DRAFT MINUTES
NATIONAL PIGEON ASSOCIATION 2013ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
HELD AT BROWNSOVER HALL HOTEL, RUGBY ON 9th FEBRUARY 2014
TheVice President opened the meeting at 11.00 am.
PRESENT
There were 37 members present plus the VicePresident, Chairman &Secretary.
ITEM 1 - APOLOGIES
Apologies were received from David Barraclough, John Harrison, Ray Hetherington, John Gregg, Robin Pratt, Alan & Mary Roscoe and Mike Knaggs.
ITEM 2 - OBITUARIES
Mark Rudd read out a tribute to both Derek Reed and Mick Lewis who had passed away in the previous year followed by a minute's silenceas a mark of respect.
ITEM 3 - MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS AGM
The minutes were proposed as a true recordby Richard Henderson& seconded by JohnThomson; carried unanimously.
ITEM 4 - MATTERS ARISING
Richard Henderson asked for an update on the new rule: “Any breed of pigeon without an approved Club Standard shall not be eligible to compete for a BIS award at any approved NPA Championship Show”. This new rule was successfully voted on during the 2012 ballot but deferred for a year by the Chairman. After much debate it was decided that the rule must stand. A letter will be drafted and sent to the Show Secretaries informing them of the rule change and requesting that they rename their top award to something other than “Best in Show”.
ITEM 5 - CORRESPONDENCE RELATIVE TO THE AGM
No correspondence received.
ITEM 6 - PRESIDENT'S REPORT
Unfortunately the President could not attend due to a family bereavement. He had, however, supplied a draft of his speech which was read out by the Chairman. In his report the out-going President put forward an idea for restructuring Championship shows.
ITEM 7 - CHAIRMAN'S REPORT
The Chairman’s report had already been printed in the NPA News Bulletin. The Chairman reiterated the key points from this report.
ITEM 8 - SECRETARY/TREASURER'S REPORT
The Secretary had only been in place for four months and wanted to thank Evan Murray (Chairman), Graham Giddings (previous Secretary), Dennis Thornton (Bulletin Editor). John Ross (Webmaster), John Elsdon (Ballot Scrutineer), Helen Seed (Junior Fanciers) and Mark Rudd (Standards) for their support and effort during this time. He also wanted to ask the entire membership to take responsibility for nurturing prospective new members.
Membership for 2013 was 685 out of which there were 153 new members and 49individual junior members (not in partnership with an adult). 30,910 rings were sold and 956 pigeons had been transferred.
Accounts for 2013 had been distributed and read and it was proposed by Jim Mullan and seconded by Mark Rudd that they be accepted; carried.
Paul Littlewood commented that the Committee needed to increase revenue for the NPA. This would be a priority for 2014.
ITEM 9 - ELECTION OF PRESIDENT
The Vice President Gary Eaton was proposed by the Chairman and seconded by the Secretary to succeed as President; carried.
ITEM 10 – ELECTION OF VICE PRESIDENT
Four candidates were nominated for Vice President. Mark Rudd was successfully voted as the new Vice President.
ITEM 11 - PRESENTATION OF AWARDS BY THE PRESIDENT
Hall of Fame winner Colin Jones (Long Faced Tumblers) had already received his award at Egremont Championship Show. Junior Fancier of the Year William Martin had already received his award at London & Essex Championship Show. Master Breeder awards were presented by the new President to Mark Rudd (on behalf of Hetherington & Rudd) (Exhibition Homers) and Richard Greenwood (Marchenero Croppers).
ITEM 12 - DECLARATION OF BALLOT RESULTSOF COMMITTEE MEMBERS
John Elsdonhad been askedby the committee to act as scrutineer. Once again John performed this task faultlessly.
There were 4 vacancies on the Committee (1 for one year only) the results were:
Graham Bates 159 votes, Alan Dyka66 votes, Graham Giddings128 votes, Richard Henderson145 votes and Helen Seed 180 votes.
34% of the membership used their vote which was very encouraging.
ITEM 13-DECLARATION OF BALLOT RESULTS OFSUBSCRIPTION CHANGE PROPOSALS
The proposal for a two-tier membership contravened the NPA rules so had to be abandoned.
The proposal to increase the membership fee from £18 to £20 for 2015:
For 183 votes. Against 42 votes. Carried.
The Chairman apologised on behalf of the committee for not checking the rules regarding a change in constitution to allow two-tier membership.
ITEM 14- YOUNG FANCIERS (presented by Helen Seed)
Helen Seed gave a short talk about what she proposed doing for the juniors in the future. She was keen on using Social Media to get the attention of prospective new junior fanciers during 2014.
ITEM 15- UPDATE on STANDARDS for BRITISH BREEDS (presented by Mark Rudd)
Mark Rudd gave an update on the excellent progress he is making with getting British Breed standards accepted by the EE. Mark was congratulated for his efforts.
ITEM 16 - ANY OTHER BUSINESS (only items specific to the AGM allowed)
AOB was dominated by constructive discussion surrounding communicating effectively with our members. Those present were very keen on the idea of a quarterly magazine owned and managed by the NPA. This could be partly funded using sponsors.
Mark Rudd made special mention of the International English Short Faced Tumbler Show held at Hurworth in January. Exhibitors from all over Europe took part and the show was a resounding success.
Colin Ronald
Secretary of the NPA