A.G.M. Snippets   Page Last Updated: 16 Mar 2011

Snippets of W.A.B. Annual General Meeting - 01 June 2008

The President opened the meeting at 12.30pm and welcomed everyone to the 2008 Annual General Meeting.

A minute's silence was held in memory of silent keys.

Apologies for absence were accepted from: G0NLX, G2BOF, 2E0MCV, G6XLL, G1DMS, G0GWK, G3SDY, G0BWB, G3GKC, G4GET, G0NES.

Members in attendance: G0AKH, G8XTJ, G0BFJ, G7GJU, M3NJD, G4JZF, G4IAQ, G4IAR, M0CHP, G4NBA, PF9A, G3XKT, G8PUT, G0JRT, G0JRT/XYL, G0RCI, M0OVL, G6UKO/GW4ZPL.

The Minutes of the 2007 AGM were accepted as a true record. This was proposed by Tom Hanratty G0JRT and seconded by Alan Gibson G0RCI.

There were no matters arising.

President & Contest Manager

• The difficulties with the flat HF bands and the lack of nets were explained.
• Thanks were given to the committee for all the work that has gone on off the air, for without them there would not be a W.A.B. group.
• Sue G0NLX after many years on the committee is retiring.
• Another thank you went to the mobile stations that have gone out and struggled with the bad conditions putting on areas.
• This year's Contests had started well with an increase in entries for the Top band contest, and entries were still coming in for the LF contest.
• W.A.B. and the way forward would no doubt be the main discussion this afternoon.
• The usual request for committee members was put forward.

Treasurer

• The accounts for the financial year 2007-2008 were presented, and a copy signed by Mr. Andrew Thorpe, a qualified accountant, to say that he has examined the accounts, was in the Tresurer's possession.
• He explained that we have settled back into a 12 month financial year, (the previous one being 13 months owing to an early A.G.M.), the figures showing little variation on last year. Other than donations, the highest variation is in rally expenses. This is due to the cost of hiring a marquee for last year's A.G.M. and the one off cost of a banner for it.

Award Manager

• There have been 423 awards issued since the last A.G.M., compared to 339 last year & 167 prior to that. Thanks were given to Bill & Debbie for their support during the winter.
• There was a big influx of claims following the Winter Award period & thanks should go to Bill & Debbie, for providing much of the entertainment during this spell. Thanks also to anyone who has created activity over the period.
• The newly instigated Special Event Stations Award has proved quite popular, with 36 of various stages being issued.
• We appreciate that band conditions are a particular problem, so I would also like to say thanks to those who keep plugging away, especially Brian G0BFJ on 80m.

Membership

• The number of books sold was the same as the previous year but the CD sales are down. Total sales were 328, made up as follows: - Books 87, CD's 39 and Book Numbers 201.

Secretary

• There has been some response to our request about the forthcoming Boundary Changes.
• It would be nice if when we ask for replies to go to the Secretary, that is what happens. However, quite a bit of mail (e-mail) gets sent to other committee members before it gets to the Secretary. This delays the subject being dealt with, and can lead to a little bit of frustration when answers are not forthcoming.
• Another request from the Secretary!! Please do not write via the chat pages as the Secretary seldom looks at them: after the shenanigans of the past, he un-subscribed from them. So unless someone forwards them to him, he does not see them.

Rallies

• More and more rallies being attended and one or two of them are being done by members other than those on the Committee.
• If anyone would like to put a stand on at his or her local rally, regardless of how small, I will see to it that a Rally pack is put together and sent out to him or her in good time for the event.
• We can now proudly say that W.A.B. appears at rallies the length and breadth of Britain. We have had an invitation to the Bangor Rally, but as yet the costs are far too prohibitive.

Newsletters

• After the severe down turn in subscribers over the last twelve months, I feel that we have now begun to recover and numbers are slowly starting to creep up again.
• The newsletter did make an appearance on the Website in PDF format but the free trial is over and the cost of the program to do it with is too prohibitive.
• A request for copy for the newsletter was re-iterated.

Boundary Changes

• In July 2007 the Government announced proposals for a further ten Unitary Authorities for England, with a further one (Norwich) going to review on amended boundaries, due to come into existence on 1st April 2009. Further changes are also due in Northern Ireland in the future.
• One new area has been discovered, and activated by Bill G4WSB. It is TA31 North East Lincolnshire UA (TA31LNE), and consists of an area of sand and shingle between Grimsby and Cleethorpes.

Internet

• At the beginning of April a problem occurred with the Website - the forum and awards issued pages had stopped working. I emailed Chris Meadows G6KMQ at Intermip, who kindly host the site free of charge, and between us, this was rectified.
• A new page with pictures of QSL Cards used by 'Dxpeditions' activating W.A.B. areas has been added. Please let me have scans of any Cards, and I'll add them. The G1NTW Legacy page has been updated to show what the RAIBC plan to use our donation for.
• We are also investigating the use of PayPal so that W.A.B. purchases can be made via the internet.
• The forum remains fairly quiet, but details of mobile activity is being posted, along with some other points and queries. The pages are there for members to use, so please do so, but remember that they are not a method of contacting a Committee Member on official business. Please contact them directly by email or post for that.

Publicity

• I am the caretaker Publicity officer and my first task is to pay tribute to the work of Chris G1VDP who resigned at the end of January due to pressure of work.
• Chris did an excellent job and the committee would like to thank him for all his efforts.
• However there is some good news regarding the RSGB. Following a recent staff change in the Editorial Department e-mails are acknowledged promptly and can easily get items on GB2RS.
• We have been offered space for an article on the revised awards.
• The best form of publicity is activity on the air.
• Please let the Publicity Officer know of future activity.
• Q) G3XKT asked about the placing of an advertisement to publicise W.A.B.
• It was pointed out that we have a regular influx of new members but then they are never heard of again plus the fact the state of the Bands at the moment is not good for W.A.B. activity.
• Another item that was tentatively mentioned was the changes to the Award Scheme. This was left on the table until later in the meeting.

S.W.L.

• No report.

G1NTW Legacy

• Our financial fund manager, Tom Holmes gave an explanation about Norman's Legacy. He explained how it was set up and then went on to tell us how and why the investment had fallen. From there he explained how the investment is protected.

Changes to Award Scheme

• A discussion then ensued about the proposed changes to the Boundaries and what the implications were regarding W.A.B. Awards.
• A numbers of ideas were floated, but it ended up that the old Awards were to continue as they are (although not actively publicised) and a new 10k Square Award be started with a new book from 1st January 2009. It was also decided that there will be no backdating of claims - only contacts from the introduction of the new award would be valid for it.

Committee Elections

• All existing committee willing to stand.
  Proposed Tom G0JRT, Seconded Jon M0OVL
• 2 new nominations: Judith Brooks G4IAQ - Proposed G7GJU, Seconded G0AKH & Norma Darby M3NJD - Proposed G7GJU, Seconded G0AKH.
  Carried unanimously.

2008-2009 President

• Only one nomination, Geoff Darby G7GJU - Proposed John G8XTJ, Seconded Kevin G0AKH. This was accepted by the Members present.
• Brian Stocks G0BFJ the out-going President presented Geoff with the Presidential Chain of Office.
• A very warm vote of thanks was given to Brian for the sterling work that he had done over what had been a very difficult period.

G8PUT Logging Program

• G8PUT outlined his logging system with a request that W.A.B. members use it and report back. A number of questions were put to Chris.

Awards/Trophies

• Presented

A.O.B.

• Tom Hanratty G0JRT proposed a vote of thanks for the work done by the Committee over the past year.

Meeting closed at 2.30pm

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