Well it’s been a long time since I wrote one of these! Long standing members will remember that I was President from 2000 until 2002. During my term as president I made sure that our then monthly newsletter was up to scratch! Even if I had to twist peoples’ arms to write an article or write a lot of the copy myself under a number of guises. Monthly news, Chef’s Corner, Fly Tiers Forum to name just a few. That newsletter has become a thing of the past. News can be found on the website. However those that like the written word are catered for by this Quarterly Magazine! After my stint as President I continued to be an active club member for a number of years. Over a period of time I was beginning to suffer more and more with arthritis. This was a legacy of almost 30 years of paving, casting was becoming pretty painful. I was fishing almost exclusively in the Turangi area. When Paul Bell moved to Turangi my fishing trips had become very infrequent. By now it was more common for me not to

be at a HVAC meeting than being there! John Millar made sure that I was roped into action when he thought that “I was the Man” for the job! The series of ‘Chat Shows’ was very success- ful as were our first ventures into Skype Meetings with special guests. I made a couple of appearances as Auctioneer to boost club funds. I had introduced the quiz night at the AGM and then at Christmas. I’ve missed a couple but now I’m back with a vengeance! Well that was many years ago! The HVAC had been without a President for a while and Treasurer Chris Kuchel was doing an admirable job running the meetings. The committee decided to approach some of the past presidents to see if anyone was keen to take the helm again. Despite the fact that my fishing trips were nearly all sea fishing trips with John Millar, he convinced me to put my name forward as an ‘Interested Party’! I did and at last year’s AGM I was voted in some 20 years after my first stint. Well that’s got the history out the way lime for my 2020/21 report!

The Covid Pandemic meant that we missed some meetings and some fishing time as well. We must remember that Covid is on- ly a cough or sneeze away, so still follow all safety protocols. During the year we lost a few long standing members due to relocation to other parts of the country. Particularly John Olds who had been a club Stalwart for many years. Wayne Butson has moved up the coast and has joined the Kapiti club. Wayne’s work meant he was unable to attend as many meetings as he would have liked. However, he has been friends with George and Colin for ‘Donkeys’ years’ and they have been on many club trips. We always seem to get a bit of ‘natural attrition’. That is to say people join for a season or so and find out that club life is not for them. This year we have had an influx of keen new members. We have our first Peruvian member Sandro and our first member from the Channel Islands Graham Ling. These are just two of our new members but I thought

worthy of mention because their homelands are so far from New Zealand! John Millar is usually on the case of our new members to write about themselves in the ‘Meet the Member Feature’ in the quarterly magazine. The club welcomes all our new members and we hope that we can provide enough inter- est to become long standing members. The committee have indicated to me that they would like me to stand for another term. Likewise I have asked them of their intention to carry on in their roles. They have all said yes so that gives us some con- tinuity. During the past year we have had some great club nights with varied speakers and also input from club members. The committee are constantly trying to come up with fresh ideas to entertain our members. If you have an idea don’t be shy tell us and we’ll see what we can do. We have been entertained by the likes of Strato Cotsilinis, Braeden De Lange, Dr Jack Kos to name just some speakers. We also had a good night with John and myself showing some ways to deal with your catch! I think the deep fried Gougons of Tarakihi and Snapper were well received as an alternative to biscuits for supper! John Millar continues tirelessly to run the fly tying ably assisted by Peter Zillwood. I would strongly advise any club member to go along and see what you can learn! We as a club don’t have a large membership but I would like to make sure that we keep the members we have. I don’t see any need for a membership drive. However, if you meet an angler on the bank then remind them that we exist. All the committee have worked tirelessly all year. I will just make mention of Colin Thomson AKA ‘The Enforcer’ for his efforts in increasing raffle turnover. The raffle this year has been self- funding without any input from our general fund. I hope you all will avail yourselves of the ability to pre buy your numbers for the oncoming year. You can do it painlessly as you pay your membership fee! Tickets are $2 each or three for $5 or multiples

thereof. You can also get rid of your spare cash on club nightsto increase your chances! Here’s looking forward to a new club year.

Cheers Al