Minutes of the
Held
at The Queen’s Oak, Finchampstead
Present
Alan Pitkin (Acting Treasurer)
Alan Cross (NEC Director and Editor)
Brian White (Acting Chairman)
Rowan Diviani
Peter Cambridge
Apologies
for absence
Mick Dwyer sent his apologies for absence.
Nigel and Liz Unsworth, and George Grammer had resigned from the committee mid
year due to changes in personal circumstance.
Minutes
of Previous Meeting
The minutes of the previous meeting were
read to the members present, by the Acting Chair, Brian White. They were approved by
Matters
Arising
1) The Classic Boat event turned out to be a non-starter as they wouldn’t allow cars into the event if they had been manufactured after 1950.
2)
3)
Election of officers mid term.
Alan Cross pointed out that a Deputy Director was acceptable but not an Acting
Director. The Director could only be appointed at the Centre AGM. The committee
can’t appoint a Director mid term.
Acting
Treasurer’s Report
The accounts weren’t totally complete at
the time of the AGM, due to the Treasurer resigning mid term, and not all the
paperwork had been transferred as yet. However, The
accounts stood at £12,849.28 as of
Alan
Pitkin
Acting
Chairman’s Report
The acting chair wished to note a huge
degree of apathy amongst the
****
"The 2006 Year for the Thames Valley
Section of the Austin Healey Club was eventful with the resignation of both the
Chairman and his lady wife, our section's Treasurer, as Nigel had been assigned
to
Our sincere thanks go out to both of them for their long and great efforts for the Club. All the committee members , who were assigned in to fill the gaps that the two of them left, will confirm that their departure was our increased workload on behalf of the club. At our AGM for the Thames Valley section those of us, who had taken on " acting" roles to fill the holes that Nigel and Liz left on the committee, were elected as "full" positional members of your committee (for which I thank all of them) and so the future of the Thames Valley Austin Healey section will be assured for this coming year. However there are two positions that were not filled at the AGM, in that we still need/are looking for the Newsletter Editor and the Director , who represents your Thames Valley section at the National club committee level - as you read this - please do consider joining us and becoming involved in the future of your club! These vacancies arise with the resignation of Alan Cross from last year's committee as Alan felt he was about to "go under" with all his involvements in his workday together with running other activities and more importantly paying enough attention to his new wife. I must thank Alan for his dedication to the section, the club and to his support to me as I tried to find out my way around the role of "acting" chairman, that I had slipped into with Nigel's resignation. I wish Alan all success in his future involvements and my advice is that he must look after his new wife!!
Finally - talking of Events and our involvements
and activities for next 2007 year, your Committee plans to meet early in the
New Year to attempt to fix Events and Dates so all members of the Thames Valley
section can plan forward and book the times for their support to next year's
activities - So please do support your new committee's efforts and make the
turn-out at the events for next year, more substantial and rewarding. To this
end, I would welcome all of your ideas for Events/Happenings for next year - if
there has been/is anything that you have wanted your club to do/plan - then
please give us/me your ideas/thoughts, as we are looking for new ideas that we
have not done before or were so good that they can be repeated.
Brian
White.
Director’s
Report
I have attended two National Executive
Committee meetings since I became the Director for
TVC Minutes and Accounts for 2005
Receipt of these was acknowledged by the
national Hon Secretary, so all requested documentation from TVC has now been
received. National have, however, appeared to be reluctant to share this
information with Directors, and, after a bit of pressure from me, have agreed
to present a summary of the totals of Centre funds one year after the documents
have been lodged with them.
Membership centralisation
A significant topic of discussion has been
the process towards centralised membership administration, and this is
progressing despite some concerns over the ability to get this fully in place
in time for the 2007-08 renewal at the end of March. A volunteer national
membership officer is yet to be found.
Company Secretary
The present Company Secretary, Harold
Baker, is retiring. His replacement will be a Charles MacNamara.
Forthcoming events
2007 will see each Centre making its own
contribution to the International Healey Weekend, which will be a convergence
to the Silverstone Classic event
2008 will be the 50th Anniversary of the
Sprite, and this will see a major event, not unlike AH-50, at Goodwood.
2009 is already being considered, as this
will be the 50th Anniversary of the 3000.
National web site
As ProAxis Infotech, I supply the national web site on a contract
basis. The contract has just been renewed to January 2008.
Centres Directory
I volunteered to update the Centres
Directory, which was last done for national by Nigel Unsworth. The 2006 edition
was started in August and completed in October. Work has already started on the
2007 Directory, which will be a document that combines both the Centres
Directory and the National Directory.
Directors' expenses
The matter was raised with national
regarding the uneconomic mileage rate currently paid by national - 16 pence per
mile, with a view to getting this increased. It emerged from the debate that
all Directors' expenses associated with attending the National Executive
Committee meetings should be met by the Centres, and that the mileage rate
would be whatever each Centre had agreed. This position has been reluctantly
accepted by your Centre.
Alan
Cross
Secretary’s
Report
During the year, Nigel Unsworth and Liz
Unsworth both sadly had to resign as Nigel’s job meant he was
having to relocate to
As a result, some temporary reshuffling had to take place. Brian White was called in to fill the place of acting Chairman, I took on the role of acting Secretary and Alan Cross took on the responsibility of NEC Director and Editor, and Alan Pitkin the acting Treasurer.
Events
2006
The RAF Brize
Norton Family Day on Saturday 24th June was by invitation only and
those Thames Valley members that made the trip were entertained by a fantastic
air display featuring acrobatic biplanes, VC10s, Chinook helicopters,
Spitfires, a sky-diving team, static aircraft displays, craft fairs and fair
ground rides to name but a few, as well as numerous food and refreshment
stalls. In addition to the above attractions, there was also a classic sports
car display, to which of course the Healey club contributed.
In August, the Thames Valley Centre was invited to the Wroughton Classic & Vintage. Basically it was a monster autojumble to rival Beaulieu, plus car club stands.
Later in August, members met at the ”Sun at
This year, as we did in 2005, the Thames Valley Centre decided to spend some of its funds on subsidising tickets for members only at the Goodwood Revival on Sunday 3rd September. A number (albeit small) took advantage of this great offer, and once again had a fabulous day out. Members who didn’t go, missed a treat.
In October, the Centre organised a p**s-up in a brewery – the Chiltern Brewery to be exact. There were three big Healeys (all three in Healey blue) and 9 members. It was a very very good day out, and again those of you who didn’t make it, missed a treat. We tried maybe 8 or so bitters, had a huge ploughman’s lunch, talks and a tour – all for a fiver !!!!! You can’t beat that. Again, there are photos on the web-site.
2007 is going to be a difficult year unless we can enlarge the committee once again. We need new blood with new ideas. It’s not a taxing obligation, so come on, get volunteering.
Membership
Secretary’s Report
The membership stood at 204 (last year was
205). 50% of members
paid by Direct Debit. As from
Webmaster’s
Report
There was little to report on the Centre
web-page, as it was business as usual.
Election
of Officers
Committee
Membership
The committee, elected at the November 2006 AGM, consisted of:
Brian White (Chair) Proposed by
Alan Pitkin (Treasurer) Proposed by Brian
White, Seconded by
Mick Dwyer (General Member) Proposed by
Rowan Diviani (General Member) Proposed by
Dennis Horner (General Member) Proposed by
Director - VACANCY
Comments
from the elected Chair
I am pleased to welcome two new members to
our committee, and it gave me pleasure to see that others in the club were keen
to support the club's efforts and its future by their willingness to be elected
to the committee. To the two new General Members of the committee, Rowan
Diviani and Dennis Horner, we extend a warm welcome and may they both enjoy
themselves at our meetings and the friendship of the committee and its events. I
will always think of Rowan as the son who has already bought a 3000
AOB
The committee wishes to recognise the fantastic service given to the Thames Valley Centre by Liz and Nigel Unsworth. Our thanks go on record.