MINUTES
Annual General Meeting
Monday 8th February 2021 at 7.30 pm
Held online via “Zoom” due to Covid-19 Pandemic
Attendees: Peter Shead Chairman
Chris Williams Secretary
Carolyn Currie Treasurer
Roy Yeoman Committee
Veronica Steele Committee
Lynn Martin Committee
Pauline Shead Committee
Pauline Haynes Committee
Plus 20 members and 1 prospective new member, making the total attendance 29, the same as the previous year.
1. Peter Shead opened the meeting at 7.30 p.m. and welcomed everyone.
2. Apologies
Were received from:
Karen Mackrill, (Annie Vicars who joined the meeting a little later)
3. Minutes
The minutes of the AGM, held on Monday,10th February 2020, were accepted as an accurate and true
representation by the attendees and signed by Chris Williams on Peter’s behalf.
4. Matters Arising
None
5. Chairman’s Report
Unfortunately, we only were only able to hold group walks between August and October due to Covid restrictions. Members completed eight walks in this period, equally spread over Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and there was no shortage of leaders which is encouraging. Distances of walks ranged from 4 to 7 miles. The average attendance on these walks was 10, up from 9.4 the previous year, also encouraging bearing in mind the circumstances.
Luckily, the annual walking weekend was able to go ahead as planned in September when ten went to Selworthy. I understand the weather was kind and it was enjoyed by all.
This year we hope to go Malham in September for the walking weekend. Anyone still wishing to go should contact Roy Yeoman.
We are hoping to return to normal organised walks in June, but we will keep members informed as things develop.
On a personal note, although this group have cancelled organised walks during this pandemic, I have noticed a considerable increase in the number of walkers around Oakley and due to the wet weather all off road footpaths and Bridleways have become extremely muddy..!
I would like to thank the committee members for all their support throughout this difficult year, and especially to Chris Williams who will be stepping down from the position of Secretary. Hopefully someone will come forward to take on this role soon.
Wishing you all a safe and enjoyable year….and let’s hope the vaccine works!
6. Treasurer’s Report
Membership
The number of paid-up members at the beginning of 2020 was 42 and, despite several members not renewing their membership, the introduction of a few new members meant that the membershipremained at 42 at the end of 2020. The income we received from subscriptions was £210.00.
Subscriptions
With very little outgoing payments during 2020 it has been decided to suspend the payment of 2021 subscriptions until the beginning of June. It is hoped that we will be back to a normal walking diary by then and we will ask members to only pay £2.50 subscription fees for the remainder of the year.
AGM
For the AGM meeting we hired a hall at St. Leonard’s Centre. A total of £74.04 was spent on Wine & Cheese for the evening. It was noted by Sandra Jamieson, who normally buys the refreshments, that this total was up by £20 on the previous year’s cost. It was felt this was largely due to offering members refreshments on arrival at the AGM as well as after the meeting had finished.
Annual Costs
The annual fee normally paid to the Ramblers Association in September was not paid due to the absence of a renewal letter. The Ramblers have admitted this was an error on their part and we will renew our affiliation with them when our walking diary recommences.
The Website annual fee remained the same at £15.
The sum of £22.99 was spent on retirement gifts for Jonathan Rouse and Sandra Jamieson who were stepping down from the Committee at the AGM.
Skittles
The Skittles evening is usually a social occasion for the Club members to meet up and to add extra funds to the accounts. With the restrictions in place due to Covid 19 we were unable to make any arrangements for a Skittles evening
2020 Walking Weekend at Selworthy
10 members enjoyed a very hot and sunny weekend away at the HF Holiday hotel at Selworthy in Somerset. As we were a group booking HF Holiday deducted from the costs of the holiday their £50 Loyalty voucher and their usual Admin fee of £10. The members who went on the holiday therefore received a deduction of £6 from the cost of their holiday.
Christmas Meal
With the restrictions in place due to Covid 19 we were again unable to make any arrangements for a Christmas meal.
HF Holiday Shares
Interest from the shares for the year 2019 – 2020 amounts to £1.76. Our £100 of HF shares are now worth £119.13.
Conclusion
The net income for the year was £99.73 with our end of year bank balance at 31/12/2020 being £681.54. We have the sum of £2.21 cash in hand.
The Accounts were presented prior to the meeting. They were proposed by Pauline Shead Seconded by Pauline Haynes.
7. Election of Committee.
Chairman: Peter Shead proposed by Lynn Martin seconded by Jonathan Rouse elected by the meeting.
Secretary: Sandy Steele proposed by Pauline Shead, seconded by Roy Yeoman, elected by the meeting.
Treasurer: Carolyn Currie proposed by Pat Dominey, seconded by Richard Wilson, elected by the meeting
Committee member: Pat Dominey, proposed by Chris Williams, seconded by Carolyn Currie, elected by the meeting.
The remaining committee members Pauline Haynes, Karen Mackrill, Lynn Martin, Pauline Shead, Veronica Steele, Roy Yeoman and Chris Williams indicated they were willing to stand again and were elected unanimously by the meeting.
8. Walks Programme for 2021
Peter told the meeting that as soon as the Covid-19 restrictions allow we will resume our walks programme. We are hoping that this will be possible by June if not before. The intention is to invite all those who volunteered to lead walks last year and were not able to do so because of lockdown to lead their walk this year. The new committee will draw up a diary of dates and distribute this to members so we will be ready to resume as soon as this is safe.
9. Any Other Business
- Social Events Secretary Lynn Martin asked if she should begin planning a social event for June. It was agreed that we should aim to have a “getting back to normal” event possibly in The Fox garden in June.
- Jenny Banks offered to lead some summer evening walks and recommended a useful resource for good walks called “Rob’s Hampshire Pub Walks” which can be found on his facebook page and on U tube.
- Julie asked about the Ramblers facebook page and suggested it should be opened up to everyone as this would be a good way to try and attract new members. Julie was “volunteered” to be the administrator of the club facebook page.
- Pauline Haynes proposed thanks to Chris Williams for being club secretary for the past five years. Chris thanked the club for the beautiful flowers that had been presented to her that afternoon.
- Roy reminded the new and old committee members that the next committee meeting will be on 22nd February at 7pm via Zoom. Roy to set this up.
10. Date of Next AGM
Monday 7th February 2022 at St. Leonard’s Centre, Hill Road, Oakley.
The meeting closed at 8.10 pm.
Signed………………………………………………………………………………
Date………………………………….
