From Renovation to Redevelopment
by Alan Harrington, Co-op General Manager

It still amazes me how fast a year goes by. Maybe that was how Einstein worked out the theory of relativity – not by some marvellous intellectual insight, but purely by quantifying how time speeds up as you get older!

Anyway, it hardly seems real that it is 12 months since The UpFront Club was transferred into Maple Street Co-op's operational sphere. While I won't pretend that there hasn’t been the occasional hiccup, overall the change has been very positive and things have settled into a routine, of sorts. The Club has certainly widened its appeal in the community, and this is reflected in the growing membership. It is on its way to being financially self-sustaining, and members and visitors are welcoming the policy of slowly switching to organic products. Please bear with us while this policy is being put in place, as "organic" products are not always available and in some instances can make a meal far too expensive. Members will notice the two new noticeboards at the Club (one for the local LETS co-op) as well as the new signage on the street fascia.

Although the Co-op has been operating as expected, we anticipate that life will change in the new year. Council has approved the redevelopment and it is now up to the directors to plan the whole operation. At this stage, there will be some changes as a matter of priority [see article, "Plans for the Co-op's Expansion", this section]. Members will be kept informed of the exact order of things as the planning process is finalised.

Since our last newsletter came out, we have two new staff members: Chantelle Reid (daughter of fellow staffer Janelle Leong, our second daughter-mother team!) and Dianne Fogarty (who's fulfilling a back-up role and more besides). Both seem to be fitting in swimmingly and have provided a few background details for our pages. Our long-time back-up person Pamela Harrison has decided to leave Maleny; see the separate write-up ["A Fond Farewell to Pamela Harrison", this section]. Back in August, staffer Charlie Knowles left to return to the USA due to family reasons; his happy demeanour has been missed and we hope to see him back here one day.

It must be said that all the changes to date could not have occurred without the terrific input of our staff and the generous support of our directors. I don't really want to mention names (that means I will!), but I would like to thank Tony Woodhouse for his extra efforts on The UpFront Club's renovations and Marc Kalifa for all the work he has done (and is doing) on the Co-op’s redevelopment.

My thanks to the staff for their extraordinary efforts during the year, to the directors for their support, to Ruth Parnell for her hard work on the newsletter and website, and to Board Secretary Mary Meadows, all contributing to ensure that the Co-op and Club operated in such a way that they were able to meet the vast majority of members' expectations.
I wish all our members a very merry Christmas and a prosperous, co-operative and charitable 2007.

[From "Maple Street Co-op News", December 2006/January 2007; 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]