PMAV dropping out of the Bash

The PMAV and the Bash committee have been having a few discussions laterally in regards to the PMAV supporting the Bash. The main concern was that the PMAV could no longer support us and also run their AGM at the same time, that is also in the last week of OCT. They ask us to either move the Bash to another time slot in the year or have the Bash every second year. The Bash committee weighed up all aspects of their request and could not see any real reasoning for their request and to have any merit. But we could see a lot of disadvantages and how it would effect the Bash if we bent to their needs. We notified the PMAV a couple of days ago of our final decision and they in turn informed us :-
   

Hi Bill,

Thank you for your prompt reply.

The PMAV will continue to promote the Laanecoorie Gold Bash but will not take an active role in it's operation.

Likewise if the Laanecoorie Gold Bash could reciprocate and continue to promote the PMAV AGM, that would be appreciated.

Wishing you every success for the 2016 Laanecoorie Gold Bash.

On behalf of the PMAV,


Peter Mayhill

PMAV Secretary

Speaking purely as an outsider and one that knows very little about the internal operations of either the PMAV or the Laanecoorie Bash, but a silent supporter of both, I do find it somewhat disappointing that with virtually 52 available weeks in the year, a co-existence can't be negotiated with one of the events moving to either one week before or one week after, so that a clash can be prevented. Many members from many forums, but speaking directly for the members here in particular, would be supporters of both events and would not like to be forced to make a decision as to which event to attend, especially when a resolution seems to be as simple as the shifting of +/- one week, and also especially as both events are for the prosperity of our great hobby/interest.

As a concerned member of the PMAV and participant of the Laanecoorie Bash, I implore you Bill, to once again sit down with Peter Mayhill and the rest of the PMAV committee and try to find a resolution to this simple date conflict, and not force members/participants in both events to have to choose as to which function to attend, an action that will ultimately result in bad blood between these two fine organisations/events and possibly result in a reduction of membership to the PMAV and/or a reduction in attendances to the Laanecoorie Bash, an undesirable outcome that can and should be prevented.

Sorry I should explain that Laanicoorie Gold Bash is on the 2nd.weekend in Oct and the PMAV AGM last weekend in Oct. Also the Bash recognises the great work that the PMAV do in regards to protecting the right of prospectors through out Vic. and will support them in this way.
wombat

Hi Bill, that's disappointing.

Would moving the bash, say, 2 weeks earlier  satisfy them? OR are there other considerations? cheers Pete.

Thanks for clearing up the date confusion Wombat. So what you're saying is that they are 2 weekends apart and this year, if I've looked at the calendar correctly, there are actually 3 weekends between the 2 events...so where's the problem? Surely if they are not on the same weekend, there is no clash, so members of the PMAV and attendees of the Laanecoorie Bash can go to either and/or both events without having to make a hard decision.

As far as I'm concerned, both events support prospectors interests and in the case of the Bash, all proceeds also go to the worthy cause of the Peter Mac, so both events (especially as the dates don't clash) can run at their respective dates in October without an issue and in harmony. It is good that you said Wombat, that the Laanecoorie bash supports the PMAV as it should and likewise also supports NAPFA and any other prospecting organisations, and those organisations in return should support the Bash, after all, that's where I and quite a few other members hand over our membership fees every year.

Personally I don't see any problem leaving things as they are and I would be very disappointed if issues were created to make the 2 events not co-exist in harmony.

I totally agree with you Costas, if the 2 events are a couple of weekends apart then where is the problem. I would be very disappointed if what Wombat is saying happens.

I think there should be a resolution to this before it gets out of hand.

cheers dave

piston broke wrote:Hi Bill, that's disappointing.

Would moving the bash, say, 2 weeks earlier  satisfy them? OR are there other considerations? cheers Pete.

Hi Peter
the main reason we have it at that time of year is because it is the beginning of day light saving and not to hot at that stage. It also suits the caravan park having it at that time of year. And it gives the people time coming back from WA and Qld. We also have to think of other supporter that help with the Bash.

Dave everything is all good with the PMAV and our selves. It just means that the PMAV has pulled away from the Bash so they can concentrate on their AGM at the end of Oct.
wombat

Hi Wombat,

Something here doesn't make sense.
What is a problem ?
Dates definitely not.

pmav wrote:The PMAV will continue to promote the Laanecoorie Gold Bash but will not take an active role in it's operation.

What is an active role?

Signing membership?

There are definitely more people on Bash then on AGM and numbers are growing every year.


Sure put you in unpleasant position been President of PMAV Branch and DA MAN running crazy around to organize the bash.

Would like to get PROPER answer/reason behind this decision.

GoldEN

It's amazing what can be sorted out in 10 mins over a cup of coffee face to face. Ditch the emails and go and have a chat to each other.

onthehunt wrote:It's amazing what can be sorted out in 10 mins over a cup of coffee face to face. Ditch the emails and go and have a chat to each other.

It's all good mate. I belong to the executive branch of the PMAV and we have been having long discussions for a while in this regards and the outcome was a mutual agreement. We are still helping out each other but not in a body sense of the word.
wombat

There in lies the issue, mixing politics with prospecting!

As a regular bash participant, who supports the charity it was intended for with my own hard earned dollars, I am flabbergasted at the PMAV.

I would love to expand on this matter, but I regress!

Long live the Laanecoorie gold bash and to hell with the PMAV......we don't need you there as we can continue to support research into the medical issues of cancer without you!

Shame on you PMAV.

Regards

Ex member!

Hi All,

Just my input and it does not reflect the current Bash Committees thoughts or processes...

As a founding member and organizer (retired ) I would like to have my say on this so that hopefully enlightens the valued supporters of the bash who each year attend to help raise some great money for Peter Mac as well as participating in a very social and rewarding weekend

Over 2 years ago we approached the PMAV to help our little team of tireless " volunteers " run the Bash as it was growing in numbers and we could see a real ground swell starting to form around the Bash and the philosophy of the weekend and that is to gather like minded prospectors together in one location, share as much knowledge as possible and raise some money for Charity.

I thought,who better to ask than the PAMV, a great organization with many hundreds of members. The exposure that I thought the PAMV could gain from the Bash, ESPECIALLY as it is aligned so closely to the Peter Mac Foundations would be invaluable and could be some how used as some type of leverage or enlightenment during discussions with government and other parties.

The other consideration was that through the Bash, the PMAV had access to many many new and non PAMV affiliated prospectors, so I thought this would also bolster the PMAV numbers?

As time went on the the PMAV agreed to take on the Bash, at this stage I was extremely happy with the decision. Well as time went on organizing the Bash I saw a distinct lack of support by the PMAV, with only a handful of tireless dedicated people ( half of which were organizers of the bash already ) and only a couple extra fantastic people from the PMAV. Yes on the weekend the PMAV ran their subscription and information area and signed up many new members.??

So from an integration and amalgamation of the Bash into a PMAV run event I can confidently say it did not work the way it was supposed to work. For some reason the PMAV think of their role to the Bash as a " Sponsor", well this was not what was originally agreed to, we needed help in running it, not just a figure head looking to exploit and take accolades from the event.

The PMAV for the last couple of years has asked the Bash to change its date as it is close to the AGM, but for the following reasons below that have pointed out on many occasions, changing the Bash it not an option.

The two reasons we have been given by the PMAV to change the date are as follows,

That the Bash is to close to their AGM and that both events call on the same sponsors for donations, a fact that I would like to dismiss right now. Yes we might have about 10 sponsors ( if that ) that we jointly share, but lets all put our business hats on for one moment. As these 2 events are now part of the prospecting landscape and especially with the Bash a "National Event", our sponsors know when the Bash and AGM are held so surely like any good business,their sponsorship and donation budget is an annual thing, not just a one month budget. They know when the events are so its a pritty simple fact that they can allocate this across the yearly budget. The other advantage is that the Bash does provide is a fully TAX deductible donation by our sponsors through the Peter Mac foundation, so it really is at NO cost to our sponsors if they donate.

The second reason for changing the date is because of the limited resources the PMAV has in organizing the AGM and they think they are spread to thin with both events in the same month and that both events detract from each other? ( Please refer to Paragraph 5 )??

Reasons why we cannot change to far from Early October are

The Laanecoorie Lake Side Park is the perfect venue for this event, but the window for the event is limited to the date we have chose by the fact that

1. The park as you know is full of water skiing families that use the Lake and it is full most weekends between the November Cup Day weekend & Easter, so the full use of the hall, the park staff and amenities during this time is very restricted.
2. We MUST have daylight savings to run this event as it allows the attendees more time to enjoy all all the Bash has to offer, on and Off site.
3. We must have a time when the weather is a little warm ( well we think it is warm, sorry Queenslanders ) as we must be able to sit around out-side on the Saturday night for the open mic and proceedings, the hall is just not big enough to sit 150 people in the middle of winter..
4. Realistically we in Victoria have a very small window of opportunity ( weather wise ) to run such an event that requires favorable weather and we are simply trying to make it fit around not only the PMAV's AGM, but several other Prospecting related events around this time of year, strange we do not hear any of them asking us to change our dates?

I hope this enlightens people as to what is happening around the Bash and for all those who are coming to this years Bash, same weekend as always, we look forward to seeing you there

Please remember this great event started right hear on the forum, has raised nearly $50,000 for charity over a relatively short period of time and has grown to be one of the most valued prospecting events in Australia, its just a pity everyone does not see it like that, but that is only my opinion!!!!!

Kindest Regards

Peter Hancock
Mariner3800

Thanks Peter.

Looking forward to see you there.

Enio

Totally agree with you Pete,
                                   As a long time PMAV member and having attended the Gold Bash each year from the start. I find it VERY disappointing that the PMAV has made this decision.
                                   Cheers
                                 "TWO BOB"

Thankyou Peter for your explantion..
It all makes sense to me now.

It is disappointing to see the bickering going on, on this page from one well respected prospecting organisation towards another.

The crux of the matter is simply that the PMAV does not have the volunteer manpower/womanpower to run two large events in the same month. End of story.

Anybody can surely understand that to run an event the size of the PMAV AGM and the Laanecoorie Gold Bash takes thousands of volunteer hours. Added to this, the PMAV committee works diligently throughout the year putting in thousands of hours protecting prospector's rights. There are just not enough volunteers to go around.

The only way that the PMAV would have managed to fully take over the Laanecoorie Gold Bash was to move the Bash to a different date. This was obviously a dealbreaker for the Laanecoorie Gold Bash committee.  That is a decision they made - that is their priority and I am certainly not going to question their decision. There are obvious reasons as set out in previous emails as to why this decision has been reached.

Just stop bagging the PMAV in the process. Having previously been on the PMAV Committee I can assure you that the hardworking men and women on the PMAV committee are passionate, committed individuals who are spending their own time looking after YOUR best interests. Bagging the selfless committee members who are the PMAV is just not on.

Cheers
Leanne

Yes Leanne I agree totally, Well said. Cheers Bruce