Chair Persons Report

Annual General Meeting of The Bellinger Valley Community Communications Co-operative Ltd

4th November 2010

Last year, the Chinese curse of “may you live in interesting times” held sway for 2BBB. The floods and the financial downturn could have combined to wipe us out completely. But we have proven to be a resilient little organisation and we are this year enjoying the steadier waters of less interesting, but also commensurately less scary times.

That we did make it through was indeed a fantastic team effort – a true testament to Volunteering with a capital V. Thanks must go to Cherie for keeping such a diligent eye on our day-to-day management, and to Ellie for selling so many sponsorship ads in very difficult circumstances and then organising the in-house production that goes with such sales. More than the balance sheet, it is the Volunteers who so freely give of their time, skills and efforts who make us truly well off as an organisation  None represent that volunteering spirit more clearly than Dorin Hart - Bellingen Shire's 2010 Citizen of the Year. We will all be eternally grateful for the hard work and leadership that Dorin gave us in 2009 to help us recover from near-obliteration.

To take the Chinese philosophy further - From Crisis has come Opportunity. In many ways, the place was desperately in need of a shake-up and a clean-up and we got that in spades. The refit of the station itself (which we celebrated with our get-together on the first anniversary of the big flood in March) has been impressive; The new, more powerful transmitter has given us a signal that can be heard louder and clearer and further and wider than ever; The relay transmitter which was puny and on its last legs has also been replaced.

Apart from new furnishings, we have a new DDN and we are becoming better equipped, wired, networked and more computer-orientated by the month.  We still have to work out what to do with the troublesome remnants of the old vinyl, but apart from that, 2009 / 2010 saw us getting rid of so much old junk.

Thanks again to Dorin’s organisational skills, we now have a clear IT policy (which may need the odd tweak, but at least helps us to begin to get our act together for the digital age) and we have a Programming Committee which is in the process of being revitalised and reinvigorated.

The Van has continued to represent 2BBB out there in the Shire – at the fortnightly growers’ market and at the Global Carnival. Thanks go to Tark and now to Graham and Alice for taking it on in Tark’s absence. Thanks also to Katie Anna Leo and the team for the hard and important work of broadcasting Live from a very, very wet Bellingen Global Carnival.

New blood is always vital to a volunteer organisation like 2BBB, as people inevitably drift away from time to time for various reasons. Since the last AGM we have had another successful Training Course run by Dorin, with Leo’s help. Due to their efforts, we have enjoyed that influx of new presenters that is so important in keeping us on air.

In terms of the upcoming year, as always with community organisations run on a shoestring, if we can keep our heads above water and keep going the way we have this year, it will be a major achievement.

We are hopeful that at some point in this next year we can take that quantum leap of getting 2BBB up on the Internet and out there in the far flung corners of the Bellingen Shire and the wider world. We can also start to use the new mobile technologies to get the Van broadcasting from further and wider events and places around the Shire; Watch this space.......