BUMS Inc AGM outcomes

What happened at the AGM?

Our Annual General Meeting was held at Coorparoo Bowls Club on Sunday 1 September.  There were 34 members in attendance who joined in jam sessions led by community groups Out on Bail and NUMB BUMS.

BUMS in Numbers

The meeting itself was mostly routine.  Some interesting stats from the annual report include:

• We have 362 life and ordinary members, up from the 293 we had in June 2023.
• We ran 87 jams in the 2023-24 year, and over 3700 members and visitors came to these events.
• We ran 4 workshops to boost our member’s skills during the year. We ran a Cabaret at the Archive Beer Boutique in West End. Our big day out was Ukulele under the Stars at the Brisbane Planetarium.
• We got good media coverage with Ukulele Saints playing on 612 ABC Breakfast radio on World Ukulele Day in February.  BUMS featured on the Channel 9 News in July in a 41-second segment hosted by Bruce Paige.
• The Member Jungle system has made joining BUMS and renewing easier and safer.
• The Member Jungle App is a useful tool to stay in touch with members.  The App is used by 76% (274) of our members.

BUMS in Dollars

Simon Carter, our retiring Treasurer, reported that our financial position is stable. We have physical assets of just over $36,000 and cash of $50,498.

The timing of member renewals is different to the past because rather than having one renewal date (30 June), members get a full 12 months of membership under the Member Jungle system. 

Our books and accounting methods have been verified as appropriate for an organisation of our size by our accountants.

BUMS Management Committee

In the last two years, we have run BUMS with a small flexible committee and with the support of many members who volunteer in different ways at events and activities. We estimate at least 60 members regularly support our events. Sylvia thanked them all.

A big shout-out to Geoff Dancer and Salli Chmura who have coordinated our social media sites for the last two years.  They are taking a break, and we are looking for someone to manage our Facebook site and BUMS Online.

Life memberships

Sue Sercombe and Steve Sandilands were appointed Life Members.

Further details can be found here.

Meet the new committee

We had four nominations for the five places on the committee.  Max Borchardt stepped down as Vice President to take a well-earned break.  We thank him for his long-standing presence and wisdom on the committee and his willingness to work on projects in the future.

Thanks as well to Steve Sandilands for his work over the last two years. He is also leaving the committee but will continue in a volunteer role organising events.

The committee for 2024-25.

(L to R)

Sylvia Hunt - President

Sylvia lives in Albany Creek and joined BUMS in October 2019.  This is her third term as President.  She initially took on the role because she wanted to make BUMS a place of fun, fun and more fun.  She was a driver of the highly successful SPRUKE on the Square in 2022 and Ukulele under the Stars in 2023. Her involvement with BUMS was disrupted last year because of a diagnosis of cancer but now she is in recovery, she wants to complete unfinished business.

Peter Grace - Secretary

Peter lives in Deception Bay and joined BUMS in August 2014.  He plays with the northside community band NUMB BUMS, and BUMS affiliated bands, Ukulele Saints and Spare Parts.  He runs the Northside jam at Geebung with Andrew Hunt.  He became assistant secretary of BUMS in 2019 and has been secretary for the last four years. He was made a Life member in 2023.

Julie Sharpe – Gigmeister

Julie lives in Holland Park and joined BUMS in January 2011.  She is a teacher librarian on the cusp of retirement.    She has played with various ukulele groups, including The Bottom Line, Ukuleleia, and The Vintage Chix.  Over the years, she has been involved with teaching beginner groups at festivals, Coorparoo and in various venues, including public libraries.  She enjoys singing, playing the uke and would like to play more regularly with a band or performing group.

Peter Orford - Treasurer

Peter lives in Sherwood and joined BUMS in July 2023.  He’s new to playing music and the ukulele but loves the welcoming, happy atmosphere of BUMS. He plays with community band Out on Bail and enjoys the camaraderie of regularly practising with the same group of players. He can be seen at many of our jams and thrives on how each one is different. He’s a retired primary school teacher and is helping kids learn ukulele. He’s also learning to play bass.

Where to now?

We would like to boost the Management Committee by one or two people to enable us to pursue more projects - to simplify how we operate and widen the range of services we provide to members.  We are looking for someone with Facebook experience to run our two FB sites. We've already run 17 jams this year - what an amazing group of people we are!