Outgoing P&A Society secretary Ian Clingan with Jess Smith and Leanne McDonnell who will share the role.
After 15 years of organising main at- tractions and entertainment, putting schedules together, taking entries, field- ing enquiries and basically keeping everything running smoothly behind the scenes at the Gundagai Show, Ian Clingan has stepped down from his position as secretary of the Gundagai P&A Society.
With ever-changing technology creep- ing into every aspect of the job, the writ- ing has been on the wall for a few years,
Ian said, but he has thoroughly enjoyed his long stint in the secretary’s chair after taking over the role from Bob Gilholme in 2010.
“Technology is the main reason I’m getting out. I cannot keep up with it and I don’t want to,” Ian said.
“But the past 15 years have been very enjoyable. We must have one of the best committees in Gundagai. They are a very, very good committee, very cooperative and they’ve made my job a lot easier.
“We all support each other, everyone is very supportive, which is really great.”
Although the Show runs for just three days in mid-February, the organisation of the event starts much earlier with Ian starting to tick items off his to-do list around November.
“There’s a hell of a lot of lead up work and it starts getting serious in November,” he said.
“Organising insurance, trying to get the schedule done pretty early, organising the entertainment; there’s all sorts of jobs.”
Ian has been a previous P&A Society treasurer and in fact signed the cheque
for the funds that built the secretary’s office at the show-ground.
Stepping into the secretary position is Leanne McDonnell and Jess Smith, who will share the role.
Ian and the committee have been tentatively trying to coax Leanne into the role for a few years now, and with Leanne taking a step back from a few other committees she is on, she decided now would be the right time to take on the job.
“Dan (McDonnell) suggested we do it as a joint role, but we needed to find the right person,” Leanne said, adding that Jess was chosen as the perfect candidate.
Jess and Leanne agree that they have “very, very big shoes to fill”, but have en- joyed working in the secretary’s office with Ian at this year’s Show to get a good handle on things.
“I’ve tried to give them a rough idea, but you learn by experience,” Ian said.
“I’ll hang around next year but after that first year, I’ll step back.”
Gundagai P&A Society president Dan McDonnell said both Ian and his wife Sally have put a phenomenal amount of time and effort into the volunteer role over the past 15 years, for which the society will always be extremely grateful.
“It is a huge job every year and Ian’s level of commitment has always been outstanding,” Dan said.
“Sally is a massive part of that as well, they make a fantastic team, and the mammoth amount of work they have put in for the last 15 years is truly amazing.”
