Annual General Meeting

Held on 18th February 2004

Reviewed by David Buskell Honorary Secretary

The AGM was well attended as always, and we thank those members who attended for taking an interest in the running of the Club.

We thought that we would have the formal AGM, an open forum for questions about the Club and related matters, then take a well deserved tea/coffee break.

The AGM dealt with the usual business. Only 3 apologies for absence once again this year. The Minutes of last year's AGM were approved, having been on the Club notice board for quire a while, and hopefully read by all.

The three officers then gave their reports and luckily there were no difficult questions, and the three reports were duly approved.

The Committee elections then followed. This year, as last, we had the same number of nominations as vacancies, the committee were elected en bloc. Please remember that the majority of the Committee have to stand down next year under the Constitution, so think if you might like to help in running the Club from 2005 onwards. There will be a short profile of all the Committee tasks in the Newsletter over the coming months, or ask any of us if you are interested.

As always subscriptions for the forthcoming year (2005) are difficult to predict as they are affected by levels of membership and our costs. However, this year the Committee recognised that there were several factors which might lead to the need for an increase, and have recommended that subscriptions increase to £30 in 2005. We shall of course keep everyone informed of developments over the next few months, and hope that it will not be necessary to implement the proposed increase.

There was no "any other business" notified prior to the meeting, so the Chairman closed the formal AGM part of the meeting, and we then went into our Open Forum. The Committee appreciated everyone's comments and suggestions, and where possible, these will be implemented in the future. The list of topics discussed will be on the Notice board as a reminder.

Thanks to all present for a very useful and informative Open Forum. Please remember that the Committee run the Club on your behalf and for you, so if we do not know what you want from us, we can get it wrong!

Time for a tea/coffee break, which gave us all time to network and admire the wide range of turning on display at the end of the Hall. These items were the "traditional candlesticks" for the second Frank Clarke Memorial Awards. Winners were eventually selected and prizes given at the end of the evening. Photographs will be in the Newsletter. Don't forget to return the platters to the Club before the August meeting, which is the next competition night!

After the break, the Chairman took the opportunity to bring to members attention, the voting papers that will be in the next issue of "Revolutions", and explained the background, arising from the AWGB area meeting held on Sunday 15th February. The AWGB's strategy for "The Way Forward" is to become the lead body in woodturning, and to do this, they wish to attract the non-affiliated Clubs into the fold as Associates.

There was a lively debate as to the pros and cons of this approach and its effect on the Branches. Some members thought it might be more beneficial for Cheam to become an Associate, rather than Affiliated, as at present.

The Chairman closed the debate, by asking members to ensure that they voted, so that the result, be it in favour or against, would have been made by a representative proportion of the AWGB membership.

The AWGB AGM is on March 28th and the Committee will keep members informed of the results of the vote.

Finally, the Committee distributed details of the changes to the 2004 programme. We have another demonstrator at the April meeting, and the May meeting is now on the 26th.Reg Slack is still the demonstrator. Please make a note in your diaries!

By way of advance notice, S L Hardwoods have agreed to come along to visit us again at the October meeting.