For the first time, possibly in the entire history of the club, the AGM was held at a new venue. We chose the Beck and Call after hosting several successful post-training socials there. The venue provided a separate meeting room, with projector and Wi-Fi, an easily accessible location and excellent food, so we considered it a success. We are hopeful that the new venue will improve AGM attendance in future years.
The evening started with the Chairperson’s welcome, which can be found here.
The focus of Steph’s talk was volunteering, and with several long-standing members stepping down from their roles, this is an excellent time for new volunteers to come forward. This may be to take on a key role in the club, but all offers of help, no matter how big or small, are greatly appreciated by all club members.
Alan Hutchinson (Grand Prix Co-ordinator), Rachel Davidson (Ladies’ Captain) and Michael Brough sent their apologies. There were 17 club members in attendance.
A large part of the AGM consists of reports related to the running of the club, and related to the progress of different sections of the club. This year, we tried to reduce the length of these reports in order to set aside more time for discussion. However, detailed information regarding the clubs membership and accounts can still be found here:
- Membership report
- Treasurer’s report including Annual Subs Proposal for 2025
- Year on Year Accounts 2023-24
As a result of last year’s unexpected surplus, a 25% prompt payment discount (on the VS part of the membership fee) was agreed for this year. This will apply to those who pay before February 16th 2025.
Summaries of the progress reports can also be found here:
Before beginning the open discussions, the existing committee members were re-elected, and Leila Kara and Andy Parkinson were welcomed as new committee members, representing the improvers and fast training groups respectively. James Slater was welcomed as the new Grand Prix coordinator, replacing Alan Hutchinson, who has carried out this role for the past 25 years! Alan, was awarded Life Membership at this year’s AGM. Sue Sunderland will be stepping down from her role as Handicap Race coordinator, and a request was put out for volunteers to help organise these events in the future.
Discussion time at the end proved to be very useful and productive in terms of coming up with ideas and moving the club forward. A new financial support policy was discussed and approved, details of which can be found here.
The use of Leos for the adult section of the club was also discussed, and several ideas were put forward regarding adopting a club base and bringing the various training groups together. We discussed how other clubs, and the new informal running groups, operate. The committee will continue to discuss and try and move forward with these ideas, and welcome input from other interested club members.