Extraordinary & Annual General Meetings, 2011

The Association's AGM was held on Sunday, 20 November 2011 at the clubhouse of Medway Archers and was preceded by an EGM to discuss a number of changes to the Association's constitution.

The following is only intended to cover a brief outline of the main matters and not necessarily in the order they occurred; please do not think of this account as being in any way an official record of the meetings (minutes of the meetings will be circulated in the normal manner).

The Extraordinary General Meeting

The EGM voted on two groups of changes to the constitution:

• the first was to bring certain financial restrictions in line with the requirements of:
  • HMRC, to ensure that we qualify as a "Not for Profit" organisation and could apply for CASC status, should it become an advantage to do so;
  • grant funding bodies, should we wish to apply for development funding at any time.
• to improve and clarify how we set membership fees and bring the names of several membership categories into line with ArcheryGB and the region.

Both resolutions were passed unanimously and came into effect immediately after the AGM, held later the same afternoon.

The Annual General Meeting

Accounts

The treasurer reported a deficit for the year of £820.27, resulting primarily from the loss of commission previously paid by ArcheryGB to regions to cover the administrative cost and work relating to the membership system; SCAS then paid a part of this to the constituent county associations. Kent typically used to receive £700-800 per year, although the timing varied considerably from year to year (for example, in our 2009-2010 financial year we received two years' worth, but in the preceding year nothing at all).

The committee has been reducing costs by the use of email for circulating many documents; this has helped to make a substantial reduction in stationery, printing and postage costs.

Membership Fees

No changes were proposed for the coming year.

Elections

We welcome one new member, Tony Henwood (Ferryfield Bowmen's Records Officer for a number of years) who replaces Mandy Warren as county Records Officer.

However, again this year it is very disappointing that several key positions on the committee remain vacant, so the Operational Committee now has the right to decide how to fill them. If anyone is willing to volunteer to fill any of these vacancies, please contact the county secretary.

The Informal Discussion

This is the meeting that replaces the "AOB" that used to be part of the AGM. It is informal insofar as it has no specific agenda, but notes of the discussion were recorded and any outstanding issues will be taken to the next Operational Committee meeting for action.

• An enquiry about a recent welfare matter was raised and it was confirmed that the issue is still open.
• A member asked for details about the purpose and function of SCAS and was given a short précis of its main functions, including:
  • running the oldest archery meeting in the country and a number of other tournaments and championships,
  • maintaining regional records,
  • judge training and assessment,
  • acting as an important lobbying organisation to represent our archers at certain ArcheryGB meetings.
• The outgoing Records Officer asked clubs to ensure that they send in qualifying scores, so as not to disadvantage their members;
• Clubs should feel free to contact the Chairman to discuss issues they face and if the County Association can do anything to help, it will;
• A casting meeting was to be held two days later in Sevenoaks, relating to a new television production of Shakespeare's Henry V - extras required, in particular for the Battle of Azincourt.