A Co-op Conclave in Curramore
by Mary Meadows, Secretary to the Board of Directors

The weekend of 18–19 March saw the gathering of Maple Street Co-op/UpFront Club Directors and one Secretary at the beautiful, tranquil Curramore home of Marc and Juliette Kalifa. (Juliette was away in Brisbane for the weekend, doing her Creative Arts Therapy work.)

I collected Leigh Findlay at 8.00 am and we proceeded to Marc's place to unload the usual strategy planning tools: white board, butcher's paper, markers, biscuits, coffee, tea and milk.

The first item on the agenda was a 15-minute presentation by Mike Eales, our newest director (albeit on a temporary basis until the next AGM). Mike had prepared a quiz of 50 questions on Policy Governance. Needless to say, the 15-minute quickie covered only 10 of the 50 questions. There is nothing quick about Policy Governance!

Leigh had set a comprehensive agenda, the main focus being on where the Board is taking the two co-ops and "visioning" where it would like to be taking them. Each director was allocated a session either to facilitate or present, and all rose to the occasion. I'll leave it up to Leigh or another director to inform members of the outcome; however, I'm sure that if any member is breaking their neck to get up to speed, the minutes will be available shortly from Maple Street Co-op.

The catering was done beautifully by Cheryl Reed, former Maple Street Co-op staffer and now food presenter extraordinaire for BodyCentre for Health in Coral Street. We were served a most sumptuous lunch, with Cheryl catering for everybody's little idiosyncrasies. The sessions finished at 5.00 pm, with an hour for everybody to mull over the day's proceedings, followed by a delicious dinner (also from the BodyCentre) when more mulling-over took place.

The starting plan for day two was to meet on the island at the bottom of Marc and Juliette's property for another quick quiz on Policy Governance. Some knowledge must have been absorbed on day one, as we managed 13 questions in this session. This day also had a jam-packed agenda, with all directors making their own special contribution.

After lunch (another Cheryl extravaganza), we had a staff input session. Pamela Harrison, Alan Harrington and newsletter editor Ruth Parnell attended this. Pamela waxed lyrical on staff needs and wishes for a good 20 minutes, and praised them for doing such a great job and going above and beyond the call of duty. When Pamela had finished, Leigh informed her that the directors had discussed in previous sessions all of the wishes she had expressed and that the staff's needs would be accommodated.

Alan and Ruth had both presented papers to the Board prior to the weekend; however, verbal communication is a good thing and they each had an opportunity to round out their various ideas and suggestions. Also in Ruth's case, she was able to get some feedback from the directors' perspective as to how the Co-op's newsletter and website are progressing.

By the end of day two, the agenda was set for the immediate, short, medium and long terms. We'll probably need to re-visit the medium and long terms at the same time next year, but that's progress for you.

I'm sure that those members not keen on reading minutes will be kept informed by articles in this newsletter, and that with a bit of luck we'll see the Co-op's extensions happening before the (financial) year is out.

[From "Maple Street Co-op News", April/May 2006; published by The Maple Street Co-operative Society Ltd, 37 Maple Street, Maleny, Qld 4552, Australia, tel (07) 5494 2088, email maplest.co-op@serv.net.au, website http://www.maplestreetco-op.com.au]