Meetings

Club Meeting 24th January 2006
(Kev Baxter - Secretary)

The meeting was mostly taken up with the Annual General Meeting.

The current Chairman and Treasurer presented their reports. Because Ray was standing down as chairman, there was an election and the new committee is:

Chairman - Dom Stevenson

Secretary - Kev Baxter

Treasurer - Rob Foster

Competition secretary - Steve Baldwin

Show secretary - Dom Stevenson

Subscription Rates

It was agreed that a 2-tier system would operate with ‘core members’ paying £10 membership at the start of the year together with £1 per evening. Other visitors not wishing to join the club would be charged £1 entrance fee. New members would be given 3 evenings grace and then asked to subscribe on a pro-rata basis. No concessions were agreed for OAPs or students. Proposer: KB; Seconder: MG. The motion was carried unanimously.

Club Articles.

David Pennington had been sent the Articles of Association to for the Web-site, but noticed that they were actually designed for a 'company limited by guarantee' rather than for an unincorporated society which might have 'dire' fiscal consequences for our Committee. DP suggested that changes should be made to reflect the true legal status of the club. He also felt that it was important that those being elected to the committee were made aware of their financial responsibilities, especially as the club, in conjunction with St. Edmundsbury Scale Modellers, organised an annual show - EAMS. The Motion to amend the Articles was carried unanimously. Additionally, it was pointed out that the requirement for the accounts to be externally audited was a financial burden that the club currently could not bear. A proposal was made that 2 club members should ‘self-certify’ the accounts annually, thus removing the necessity of engaging one of those expensive, stereotypically boring chaps with leather-patched elbows, ‘pebble-specs’, an overly protective mother and an unhealthily anal pre-occupation with financial matters know as accountants (Kev's words kept here for effect!). Proposer:DP; Seconder:JM. The Motion was carried unanimously. Is that bit finished now? It’s okay I’m awake, Zzzz….. (more Kev!). Action: Secretary to make required changes.

Any Other Business.

EAMS. The EAMS was discussed and the date has been set for Sun, 1 Oct 06. Dom, the Show Secretary for BSE, indicated that there is a need for a meeting of the 2 club’s committees to clearly delegate responsibilities. Moreover, he would like to operate this year on a proper budget to ensure that the show receives the maximum impact. Publicity needs to be targeted properly and generally everyone needs to put in more effort to ensure the EAMS’ success beginning with Milton Keynes in Feb 06.

SMW06. The Secretary undertook to book accommodation for SMW06 in the Telford International Hotel for those wishing to attend the Nats. The cost will be £40 pppn, B&B, based on 2 sharing a room. Although the cost is doubled over the B&B last year it was agreed that the convenience of the location, the standard of the hotel and more importantly the maintenance of a valid driving license merited the increased, although still reasonable expenditure. This all sounds reasonable enough typing it in, so why was the ‘Alert 5’ teddy almost launched? Dunno, couldn’t have been a bad day at the office; don’t have one!

Meeting Regularity. Alan proposed that we move to 2 meetings per month. It was felt that we could not impose upon SBX Model’s generosity in hiring the room twice a month and that should a ‘subby’ be required it was incumbent upon the members wishing to attend to arrange a suitable venue. There were considerable murmurings from those members who already attended at least 2 clubs during the month that their respective spouses might not take kindly to a third meeting. Although 2 members voted for the motion it was defeated by 15 votes although it was left to member’s discretion as to whether they wished to meet elsewhere for ‘a pint’ at any other time. To that end…

SAMI Article. The Secretary had been approaching the modelling press with the Club flyer to try to gain extra publicity for our meetings. SAMI had responded with an invitation to the Club to write an article about us and our members for their Club Focus section. The Secretary undertook to write the article and also invited members to have their (sadly aviation only) models photographed for the article. A meeting was planned for Sun, 30 Jan 06 at the Secretary’s house

Normal Business

We still had time for models. And, there were lots – too many to mention individually. How good is that. Photos can be seen here.

Meetings

Club Meeting 24th January 2006 (Kev Baxter - Secretary)

Subscription Rates

Club Meeting 24th January 2006
(Kev Baxter - Secretary)