MFF/puttinu cares Magazine

[Gogo]

Yes Gaffer after all the efforts you feel sore when you find that only a handful of persons are prepared to sacrifice few hours for a good cause. This unfortunately is the normal trend. I have been in these activities since the early nineties. Some people turn up for barbecues or Christmas parties probably attracted by food at cheap price and free gifts while others are there simply to grumble.
Turning to this event, since I have been present from the start, I can say that the fund raising i.e running after sponsors and creating the superb magazine was all done by (I may have missed somebody that had a part as well) Joe (gaffer), Nick, Colin and Antoine.
On the other hand, what about the Tournament? Somebody had to prepare the ground for the event to materialize. All necessary permits from Fisheries, Police Departments and Local Council had to be achieved. Vetting and registering all prospective applications involving numerous emails and mobile calls in order to get the required Data. Preparation of logistics for vetting  and trailer areas was of paramount importance.  Why am I saying this?  MFF as it is today can be adequately run by the present Officials mentioned before, however if in the near future a Club with all its needs is to be launched more dedicated persons have to join hand in hand with these four magnificent, hard working motivated leaders.
Still this event is a nice experience and I am sure it will be a success from all aspects, maybe with a query on catches.
Come on a last effort and the goal will be reached.

[SEAFOX]

Gaffer well said and I cant agree more - just to clarify matters.
We did distrubute to nearly, if not all, the mags to the fishing tackle and marine outlets, plus all those who sponsored us or had posters displayed in thier shops. I spent a whole day & half last week distributing mags to Gasan, Farsons, Petecraft, Buccaneer etc including submitting invoices for payment..plus meeting individuals handing over a copy of the mag. etc..

But then as you stated I had to do some more work on my boat and had other family matters to attend to. Hopefully this coming week I shall start plying the pontoons at Vittoriosa/Birgu/Senglea dropping a mag on each boat. Good piece of excercise!

[The_Gaffer]

Its been a great journey.  We all learnt alot from this experience and each other.  Like you Colin, 1st wek of June is over, and my boat is still on the hard, we some odds and ends still left to finish.
Gogo, we're not magnificent, we just keep our word.  We made a comittment, and we kept to it!

[The_Gaffer]

Dear All,

I think its important that you all are informed of the following:

When we embarked on this journey way back in January, we had decided to clasify sponors into  three tiers according to the level and degree of sponsorship and donations.  All the companies that sponsored this event at an offical partner and Corporate sponsor status were offered free advertising space on the commemorative magazine.  HI Tec Marine was recognised as a corporate sponsor, having offered the Selva 2mtr dingy worth €585 retail price and a cash donation to puttinu cares of €250. Thus Hi Tec was offered a free half page advert on the magazine.  Unfortunately, the advert for some reason or another, was left out, and was not even picked up during the proof reading.  This was a very unfortuante situation for which I take full responsibility, as I was coordinating efforts, ensuring the layout of the magazine flowed with the content, and also vetting all adverts to see that all was included. I personally offered the committee to make a donation of €250 to compensate for the lost revenue from Hi Tec, but the committee refused this on the grounds that it was a genuine mistake. 

I personally visited the Hi Tec showroom on Friday, to appologise and try and make ammends.  Obviously, Hi Tec were very disappointed, but accepted the ommision as a genuine mistake from my part. I tried to make the best of a situation that had gone bad my refusing to take the dingy, and in return for a donation of just €400, we would offer Hi Tec exclusive advertising space on the boat identification numbers, which will cost us €230, plus exclusive use of the jetty on the day of the tournament to market the Selva outboard range.  I am reproducing herein the official email from Hi Tec I recieved today in response to my offer:

----- Original Message -----
From: "Hi-Tec Marine ZABBAR 21692908" [info@hitecmarine.com]
Sent: 07.06.2011 11:35 ZE2
To: Joe Baldacchino
Subject: RE: HiTec recognised as Corporate Sponsor



Dear Joe,

Whilst I would like to start by thanking you for coming over to explain the mishap.. and your will to
Compromise for the mistake.. I truly understood you and I very much appreciate this..

We are very disappointed that Hi-Tec Marine did not show in the brochure.. and like I said we strive to be one of the
Main suppliers on the island and not showing in the magazine to me is big letdown..

My biggest concern is customers will think we did not contribute to such a publication..
Even thought we are mentioned in the small print and our logo on the website I do not think everyone will notice..
(I think you will agree with me here)

We have discussed between us and unfortunately we are not interested in any other resort other that the brochure
That we had already planned for.. but once again I thank you for your efforts to compromise.

However I would like you to post a comment on the forum to explain that we did contribute to the brochure and unfortunately
There was a mistake somewhere along the line.. at least the members will know... I don't think this is to much to ask for..

I assure you that I understand that mistakes can happen and unfortunately it was my advert..


Let's hope this doesn't happen again in the future..

On a positive note our goodwill still remains.. no silly heart feeling between Danny or joe or Hi-Tec Marine and the forum..
And you can still count on us to supporting the forum..



Thanks & regards
Daniel.

[skip]

Joe, thanks for the update. Please could you forward me the Hi-Tec advert that was due to be displayed in the magazine. Let's have a look where we can upload this on the forum/website.

[malvizzu]

@Skip - I was thinking on the same lines. Maybe for a determined period, the forum can make Hi-Tec's advert a splash-on screen like the one of the Big Game Tournament when one logs on to the forum. Another idea is to use the advert and send a mail shot to every member's email on the forum. These two suggestions would not entail any expenses. Another alternative is to have Hi-Tec's advert printed on it's own and inserted in the remaining magazines and maybe distribute them as well to those outlets were magazine was delivered.