success for Western Division Governor Mark Richards

Mark Richards

With the help of Robyn Richards as co-founder and a team of supporters Mark has steered Canning Vale to charter.

The background

Mark and Robyn live in Canning Vale. Robyn has a business there. Mark is a postman at the Canning Vale Centre. They had a general intention to start a club close to home. Then Mark joined the New Clubs Planning Committee organised by WA New Clubs Coordinator David Nicholas and became a founding member of WA Governors. From his experience with Governors and detailed discussions with David Nicholas he realised that money is a key issue with starting community clubs. They have to be advertised – which costs. A venue has to be booked – which costs. Who would help?

The business plan

Mark is a postman. What if he was to get printed a set of flyers and in his own time letterbox them in Canning Vale? A great idea. The cost of the flyers – a bit less than $400. Enter District 73 – there is money available in the Marketing budget for publicity. So Robyn booked a great venue – the Canning Vale College. Who would help with the cost? WA Governors contributed $250 and Mark’s home club, Victoria Quay, $300. That covered the expenses of the venue, supper and some printing.

Mark got on his bike and the flyers lodged in the letterboxes.

The Demonstration Meeting

What a success! March 11, 6.30 pm at the Canning Vale College in Dumbarton St. 62 people, including 11 Toastmasters. Have a look at the Agenda, if you want to see how it was done.

The meeting was vibrant and successful. The Question and Answer session at the end had Mark and David busy answering queries from people who obviously intended to join. Robyn was ready with Charter Member Application Forms (they are different from the standard 404 New Member Applications). Alan Smith, Treasurer for both Victoria Quay and WA Governors, was there with a receipt book and took joining fees from several people who paid on the spot.

The Charter Meeting

Of course Canning Vale meets weekly – the top 4 Clubs in District 73 at this point all meet weekly. So next week on March 18th, with application forms and fees pouring in before and after the meeting, Canning Vale held its formal business meeting, adopting the name, the Constitution and the Bylaws and elected the Officers. Here they are. (Click on any one to see a slideshow of all.)

The Club Executive

Robyn Richards President	Mark Richards Vice President Education	Phyll Lightbody VP Education Apprentice	Billie Griffiths Vice President Membership
Diana Veitch Vice President Public Relations	Jenny Ramshaw Secretary	Mick Turner Treasurer	Michael Geisler Sergeant at Arms

Send the documents and payment to World Headquarters

A club isn’t chartered until not only the documents have been sent, but the payment had been made to World Headquarters. Mark didn’t muck around. Off it went and the Charter was registered on March 19 – Club 1133609, Canning Vale Toastmasters.

Congratulations to Mark and Robyn, the Founders.

Congratulations to Steve Barry and Ross Wilkinson, both from Gateway, who are Club Mentors for the first 6 months. Congratulations to all the Toastmasters who helped with the brilliant Demonstration Meeting. Amazed admiration to District 73, to WA Governors and Victoria Quay who came up with money. And our best wishes to all the Founding Members and those who have joined since. You have a vibrant, energetic club with committed officers. And you meet weekly. Next year I’m sure you will be up there with the top clubs in the District.

Canning Vale on April 8th, 2008

At the meeting on Tuesday evening, April 8, 2008

This is a confusing issue for many new clubs.

Canning Vale was chartered in March, and therefore the 6 months membership fees took them up to the end of August. But Renewals were due by the end of March. Mark was equal to the occasion. He sent off the US$4.50 per member for the extra month. Canning Vale has renewed. (That’s an example for our other new clubs, chartered since October, 2007.)

David Nicholas DTM
WA New Club Coordinator

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