EGM Meeting Minutes
The Club’s EGM was held on 22nd April 2010. Edited highlights of the minutes are shown below – any Club member wishing to see the full minutes please contact the Acting Club Secretary, Ian Shumsky.
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MINUTES OF NEWBURY SCALE MODEL CLUB
EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL MEETING
22ND APRIL 2010
“This note is to inform everybody that myself, Ian Sheppard and Bill Brignall will be standing down as the club committee in the very near future. As such, we as a club need to discuss and agree the way forward for the club.
We are stepping down for numerous reasons, mostly around personal time and our abilities to devote sufficient time to our committee posts. We have every intention of remaining members afterwards.
The meeting will be held at the Newbury British Legion Club (our usual venue) starting at 7.00pm on Thursday 22nd April (next week).
The purpose of the meeting will be to:
- Discuss and agree what the club exists for.
- Establish what the members actually want out of the club.
- Agree how to organise ourselves for what ever the outcomes of the above are.
Please note I have avoided specifying nomination of a new committee. This is because I would prefer the discussions and agreements to cover all possibilities of organisation, and not simply be a replacement of the current one.
I would urge all members to try to attend, as the decisions we (as members) take that night will consider the views of all present, and as such, the more people who attend, the better representation of members we will get.
If you have any further queries, please email me and i will do my best to answer them either individually, or at the meeting.”
Further to the above email, issued to the members from the outgoing Chairman (Ian Bartlett) on 15th April, this meeting was held with the following members present:
- Ian Bartlett (outgoing Chairman)
- Bill Brignal (outgoing Treasurer)
- Ian Shumsky
- Bill Gregory
- Rowley Bartlett
- Richard Dawes
- John Cooper
- Michael Yarnold
Apologies were received from:
- David Lewis
- Ian Reece
In opening the meeting Ian Bartlett explained his reasons for stepping down from the position of club chairman, and thanked the members for their support. He explained that due to work and family commitments, it was not possible for him to give the role the attention necessary for it to be effective. He advised that he had come to this decision in the run up to NEWMOD, and rather than let anyone in the club down, he would step aside.
The members thanked Ian for his efforts during his time as Chairman.
Bill Brignal provided a report on the outcomes of the recent NEWMOD show. He advised that in terms of financial return to the club, the show had exceeded his expectations. Bill advised that he can provide full figures and financial break down of the takings on request.
He advised that should the club decide to run the event again in 2011, many important lessons could be learned from this years event, with potential for significant reduction in running costs.
All members agreed that it had been a successful event and there were queries over whether it would be held again. This was put to one side for later discussion in the meeting.
Ian Bartlett thanked Bill and the members for their efforts during NEWMOD, and then opened the floor for debate on the key topics raised in the call note.
All present agreed that the fundamental purpose for the clubs’ existence was to bring modellers together in a social setting to share in the hobby, learn from each other and develop their own skills. The social aspect of the club, in terms of the monthly meeting was seen as important, and a good opportunity to meet and talk to other members.
All agreed that more interactivity on club nights would be welcome, with talks, demonstrations, quizzes and competitions all suggested.
Less emphasis on the formal aspects of club business was tabled, with a brief on news, upcoming shows and events proposed at the beginning of each meeting, followed by informal club activities.
In respect to its committee organisation, it was agreed that given the membership numbers (approximately 20), the need for formality, policies, procedures terms of reference etc was not needed, and whilst it was agreed that the club needed officials for dealing with correspondence and handling financial matters, this would be on a much more informal basis.
Ian Shumsky advised that he would be prepared to take on the position of club “point of contact” for show invites etc. However his frequent work trips would preclude him being able to attend every club night, but he agreed that using emails to communicate invitations etc would assist in doing this role.
Bill Brignall advised that, providing he was not expected to shoulder the burden of NEWMOD, he would be content to continue to manage club finances.
These two roles were agreed to be the key positions that were needed for the club to function effectively. It was felt that to satisfy IPMS requirements for committees, Richard Dawes would assume the position of Chairman in name only.
Moving on from this, the topic of NEWMOD 2011 was discussed, and whilst it was felt that would be worthwhile to run the event again, now was not the right time to make a decision on this issue.
Richard Dawes suggested that the club needed a “bedding in” period, where the club was allowed to settle down, members get to know each other, make the transition of officials, reconcile its calendar of show invites, and get a firm understanding of its assets in terms of library, show stand and other items. Therefore the decision to run NEWMOD was agreed to be deferred for several months.
Ian Bartlett took an action to get all contact and invitation details from Ian Sheppard with a view to distributing this list among the members.
It was proposed that every member who currently had club material/kit/assets should bring these to the next club night to allow for sorting, deciding what was needed, and what was to be done with those items which were not needed any longer.
Finally, Bill raised the issue that NEWMOD had a commitment to make a donation to the British Legion, as the clubs nominated charity, and as our “landlords” for club nights. Therefore from the proceeds of the show, Bill proposed a donation of £100. The members agreed to this and the presentation will be made next month on club night.
Meeting Actions:
Action: Ian Shumsky to contact Dave Lewis regarding transfer of URL from existing website.
Action: Ian Bartlett to contact Ian Sheppard regarding all contact details and current invitations.
Action: All members to bring any club equipment to the next meeting for sorting/disposing of.
Action: Ian Bartlett to confirm and communicate all club night dates for 2010. Also to provide club member email addresses (where applicable).
New club organisation (IPMS required position in brackets):
Ian Shumsky – Club Point of Contact (transitional) (Secretary).
Bill Brignal – Club financial Controller (Treasurer)
Richard Dawes – Proxy Chairman (Chairman)
