Secretary’s Report - August 2022

Greetings to you all. With summer weather bursting upon us after such a long wait, I am afraid the month of July just whizzed past me, hence this double month issue.

First, as you all know, we were obliged to postpone our summer picnic because of rain. Right in the middle of a stretch of wonderful weather, we had a couple of days of rain, bang on the date selected for our picnic. Postponing the picnic is immensely frustrating, but much better than sitting on a soggy blanket pretending one isn’t cold (and miserable).

Do not despair, however, as our newly formed Entertainment Sub-committee is on the case, and hopefully will come up with a couple of activities for us to do as summer morphs into autumn.

As I mentioned in my June report, we have been welcoming some new board members to our fold, and they are in the process of getting further involved in our society. Expect to hear more from them as the year progresses.

If you are interested in knowing who these new board members are, please take a look at our website (vocs.ca, as if you didn’t know) where you will find their names, as well as the sub-committees we have.

In the meantime, I have been looking at our membership profile, and I attach a bar chart showing the decade in which our members matriculated.

A couple of caveats about this chart. First, the figure for the 1960’s decade looks suspiciously high. The 1960’s of course, were a fabulous decade (I know, I was there). My memories of that era might be a bit fuzzy, but they are very good! I do wonder, however, why the 1960’s figure should be so much higher than that for the 1970’s or 1980’s.

Secondly, the chart only uses matriculation dates as its data point. It makes no distinction between those who attended either university for an undergraduate degree, or those who attended for post graduate work. It is therefore not an entirely reliable indicator of age.

Thirdly, we have had some trouble with our website over these summer months, and I fear that not all new joiners of VOCS have yet been captured by our software. The trouble, I am happy to announce, has now been resolved, thanks entirely to our new webmaster who, unlike me, actually knows what he is doing when rooting around behind our website.

The chart does clearly show, however, the age profile of our society. There is a significant increase in our younger members, which I find very encouraging. All clubs and societies need a constant influx of fresh blood to keep them current and prevents staleness.

I should also add that of our 4 new board members, 3 belong in the 2010’s category.

One activity I can announce, even at this early date, is the date of the 2023 Boat Race Dinner. The race itself will be held on March 26th 2023, and we have reserved the RVYC for our Boat Race Dinner on April 29th 2023. Please make a note in your calendars. Further details will be announced in due course.

Simon Taylor (VOCS Secretary)