The Delta Beach Association held its AGM recently and discussed some exciting projects for the coming year.

President Scott Greenlay says it's been a great year, noting that anytime there's good weather and nobody has to worry about flooding, it's wonderful.

"We had a really good turnout this year," says Greenlay. "We actually upped our game a little bit and we included coffee and cinnamon buns. We talked about some of the things we've done in the past year, which included a governance review. We held a great poker Derby. We had some good success in organizing a number of the social activities that you see going on at Delta to build our community. Coming up in the future, we're just going through a strategic planning exercise."

He notes the last strategy plan was made four years ago and they faired well in its execution.

"We were just asking the members what they'd like us to work on for the next three to five years, and we're going to have that put together in August," continues Greenlay. "One of the really exciting things we're working on is constructing an Interpretive/Community Centre. As some people may know, in the flood of 2011, we lost both our Interpretive Centre and the old school house that we used for meetings."

Greenlay explains they put forth plenty of effort to decide on what the centre would look like. He notes they came up a preliminary drawing.

"A fantastic architect by the name of Les Stechesen has put it together for us and Les came forward and volunteered his time," says Greenlay. "We're really excited about that and we're at the process now where we're looking for fundraising, grants, and getting the necessary ducks in a row so we can hold it. The other thing that we're going to do with the Interpretive Community Centre is make sure it's a multi-use facility, not just for the Delta Beach Association. It's open and the plan is that it'll be something that everybody from the University of Manitoba can use if they want to do classes if people want to hold events out at Delta, and if we're going to do sporting out at Delta Waterfowl."

He says they want to ensure the centre's a centrepiece for activities at Delta. 

"We got a pretty full plate for the upcoming year in terms of social activities," adds Greenlay. "We've got a sandcastle building contest. We just finished having Halloween in July for the kids. That was a lot of fun. We've got our annual barbecue coming up. The other big thing we're working on is our recreation area."

He says a new set of picnic tables has been acquired as well as a picnic shelter donated by Clint Taylor from Cobalt Industries. Greenlay notes they're also setting up some new swings, a merry-go-round, and they're trying to get a tennis courts/pickleball court resurfaced for those who want to have some fun at the beach.

"We had a great presentation from Roy Tufford who was out from the RM," continues Greenlay. "We had Del Penner from Delta Waterfowl come out and he gave us an update on what they're doing to restore the Delta Marsh, and lots of really exciting stuff going on there. We had Inspector Paul Peddle from the RCMP give us an update on what the RCMP are up to. Ian Wishart wasn't able to join us, but his heir apparent, Jeff Bereza, was. We were able to get an update on what's going on with the province."