We are striving to ensure that our services to members continue to improve. However, an inevitable consequence is change in how we run the Centre. For example, our website address is secheltactivitycentre.com. In the internet world that is referred to as our domain name. Our domain name has come under criticism as being too long and laborious to type, causing errors, particularly when the American spelling of centre (center) is used. We investigated the idea of changing our domain name, finding that it was possible at minimal extra cost. We discovered that an appealing option myssac.com was available. All the centre e-mail addresses have now been switched over to that new domain name. For instance, the e-mail address of the president was . It is now . However, do not worry, even if you send an email to an old address, it will be rerouted to the correct new myssac.com email address.

Emily, Liz, and their volunteers are doing a great job producing delicious food. Add to the fact that prices are so economical, there is now a tremendous demand for lunchtime meals. We appreciate your patience as we strive to change our operations to best service all of those that would like to come in for lunch. Be assured that you will be served in numerical order, so you don’t need to line up before your number is called. Also please be patient with our volunteers. They are doing their best to get the food out as promptly as possible to you. In January, we will be extending meal service to 1 pm, and encouraging members not to all come at the beginning of service but to spread out over the lunch period. We will endeavor to ensure that at whatever time you come, you will have the full choice of the menu still available to you.

The final installation of audio-visual equipment in the lunchroom will soon be completed. This was funded for the most part by a grant of $15,000 from the Sunshine Coast Forest Legacy Fund. The capabilities in the room now feature wireless handheld and headset microphones delivering sound through the new in-ceiling speakers. In addition, a choice of music streamed from Apple music can be played as a background. There is also a new 65” TV mounted on the wall with pivoting wall mount, which will usually be mirroring the Corridor TV weekly event display. However, it can also be used as a monitor for a computer display or presentation, or to stream YouTube or other services. An HDMI input jack on the wall below the TV allows easy plug in for any computer. We now use it for the BINGO display, making set up much easier. A neat feature of the room’s wireless setup is that the TV sound can be played through its speakers or through all the ceiling loudspeakers. The whole setup gives us a tremendous facility to offer for rentals when not used for our own activities.

You may have heard or even experienced that on Friday morning of December the 17th we had to evacuate the building because of a perceived gas leak. Fortis was called and the technician found out that of the three gas-powered heat pumps on our roof, one of them had a malfunctioning heat exchanger. This was causing exhaust gases to escape from the unit, and some had made its way across the roof and gone through the air return system in the kitchen. So that was the cause of the smell. All three units were turned off and tagged and couldn’t be turned on again until a certified gas fitter had corrected any faults or tested them as being sound to function. That meant we had a cold weekend in both the auditorium and the kitchen which are supplied by these three heat pumps. On Monday the gas fitter came and declared two of the heat pump units functional (although one had the heat exchanger showing signs of wear) and one unit was not functioning. We bought new heat exchange units for the two problematic heat pumps to bring them all up to full function. It took one week for delivery of the new parts. However, I’m pleased to report that all the units are now safe and fully functional. I mentioned in earlier editions of the Echo, that we had some heating and ventilation costs coming up. This is one of them, costing around $7,000.

There will be more expenses, including our efforts to improve the fresh air return situation in the front rooms of the building. Thank you again to those of you who very generously contributed donations into the general revenue fund. These funds allow us to be resilient to these ongoing maintenance and upgrade costs.