Annual General Meeting 2008 - Minutes

Held on Saturday February 16th at Au P’tit Kir, St Leger sur Dheune

The meeting was convened at 10.15 am and Peter Edmunds took the chair. The Chairman opened the meeting with apologies from three Committee members for non-attendance, Kevin Wickham, Julie Rose and Peter Keele.
The Chairman reminded the meeting of the Agenda and Association procedures, which had been advised to all members in advance. The Chairman noted that Minutes from last years’ meeting had not been made available to the Committee this year.

1) The Presidents Report to the membership was taken as read and no questions regarding content had been submitted to the Committee in advance.

2) The Financial Statements were presented and again, the Chairman advised the meeting that no questions from the membership had been submitted on them.
The Chairman commented on the figures for the meeting-

a) Presentation had changed from previous years and was in line with the format already advised to the members in the mid-year financial report to members.

b) Overall, the Association had managed a greater distributable surplus for the Association, much of which was the result of the controls and management by the Committee as noted in the mid-year report. Against this background, the Association had still managed to increase the quantity of events over the previous year but still maintain the quality.

c) Membership numbers had diminished marginally in the year and to date, no real promotion of the Association had been undertaken during the year, though this was possibly an item for the New Committee to consider in 2008.

d) A major inclusion to this years’ figures was a Balance Sheet which hopefully enhanced the information for members on the full financial status of the Association.

3) There were no matters arising from points 1) and 2) of the Agenda.

4) The proposed changes to the statutes of the Association were endorsed by the meeting.

5) The proposed Committee was endorsed at the meeting and the ballot papers were verified after the meeting by non-attending members.

6) AOB – no matters had been submitted in advance to the meeting.
The Chairman informed the meeting that subsequent to the sending of the AGM pack to all members, a matter of import had arisen affecting the Association. Included in the Balance Sheet figures under Creditors was an Invoice from a supplier that remained unpaid. The supplier in question has informed the Association that they are preparing papers to take action for the recovery of funds from the Association. Apart from the essence of the dispute regarding the invoice in question, The Chairman advised the meeting that the Committee has sent a number of letters to the creditor in question, suggesting a meeting be made to try and amicably resolve the situation without recourse to any legal action by either side as this seemed the most sensible course of action at the present.

As there was some available time during the meeting, the Chairman asked the meeting if there were any further matters for consideration from the floor.

With regard to the creditor dispute, one member raised the question of insuring the Association against such action in the future with the possible increase of ‘commercialisation’ of the Association through the new website.
The Chairman replied on behalf of the Committee – currently no additional activities had been undertaken to increase ‘commercialisation’ of the Association and so far the Committee had only followed what had been done previously by past committees. The only possible difference today was that with the new website, the Association now had the opportunity and ability to increase the potential of funds into the Association; which could then be used for increased benefit of members of the Association as a whole. An area that was under continued review by the Committee. The Association had a very limited number of suppliers and it was felt, if such insurance was possible, it was not necessarily the best use of Association funds.

Another member raised the issue of Charity and asked what the current policy of the Association was to this subject. Furthermore he had heard that the Committee had looked at using the Charity Reserve of the Association to place benches and picnic tables around the region and that the first one would be dedicated to Ian Mills, the Committee member who had died last year.
The Chairman replied- on the matter of policy, the Committee had asked the membership last year, through the website, their views on Charity and the Association. Three replies had been posted and two of them had come from Committee members. Through the efforts of members at a number of events a substantial sum had been donated to the local Guide Dogs for the Blind Association. Our own Association had received a very muted response to this generosity of our membership. A canvass of local opinion and the French members of our Association showed that the local attitude towards the question of Charity differed from the general attitude of English people. However, the Committee still remained committed to the basic ideal that along with specific funds raised for charity and the use of some of its surplus, the Association still maintained the principal of trying to give something back to the community and region that we lived in.
A proposal had been made in Committee last year that the idea of providing benches and picnic tables in various public and leisure areas of the region would fulfil the basic concepts and provide something both for members and the local community. Ian Mills enjoyed the canal side near his home and had, despite his illness, still worked tirelessly behind the scenes on behalf of both the Committee and the Membership. The idea of both providing something for a local community and recognising Ian’s contribution to the Association seemed appropriate to the Committee. As such a policy would probably require liaison with the local authorities, any further action was on hold until the local election results of March this year.

There being no further business, the Chairman thanked all members for their attendance and closed the meeting.