The Tweedsmuir Ski Club AGM was held on Wednesday night. The financial situation of the club was reviewed and the financial statement will be posted on the Tweedsmuir Ski Club website. We have some money in the bank, but faced a significant expense fixing the Pisten Bulley groomer track this fall.
Other expenses are fuel for the ski hill, fuel for the grooming machines, parts and repairs on the rope tow and fees and licences paid to the BC Safety Authority which is required for the rope tow.
Last year we were in the process of resolving our long standing Park Use Permit, under which previously fell all of the Tweedsmuir Ski Club activities (ski hill, overnight cabin, cross country trails). After many years of being associated with the Central Coast Regional District which was able to cover our liability insurance requirement, that arrangement is changing. We are signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with BC Parks that describes the operations of the club and services we will provide and functions that we will carry out (fun days, cabin bookings, skiing etc.)
During the term of the MOU, BC Parks will be the owner of our facilities and directors and volunteers will each individually work under Volunteer Agreements to conduct our standard activities. There is a significant advantage to this new process because we will not have an expensive annual Park Use Permit fee, BC Parks will carry the liability for the operations provided the volunteers operate under terms of the MOU and a new Tweedsmuir Ski Club Park Enhancement Fund will be set up with BC Parks and will be visible on the BC Parks website.
This is a segregated fund, only for Tweedsmuir Ski Club operations and Donations over $25 to this fund will get a BC Government charitable donation receipt. In addition soon you will be able to go online to BC Parks and donate to the ski club via online donation. The directors are happy to get this issue resolved and thank the Central Coast Regional District for supporting us for over 20 years and appreciate the work local park Area Supervisor Steven Hodgson did to get the MOU agreed to by BC Parks officials. The MOU will stay in place until either party cancels it.
Winter 2015/16 operations are underway, with lots of groomed cross country trails, and good turnouts by skiers. Cabin bookings are coming in very quickly and the ski hill will be made ready soon and will open when we get enough snow.
If you are interested in booking the overnight cabin, all bookings are done online on the Tweedsmuir Ski Club web site. At the meeting the directors and members discussed changing the cabin booking/payment policy to require payment at time of booking and non-refundable bookings to avoid situations where people are booking long in advance and changing their minds at the last minute when conditions change.
The TSC is entirely member supported and apart from occasional donations, we raise all of our own funds to run a lot of winter activities and a dedicated team of volunteers puts in a lot of time. The overnight cabin is our major source of revenue and with only about 20 prime weekends in the winter we can’t afford to lose bookings with last minute cancellations.
When people book they will have to be sure and if there is a possibility they won’t come, they should wait to make their booking or consider it a donation to the club if they have to cancel. We hope the members will understand our decisions.
Looking forward to seeing everyone on the trail – track – sled – hill or at the cabin.