DRAFT MINUTES OF 63rd ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING HELD ON 24 FEBRUARY 2010 AT ST LUKE’S CHURCH HALL, WILLASTON, CREWE AT 19.30 HRS
PRESENT
Committee Bryan Roe( BR) ChairGrace Harding ( GH )
Ken Willington ( KW )Ken Elkins ( KE )
Kath Conroy ( KC )Mavis Thorpe ( MT )
Paul Harvey (PH)Marilyn Norbury (MAN)
Jan Boulton (JB)Phil Boulton (PB)
17 General members present
1Chairman’s Opening Remarks
Bryan Roe welcomed members and committee to the 63rd AGM and commented the club was getting closer to another milestone when 65 years of the club would be celebrated.
2Apologies for absence
Apologies were received from Barbara & Geoff Vaughan, Mario di Bratto, Dave Langford, Lorna Langford, Barbara Waters, Bernard Wakeley, Mike Jackson, Peter Norbury, Harry Nottingham, Stan Thomason, Irene Clarke, Christine Morgan, Wilf Capper, Olive Ward, Gordon Fleet, Tony Goodwin, Paul Tudor and Brian Glover. Subsequent to the meeting Marie Leek apologised for not attending but had been unavoidably detained.
3 Minutes of previous meeting—25th February 2009
The minutes of the AGM on 25 February 2009 were approved (proposed Kath Conroy, seconded Peter Thorpe) without amendment.
4Matters arising from the minutes - 25th February 2009
4.1P3 Item No 9 para 2 - Walk Board - The ‘walk board’ for the existing and forthcoming programmes, was now included in each newsletter, showing where leaders were still required.
4.2P3 Item No 9 para 4 - Printed walk cards - Following discussion in committee a ‘tick’ box was now included on the membership renewal form, for members who received correspondence by e-mail, to indicate if they wished to receive a printed walk card.
4.3P3 Item No 10 - Weekend breaks - to be reported on under agenda item 10.
5Chairman’s Report
Bryan Roe commenced by thanking the committee for their help and support during the year.
5Chairman’s Report (Cont’d)
Bryan went on to say that at last year’s AGM three new committee members were elected and had brought fresh ideas to meetings. Some of the club’s rules and procedures had been reviewed and the committee were asking for the support of the AGM, later on the agenda, to approve some of the subsequent changes.
It had become apparent that some established members had been ‘overtaken by the years’ and were no longer able to walk regularly and he thanked them for their support of the club in the past. Thankfully some new members were joining. However, towards the end of 2009 a drop of numbers on the coach walks was seen. This carried through to the first months of 2010, although possibly mainly due to weather conditions which caused one walk to be cancelled, for safety reasons, this for the first time, he said, in his 25+ years association with the club.
Market conditions had played a part in the decision taken to return to Burland as the coach provided from January 2010, the costings meant the club would have needed up to an extra eight people on the coach, to break even on some journeys, had the booking remained with Happy Days.
In August the club had been invited by Cross-Country Films to participate in the making of a DVD about Walking the Sandstone Trail. For those who took part it had been an interesting and enjoyable experience. The DVD had been published just before Christmas and members could obtain discounted copies.
The Club website, Bryan said, continued to be regularly visited. Since 2008 the unique visitors/month had almost doubled now averaging 77, these people viewed on average 5 pages per visit. The first two months of 2010 were up again by 5% on previous figures.
Bryan wound up his report by reminding members that this coming year would be his fourth and last as Chairman, as he would have completed his term of office. He urged members to actively think about a successor for him.
Lastly, but by no means least, he thanked all club members for their continued support and Gill Stanley for doing his proof reading.
6Treasurer’s Report & Annual Accounts - Year ended 31st December 2009
Jan Boulton presented the report for her second year as Treasurer. She initially drew the attention of members to the balance sheet, from which it could be seen that the club had made a profit of £625.48 which together with the interest of £105.67 meant funds at the end of 2009 were £4,350.86.
The expenditure and income account showed the 24 rambles during the year had had made a loss of £296.25. This had been a big improvement on the previous year when the loss had been £1,573.50.
Jan reported that the average number on walks had been slightly down on 2008:
2008Total 43A 11B 18C 14
2009Total 41A 10 B 18C 13
6Treasurer’s Report & Annual Accounts - Yr ended 31st Dec 2009 (cont’d)
A profit of £7.00 was made on the Hot Pot but the Skittles evening made a loss of £18.90.
Insurance premiums had increased to £165 from £120 in 2008.
A free year had been received from the Ramblers Association due to a clerical error on their part.
Committee expenses had increased following the decision to post newsletters to members.
Membership fees had increased slightly and an anonymous donation of £200 had been gratefully received.
Jan concluded by thanking the Auditor, Vic Ward, for his help with auditing the accounts.
The Chairman moved that the report be received - proposed by Pete Wimby, seconded Ken Elkins.
7 Auditor’s Report
Vic Ward, Auditor, advised the meeting that Jan Boulton had done a good job again. He had examined all paperwork and the figures presented were a true record.
8 Membership Secretary’s Report
The Membership Secretary, Phil Boulton, said the current membership was 156 compared with 165 at the last AGM. The figure included nine new members and 18 members had not renewed for 2009. He had noted that some people had joined, not participated in walks and not re-joined.
Phil drew the attention of those present to the proposal in respect of membership, presented at Agenda item 12, which the Chairman would be introducing to the meeting at which point he would be pleased to answer any questions.
The assistance of members who still delivered newsletters and walk cards was acknowledged.
He concluded by thanking members for their subscription renewals which he had begun to receive. In response to a question in respect of the average age of members, he responded that the figure could not be obtained from the information held by the club, but it was possibly early/late 50’s.
The report was received - proposed by Grace Harding and seconded by Joyce Dawson.
9 Ramble Organiser’s Report
Paul Harvey presented the report on behalf of the two Ramble Organisers. He wished to
9 Ramble Organiser’s Report (cont’d)
record his personal thanks to Mario di Bratto and gave a very big thank you to all who had lead walks over the last year as without these leaders there would not be a club at all. He went on to say that the last couple of months had been particularly difficult because of the weather, he was particularly sorry about having to cancel the Teggs Nose walk but was certain it had been the right decision and Burland coaches had not charged for the cancellation.
Thinking back over the last year he knew everyone would have their favourite walks but Paul chose the walk at Kinder as his favourite with its stunning views, for all parties, and the first ‘Geocaching experience’ for the A Party. The Llanberis walk was a close runner up and he cited the Hot Pot walk as always being a good day.
On the new programme he was looking forward to walking at Bishops Castle and Anglezark. He really wanted to encourage members to put their names down early to lead on the Summer/Autumn programme so a good programme could be printed for all to enjoy.
The report was received - proposed by Beryl Warrington and seconded by Sylvia Elkins.
10 Club Weekends/Holiday Breaks
Gilsland - After booking 20 months in advance Grace Harding confirmed that this holiday, scheduled for 10 - 14May 2010, had 36 members taking part. Insurance could no longer be booked through Happy Days and some other recommended sources were the Post Office, the AA and Boots. Most banks were also very competitive. Travel would be by one of Happy Days executive coaches with a driver who knew the Northumberland area. A, B and C walks would be on offer and the coach would be available for non-walkers too.
In response to a question regarding how many of the committee were taking part in this holiday, the meeting was advised that 10 of the 13 members of the committee had booked.
Llandrindod Wells - Phil Bolton was organising this trip (4 - 8 October 2010) and he confirmed the cost would be £262.56 for 4 nights. The hotel had a gym, pool and excellent food. Twelve places, out of the 35 available, had booked so far and three single rooms were still available with the possibility of more being obtained. Again, members would be required to make their own arrangements for insurance and would need to advise policy details when paying the final money.
Weekend Breaks - The committee had discussed putting on a weekend break but none of the members knew specifically of a suitable venue. They would be happy to arrange the event if a general member would recommend/suggest a venue/choice of area. Following some discussion Grange over Sands, Bamburgh, Durham and Conway were suggested. Further ideas would be invited via the next newsletter. The criteria would be Friday - Sunday/Monday inclusive, reasonable travelling distance for Friday pm and a competitive price.
11 Election of Officers & Committee
All current officers and committee were prepared to stand for re-election. President, Ken Willington, took the chair for the re-election of Chairman, Bryan Roe. This was proposed by Grace Harding and seconded by Keith Nowell.
11 Election of Officers & Committee (cont’d)
The remaining officers and committee were re-elected as a whole - proposed by Maurice Hackling and seconded by Peter Thorpe.
POSITION / NAMETREASURER / Jan Boulton
CORRES SEC / Kath Conroy
MIN SEC / Marilyn Norbury
M’SHIP SEC / Phil Boulton
NEWSLETTER / Bryan Roe
RAMBLE ORG 1 / Mario di Bratto
RAMBLE ORG 2 / Paul Harvey
COMMITTEE 1 / Grace Harding
COMMITTEE 2 / Mavis Thorpe
COMMITTEE 3 / Dave Langford
COMMITTEE 4 / Ken Elkins
COMMITTEE 5 / Marie Leeke
AUDITOR / Vic Ward
12Membership Card Amendment
During the year the committee had been working on up-dating the membership card and membership form. Proposed amendments to both documents were put to the meeting as follows:
Proposed amendment to membership card:
“New members should be required to pay a joining fee of £4 followed by the appropriate subscription when it becomes due”.
In conjunction with the above the proposed amendment to the membership form was:
“The club reserves the right to withdraw membership from any member who does not abide by the rules and etiquette of the club”.
The purpose of introducing the amendments was to make it easier for new members to join. They would no longer be required to go to the last pick up point or remain a non-paying visitor for three rambles to allow their health, fitness, ability and walking gear to be monitored.
Comments on, and suggestions to amend, the proposals were debated at length resulting in a proposed change to the membership card proposal as follows:
A “New members should be required to pay a joining fee of half the current full membership followed by the appropriate subscription when it becomes due”.
Proposed by Ken Elkins and seconded by Chris England
There was also a counter proposed change:
B“New members should be required to pay a pro rata membership in relation to the month in which they join”
Proposed by Maurice Hackling and seconded by Joyce Dawson
The Chairman requested show of hands in favour of the above proposed changes and change A was agreed by a clear majority.
The proposed amendment to the membership form was agreed unanimously without change.
13Number of members taking part in walks
The Chairman explained the concerns raised within the committee regarding poor attendance on walks towards the end of 2009 and at the beginning of 2010. Following discussion, the poor weather and older members not walking anymore were cited as possible reasons.
The committee were asked to consider doing an analysis over the last four years and to look at the next three walks to see if there was any improvement.
Close of meeting 9.15 pm