It has been my privilege to serve as your President again during 2022-2023 which saw record numbers and a high engagement across a wide range of activities. Our club has a unique value proposition in that it provides an opportunity for anyone in the community to be involved and share their passion for LEGO, and building awesome creations.
The two goals of CLUG are to promote and support the LEGO fan community in the ACT and surrounds, and contribute to fundraising for children’s charities. This year more so than ever we have been able to promote and progress those goals amongst our membership and the Canberra community.
I would like to personally thank the 2023 Committee, who have once again worked tirelessly to prepare, conduct and improve on our activities. Without this team of committed individuals CLUG activities would not be possible.
CLUG Activities
Since the last AGM (4 Dec 2022), we conducted the ever popular annual CLUG Christmas Party. Everyone went home with some LEGO after enjoying a fantastic bbq cooked by the Wells Station Scout Group. The “Dirty Brickster” game again proved to be source of fun and competition as our adults and juniors took turns in vying for some prized LEGO sets.
Throughout 2023, our regular meetings at the Hellenic Club have been well attended - often with 80-110 attendees displaying new and old sets, MOCs and insights into larger displays being planned for shows. We have all seen our junior members in particular build not only great looking LEGO creations, but also grow their confidence in public speaking. Members have enjoyed monthly and quarterly raffles, with some great prizes throughout the year providing a great opportunity for members to have some fun and add to their collections. We also featured a number of presentations at the meetings on build techniques and LEGO community tools such as Rebrickable.
Additionally, we completed LUGbulk 2023 earlier than ever - with bricks being in builders brick-pits by June.
Other 2023 to date event highlights include:
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Kaleen Train Show – a huge train layout was a crowd favourite at the annual show. The wide radius track allowed for some high speed action and many different custom trains on display.
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Bricks @ Woden School 2023 – we returned to the The Woden School in May with another huge show. Over $20,000 was raised altogether from the entry fee, various raffles and food stalls for the school to put towards valuable projects for their students.
CLUG involvement around Australia
In addition to our own activities, our members have participated in LEGO fan events across Eastern Australia hosted by other LUGs. Some of these were: * Sapphire Brick Show – Merimbula NSW * Brickvention 2023 – Melbourne VIC * Illawarra Annual Brick Show 2023 – Wollongong NSW * BendigoBricks – Bendigo VIC * BrickBuilt 2023 – Sydney NSW * Newcastle Brickfest 2023 – Newcastle NSW
Membership and Finances
Our club membership has maintained at around 200 in the last year. This was again due to a wider variety of activities and promotion amongst the community at events. The CLUG financial position remains healthy which provides a solid base to support activities in 23/24.
The Year Ahead
23/24 promises to be an even bigger year, with a full agenda of activities in the works. I look forward to again leading the committee, our membership continuing the journey of exploring the world of LEGO and supporting local children’s charities in an inclusive, family-friendly environment.
Play Well,
Jake
Jake Radloff
CLUG President
6 Aug 2023