Old news and announcements you may have missed
From Dec 30
Hi all,
It has been quite the week. I thought we had a pretty good meeting last Tuesday (December 16), and I hope we answered enough of your questions and maybe allayed some concerns. My thanks to Cash for his input and presentation and Mike Rubens for moderating the discussions.
The reactions and comments of the attendees and the generous response with the donations of the people that could make it out to the general meeting confirmed that the consensus is to forge ahead with obtaining the city licensing and re-opening of the clubhouse.
I heard the most heartwarming story from a member before the meeting. Please see the "Testimonials" page on this site and read it for yourself. This is the type of thing the West Edmonton Music Society proudly stands for.
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The website is getting steady traffic. It is a work in progress and gets better all the time.We’re still getting the Facebook page(s) all sorted out thanks to Mike and Gerry is gearing up his podcast to integrate with the WEMS social media system. You can get hold of us for Website and Social Media related topics at wemsonwix@gmail.com.
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Now the work starts. We are moving ahead, refining our vision and looking through the fog of the future to avoid any icebergs we may come across.
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We have reached $11,800 pledged, or 87.41% of our goal (I originally thought it was 90%, then factored in the fine due in February) which is a pretty good kick-off. This is enough to guarantee that we can pay the clubhouse bills for four months with dollars left over for the licensing& simple renos. The total renos are still an unknown, so we still have a way to go financially.
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So, what the heck are we doing? What’s the plan Stan?
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First thing, I need to get my house in order. We’re having problems with the official paperwork that has to be done and the failure to rectify this in a timely manner falls on me. Both Jeff and Ron have not been officially extricated from the lease and the banking responsibilities. This is not fair to either of them.
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I will be signing the lease papers with the owner tomorrow. We are waiting for the registry to confirm the change in executive to change things over at the bank. When everyone is back from holidays, we can proceed with that.
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The second subject to tackle is the timeline for the licensing through renos to opening starts with the application for licensing. This takes approximately 2 weeks, but I think that our application this close to Christmas will lengthen that time period.
As I understand it, if the initial paperwork is in order, the request is either handed over to permitting or returned to us for more information or most likely in our case, more detailed drawings which the owner is putting together for us. I will have more information on that this week.
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Once it goes to permitting, then further analysis of the drawings is done and barring a request for clarification of, or additions to the drawings, the permits are issued and inspections are made on site . Deficiencies will be noted and renovations to eliminate those deficiencies will be undertaken. Once mitigation of the deficiencies is done more inspections follow until approval is given.This is the period that may take a few months with starts and stops until it is done.
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Once the permit stage is passed and we get approval, we the license is issued, and away we go…
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Sounds so simple in theory. We’ll see how the reality goes.
Over this four-month period, there may seem to be periods of inactivity as we will have to proceed at the city’s pace. We will try to speed things up with prompt response & actions for the city’s demands.
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We will use this time to re-examine what and who we are as the West Edmonton Music Society, what we wish it to be ,where we want it to go and figure out how we are going to get there.
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I’m going to start with the areas that deal with the nuts and bolts of how the structure of the Society is formed. These include:
- The Executive– Composition, Structure, Duties of the Officers& Directors
- By – Laws, Code of Conduct, The Rules we live by as a Society
- Membership Privileges, Expectations, Responsibilities and Obligations
- Setting of Rates for Membership, Club Usage
- Setting up a new set of Financial Books
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Finally, I am hoping to get people involved in defining what we want to be in terms of the usage of the clubhouse.
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As a either a non-licensed underground or a licensed mercantile establishment we have always needed to make a profit. What makes our situation unique is that we are not making a profit in order to pay dividends to our membership, but to pour the profits back into the club itself and the community it serves. We can use this to control our required profit level and help to keep our costs to the community that we serve at as reasonable a level as we can. This avails us of a wider membership base.
We have benefited from relatively low costs, but I’m sure that will be changing down the road. Utilities are increasing at a steady pace. The owner is making some renovations to the building and the space around it, so I can see our rent increasing, but there is no indication of one coming in the following year. 2027? Who knows.
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Growth and outreach to the outer world is the most likely answer to our need to bring in income to support the Society at our present location. We need people to come to the clubhouse. We need to give people a reason to use the clubhouse.
The challenges we face in defining our future which deserves some good sober thought and discussion . Decisions will be made that will influence the outcome of at least the next year.
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I have thoughts and opinions on a good number of topics we have to cover, but so do you I would imagine, and I want to hear what your thoughts are. My email is bobplaysbass1@gmail.com, and I would very much like to engage with you on what we can do to meet the future’s challenges and overcome them.I am looking for ideas with at least an inkling of how to implement them. Ideas with solutions are most welcome!
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As for the Tuesday night Jams at the Sherbrooke, it looks like some members are visiting on that night. That is ok by me. The official WEMS one is Thursday, but I see no problem with enterprising members creating something on Tuesday using the WEMS gear. If that kills the Thursday one, then we’ll rethink things. Just respect the gear and the place. If anyone shows up on a Tuesday and finds non-WEMS members using the equipment, please let me know.
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I think I’ve spouted enough for one time. I am told I am too verbose, but this is how I write.
On behalf of the WEMS Executive, Cash, Cathy, Rob, Royal, the Social Media crew, Terry, Mike and Gerry, Mike (Licensing & Renos)and Brad (Special Advisor), Marcel, Linda and Cindy (Membership List) and myself, I want to wish you all the best for the Christmas season and a Happy New Year’s for you and yours.
Thanks,
Bob Walker
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We’ve done it!
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We have a credible path to re-opening the clubhouse with a business license.
Last Wednesday, Rob Speidel and Cash Webster had a meeting with city officials to talk about the past licensing applications, the history of the club with the city and our path forward to having the clubhouse becoming compliant with city regulations and acquiring a business license for the Society to operate in the space occupied by the clubhouse at 11619 – 147 Street.
The outcome of that meeting indicates that we can and will be able to re-open in that space. What we have to do is follow the process laid out by the city, supply the required (and requested) materials in a timely manner, comply with the requirements and follow through to complete the process. We will follow the process to completion.
On this past Friday, this past Friday evening, the executive met with our landlord to go over options for moving the plan forward. We have come to an understanding and the landlord has agreed to supply a set of drawings at his expense. We are still negotiating as to how to deal with the rent on the clubhouse during the period between January 2026 and the club re-opening.
I am calling for a General Meeting to be held on Tuesday, December 16, 2025 at the Sherbrooke Pub at 7 pm to go over options for the Society. In this meeting we will present our findings and proposal(s) for keeping and re-opening the clubhouse or moving forward in the manner we presently are operating in at the Sherbrooke Pub.
I am confident that you will agree with our findings and will embrace our proposals. I think we have a credible path forward.
I am hoping you will all come to the meeting and help us make the decision that will decide what path we will take. I feel that in electing the present executive you have already cast a ballot in favour of at least exploring the Society keeping the present clubhouse and now you’ll have the opportunity to cement that idea by endorsing the plan options we will introduce at the meeting. We no longer have a concept of a plan. We have a plan.
There are still two Sundays to go between now and the meeting on the 16th, so I will be fleshing out the details of what we’re proposing in the regular Sunday emails so that you will be informed about our situation and what we’re proposing when you come to the meeting.
So once again, I’ll stress the importance of this meeting. We either go ahead with saving the clubhouse or not. It is your decision to make and the more of you that get together to make the decision, the better it is.
Make your voice heard.
If anyone would like to speak at the meeting, please let me know so we can make room for you on the meeting agenda. We will have time for people to speak at the end of the meeting, but if you have something to say about the proposals or wish to have your thoughts heard before we vote on the proposals, you’ll have to get onto the meeting agenda.
So next week we’ll be putting together the materials we’ll need to start the application process. We’ll also start formalizing our proposals and I hope to have some information ready for you for next Sunday’s WEMS Notes email.
On another note, our attendance at last Tuesday’s jam was underwhelming to the point that I shut the thing down early due to lack of participation. We’ll try it again this Tuesday with our friend Jerry de Lorenzia and his guys helping us out. So please come on down and check it out. The idea of these Tuesday’s jams are to invite the outside world to come and join with us in some musical fun and hopefully entice these folks and their friends to join our Society. So I hope you’ll all come down and join me in welcoming these strangers to our midst.
We are still updating the membership list, so if you know any members that are not receiving these emails, please let them know my email address and we’ll get them up to date.
I think that is it at this moment. We’ve a busy week ahead of us, but things are looking positive for us!
Thanks !
Bob Walker
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FROM SEPT 30, 2025
Meet the New West Edmonton Music Society Board
(And the New West Edmonton Music Society)
At the WEMS Annual General Meeting on Thursday Sept 23 the membership of the West Edmonton Music Society elected a new President (Bob Walker), Vice President (Cash Webster) and Business Manager (Roger Renson). Treasurer Ron Cyr announced at that time that he would also be stepping down. Roger subsequently also stepped down due to a change in his work situation.
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The new board has appointed an interim Treasurer (Rob Speidel) and has re-appointed Royal Toth as Business Manager. Cathy Shanks will continue in the role of Secretary.
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Due to regulatory issues, aging membership and dwindling attendance the Society had reached the end of it’s financial reserves and was no longer able to carry the cost of the overhead on the clubhouse space.
Under the new leadership, the Society itself as well as the clubhouse space will undergo many changes aimed at ensuring the survival, growth and continuing success of the Society as a welcoming, inclusive, positive and inspirational environment in which both amateur and professional musicians can perform, practice, collaborate, record and socialize.
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As always, the stated mission of the Society will include enabling the development of musical interest and talent across a wide range of genres and levels, providing opportunity for performers, writers and music lovers to enjoy live music on a regular basis in a safe, appealing and comfortable venue.
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Bridge funding to rehabilitate and upgrade the facility, maintain the lease and meet the costs of achieving regulatory compliance has been pledged from dedicated supporters of the new Board and business plan. There is a strong core group of people who believe that the Society can regain its once cherished role as a place for Edmonton musicians to meet.
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If you have been part of this great organization’s past and wish to become involved in the rehabilitation and restoration of the Society, or if you are a new or aspiring musician looking for a place to meet other musicians and to grow and develop your playing and performance skills, you should consider getting involved in this new vision for the future of the West Edmonton Music Society.
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