Post the elections held at the AACFC AGM on August 25, and the subsequent Committee Meeting on September 1, your 2020/21 Committee is as follows:

With COVID-19 Stage 4 restrictions in place, the AAC Falls Creek AGM held on August 25 was the first ever virtual meeting, with all attendees dialing into the secure Zoom meeting. With only a few Internet connection issues throughout the meeting for some attendees, the meeting was a success and proved that videoconferencing could be something to consider for future meetings.

The Committee would like to thank Mike Szkilnik for his services as Treasurer. Mike has overseen the financial health of the club since 2012. The significant loans from the 2012 lodge redevelopment have been repaid and he has enabled financing of the recent refurbishment as well as the rejuvenation of the spa area with very little increase in annual subs and restrained growth in accommodation fees. Thanks again Mike, we look forward to seeing you and Maureen at the Club in the coming season.

A big thank you also to Tony Ryder, who advised at the the AGM he would be standing down from his role as Membership Officer. Tony, we thank you for your services to the Club and the Committee and look forward to seeing you at the Club in 2021.

Published: 28 September 2020

Congratulations to Noel Poon and Ian Farrow for being recognised as Life Members of AAC Falls Creek! Both Noel and Ian have provided a huge amount of continuous service to our Club over a long number of years.

Noel Poon:

- AACFC Committee Member 2000 to 2013
- AACFC President 2008 to 2012
- AAC National Committee 2005 to 2020
- AAC National President 2015 – 2020
- AACFC National representative 2000 to 2015 for AACFC
- FCAA Representative

Ian Farrow:

- AACFC Committee Member 2000 to 2012
- AACFC President 2002 to 2006
- AAC National President 2003 – 2007
- AACFC National representative 2000 to 2020 for AACFC and AAC Niseko
- AAC Niseko Committee 2005 to current
- AAC Niseko President 205 to 2015
- Falls Creek Board of Management 2010 to 2015 (State government position)
- FCAA Representative

Congratulations and thank you to both!

For anyone wanting to put forward any recommendations for Life Members, please refer to the Life Member Policy here: Life Member Policy

Published: 28 September 2020

 To mark the 70th anniversary of AAC, the Club is making available for purchase a limited quantity of neck buffs for a price of $10.00 each, including GST. The buffs are dark navy in colour and are only available to Club Members. For any Member interested in ordering a neck buff, please send an e-mail to Justin C. on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Published: 27 October 2020

The Club is pleased to announce the 2021 Summer Season rates will remain unchanged from the 2020 Rates when they come into effect on January 1, 2021. The Club hopes this provides an excellent opportunity for Members and their guests to escape to the Lodge to enjoy the beauty of Falls Creek in Summer.

The nightly rates for the 2021 Peaks Challenge along with the 2-night minimum stay for this event also remain unchanged from 2020. Please also be reminded that for the Peaks Challenge weekend linen is provided by The Club and all cleaning at the end of the stay will be done by the Lodge Manager.

There is one change to the Summer booking policy for 2021, which is the minimum booking cost increases from $300 to $400. Note this minimum booking cost does not apply to the Peaks Challenge weekend, or any other time that may be advertised by the Club from time to time.

Published: 27 October 2020

When the snow fell in mid-May, Reeve was featured in Melbourne's Herald-Sun. Myra wasn't too far away.

Published: 23 May 2020

To minimise admimistrative work and give members choice, the following procedure will apply for refunds

• If your confirmed accommodation is cancelled for covid19 related reasons, a full credit will be registered to your account
• You can contact the booking officer to arrange an immediate refund
• If you have unused credits, you will be contacted before the end of the year to arrange a refund
• The existance or not of a credit will have no effect on booking priority

As the situation with lodge opening becomes clearer, Alan Long will be touch with people with confirmed bookings to discuss cancellations

Published: 24 May 2020

As previously advised, the Annual General Meeting has been postponed. The likely date is 25 August, but it is not possible to book a venue while current restrictions are in force.

The club's financial accounts for the year 2019 have been finalised, audited and approved by the committee.

The annual reports from the committee have also been completed.

If you would like to discuss any matters ahead of the AGM, please contact the relevant committee member/s. Other AGM documents will be provided prior to the meeting.

Published: 24 May 2020

The Annual General Meeting was due to be held on 21 May. The government offered incorporated associations like AAC Falls Creek the option to defer their AGMs for up to 3 months (till end of August in our case). The committee considered whether to hold the AGM as scheduled by teleconference or to defer the AGM. At that time, not even the committee would have been allowed to assemble in one room, let alone other members. Consequently, an extension was applied for and granted.

At this stage we intend holding the AGM in late August, probably Tuesday 25th, at a venue to be determined. We would prefer to have it as a normal face to face meeting if possible but this will depend on the government restrictions in force closer to that time. Having remote members participate fully in discussions and votes, as required by our rules, would bring in some complexities.

The committee intends to send out the financial statements and committee reports to members in the next few weeks. Other AGM papers will be provided closer to the date of the meeting. In particular, the proposal for annual subscriptions for 2021 will wait until we have a better understanding of how the season is unfolding.

The committee welcomes your input as to whether a teleconference, eg using Zoom, for some or all participants would be beneficial despite the complexities.

The date and venue for the AGM will be confirmed closer to the time of the meeting.

Published: 12 May 2020

q Do you love AAC Falls Creek and Falls Creek?

q Do you like writing and sharing interesting and important information & photos?

q Are you familiar with Facebook and Instagram or willing to learn?

q Are you happy to learn (easy) new web-based applications for creating and sharing content (like this article and newsletter)?

q Would you like to contribute to the overall running of the club through membership of the committee?

Then we would love to hear from you.

We are looking for someone to take on the committee role of Communications Officer. IT background would be great but not essential. It's more important to be enthusiastic about communicating with members and reasonably comfortable with using technology. There is support for anything complicated.

Find out more from our Secretary, Jenny or President, Nigel

 To be clear: this is a volunteer position

Published: 18 March 2020

At the 2019 AGM members requested that the committee consider whether waitlist requests could be approved earlier than strict application of the booking rules would require. In particular members hoped that this could be done where there was little or no chance of a 7 day booking being made that would clash with a weekend request.

The committe looked for a way to give as much booking certainty as possible to members, balanced against preserving booking priority for members and for standard 7 and 5 day bookings.

In 2020 we will trial early approval of eligible waitlist bookings. Eligible waitlist requests will be approved from 1 June, where eligible means

• only members, spouse and their children, and
• the preceding midweek is full, and
• the booking is paid for immediately on request from the booking officer. 

If you use the wailtlist system, please let us know at the end of the season whether this has been helpful.

Published: 18 March 2020