Related Links
Annual General Meeting 2010
Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on Wednesday the 10th March 2010
At the Kidlington Sports and Social Club, Kidlington.
Present
Ron Heritage. Chairman Oxfordshire Branch IWA
Ann Yeatman. Treasurer Oxfordshire Branch IWA
17 members of the Oxfordshire Branch, 2 members of IWA but from other branches.
Copies of the Agenda, 2009 & minutes of the 2009 AGM, were provided
Ron opened the meeting thanking everyone for attending.
He introduced Paul Roper S/E Regional Chairman and his wife Celia and Past Regional Chairman Brian Roberts.
1. Apologies for absence Stan Wright, Ann Darch, Tony and Christine Crawford, Alan and Pam Coles, John and Jocelyn Dalton, Brian & Jenny Saunders, Trevor Tate, Ann and David Clerk, David Harris and John Temple
2. Minutes of the AGM 2009.
A question was raised Re: the accuracy of the figure of £10,000 quoted by Roy Sutton. (Item 5) It was agreed that although this had substantially increased since this was noted correctly at that time
Minutes were then accepted as a true record of the meeting on a proposal by Vivienne Wright, seconded by Chris Wardley.
3. Matters arising
Ron said “although not truly a “matter arising” I have noted the recorded absence of Peter Broadbent at 09 AGM. Sadly Peter died shortly after this. Peter was a very active member of the branch for many years and is still greatly missed. Our condolences were sent to “Angie” his wife who I am pleased to see is with us this evening
There were no matters arising.
4 Chairman’s Report. (see below).
Main issues of the year were highlighted and explained in more detail.
a) the need to increase membership to strengthen the Association in order to “get our voice listened to”
b) Ron disappointment that no-one from the southern area of our branch has offered to take a lead in events in that area.
c) Very pleased that we have been able to build up our team of volunteers willing to help at events again this year. I.e. Oxford”Open Doors” in September and Banbury in October.
d) Committee structure. He expressed his pleasure that this structure was working very well and thanked everyone concerned for their efforts thus ensuring the Branch remained viable.
5 Treasurer’s Report.
Balance sheets were provided.(copy attached) Ann said this had once again been a good year for the branch thanks mainly to the Oxford “Open Doors”& Banbury Canal Day events, which are our main source of fundraising. Social events such as the skittles night too had been profitable. Capitation no longer covers the full costs of “Cargoes” At the year end there was a profit £797.
A question was raised re: the apparent profits from the Open Doors event. It was noted that had the cost of the hire boats not been met by the Promotions committee this event would have made a loss.
Ann explained that £2,000 of our capital is earmarked towards the Hythe Bridge report/survey.
The accounts for the year ending 31st December 2009 were adopted.
Proposed. Vivien Wright. Seconded Peter Darch
6 Statement of Committee size. Election of new members to the committee
Ron explained the conditions & responsibilities of Branch Committee’s as set by the trustees. Each branch committee must have a minimum of three people. A Chairman, Treasurer and one other. Members are voted in to serve for 3 years but have an option to retire earlier if they so wish. They could co-opt others if needs be.
Ron explained the current set up for the branch. i.e. started with a small committee, of 4 people During the year Terry Yeatman was co-opted and worked with the committee mainly assisting Ann.
A number of others have a specific area of responsibility. They work on behalf of, the committee and report to it. Each of these people has been given an opportunity to explain their role later.
However as both himself and Mary have only 1 year left to serve and will not remain as part of the committee after that it would be wise to recruit people onto the committee now in order to support them in preparation for the future.
Nomination for committee members was requested. Terry Yeatman and Chris Wardley were proposed. by Peter Darch, Seconded Angie Broadbent . Accepted and agreed to serve
7 Reports from supporting members.
a. Planning - Chris Wardley (see attached)
Using the enclosed list Chris provided details and up to date information on each item and answered questions from the floor.
Comments were made re: mechanism of the lift bridges, Oxford Canal
There were concerns that at Thrupp this may cause delays.
Obvious benefit for single handed boats.
And
Thames locks “public use mechanism” which is rather temperamental. “works if done absolutely correctly” but frequently will “lock out” otherwise.
An example was given by Peter Darch
b Social Secretary Sue Wardley had taken over this role during the year. A list of forthcoming event was distributed. (See attached.). Sue said it would be good if we could get more people to the meetings. This too would assist with costs and recruitment.
It was suggested that as area covered by the branch is large it may be worthwhile to consider alternative venues thus giving others an opportunity to attend without having to travel long distances. This had been attempted in the past with some success but the committee agreed to discuss this further at a future meeting. Meanwhile if anyone knew of a possible venue to let the Sue know.
Need to advertise events more. E.g. public libraries.
c) Events and Volunteers co-ordinator. Mary Heritage. Mary explained that the main event for the branch this year was undertaking re-enactment of the “Cressy” cruise within the IWA Tom Rolt Centenary Celebrations She outlined the events which have either already taken place (Photo Call pictures and press release) or forthcoming. “Send off” 24th April. . Displays were available to demonstrate this event and there were brief discussions with details about the actual cruise and the other 2 events planned for later in the year.
Oxford “open doors” September 11th/12th. And Banbury Day. Both of these are “coming together nicely” A number of volunteers had already offered to help.
Mary explained that “Oxford Open Doors” is part of a National event run by the Preservations Trusts We have been asked to arrange the waterside activities .by Oxford City Canal Partnership who are sponsoring us We have 3 trip boats and will run the children’s crafts. this year
Steven Parker said he thought the event required better signage and advertising particularly from outside of Oxford City. Mary to rise with the Preservation Trust Also to try and get banners or some form of signage in Worcester St car park.
Any other Business
Chris Wardley said he wished to thank Ron and Mary Heritage for the time and effort they put in on behalf of the branch. All present agreed.
No other business.
Before closing Ron asked Paul Roper-Chairman S/E Region, soon to become Navigation Committee Chairman to address the meeting.
Paul Raised the membership issues saying that the larger the numbers, the bigger the voice the more we will be listened to by parliament and others. The Parliamentary website re; BW Asset was a good example of this.
There are a number of papers around .for consultation.IWA is responding to them all after consultation with others.
Finance remains a problem and the future of the Inland Waterways is at stake. BW 20/20 vision is being supported in this.
There being no other business Ron thanked everyone for attending and closed the meeting at 21.30 hours
*******************************
Chairman’s Report 2009/10
Communication
With members has improved for those who have provided IWA with an e-mail address. 56% can now be contacted via IWA HQ in this way. This leaves 44% who we cannot reach in this way. If you have not given us yours please do so. These addresses, as required by the Data Protection Act, are not disclosed to anyone. They do provide almost instant access to our members when urgent communication is required. E.g. when we had the snow and had to cancel a meeting at short notice.
Volunteers
It has been a great help to our event’s organiser having more people to call on. Many hands make light work. So thank you all very much.
We will require your help again over the coming months at Oxford “Open Doors” in September and Banbury Canal Day in October. More about those from our event’s organiser later.
We have not received any offers of help with events in the south of the region. I continue to hope
Attendance at meetings
Numbers attending our social evening remains fairly contact. If you could bring along another person we could double our numbers and possible increase our membership too. We must try and get away from this mistaken belief that you “have to have a boat”. Thousand have an interest in the waterways across the country. Having a boat is not a requirement.
Training Seminar. Stoke on Trent.
We were among the 80 plus people who attended this event. They came from across the UK and Ireland One of the main purposes was to consider membership and how this can be increased. Numbers have remained fairly constant over many years but if we are to be listened to by Government numbers matter. Recently when the government threatened to take over/sell off BW assets over 20,000 people responded within the first week on the website. The government backed off. One point of particular interest was that frequently members join but leave within 2 years. If they stay longer they are there for life. We need to try and make contact with these people in those early months and keep them “on board”
British Waterways.
Government Funding BW have just about completed a programme of restructuring in order to save money. Finances were again cut this year. They have considered a total transformation for the future which IWA (at high levels) is backing in order to put some stability back into the system. We shall hear more about this shortly.
Unlicensed boats and “overstayers” this initiative continues- results are showing. Several areas on the Grand Union have been cleared and we know several boaters on the Oxford Canal who have given up and moved away. Still lots more to be done of course
General Information
Terminal Basin. Brian Roberts is our representative on the Oxford City Canal Partnership and has attended a meeting this afternoon. Brian perhaps you would like to give us a brief update on this later.
Mechanisation of Lift bridges. Oxford Canal.
I have been informed by BW that works on the Thrupp Bridge has started. It should be finished within the next few weeks and I have been invited to the “opening ceremony
Committee
The committee ensures the branch works within the standards, guidelines and indeed legal requirements set by the Charity Commission and IWA’s Board of Trustees. Last year we changed the way we manage this branch and I am very pleased to say it has worked very well indeed. My thanks and that of the committee members goes to our support workers all of whom have done sterling work throughout the year on your behalf. They will also have an opportunity to explain their individual roles when I stop, which is right now.
Agenda Item. Election of committee.
At an AGM members choose their committee. These people are voted in for a period of 3 years. They can of course resign before that if they wish to do so. The current committee are all within that three year period and may or may not choose to remain. Others may wish to join. The committee choose the Officers, i.e. Chairman and Treasurer. The committee can choose to co-opt people on to that committee as and when they wish to do so during the year. Terry Yeatman was a co-opted member.
We must now review membership of our committee and associated helpers. So think about what you may be prepared to do.
This is my 5th year as your chairman. I therefore officially have 1 more years to serve I have considered this matter very carefully and have decided to remain for that final year. It remains to be seen whether this will be as you chairman or not. What I would really like to see is some new people stepping forward who may be willing to take on that role while I am still around to offer guidance and support.