Paul Brown replaces Sue van de Ven as president of Albury Harness Racing club

Six previous committee members resigned In a huge shock in the lead-up to the recent annual general meeting.

In a major cleanout of the committee Paul Brown replaced Sue van de Ven as president.

Kevin Walsh and Jade Clements are the new vice-presidents with Phil Oates treasurer and Tim Doherty secretary.

Brown said it had been a tumultuous two months for the club.

"With the majority of the executive resigning before the AGM it's probably an understatement to say that it was a controversial move," Brown said.

"The club was thrown into disarray and we were forced to run an AGM with no assistance from the previous committee and nothing handed over.

"It's a younger committee now but fortunately we were guided by some experienced heads in Phil Oates and Kevin Walsh.

"It's been a tough two months.

"But as the new president we are looking forward to our next meeting on New Year's Eve which is always a massive occasion for the club and hopefully making it bigger than ever before."

Brown has been involved in harness racing for most of his life.

He juggles his passion with harness racing as a trainer and driver with his full-time job as a butcher.

"I've been involved in harness racing since I was a kid," Brown said.

"I probably never saw myself becoming president but the new committee was of the opinion that I should try my hand at the position.

"We were getting feedback from other harness racing clubs in the district that there needed to be a fair bit of change at committee level at Albury.

"Don't get me wrong, the previous committee put in a lot of hard work and should be commended for the job they did.

"But sometimes you just need to shake things up to go forward."

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Albury has been allocated eight meetings for the season including New Year's Eve.

The club also has one Friday night meeting in February.

"One of our biggest goals is get families back to the trots," Brown said.

"Last Tuesday was the most kids I've seen during a week night for a very long time.

"Our hands are tied a bit in regards to that our meetings are allocated by Harness Racing NSW and a lot of our meetings are on a Tuesday night.

"But getting a Friday night meeting in February is a bonus for the club."

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