Snow elected to the hot seat

At the Oamaru Penguin Club's recent annual general meeting it was out with the old and in with the new as hundreds of dollars of old equipment was auctioned off and Dave Snow was elected president.

Mr Snow, taking over from Gareth Mitchell, has been involved with the Penguin Club since 1999, when he joined the committee for about seven or eight years.

He later took some time out from Oamaru's music scene, but he has been back on the committee for the past two years, the last as secretary.

"I was nominated [as president] and was happy to accept the position as long as some else would be secretary," he said.

Known for being able to throw his hand to almost any instrument, Mr Snow said he had big plans for the Penguin Club for the coming year.

First on the agenda - getting more volunteers involved.

"It's not easy to get people to help, you could have 1000 members but it's always the same five or six people the turn up to help out" he said.

"I really want to rally up some support to ease the work load and encourage people to go on the committee so it's not such hard work. It doesn't have to be."

Including young people and getting them excited about playing music in Oamaru was also a priority for Mr Snow.

"We want to let them come in and have a go, learn how the sound works, have some fun," he said.

About two months ago, due to the logistics of organising volunteers to help keep running the club, weekly Friday jam nights were changed to monthly until further notice, or committee resolution.

Since the introduction of monthly jam nights, the Friday sessions have been hugely popular.

"At this stage we may change that [from monthly], but we'll keep it as it is for a while and see," Mr Snow said.

"We've been getting a lot of good comments about it, but we'll play it out. I've made a commitment to be there every Friday because we need to see if we need to run any extra, I'll be keeping my eye on the game."

The rules for notifications of meetings to members was changed for the incorporated society.

Notifications can now be sent via email, social media, newspaper advertisements and notices at the club for notifications rather than through New Zealand Post.

"Our website and Facebook page get a lot of hits, so it's important to bring us into modern times," he said.

A five-year membership was introduced last week an price increase for entry and drinks for non-members was also passed.

"There has to be a benefit for being a member," he said. "We like people to be members because then they have a sense of responsibility. They are responsible for behaving as a member, it should be something they are proud of, so there must be a benefit for them."

Membership prices were also increased for the first time since the club's establishment in Oamaru, 21 years ago.

The Penguin Club currently boasts about 145 memberships, including double and family memberships.

Mr Snow said he tried not to get "over exuberant" about his new position, but he was looking forward to working with a "really good committee".

The new executive committee is made up of Mr Snow, Doug Carson (vice president), Steve Ormandy (secretary), Alice Hore (treasurer), Gareth Mitchell, Chris Meech, Andy Galaxy and Watts Davies.