Annual General Meeting
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At a well-attended AGM the committee thanked everyone for attending and taking an interest in running the club. There were just two apologies for absence and the minutes for the last AGM - having been on the notice board for some time - were approved. The Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer gave their reports and these were approved. Elections to the committee followed and, despite all the prompting, reminders, cajoling, bribing and pressurising, there were only two nominations received. Problems! This effectively meant that Fred Cannings & Pat Pierce were running the club on their own. However, help was at hand. The Secretary pointed out that under the constitution, the remaining 4 committee members must stand down, having completed three years in the job. If the members so decided these 4 could remain in office for a further one year to provide continuity. The members agreed to this, so the committee is up to full strength. The Committee should like to thank Graham Wood who is stepping down this year, for all his hard work. Members were asked to consider taking an active role in the club by joining the committee. Especially between now and the next AGM. Subscriptions for 2006 were difficult for the committee to predict but it was decided to maintain the current fee of £30 . The Committee then pulled the ace from up their sleeve-a change to the constitution. The committee recognised that there would be a problem and had the choice of dealing with it at this year's AGM or leaving it until next year. It was decided to go for broke and introduce a change this year. The change was minor - removing the 3 year rule, but it seemed to provoke a heated debate. Finally practicality and pragmatism prevailed. The proposal was formally voted on and passed with only 3 members voting against. Let's hope this will be a spur to get members to think about coming on to the committee. Indeed, during the second half of the evening we managed to get two new members to shadow existing officers for 2005/06.Any more volunteers? With no other business on the agenda, the Chairman closed the formal part of the meeting. The open forum which followed produced a number of interesting comments and suggestions which will be implemented where possible and listed on the notice board as a reminder. All present were thanked for some very useful suggestions and a plea made to keep them going for the benefit of good club management. The tea/coffee break offered time for networking and admiring the wide range of items entered in the fourth Frank Clarke Memorial Award competition. Members present cast their votes, winners were selected and prizes given at the end of the evening. Trophies must be returned before the August meeting which is the next competition night. Look out for the photographs in the next Newsletter! I wonder what the committee will think of for the next competition- I think our Chairman already has something in mind! Full copies of the various reports can be obtained from the Secretary on Club nights or by email, as usual. |
 Novice winner Fred Whitehead |
 Intermediate winner Gordon Cookson |
 advanced winner Richard Hoodless |