President report

Dear Members,

On behalf of the Board I am pleased to submit to members the 63rd Annual Report of Wentworthville Leagues Club.

2020 has certainly been a challenging year for us as a club. Wenty Leagues, for the first time in our rich history, was forced into a government imposed COVID-19 shutdown on the 23rd of March and was closed for over 2 months, only to be given the green light to reopen on Monday 1st June.

The 10-week COVID shutdown placed unique financial challenges on us as a club. At a time when we were tasked with completing – and financing - the Master Plan redevelopment project, our overall revenues declined by 13% on 2019 levels. Despite this, we returned from shutdown strongly, even with significant social distancing restrictions in place, and accordingly we were able to return for the benefit of members a $6.0m profit before tax, at the same time growing our cash reserves by $11.1m during the year.

During the year our members funds have grown by almost $17m to $124m as at the end of the 2020 year, indicating a strong balance sheet position as we move into the 2021 year.

The forced COVID closure allowed Wenty Leagues to bring the Master Plan to its completion with the final stage of construction being our new events and functions centre, Wenty Events. Comprising of 4 large function rooms, a generous breakout area and designated bar, Wenty Events officially launch in early 2021. In addition, our new cocktail lounge, ENVY Bar is also the newest addition to our many dining offerings.

As restrictions continued to ease towards the latter part of the year, we reopened all your favourite food and beverage outlets and returned many social, sporting, entertainment and promotion activities. I am confident this trend will continue as we meet the needs of our community with exceptional hospitality and the ‘home away from home’ atmosphere that you have all come to love and appreciate.

Despite the limited ability to support as much as we liked through these challenges, our commitment towards the numerous initiatives in our local community remains strong. I wish to commend the efforts of our staff, led by CEO, Glenn Kovacs, who continued to stay connected to our local organisations by helping prepare hot meals, run clothing and toy drives that provide donations to assist the disadvantaged, vulnerable or sick children undergoing treatment and their families.

The 2021 Annual General Meeting will be held on Sunday 30 May at Wentworthville Leagues Club, Blaxland Room at 10.00am. I look forward to seeing members at this meeting where the Board will report on our current financial position.

To close, I thank our members, sporting clubs and local community organisations for your loyalty, support and understanding throughout the COVID closure and upon our reopening. To my fellow Board Members, thank you for your continued support and dedication to Wenty Leagues and for the highly professional manner serving as directors. I also thank the Management Team for their dedication and hard work overcoming the challenges of the year, plus I’d like to extend my thanks to the families of the Board and Management Team for their support, understanding and patience.