At the outset the Committee expresses its grief and sorrow at the passing away of some of our members of the Club. We would like to share our sorrow and grief with the members of the families of the following members:

1 MR.S.N.PATEL 2 MRS.YESODHA.D 3 MR.N.M.SHAH 4 MR.R.RAMACHANDRAN 5 MR.G.GOVARDHAN 6 MR.N.KULASEKHARAPANDYAN 7 MR.G.RAMASWAMY 8 MR.D.B.MADAN

RP005 PLM11 LS051 IMR080 LG005 LK046 LR048 RM001

As Honorary Secretary this probably is a last chance to share few thoughts with you. I am a green horn to be Hon. Secretary but my colleagues have had fund of experience and I have been guided in the discharge of my duties entirely by their wisdom. I would like to acknowledge proudly that by and large your committee has been the most cohesive one with a mixture of young, old and the mature so much so the meetings have been very smooth sailing and constructive.

I would like to put before you the following thoughts:

1.	During the E.G.M held recently the committee was considered having done no new work, if it is a question of additions by way of facilities yes we didn't add swimming pool, cardroom etc.etc, purely because we were quite engaged in clearing old bills and were unable to apportion funds. After a 132 years of existence we do not even own this piece of land and the situation I believe seems to be more of a stumbling block than a passing shower. In the circumstance I felt the criticism was unjust.
2.	It was sad to see the thin attendance at the E.G.M. and unless more members take active part, the progress is likely to be tardy. I felt this way because your committee wanted to bring in a few reforms to existing rules for clarity and at the end it wasn't there.
3.	In fact we have received suggestions that debates must be more constructive than obstructive and not for airing one's expertise. I do acknowledge that there are many eminent & highly knowledgeable members and I only wish they contribute to the growth of this beautiful club by taking specific areas for reforms in their spare time.
4.	We have no legal status to proceed against or make claims on any issue until we register ourselves. Your committee has therefore thought it fit to get registered as a Society to keep the club's identity and ethos intact. A Notice to this effect has been put up on the notice board to become law later on. This is being done as per the directive of the General Body during last E.G.M.
5.	I have been a rowing member for almost three decades and the future of the club looks very bright to me because once this river gets its share of cleaning up this club can be a real wonderful place for the sport of rowing. The incoming future committees may have to plan to increase resources to add on facilities which bring in money, maintaining at the same time the nature and business of the club. It is probably a good idea to provide more facilities like lodging rooms,rowing academy, manufacturing of racing crafts for other institutions and add a number of rowing machines with increased working hours for people to exercise, add a commissary and so on and so forth.
TREASURY:
6.	The financial statement speaks for itself; although there is a marginal increase in sales compared to last year end expenses have risen as result of which income over expenditure has dropped. Another reason is decrease in interest rate directly resulting in drop in income.
7.	Apart from this, expenditure on maintenance has been going up year after year. While budgetary provisions are made funds position sometimes do not permit real maintenance and modernisation plans. Thus some works long pending are not possible to handle. Successive Committees have probably thought that this drain in resources towards maintenance costs cannot be solved easily. The only solution seems to be to draw a definite time bound plan for maintenance as a routine and a permanent committee to handle this year after year after obtaining budgetary allocations. I suggest we form a building committee to effectively implement various projects.
8.	In the very beginning of our tenure we noticed inadequacies in our software and hardware systems and we even intended an imminent replacement. Thanks to our Treasurer who noticed a continuous fall in prices and we have now decided to replace old systems almost at a price one fifth of what was indicated. This reminds me to inform you that at a certain stage we can have an online billing system.
9.	Sequel to this a decision was taken to issue new identity cards so that it can be connected to the presence of a Member and usage by KOTs etc, apart from the fact that a member's identity is well established. I am afraid we have received only 200 and odd photographs of members and their dependants. I must urge upon you please to let us have these photos without further delay as identity cards may have to be insisted upon at a later stage as bar coding will be a way of keeping checks.
10.	I would like to state that this club cannot be run on meagre resources available and also carry on with projects. My considered opinion is that the club's finances through subscriptions and accrual of interest on deposits must be augmented by other regular sources of income. This can be by way of creating new services, levying a certain fee on facilities in gym and rowing, better usage of club by non users, (see annexure) creating new types of memberships, to increase deposits or admit more members.
CATERING:
11.	Some months ago we thought we should streamline our catering facilities and even sent to you a questionnaire. It is disappointing that the response was poor either because you felt it was trivial or unimportant or that it could be ignored. At a glance if you see our menu card runs into hundreds of items and all are meant to be available day-in and day-out throughout the year. This is just impossible. Even large hotels cannot produce such variety of a-la-carte. We planned to introduce a daily change in the menu, which can be thought about now that the agreement with union provides a greater flexibility in kitchen timings. Your committee now recommends the need to have a Food & Beverage Manager to organise better controlled output from various kitchens with of course an eye on purchases of meat, fish and poultry and other food stuff. A word on catering is necessary and I wish to state that while prices went up your committee decided not to revise the price upwards. Those were the days when onion prices went up and every thing else became very dear. This condition lasted for quite some time. Your committee has in its wisdom thought fit to open kitchen facilities for a longer period and bring in the staff in a shift system, thus paving the way for members to visit the club throughout the day.
BAR:
12.	We added a new dispenser of draught beer but then the company [EMPEE DISTILLARIES] has not been able to supply for some reasons. Every time a club event was organised your Bar Member promptly got the sponsorship so much so inspite of low attendance the bar has maintained a constant high. For the M&B Night we had a special sponsorship for 100 Piper Deluxe Scotch which was highly appreciated by the members and guests.
HOUSE & PROJECTS:
13.	A word or two on House & Projects should be mentioned to the extent that quite a large tract of land beyond the wicket gate was cleared [Thanks to your Captain's initiative] to put it to multipurpose use from warming up before race to watching races to exclusive area for parties to an additional boat yard, etc. Maintenance of this area I am afraid will be a recurring worthwhile expenditure.
14.	When this Committee took over none of the air conditioners in the A/C Dining adjoining the bar was working. Your Committee decided to entrust the A.M.C to manufacturers only and reconditioned all the A/Cs in the A/C bar and dining. We have been advised by the manufacturers of A/C in the bar M/s.AMTREX that the tonnage is inadequate. The inherent defects of the existing AC sheets roofing has thwarted all attempts to upgrade the system so much so if we must have a decent bar and dining facilities we must have a permanent concrete roof. Again it boils down to careful planning and raising finance.
PROJECTS:
15.	Your Committee also decided to put to use the shell on top of Mid-waters for conferences, parties, etc and with the available resources it was decided to lay a proper flooring, provide a toilet and fix A/C ducting with thermocol insulation and P.O.P. ceiling. Airconditioning can be thought over when finances are adequate but for the present the place can be thrown open far your use say by end of July '99 or Middle August'99.
16.	It is very important to have a master plan of the club as an official document for ascertaining the existence of the club and its extent.
17.	Metro water will be available shortly when all the work on pipe laying is completed and your club is likely to save quite a large expense on purchase of water from other sources.
ENTERTAINMENT:
18.	I would like to mention that the entertainment programmes organised were well received and some of these were done at very short notice and against odds. With active support of members, especially for Dinner night and Lehren.
19.	I would like to acknowledge with grateful thanks the zeal with which very hardwork was put in by the Entertainment Member, Mr.P.Venkatram, B.G.Kukkillaya and whole lot of people. In fact it was a surplus income over expenditure on Children's Carnival. The entire committee reposed full confidence in our President Mr.Bharath. I will be failing in my duty if I do not acknowledge his very highly skilled negotiating capabilities and the entire credit for a just and successful conclusion of agreement with the union must go to him and our immediate Past President, Mr. M. Kesavan who brought the union to the negotiating table. I would like to acknowledge that although hard bargaining was adhered to by either side Mr.R.Srinivasan, the General Secretary of WPG Workers Union must be thanked for being a little more flexible which clinched the issue. This agreement is aimed to utilise to the maximum extent the capabilities of the union staff to pave the way for the growth of this club and better service to members. It is hoped that this rowing club will earn the reputation of having the most courteous service. It is important to note that your committee has strictly put a stop to further recruitment.
20.	My appeal to those who are members of other clubs also is that if you are nearer M.B.C kindly use it more often.
21.	I would like to conclude by saying that I enjoyed being Honorary Secretary because of goodwill and co-operation from you and my colleagues in the Committee. I want to thank club's staff for diligently discharging their duties with zeal and enthusiasm. I now wish the incoming committee all success in its endeavour.
22.	The committee express its grief and sorrow at the passing away of one of its most dedicated lascar, Mr. Kannaian who had been in the club service for more than Two and a half decades.
	[V.G.RAVI] Honorary Secretary
	P.S: While this report is underprint, your committee has organised for the first time a "Club Day" to revive the memories of yester-years and present you with some very nostalgic memories.