Residents’ Association never sleeps

By the time this edition goes to print we will have just held our 19th AGM.

Yes, that means next year SRA will be turning 20.

You will be hearing a lot more about this in the coming months as our anniversary approaches in April.

I would like to take a moment and reflect on the year just passed. First and foremost, I would like to acknowledge the efforts of our committee of volunteers and thank them for their contributions.

Development in Southbank never sleeps and keeping up with the rapid pace was no small feat. Southbank is a dynamic and ever-changing suburb, which ensured that we always had a tonne on our agenda that needed our consideration and input.

Throughout the last financial year, we made 10 submissions to the council, three to the Planning Minister, one to both Consumer Affairs and State Parliament and presented to two planning panel hearings.

In the panel hearings we were invited to present to, we made a significant contribution, and in both cases, the SRA was thanked by the panel chair for our thorough, well-thought-through and detailed submissions.

It goes without saying that many hours went into each one and we have our committee to thank for that.

On a lighter note, we also continued to hold trivia nights and launched our “New to Southbank” information evenings.

Each of these events was well received by the community and was a great success. Our most recent trivia night was held in September and I would like to personally thank the community sponsors who make the night special through their generosity – Crown Entertainment, My Goodness Pizza, Natasha’s Skin Spa, Australian Book Review, House of Cards Espresso and David Lumsden.

 We hope you, the community, are benefitting from our efforts and continue to support our work. Membership numbers give our organisation standing, so if you support what we do but aren’t a member, please consider making a tangible contribution by becoming a member or assisting our committee by joining a sub-committee.

Remember you can also like us on Facebook to keep abreast of what’s happening.

To join, please visit our website at southbankresdients.org.au or send us an email to [email protected].   I have renominated to join the committee in this coming year and while a few valued committee members will be standing down at the AGM, I look forward to working with the newly-elected committee in our 20th anniversary year.

Having said that, I would like to briefly single out and thank my secretary Tracey Allen who has been the silent editor of this column for two years now.

Her input has been invaluable and I’ll be sure to miss her professional writing skills.

If there is any topic you would like me to write about then please let me know.

Finally, thank you to the community for your continued support.