Forever Bury
The Bury FC Supporters’ Society Limited
Forever Bury (Bury Football Club Supporters' Society Limited)
MINUTES OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Saturday24thSeptember 2016
The 15th Annual General Meeting of The Bury Football Club Supporters Society Limited, known as Forever Bury was convened at 5.30pm on Saturday 26th September 2016in the Bury FC Social Club, Gigg Lane, Bury with 30members being present.6
members had appointed the chair as proxy. Forever Bury Chair Dave Giffard sent his apologies.
Acting Chair – Lorraine Fox, Secretary – Susan Tunstall.
- Minutes of AGM 01426thSeptember 2015
The minutes of the meetingwere unanimously accepted as a true reflection of that meeting.
- Announcement of Directors of the Board of Forever Bury
The Chair advised members that John Trippier of the Clarets Supporters Trust had offered his good services to act as independent scrutineer and to whom all nominations had been sent. He advised by e-mail only five nominations had been received for the nine vacant positions on the Forever Bury Board. The nominations were received from Susan Tunstall, David Giffard, Derek Boulton, Lesley Brown and Robert Woolfe. All five nominations were ratified unanimously by the members present were therefore elected to the board.
- Chairs Statement
The acting chair read out a statement from Forever Bury Chair Dave Giffard.
“I’ll start by apologizing for not being here today as I’m out of the country once again recharging my batteries. Hopefully it will enable me to tackle whatever challenges face us over the coming months.
We’ve had a very progressive year communicating with Glenn Thomas on a regular basis. This has allowed us to gather questions, suggestions, comments and ideas from our members which we have put to Glenn each month which he has answered in detail as well as informing us about the day to day management and challenges at the club.
With the monthly meeting being a success for both the Club and Forever Bury we have recently been invited to attend club meetings with police, safety bodies and council, etc. This again has proved very constructive as the first such meeting was with the police over the ticketing arrangements for the Bolton match and we had an impact on the decisions made.
We do feel we have made great strides and we will be looking to build on this over the coming months.
At this point I would like to thank the other Forever Bury Board members who all put so much of their time into running the Trust and the various fundraising events but would like to hear from more of our members who would like to get involved and help. Due to increasing postal charges we are particularly keen to hear from any of our members who could help by acting as postal operatives in their local area. This would just be a handful of times each year but could really help cut down on our postal charges. If you’ve any suggestions, ideas or questions, for Forever Bury or the Bury FC Board please get in touch.
The last of this year’s Car Boot Sales is on Sunday 2nd October. The 12th annual Forever Bury Beer Festival is May 11th – 13th and we will also be doing the Sponsored Walk to Rochdale on Saturday 15th October so please call in the Cabin to register and pick up a sponsorship form if you want to walk, if not please call in and sponsor one of the Walkers.
Finally, it’s pleasing to report that we are considered to be one of the more successful trusts. Which is fine but we would still like to grow and develop. With around 700 members at the moment it would be pleasing to see that grow over the remainder of the season so please spread the word. The more members, the more proactive members, the more we can do.
Enjoy the rest of the season!!!!!”
- Secretary’s Statement
The secretary stated that there wasa total of 685 members; voting membership was 411 comprising of 195adults, 140 concessions and 76 young persons, junior members was274, at the end of the financial year. The current membership was 687; voting membership was 412 comprising of 205 adults, 140concessions and 67young persons, junior members was 275.
The Registered office of the Society was now the Forever Bury Cabin and not the Social Club.
- Financial Statement
The treasurer presented the Independent Examiner’s report and the analysis of Income and Expenditure for the financial period ended 31st March 2016. The Financial Statement for the Financial Year 2015/2016 was unanimously accepted.
The beer festival was again the major fundraiser for this year.The next one would take place commencing the 12th May 2017.A member asked if it was possible to hold two festivals a year to raise extra income, the difficulty with this was the length of time it takes to organize the original festival was nine months and the impact of a second festival could interfere with the first. The idea would be put to the organizer. Income from the car boot sales had been reduced as two had been a complete wash out. The popularity of car boots had been on the decline in general, although ours was still one of the busiest in the area. Forever Bury members had recently been given a £2 reduction on the £12 charge for cars.
The treasurer asked members for suggestions and help to further increase the society’s income.
Forever Bury had purchased 10000 shares in the club for £10000 in the year end 31st March 2016, the money from this sale was to support the youth department. There has been no decision on any further investment for this financial year. The society faced the dilemma that if it withheld any investment, then the club could remove the use of it facilities for our events. Any investment would be beneficial for both the society and the club following meetings with the club’s CEO Ian Kendal. The members agreed with the Forever Bury Board that only 50% of the profit generated should be invested in the club with the remaining money being used to build up the society’s reserve.
- Auditors/Independent Examination of Accounts
The current charge from Metcalfes for the independent examination and the provision of our PO Box was £450 compared with a full audit of round £3000.
The proposal that the members of the Society shall not require an audit of accounts covering the current financial year ending on 31st March 2017 when they are presented to the next AGM held in 2017 and to have an Independent Examination of the Accounts instead, was acceptedunanimously
- Complete Change of Rules
The proposal to adopt the 2016 Version of the Supporters Direct Model Rules was accepted unanimously and these would come into effect once they had been registered with the FCA.
- Future Aims
To continue to work on increasing/retaining the membership and to encourage more members to be more active.
To continue to meet with the club, raising concerns from our members over the clubs’ finances. Success on the pitch needs to be matched by that off the pitch and the club should not be put in jeopardy by it.
To look into the transfer of the SOS Trust shares.
To improve the relationship between the Club, Forever Bury and the fans, by improving communication and to try and encourage the club to be more open and hold fans forums.
To increase the income of Forever Bury by organizing more events and any ideas and help from members would be appreciated.
To continue to facilitate the setting up of an Exiled Supporters Club, the first meeting is being arranged for the AFC Wimbledon away game.
- AOB
Concern was raised about fans letting off flares and smoke bombs and the club being fined. It was thought that the club should be informing fans about how this could affect the club’s finances, as well as risks to other fans.
Lack of support from the town, Forever Bury pointed out at its first meeting with the new owners that it would be difficult to increase the fan base, currently around 3,500, even though the club were 3rd in the league.
The club have promised a fans forum in February and one at the end of the season, Forever Bury had asked for one every three months.
At the Club AGM there was no mention of the development at the ground or ground relocation.
It was asked if the Forever Bury Programme notes could be sent out via email after they had appeared in the program
The thanked everyone for attending the meeting.
Meeting Closed at 6.30pm
Approved ByPrepared By
Date
PO Box 310, Bury, BL9 6WA
Registered Office: Gigg Lane, Bury, Lancashire, BL9 9HR