Cambridge Austin 7 & Vintage Car Club

Annual General Meeting

Plough and Fleece, Horningsea

Wednesday 4thOctober 2017

Apologies

Roger & Mel Burton, Alan & Christine Martin, Iain Robinson, Liz Heyer, Martin Hunter, Basil & Penny Jaques, Ian & Pauline Russell, Chris & Pat Dawes, Christina Lawrence, Sam Bramley, Janet Edroff, Jean Ward

Present

Paul Lawrence, Michelle Lawrence, Heather Lawrence, David Hughes, Andrew Evans, Ellie Evans, Mick Ward, Adam Brown, Mike Johnson, Jean Johnson, Hugh Dyson, Robert Bramley, Ruth Bramley, Robert Frayling-Cork, Maggie Cheshire, Trevor Wilkinson, Jill Watkins, Robert Leigh, Fenella Leigh, Lesley Mayne, Nick Mayne, Andrew Pooley, Ruth Pooley, Mary Walker, Gill Davis, Tony Dron, Hugh Barnes, Gerald Walker, Rodd Griggs,

Minutes of Previous Meeting

Proposed by Hugh Barnes and Seconded by Robert Leigh as being correct and all agreed.

President’s Address by Mary Walker

Good evening, another year gone and another AGM. It’s good to see so many here. Unfortunately we are less two of our members Malcolm (Lawrence) and Phil (Clark).

I hope you have enjoyed your outings both home and abroad, also the various events the committee has arranged and thanks to them for all their hard work. Last year I told you that although still capable of driving I felt it sensible, after 72 years accident free motoring, to quit whilst I was still ahead but after watching 100 years old driving school on TV I wonder if I should reconsider, especially as one of the participants was 105 years old – and she passed! It might be interesting to have a debate some time to hear people’s opinions as to when they consider it is time to give up.

Anyway, you are all far too young to face that decision and in the not too near future everyone will be in their ‘driverless’ cars so the question of giving up should not arise. Of course, the day will inevitably come when all our lovely Austin Sevens and vintage cars will be off the road and only seen in museums so enjoy your ‘proper’ motoring while you can. Wishing you all the best for another year

Secretary’s Address by Paul Lawrence

Paul Welcomed everyone and said how we have continued to attract some new members to the club which is great and they are all very welcome He thanked the committee for their work. Alan Martin for organising last year’s Annual Dinner and the BBQ at Car of the Year, Gill Davis for her work as Editor. (He asked people to support Gill with content for the Newsletter and that they can now send her things directly from the website. This is Gill’s last year as Editor so he asked people to think about taking it on from next October). Fenella Leigh for her work processing the subscriptions and doing the accounts and Michelle Lawrence for coming up with ideas and supporting committee work. Paul said that two members had been co-opted onto the committee over the last year, Adam Brown and Mick Ward, who would be looking for election later in the meeting.

Paul said it had been Tough year in some respects having lost two club members recently. Malcolm Lawrence, Paul’s father, died in July and he thanked everyone for all the kind messages and general support he and his family had received from club members. He also thanked those that came to the funeral and those that joined the Funeral Procession in the Austin Sevens and other classic cars.

Phil Clarke also died a few weeks later. Phil had not been active in recent times due to ill health but was a stalwart of the club for many years and was at one time Club President. Robert & Fenella Leigh and Alan & Christine Martin had formed part of the Funeral Procession in their Austin Sevens which was particularly poignant as Alan’s Boat Tail Austin Seven had previously owned by Phil.

Paul said the AGM was always a good time to reflect on the year gone by as well as looking forward to the future. This years activities had included: a run to Wimpole Hall in March where Roger and Pauline Stratford gave us ‘Proper’ guided tour; the Treasure Hunt in April which ended at his house where we all had soup and cake; a run to the Forncett St Mary Industrial Steam Museum in May and although numbers were small it was an excellent day out; a run from Grantchester Tea Rooms to Dowra Manor Gardens in Shepreth in June which turned out to be a real hidden gem; a Road Run to Ely in August and although the attendance was again small it was beautifully formed; Car of the Year at Sue and Gerald’s in September where we tried a few new things such as a steam engine display which included the ‘Brown’ Family Steam Engine driven to the rally by Charlie Brown. The musical instruments were successful which included Robert Frayling- Cork on saxophone, Gerald on Hurdy Gurdy, Rod Griggs on Base Guitar and David Dabbs on Squeeze box!

This year, on the suggestion from a club member we tried double club nights during the summer months of June, July & August. May well look to repeat this next year.

Paul then talked about what was coming up in the next year. Having recently retired Paul said he would be looking to organise some midweek runs to a café or similar location. Just a short run from late morning to early afternoon.

Paul said that generally the longer Sunday Runs are poorly attended so we are looking at having one longer weekend runaway next year which is being investigated by Adam Brown and was likely to be in the Southwold area in Suffolk.

Regalia is coming and the committee is very close to sharing details with of what will be available. We will be looking to not carry stock but have one yearly order.

Hugh Barnes will be giving us a talk on the Austin Seven Associations’ Archive project in November

The Annual Dinner will be held on Friday at the White Horse in Oakington on Friday 19th January 2018 and more details will follow soon.

In February Gill Davis will be organising a ‘Feely Bag’ night.

Paul said that he did have some Red Cross Directories for £2.50 and Grey Mag Indexes for £1 with him if anyone wanted to but one tonight.

Paul finished by thanking everyone you once again for all their support and said we can all look forward to another year with the club

Treasurer’s Report

Fenella presented the accounts for 2016/17 which are shown at the foot ofthese minutes.

  • There are currently 68 club members
  • Money in Club Building SocietyAccount is £1036.56
  • Cash £31.22
  • Total £1,067.78

There were no questions regarding the accounts. They were proposed by Gill Davis and 2nd by Trevor Wilkinson as being correct and the meeting unanimously agreed.

Awards

Car of the Year (Ray Walker Cup)- Gerald Walker

Best Austin 7 (Vic Harris Cup)-Dave Bignell

Driving Test- Maggie Cheshire

Treasure Hunt-Liz Heyer & Martin Hunter

Awards (cont’d)

Ed Trophy -Tony Dron

Photographic Competition -Fenella Leigh

Editor’s Trophy -Christine Martin

Mike Davis Cup -Mick Ward

Restoration Trophy -David Dunn

Sean de Salis Trophy -Hugh Barnes

Election of Committee

The existing committee members were re-electednem.con. (1st Robert Leigh, 2nd Hugh Barnes)

Adam Brown (1st Mick Ward 2nd Gill Davis

Mick Ward (1st Gill Davis 2nd Fenella Leigh)

All nominations were unanimously supported by those present at the meeting

AOB

  • A discussion took place in relation to members receiving just an electronic copy of the Newsletter to save the club money. The consensus was that most people enjoyed receiving a printed copy of the newsletter. As the cost of producing our Newsletter is greatly reduced thanks to Mike and Jean Johnson who do the printing for free (Mike & Jean then received a round of applause from the meeting) the main costs associated with the Newsletter were postage. The meeting discussed ways in which postage could be reduced by, for example, handing them out to those at Club Nights thus reducing the postage costs. It was suggested that the membership form could ask people if they would like to receive a printed copy or if they would be happy just receiving an electronic copy.

The suggestion was also made that it could be viewed and downloaded to your own computer from the club website (It is already possible to do this).

  • Robert Leigh made the point that the winner of this year’s Restoration Trophy (Frogeye Sprite) may be considered a modern classic it was in fact 60 years old and a lot older than his Austin Seven when he joined the club. It was agreed that it was wholly appropriate to include cars such as this within the activities of the club.
  • Hugh Barnes said he felt the double club nights were a good idea in the summer months and this was agreed by the meeting.

Keep scrolling down to see accounts