On Wednesday the management committee held a welcome evening to introduce committee members and offer annual training. There are 46 committee positions, with many members holding more than 1 office. The 22 committee members who attended had an opportunity to understand how the organisation and website works, what is expected of them and safety issues to consider as WAQA representatives. The IT Helpdesk Administrator assisted new volunteers with passwords and Gmail account queries.

Deirdre Sanders, Treasurer, brought along the new portable defibrillator which is available for WAQA events in addition to the local equipment which may be available at the venues where we hold our events. We will develop a policy and consider where and how to best store the equipment to ensure that it is available for any WAQA events.

In the meantime we encourage all members to consider safety issues of slips, trips and falls; moving and handling; hot water and other risks. We encourage you to familiarise yourself and attendees of any events you run where the emergency equipment, exits and marshalling areas are at the commencement of the event.

A number of committee members were unable to attend. A copy of the agenda with notes was circulated prior to the meeting. Please feel free to contact your coordinator or other committee members to assist you with your new role. There are still three vacant roles (Workshop Convenor, Exhibitions Coordinator and Outreach Coordinator) available if you fancy joining the new enthusiastic team. We are also hoping to have someone to come forward who would like to coordinate the 2024 WAQA charity raffle.

Beverley Bartlett, President

Welcome to WAQA Committee 2023-2024