Well, another riding season is gone, but what a season it was! We heard many compliments about the improved conditions of our trails this year. Our new groomer and dedicated operators of both of our groomers made it all possible. I do not know if it was the new groomer excitement or just that everyone is seeing the benefits of joining our club, but our membership grew 22% over last year. Thanks to all of our members!

As you can imagine, the trails are closed and the general membership meetings are over now until September. Before we start our Summer activities though, please think about helping out with a couple of club activities coming up soon; Earth Day cleanup is on 4/30 and the Greene Township cleanup is on 5/7. Details for these activities are below.

Membership Meeting: On Thursday, March 24^th, the membership meeting was held at the Greene Township Building. There were 7 Directors and 9 members present. We discussed a few trail issues and some of the trail projects we would like to try to tackle this summer.

We also discussed a few maintenance items that we needed for the new groomer as part of the break-in period. It was also announced that our 10% grant for the new groomer had been received from DCNR.

We also received membership approval to proceed with a gun raffle as a major fundraiser this summer. If you can help out when the time comes, please do. Many other clubs and organizations have very successful gun raffles and we are hoping our first one can be as well.

Here are the new Board Officers for our club:

President - Steve Hair

Vice President - Mark Sonney

Chairman of the Board - George Engesser

Treasurer - Randy Slomski

Secretary - Ken Zambrzycki

Corresponding Secretary - Tim Bowers

Trail Boss - Travis Clabbatz

Trail Assistant - Rodney Bootes

Randy Nowakowski announced his resignation from the board effective 3/24/11. The board will work to appoint a replacement. Thanks for all of your past efforts Randy!

Trail Closing: We had a great turnout for the closing of the trails on March 19th.

The workers put in a great effort pulling the markers and placing everything into storage. A big THANK YOU goes out to all that helped.

Sunshine Person: Please note that Mary Ann Matasowski is our sunshine person. If you know of any of our members that have fallen ill, please contact Mary Ann at (814) 825-2067.

Next Meeting: There are no scheduled general membership meetings from now until September. So, enjoy the Summer and stay safe.

The board will continue to meet and plan work on trail improvements. These trail projects will include any necessary trail work to make the trails safer and accommodate the size of our new groomer. Since we will be in need of some willing workers later this year, please respond if called upon to help.

1. We will help celebrate this year’s Earth Day on Saturday, April 30^th. Our involvement shows the communities how much our club appreciates the area that we enjoy so much during the wintertime. We do this by removing the trash from along a couple of local roadways. We will pick up trash along Wales road from Station road to Route 8 and on Knoyle road from Kuhl road to Wales road.

All members planning to give a helping hand to the cleanup should plan on meeting at 9:00am at the Greene Township Building on Tate road on April 30^th. We will need drivers and trash pickers. Gloves and safety vests will be provided.

Please contact Fred Morris at 899-6307 if you need further information or want to sign up to help at the Earth Day cleanup.

 

2. We will also be helping at the Greene Township Spring cleanup on May 7^th from 9am till 2pm. As you may or may not know, Greene Township makes our meeting room at the township building available to us at no cost. Not having to pay rental fees, allows these funds to be used for trail improvements and grooming expenses.

To show our appreciation to the township, we work with the township Supervisors and area residents to help process their recyclables. The time spent goes fast and is really appreciated!

Please contact Steve Hair (725-9313) to sign up and give a hand at this year’s Greene Township cleanup.

 

Due to the closing of the Wesleyville Post Office (where we had our Post Office box), we had to get a new box. Our new address is PO Box 11283, Erie PA 16514-1283.

Thanks for being a Wales club member! Talk to you again in the September newsletter.

Have a great summer!

T. Bowers