For the past four years, GEC has been lucky to have the wonderful Liz Jones at the helm in the role of President. In this time, Liz has contributed so much to the club, and under her leadership, membership has grown and the club has gone from strength to strength. Thanks to Liz, we’ve welcomed a host of incredible instructors and coaches across all disciplines, and it’s safe to say Liz’s Dressage Days have become legendary! Of course anyone who’d attended one of our events will be familiar with Liz’s formidable skills as traffic warden!!
2020 marks the start of a new chapter, with Liz stepping down from her term as President. We’d like to say thank you to Liz for everything she’s done – and thank you for staying on in the role of Vice President for the year ahead. Liz, GEC simply wouldn’t be the same community without you.
At the same time, we’re also thrilled to welcome a new Club President on board: Pam Pike. A longstanding member of GEC, Pam has served on the Committee, and has also introduced the popular ‘Positive Partnership’ days (which we’re please to say will continue this year). It takes someone special to fill such big shoes – luckily Pam has all that it takes and more!
Our first challenge this year: deciding how to best show our support for bushfire victims.
It was heartbreaking to see fires tearing through so many communities, and many GEC members were vocal in their desire to take some positive action. After doing our due diligence, the Committee decided that the Club would donate $1000 to the Salvation Army via our long term and generous sponsors, Bendigo Bank who have teamed up with the Salvos. Bendigo Bank is giving a 100% guarantee that all funds only get used for victims (no admin costs). We have also donated a further $1000 to the Animal Welfare League NSW as they are who the major charities are using to help our animal victims of the bushfire crisis.
We know that money simply cannot compensate for the loss that our fellow Australians have experienced – but we hope our contribution will ease some of the immediate suffering in affected communities.
Looking ahead, we’re excited about what the year has in store.
At GEC we strive to be an inclusive club where we champion a wide range of equestrian sports and activities. This year, members and visitors can expect to see plenty of fun and challenging events on the calendar – from our popular Dressage and Showjumping competitions, to Working Equitation days, coaching clinics and much more. “We’ve tried to include as much diversity as possible to give everyone a chance to participate in the things they enjoy, as well as the opportunity to try new things,” explained President, Pam Pike.
GEC Membership is now open, with an early bird renewal discount for 2019 members.
For the first time, we are using Nominate Clubs as our membership platform, which means new and existing member can join in minutes online. We received 35 memberships in the first two days, so we recommend that you waste no time joining up!
To join GEC (or to find out more about the Club) visit www.galstonequestrianclub.com.au
We hope to see you at the Rural Sport Facility soon… here’s to a fantastic 2020!
