President's Report

Sydney Estonian Parents’ and Friends’ Committee ‘Sõrve Sõbrad’

President’s Year in Review report to the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Sydney Estonian Parents’ and Friends’ Association (Sõrve Sõbrad)

29 March 2009

Committee Activities

At the 30 March 2008 AGM of the Association, the following Committee was elected, with executive positions allocated at the subsequent Committee Meeting on the same date: Lembit Suur (President), Maie Pikkat (Vice President), Barbara Kalamäe (Secretary), Aino Matwisyk (Treasurer), Kaili Lehtsalu (Minutes Secretary), Katie Nelson (Leader Liaison), Neil Warner (Adult Liaison Officer), Toni Lehtsalu and Aaron Matwisyk (Media). Siiri Iismaa, Arvi Lehtsalu and Kati Koreneff left the Committee. I would like to record my thanks for their contributions as Committee members, and for their continuing support for the Association’s activities. Peeter Muttik and Sulev Kalamäe were elected to the Audit Committee.

The Committee held eight meetings during the course of its operating year (1 February 2008 to 31 January 2009), including one meeting immediately after the 2008 AGM and one with parents at Sõrve in January 2009. The Minutes for each of these meetings have been distributed electronically to interested members of the Association.

This was our first full year of activity as an incorporated entity under the Associations Incorporation Act 1984 (NSW). As a result of incorporation and the requirements of our new Rules of Association, some changes were required to our method of operation to formalise particular aspects of our activities and to meet particular reporting requirements.

Two of our objectives on incorporation were to pursue public liability insurance cover for our activities, and to explore the availability of Government grants. In relation to insurance, we received a quote on an annual package of insurance cover suitable to our not-for-profit status and appropriate to our activities from a leading insurance broker, AON Risk Services Australia Limited. This package included voluntary workers personal accident cover, public and products liability and protector liability (directors and officers liability and professional indemnity) and was priced at $2,962. The final quote was received in late January 2009 and was based on an insurance year of 1 September 2008 – 1 September 2009. The Committee decided not to proceed with cover for the current insurance year, given that the 2009 camp (our major exposure) had been completed. It will, however, purchase the above package of cover for the insurance year commencing 1 September 2009. This additional expense will be factored into our future budget estimates. In relation to our second objective, I am sorry to report that we were unsuccessful in our attempt to secure funding under the NSW Government’s 2008 Community Development Grants Program.

Fundraising activity during the year met with reasonable success. A food and wine evening, Paabulind, was held at the Sydney Estonian House on 20 September 2008. It was made possible through generous support from George and Silivi Tsiros of Peacock Hill winery. The event was organised by the Committee with the assistance of a number of Sõrve camp leaders. The evening included a wine tasting accompanied by a gourmet quality three course meal (a special thanks to Neil Warner), live music and an auction. Eeski, a number of Hunter Valley winemakers and people from within the Estonian community donated or arranged for auction items. The evening realised a profit of around $5,700, including cash donations from people who were unable to attend. We hope to repeat the event in 2009.

Further generous donations were received from Estonian organisations and private individuals over the course of our operating year. These include Austraalia Eesti Seltside Liit, Eesti Sõjaveteraanide, Sydney Eesti Seltsi Kunsti- ja Käsitööring and Dr Rein Simmul Our bank balance as at 31 January 2009 was $37,271. Since this date, we have received sizeable donations from the Eesti Abistamis Komittee, Liit and Sydney Eesti Selts. The donations from these sources total $8,300. This income is fundamental to our operations and I would like to offer our sincere thanks to each and every one of these longstanding friends and benefactors of the Sõrve summer camp.

The Committee is conscious that the developing economic downturn may impact on the number of people who are able to attend Sõrve 2010 and that we may need to draw on our reserves to make the camp viable.

Sõrve 2009

The 55th annual Sydney Estonian summer camp was held from 9‑16 January 2009. This was the 48th camp held at the Point Wolstoncroft NSW Sports and Recreation Centre. It had 149 full-time residents, with visitors swelling the opening campfire crowd to over 200 people. The camp consisted of 79 children (39 allocated to A-Group [ages 12-18 years], 26 to B-Group [aged 8-12 years] and 14 to C-Group [up to 8 years of age]), 40 adults and 30 people in either a leadership role or producing the daily camp newspaper, Sõrve Sosin.

The camp leader was Peter Maasepp and the camp commandant was Ivar Lehtsalu. The camp leadership team included Aaron Matwisyk, Aimee Porm, Arvi Lehtsalu, Dorothy Queale, Hugh Peoples, Ian Carter, Kati Koreneff, Katie Nelson, Katrin Kalamäe, Krista Midri, Leah Jaques, Maali Rahnel, Mantas Juska, Matt Porm, Riina Rahnel, Russell Nelson, Sven Midri and Toni Lehtsalu. The assistant leaders were Kalev Kalamäe, Kris Valling, Marissa Pikkat, Martin Virveste, Sophie Nelson and Taimi Maidla. Andrew Kass, Jana Mõisa, Kayla Sandy and Kristjan Jahu were responsible for Sõrve Sosin. Neil Warner, Aino Matwisyk and Kaili Lehtsalu provided liaison with various other groups.

The leadership team, with Peter at its head, again did a wonderful job and is congratulated by the Committee for its work. A special mention should be made of the efforts of the camp newspaper team, who produced a splendid chronicle of the camp, and to the co-ordinators of the Big Game (this year themed around the television program Race Around the World), which left everyone smiling.

The Sõrve leadership group is relatively large and represents a significant portion of the expense the Association incurs in relation to each camp. It is also at the heart of the camp’s success. Among the stated goals of the Association are to develop the organising, leadership and teamwork skills of young people of an Estonian background and to identify and train future potential leaders of the Estonian community in Australia. We do this in the most part by creating opportunities for young people to practice leadership skills within the framework of planning and delivering each camp.

Many other individuals and community groups contributed to the success of Sõrve 2009, and they have been forwarded letters of thanks by the Committee. Once again, a special thanks goes to the Sydney Estonian folk dancing troupe Virmalised and the musical ensemble Salmiakki Pelimannit, who, visited the camp to give a performance and deliver workshops, as they have done for many years.

In last year’s report, I talked about the appetite of parents for more Estonian-based content, Estonian-themed activities and more Estonian language at Sõrve. The Committee’s congratulations goes to a group of leaders who at the beginning of last year initiated regular (weekly) Estonian language tuition for themselves, so that they could provide a more effective contribution at the camp in support of this request. A number of initiatives were then taken at Sõrve 2009 in pursuit of this goal. These included more Estonian songs, children sending Estonian language postcards to their families and the use of a fantastic little booklet of Estonian words and phrases especially produced for the camp (Sõrve sõnaraamat) to teach the kids how to sneer at the food, bags the top bunk and complain that the sink is clogged in Estonian. The Committee had a meeting with parents and leaders at the camp to talk about further initiatives that can be undertaken in this area and the development of a framework for delivering these initiatives.

A large number of articles on the camp’s activities were published in Meie Kodu in January, February and March 2009, in both Estonian and English. I would like to thank all of those who contributed material to the newspaper and the editorial team of Meie Kodu for its responsiveness to our requests throughout the year and its unambiguous support for our activities. The paper is an important, reliable and well-produced community resource, and is a vital communications tool for organisations like our own.

Sõrve 2011

The name Sõrve was given to the Sydney Estonian summer camp when it located to the Point Wolstoncroft site in 1961. The Committee is keen to explore options to mark the 50th Sõrve in 2011. It is likely that the timing of the Sõrve 2011 will be such that the visitors’ weekend will occur at the mid point of the camp, rather than at the beginning. This will allow for a showcasing of current camp activities and an opportunity to stage some special festivities that would embrace everyone who has participated in the camp over its many years. The Committee is thinking about a major event.

Other matters

I would like to thank each and every Committee and Audit Committee member for their contributions through our operating year. Once again, it has been my pleasure and good fortune to work with a strong and committed team.

Lembit Suur

29 March 2009