NEWSLETTER # 1
Hi All,
Herewith then our first effort as far as the fortnightly newsletter from the www. gardenrouteparagliding.blogspot.com is concerned, and we can only hope that it will be of some service in keeping you abreast of the current processes re re-structuring the Garden Route Paragliding Community, general items of interest and the like. We shall be adding some capacities as we go along, such as inputs/tips by experts re matters paragliding, etc. The first one of these will be appearing in newsletter #2 and will be in the form of comments and tips regarding a few of our local sites, kindly offered by Roland de Vries of Windmaster Paragliding (www.paraglidingsa.com).
The blog (www.gardenrouteparagliding.blogspot.com) has been active for just over a week now (Well over 300 views) and responses have been really positive, without fail. We have also seen good activity as far as responses are concerned, but more so in the form of direct mails, as opposed to postings on the blog itself. However, we published the page pertaining to the inputs regarding re-structuring items only three days ago and which can be found at http://gardenrouteparagliding.blogspot.com/p/blog-procedures.html and would like to encourage you to have a good look at the content and then share your thoughts with the rest of the community by posting them on the blog. Alternatively, you are most welcome to mail them to us in whatever form might be most convenient for you. We render a copy of the content at hand here, for the sake of convenience:
IWC - Public Meeting
This section of the Blog is specifically aimed at rendering an opportunity for interested parties to review and comment upon inputs received as to the processes involved in harnessing the capacities of and opportunities available to the Garden Route Paragliding Community. It is not an exhaustive or limited view, so new items and perspectives will be highly appreciated and these can either posted directly on the blog or mailed to us, and then we shall either post it as a separate item or work it into the collated material. It may be submitted in your own name, or anonymously, kindly indicate your preference.
It should be noted that the material presented below is a condensed view of the inputs received, as of 31 May 2011. This condensed view has been compiled from some of the points raised at the ‘George Meeting’, informal discussions in person or per e-mail amongst interested parties, formal meetings of some structures in the area and notably the commercial operators, as well as some written proposals received by the Interim Working Committee. In the event of a reader requesting a copy of the formal proposals received, such request will be forwarded to the author of such proposal for authority to forward it to you or not.
One of the results hoped for by this service, is to assist with the arrival at an agenda for the Public Meeting as was discussed at the ‘George Meeting’. The opportunity is also there to give interested parties and specifically people who will be part of the voting constituency the opportunity to evaluate their own position re some of the matters at hand, see the inputs and discussions of other people, so as to be able to partake in the eventual meeting on an informed and considered basis.
Kindly contact us per e-mail for copies of the original documents that was used to arrange and guide the ‘George Meeting’, should you not have had the opportunity to view them.
Indications are that the Public Meeting will be able to be held towards the latter part of July, given that a number of the interested parties will be at the Barberton event, the coming school holidays, also the need to give all of us sufficient time to peruse the material presented and prepare comments or inputs.
It has been proposed that initially the main items for consideration be listed, along with a few bullet points as to alternatives under that heading, and then to regularly collate comments received and present them on the Blog in a SWOT format, or even simply ‘points for or against’ (Pros and cons, if you prefer), where applicable. It is therefore important to note that this is a dynamic process and publication which will thus continuously be amended to show the progress made in terms of inputs received, and interested parties are implored to regularly visit this section so as to remain in touch and updated as to this process. An easy way to do so is to accept the invitation to the mail group, either in your original invitation, or by using the Google Groups subscription function at the top left of the Blog front page. It may be easier to simply ‘copy and paste’ the material below and then to insert your comments under/next to particular items. Please note that this is not a requirement, but it will make our task of collating and presenting inputs easier.
The main items for consideration that have been established thus far are the following, shown in capital letters and as headings – with the alternatives or variations below each heading:
A. STRUCTURE
1. A completely new APEX body for the region, as home for all members
2. A completely new APEX body for the region, with affiliated clubs (Existing or new)
3. An existing club to be re-formatted for the new vision,same name
4. An existing club to be re-formatted for the new vision,new name
5. Whatever new APEX structure emanates – Association, Section 21 company, Trust, Cooperative?
6. People eligible for management, almost a Yes/No scenario – current club committee members, commercial tandem operators, site owners
7. Period of service as office-bearers, semester/year, revolving
8. Required sub-committees
9. Costs of the APEX structure and committee actions and events
10. Constitution and formalities – requirements
11. Local disciplinary and dispute resolution procedures
12. SAHPA relationships and participation
B. SITE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
1. Audit re status quo and requirements, outline of budget required
2. Process to determine a need or not
3. APEX body to manage this directly or another independent structure
4. Reporting format and schedule re financial activities and affairs
5. Level of fees - local pilots, national pilots, international pilots, commercial operators per segment as previously
C. COMMUNICATION PROTOCOLS
1. Member code of conduct/ethics re open/mail group communications, disciplinary procedures
2. Submission format of complaints, proposals, inquiries
3. Reporting format and schedule of management structures
4. Required media tools – blog/website, mail groups, scheduled newsletters, events
D. PREPARATORY MEASURES FOR PUBLIC MEETING
1. Audit of existing club memberships
2. Criteria for voting ability at the Public Meeting
3. Criteria for Chairperson/Facilitator
4. Voting procedures
5. Media formats – digital, print in local papers, SAHPA
6. Minutes – recording of meeting, capturing, signing-off procedures, distribution
End.
AUDIT/SENSUS
One recurring item in conversations and submissions received deserve our special attention, and that is the matter of establishing a credible database as far as local pilots and clubs are concerned. There seems to be general confusion and credibility issues pertaining to some of the figures that have been in circulation and we hope to be able to assist with establishing or contributing to a process aimed at clearing this up. It will also be of great assistance in respect of the arrangements for the mooted Public Meeting, and for the purposes of showing what and who the local voting constituency will be comprised of.
But we would obviously need your help as far as this project is concerned and we thus request that you supply the details requested below and mail them to Maurits Lammers for collation – the address to use for this purpose is lammers@mweb.co.za.
The following information will be of great assistance, so please take a minute to forward it to Maurits:
Name
Permanent location
Time in Garden Route per year?
Garden Route flying - flights over the last year, please indicate which sites you mostly use and the estimated number of flights per site?
Member of a club, if so, club name?
GENERAL NEWS:
We have taken a lot of your time already so one item only, an extract from a mail from Jan and Khobi re Slovenia:
Hey All,As you may know we are in Slovenia doing some flying.
Anyone interested in some news and some photos check out our news page and gallery.
http://www.cloudbase.co.za/index.php?comp=article
Thanking you for your time, Cobus Potgieter and Maurits Lammers.
