REIGATE
& REDHILL NORTH DOWNS MOTOR CLUB
REIGATE
& REDHILL NORTH DOWNS MOTORCYCLE CLUB
MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING HELD ON
25TH FEBRUARY 2009 AT THE HOME COTTAGE, REDSTONE
HILL, REDHILL
P Brightman, S Brightman, E Clarke, M Coles, R Coles, C
Dark, C Dark, G Dark, J Dark, S Dark,
C Don, D Don, K Don, M Don, D Haste, S Haste, R Farmer, J Jenkins, P
Lloyd-Jacob, R McKenzie, I Miller, A
Read, S Read, J Smewing, J Smewing, M Stubberfield, D Tickner-Wand, S Weller.
The meeting opened at 8.15pm. Richard welcomed everyone and explained that RRND comprised of
two different Clubs, ACU and AMCA, and normally we would have two different
agendas, but for ease we had decided to have one combined agenda.
D Charman, T Charman, P Cluskey, P Jenkins, N Lewis, K
Thompson, S Whitmore, D Wooster,
S Wooster.
Minutes of AGM held on 27th February 2008
Approved. Proposed
by John Smewing and seconded by Danny Haste.
The idea of having Malcolm Coles and Grace Dark as Committee
members to represent the younger members of the Club had not really
worked. However, we hoped that younger
members would feel they could approach them to discuss any issues.
Committee Reports :
Unfortunately Dave Wooster was unable to attend the AGM. Richard apologised on his behalf for the late issue of the current copy of the magazine which had been caused by difficulties beyond David’s control. Richard confirmed that David would be standing down as Editor and any problems with the production of the magazine would be resolved shortly.
The Club currently has reserves of £14,004 and Jo described 2008 as a break even year. Most of the trials made a small profit with the exception of the Training Trials but we gain new members from these. The running costs of the Club magazine increased slightly, mainly because it is now more professionally produced. We also spent more on the Camping Weekend with new equipment being trialled with a view to updating same. The Old Codger made a profit. Donations increased by £250 due to monies given by the Club towards the Don Barrett Memorial at Betchworth. The cost of Club trials would not be increased for 2009 and we will be more vigilant in collecting the extra £3 from guest riders. We must be mindful that we do not dip into our reserves to cover the day to day running of the Club.
In 2008 we had 122 members – 77 Adults, 8 Honorary, 35 Junior and 2 Social, almost the same as 2007.
Jo read this out in Pete’s absence.
Not many people attend the monthly Club nights, which now take place after the monthly Committee meetings, so that members can talk to Committee members and discuss any issues they may have. The ACU Star Group is struggling to keep members and Southern Sporting will be pulling out after this year so that will be one less Star Group trial available to ride. We find it difficult to obtain observers for our own Star Group trial although we are always told that we run a good trial. The South Coast trials are popular. We may use our South Coast trial in August as our Club trial and not have a trial at the Camping Weekend. Pete thanked those who had helped out at Club trials in 2008.
The Camping Weekend ran like clockwork. We may drop the trial on the Bank Holiday
Monday as it can be intrusive, with people trying to pack to go home as well as
helping to clear up. Members seem happy
with this as long as there is some sort of organised entertainment or activity
instead. The South Coast trial in
August will possibly double as our August Club trial too. The horse racing on the Saturday night
proved very popular once again and Jo asked for ideas for this year’s
weekend. Some of the guys attended the
Isle of Man TT and the girls’ weekend away was in Giverny, France, a superb
location. It would be nice to see more
members at the monthly Club nights so that ideas can be discussed with the
Committee. We are struggling with
numbers for our planned Dinner Dance on 28 March 2009 and may have to cancel.
This year was always going to be an interesting one for the
Committee, being as it was the first without Antony and his encyclopaedic
knowledge of Club affairs.
We did not set out to make any great changes – after all the
Committee was for the greater part unchanged.
Our main thoughts at the start of 2008 were that we might invest some
money to revamp the website and this was debated at the last AGM. In the event this would have meant a huge
amount of work for a few knowledgeable Committee members who were already very
committed in other aspects of the Club and it became largely unnecessary with
the assistance and willingness of Bruce to adapt the existing website and to
promptly update it.
Instead we have concentrated on trying to encourage new
riders, and thus gain members, and have promoted the training trials as an
excellent way for riders to get started and for us to get to know them and
assist them when they move on to Club trials.
It was good to see a small gain in members over the previous year. We have some ideas about obtaining Club
machines to enable newcomers to try the sport without major investment but this
requires further debate as it brings issues of liability and problems of
storage and maintenance.
Members will have seen the Club magazine and my article on
entry fees. The Club is in a good
financial state but will not make any money from its trials this year. Having said that, we are here to promote
sport for the members and as long as we do not squander the reserves but can
maintain the fund we can keep entry fees as they are. There are also other ways in which we may be able to reduce
overall costs but this will not be at the expense of access to land and the
quality of the trials.
Every year it is standard practice that the whole Committee
stands down and is re-elected by the members.
All Committee members are up for re-election, with the exception of Dave
Wooster who will be standing down as Editor but will be continuing as Sub
Editor and hopefully still printing the Club magazine for us. Debbie Don kindly put her name forward for
the position. However, all positions
are offered to the Club.
Colin Don proposed Debbie Don as Editor, seconded by Ian
Miller. The remaining existing
Committee members were unanimously voted in en-bloc and the 2009 Committee will
be :
Chairman Richard Coles
Secretary Jan Smewing
Treasurer Jo Jenkins
Editor Debbie Don
Sub Editor Dave Wooster
Membership Secretary Shelley
Wooster
Competition Secretary Pete
Jenkins
Assistant Competition Secretaries Eric Clarke, Pat Lloyd-Jacob
Committee Members Dave
Charman, Danny Haste
Derek Tickner-Wand again suggested perhaps changing our Over
40s championship to an Over 50s championship.
Unfortunately it is too late to do this for 2009 so we may consider
still running the Over 40s but adding an Over 50s in 2010. This will be discussed at Committee
meetings.
Richard presented the individual awards.
The Committee Cup was awarded to Malcolm Coles for all his help with the training trials during 2008.
The Clubman’s Cup was awarded jointly to Richard Coles and
Jo Jenkins.
Debbie Don kindly proposed a vote of thanks to the Committee
for all their hard work.
The meeting closed at 9.45pm.