President’s Message September 2022

12 September 2022

Good evening fellow 41ers

I trust this letter finds you all well.

This is my first letter as President of the 41ers. After recovering from convening the conference and AGM and a bout of proper man-flu, I am up-an-running again.

Firstly, a huge thank you goes to everyone who attended the conference and AGM in the first weekend of September. It was one for the record books and by all accounts everybody enjoyed it thoroughly. Secondly thanks to my lovely wife who helped to organise the conference and AGM and to my fellow Durbell 41ers Tyrone Juul and Marius Taljaard (and his wife Amora) who ensured that this weekend was a huge a success. I must also thank John Rutherford of Durbell 41ers for his ample donation of goodies for the goody bags and my long-time friend Bruce McKay for the goodies he sponsored and for arranging the wine and beer for the conference. We are all looking forward to the next conference and AGM in East London in 2023.

My theme for this year is Giving Back. We as 41ers must give something back to Round Table, the organisation that made us the upstanding gentlemen we are today. Without Table, we would not know each other, nor become great friends.

How we give back is up to each one personally, be it by attending regular Round Table meetings, or helping with their projects or whatever way you choose to do it, but we must give back. We are not allowed to just leave Table and forget where we come from. 

We must also be visible. Make sure that the Table in your town or city knows that there is a 41er club close to them and that club must belong to our Association. Table has given us so much, so it is time to return the favour.

The Executive Council also wants to build on the great work that was done by my predecessor, Nico McNamara, with getting new members. Our focus is firstly to retain the 224 members on 41er World and then to increase our membership. As Nico always says: “more means less” – the more members we are, the less the membership fee per 41er will be.

I am in the process of creating a WhatsApp group where one member from each club (the chairman or secretary) will be a member of the group. This will be for administrative purposes only and to ensure that every club receives all the information that the Exec distributes.

We have also divided the country into sections and Exec members will be responsible for the 41er clubs in their region. Tyrone Juul (treasurer) and I will look after the Western Cape and Garden Route up to George; VP Suren is responsible for the Eastern Cape/Border; VP Elect Dellorin and webmaster Bruce will look after all clubs “north” of Bloemfontein; Nico (IPP/IRO) and secretary Marc will look after Drakensberg and parts of KZN. There are certain parts of the country where the Exec is not represented, but we will not leave you guys behind (looking at you Northern Cape and northern parts of KZN). We are always up for a “kuier” so just tell us you miss us and we will be there.

We have our second annual golf tour in March 2023 in Stellenbosch and it promises to be epic. The convenor is Rikus Badenhorst and he will be ably assisted by Stuart Hunter.

Go here to register: https://forms.gle/9wWXzrcBJR8BKTp49 For the non-golfers, we are working on a hunting weekend in the winter of 2023.

Gentlemen, as in any Club it is important for members to contribute to the running of it, the 41ers Association is no different. For 2022/2023 the membership fee was set at R650 for the financial year, with certain rebates for those older than 65. This year we will be utilising 41er World to send invoices, so be on the lookout for your invoice. It should reach you before the end of October. 

I am really looking forward to my year as President, but in the end, it will mean nothing if the Exec did not meet our mandate of connecting with you and retaining and growing our membership. 

I also invite you to please contact me or any member of the Exec if you think that we are not doing our jobs or if you have any ideas you would like to share to make 41ers the Association of choice for Tablers leaving Round Table. 

We oiled the hinges of friendship at the conference and AGM we had 10 days ago, so let’s ensure that those hinges do not rust and that the chains that bind us together remain unbroken.

Yours in eternal fellowship

Ben Burger

President 2022/2023

For those of you who could not attend the conference and AGM, meet the Exec on the next page.

Ben Burger from Cape Town (President), Suren Packery from East London (Vice-President), Dellorin Bornman from Pretoria (Vice-President Elect), Marc Powell from Pietermaritzburg (secretary), Tyrone Juul from Cape Town (treasurer), Bruce McKay from Johannesburg (webmaster and regalia) and Nico McNamara from Pietermaritzburg (Immediate Past President and international relations officer).