The 2017 AGM was certainly one to remember.

 Life membership was bestowed upon Dianne Onslow for her services to the CPPA and landcaring in our community. Three new faces also joined the Committee. Kay Morgan has stepped into the Treasurer’s position relieving John Gill of a role he has commendably fulfilled for the past six years. Harvey Mitchell will be tending to the membership and Diana Sharpe is keen to expand the CPPA’s activities. It looks to be another year of making progress.

A summary of the annual report is provided below, the full report is available here.

A Commendable and Committed Committee

The Progress Association Committee met 11 times throughout the year to discuss the business of the association and progress projects. The Committee donated over 600hr of time and talent to the running of the Association.

Funding applications

• Community Building Partnerships- Safe and Sustainable Solutions for Progress Hall- $19,993- completed (See Hall report)
• Learning to Adapt Training- S Pritchard offered 1 day of training
• National Landcare Conference $1000 for attendance- S Pritchard attended
• Hunter Local Land Services- The Fern & The Burn-the movie- $850 in production
• Bunnings donation - $50 for nestbox construction
• Volunteer Small Equipment grant- $4340- outcome not known
• Science of Sustainability grant $3000 outcome not known

Submissions

• Submission on proposed changes to NSW Biodiversity and Conservation laws
• LT Creek SNG - Support for proposed Awaba State Recreation Area 
• LMCC - Toronto Recreational Land Plan 
• EPA- Magpie deaths around Rofe Street- deliberate poisoning
• Transport NSW - Lake Macquarie draft Boat Storage Strategy

Major Correspondence with LMCC

Rates

Ongoing correspondence to reduce our rates was pursued. All avenues for a rate reduction were explored with the final outcome being a request to sell the rear portion of the CPPA land in the acquisition zone being submitted and accepted by LMCC. This should be finalised in 2017.

Naming of Reserves

• Name for South Laycock St suggested- Kilibinbin
• Name for Pony club suggested as Puntei Park

Dinghy Storage

• Proposal for a pilot of dinghy storage with CPPA

Development Applications

A subcommittee, Residents for Responsible Lakeside Development was formed to provide a vehicle to address development applications of community concern. This subcommittee has produced and distributed additional flyers that have resulted in increased awareness and submissions lodged to proposed developments.

Significant development proposals this year include:

• DA1243- 2 Brighton Av to 133 Excelsior Parade which has progressed to the land & Environment Court
• DA1835/2016 151-155 Brighton Avenue- Hirecraft marina site

Community communication

There were ten editions of the Coal Point Chronicle produced in the past year distributed to 1500 local residences and emailed to a distribution list of 215 subscribers including members, supporters, media, local councillors, State and Federal representatives.

The Progress Association’s Facebook page has 93 likes, up from 49 at this time last year. (didn’t quite make the 100)

The Chronicle also makes a significant contribution to the Associations’ finances through the sponsorship of spaces promoting local businesses. Sincere thanks are given to our sponsors past and present proudly displayed throughout the Chronicle.

This year 183 hours went in to the production and distribution of the Chronicle through the considerable volunteer efforts of many. Many thanks to the Chronicle Crew for making it happen; Tony Dynon, Barbara Lawrenson, Robyn and John Gill, Nicole Haigh, Dianne Onslow, Jenell Heslop, Robyn Steiner, Heather McRae, Tony & Bernie Lother, Ian Dennison, Nico & Chris Marcar, Sue Burrough, Lois Simpson, Steve Dewar, Suzanne Pritchard, Hetty Fedley , Anne Green and John Johnson.

Activities of the Association

The past year has provided multiple opportunities to connect with the community and share the CPPA’s achievements. The activities undertaken included.

• Presentations delivered at 2 Wildlife Nestbox workshop for Community Environment Network (CEN)
• Fire and Steel habitat enhancement workshop at Progress Hall for Hunter Region Landcare Network
• Presentation to Toronto Women’s Probus about CPPA 
• Landcare week bus tour of Stansfield Reserve
• Habitat talk at Carey Bay Preschool
• Hosted 2 TAFE field days of bush regeneration
• Freshen Up Frenzy- Hall working bee held
• National Tree Day planting at Carey Bay Wetlands- 
• Schools National Tree Day at Coal Point Public School
• CPPA Christmas Lunch at RMYC
• Presentation at CEN’s Lake Macquarie Networking gathering
• U3A site tour of Stansfield Reserve- along the Garden Path
• Stall at Lake Mac Heritage Festival 
• Science Week (August) preparations have begun

TASNG partnership

The CPPA continues to develop a strong partnership with the Toronto Area Sustainable Group (TASNG) through supporting and promoting their activities and assisting with membership renewals and collaborating on funding applications such as the Tossers Can Be Binners and Community Building Partnerships Pedestrian Paving options projects.

Thankyou to our Members and Volunteers

The Progress Association is indebted to all the volunteers who give their time and talents for the greater community welfare and the members whose support is vital for the organisation to be able to represent community views.

Sincere thanks to all the volunteers who provide support for the Association in managing hall bookings, hall maintenance, newsletter distribution, social events, catering, photography, excel spread sheet mastery, data collection and collation, providing local insights, professional expertise and landcaring.

Treasurer’s Report-John Gill

This year has been one of increased and varied financial activity. The Community Building Partnership Grant provided funds for major projects in and around the Progress Hall and additional funds were drawn from the CPPA Current A/c to complete and add to these projects. The Threatened Species Last Stand Project settled into its 5th year with a variety of activities that required re-imbursement to CPPA from LMCC as the administrator of the Project funds.

The big ticket items- LMCC Rates ($3613) and Insurance premiums ($3861), are items that CPPA, at present, cannot avoid. Electricity expenses for 2016 are higher as CPPA settled into forward purchases of power from Powershop and to prepare to benefit from the installation of the solar panels.

The income sources of Subscriptions, Donations, Hall Hire and Sponsorship of the Chronicle provide the majority of CPPA’s income. The deficit of $2403 for the year reflects the interaction of these issues.

CPPA offered membership in two forms in 2016: Single or Family. In 2016 CPPA had 42 Single members and 48 Family members (or 98 people) and totalling 138 persons. There are 8 Life Members of the Association.

Once again this year CPPA offered to collect memberships for the Toronto Area Sustainable Neighbourhood Group (TASNG). 78 CPPA members took up the offer.

CPPA is very fortunate in having a volunteer auditor in our community who has again reviewed and reported on the financial statements of the Association. The Committee highly values his expertise and the time devoted to this annual task.

Finally, I extend my thanks to the members of the Committee who have been so supportive of my role in the Association and of the regular financial reports at each meeting. Together, we have achieved a great deal in 2016.

Landcare Report- Robyn Gill

How to sum up a year of landcaring in the special reserves of Coal Point/Carey Bay?

• hours of volunteer work cheerfully given – 1558.5
• new plants in the ground – 890 
• enjoyable morning coffee/tea/water/chat breaks (goodies supplied by Suzanne) – say 49
• marvelling at the growth of known and unknown plants after a controlled burn - 198 ++ hours (numbers provided by our Statistician and Photographer in Chief – John Sharples from records compiled by Lois Simpson)
• sense of satisfaction as weedy areas are transformed – immeasurable!!
• Slight discouragement as weeds rebound balanced by enjoyment of the growth and variety in what nature provides 
• the company of friends who share the task and its results- fulfilling

As we start on the last year of the TSLS project that has provided so many advantages in our work we have been able to adapt and share the planning in a helpful way that will carry over to future efforts.

Growth of the group and recorded knowledge of the environment we share continue to be a huge reward from the THREATENED SPECIES PROJECT.

Hall Report-Ian Dennison

The NSW Government’s Community Building Partnership program supports projects that encourage community participation, inclusion and cohesion, and deliver positive social, environmental, inclusive or recreational outcomes. We were successful in obtaining $19,993 of funding from this program for 4 projects at the hall:

1. repair a rusty section of the roof and gutters (above the toilets and covered area),
2. install a rainwater tank and pump, and plumb to bathrooms, 
3. replace the scruffy old chairs with nice new (lightweight) ones, complete with a trolley to move them about, and
4. install 20 solar panels (5 kilowatts), and a new electrical switchbaord/meter box

The grant didn't quite cover the total external costs, and we ended up spending about

$2000 of our savings, as well as expending many labour hours of committee and volunteer effort (around $13,750 worth!).
We are delighted with the results of the projects. As well as saving water and people's backs we also expect to see a reduced power bill for many years to come. It is early days but peak output of the solar system so far has been around 4 kW, with around 20kWh produced per day. We don't use much power when the sun is shining, so most of this will be exported to the grid worth about $400-$500 pa. The savings will be welcome, and represent a pretty good return on the CPPA funds spent.

The new lighter and softer chairs can now be stacked and easily moved on their trolley saving space and people’s backs. We would like a better permanent solution for storing all of the chairs when not in use, but in the meantime the new chairs should generally be left stacked and on the stage.

And a final note - the bathrooms (toilets and sinks) now use rainwater, which has to be pumped from the tank, so please be aware that if the electricity goes off so will the bathroom’s water (but kitchen will be unaffected).