FATS NEEDS YOUR HELP

At the recent Annual General Meeting, I addressed those present to inform them of a dire situation facing FATS. The executive of FATS was re-elected without any new faces. This is not new - the same people get re-elected to the same positions year after year. A number of FATS councilors have been running the Society for more than 25 years. It is not good for any Society to have the same people in charge for a long period of time. While saying this, I acknowledge that the executive is very competent and willing- but they (and I) have been there too long.

I have asked the membership for a number of years now to consider stepping up and joining the executive. This request has not produced new blood. Quite the reverse, the members keep telling us that they are happy with what we are doing and for us to continue on.

We have reached crunch time. A number of the executive (including myself) have indicated that they will stand down at the next AGM. If there are no people prepared to take up the vacant positions, the Society will fold. FATS is an incorporated society and must have a number of designated executive officers.

So this is a call for help and a warning. Societies survive through the input of its members and not through the input of the same people over and over again.

Please think carefully about how you might help FATS. If you are worried about not being able to do the tasks at hand, don’t. The outgoing executive will still be around to help you with the work and to show you the ropes. A new executive may choose to operate FATS quite differently to the present administration and may choose to drop a number of our current activities, or they may choose to add new ones.

The future of FATS is in your hands. As a member of FATS, you need to think carefully about how much you value the Society and whether you want to see it continue or not.

IF you want to discuss any of this, feel free to contact any of the FATS executive (including myself). Be brave and do what you can for FATS.

Arthur White

President

1999-2023