The 2012 Annual General Meeting of the club was held on Thursday 25th October 2012 at the White Horse pub in Eaton Socon.  There was an excellent turn-out by club members.  The minutes of the AGM are posted below:

 

Minutes of:    Annual General Meeting
Held at:         The White Horse, Eaton Socon
On:                25 October 2012
At:                 7:30 p.m.


1.    Welcome and introduction
The Chairman opened the meeting by welcoming all attendees and introducing the Agenda, which had previously been circulated to members in advance of the meeting. Prior to the main business of the meeting, the Chairman also took the opportunity to remind attendees that surplus energy gels / powders from the Sportive were on sale, with all proceeds to be donated to MAGPAS.

2.    Chairman’s report.
This is attached to these minutes at Appendix A. In addition to the matters contained therein, the Chairman also outlined the club’s anticipated participation in the British Cycling “Breeze” programme which is designed to get more women into cycling.

3.    Treasurer’s report.
The meeting was advised that as a consequence of the increased membership in 2012 and the success of the 2012 Autumn Breeze Sportive, the club’s finances were in good order and there was currently a modest surplus of funds. Accordingly, the club was well placed for 2013 but there remains a need to consider expenditure carefully in order to benefit the membership as a whole. In particular, there are a number of affiliation fees / levies to be paid each year and it was noted that the club had subsidised the 2012 TT season as a result of the race entry fee paid by members being only 50% of the levy required to be paid to the governing bodies. The treasurer also suggested that the incoming committee might consider whether to purchase and hold in stock a modest supply of team kit, rather than always having to wait on long lead times from suppliers when dealing with kit orders from members.

4.    Social Secretary’s report.
The  club had enjoyed a number of successful events which had already occurred, or were planned to occur, in 2012 including such diverse activities as:

a.    The hot cross bun run
b.    Trip to the Halford’s Tour Series in Peterborough
c.    Jubilee club run
d.    Summer barbeque
e.    Trip to watch Olympic road cycling events
f.    Annual Dinner and Awards Evening
g.    Trip to watch the Rutland Circle Classic
h.    Christmas social evening

Looking ahead to 2013, the meeting was advised that a regular programme of social evenings had already been planned to start in January 2013 and it is hoped that as many members as possible will attend.

 
5.    Webmaster’s report.
The launch of the new club website has been a great success and has raised the profile of the club considerably. Almost all members have registered as users and there is evidence to show that the site is used regularly by the membership. Web traffic has increased significantly since launch from 826 visits in April 2012 to over 5000 visits in September 2012.

The forum has seen some lively and interesting debate and seems to encourage increased levels of web traffic, which ensures that the profile of the club is further raised as a result of appearing more prominently in search engine results pages.

There have been a number of interesting article contributions from members detailing their various cycling related exploits and the meeting was reminded that future such articles are always welcomed for publication on the site.

6.    Election of Club Officials for 2013.
The Chairman prefaced the election process by outlining that due to the continued expansion of the club and the activities anticipated in 2013 and beyond, that there were to a number of new positions to be filled.

Thereafter, in turn, after being formally proposed and seconded by existing members, the following individuals were elected unopposed into the following committee positions:

 

 

Position

Name

Chairman

Richard Ostler

Treasurer

Alistair Henderson

Secretary*

Steve Rodley

Social Secretary

Mark Colmer

Webmaster

Alec MacAndrew

Marketing Secretary*

David Lindsay

Press Secretary

Ruth Stapleton

Race Secretary

Richard Ostler

Go Ride Secretary*

Gareth Smith

Club Members (x3)

Wayne Tunnah

 

Steve Pleasance

 

Dan Baxter


    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

* denotes new position

In addition, volunteers were sought to fill five new positions as Go Ride coordinators (although these positions do not serve on the main committee), and the following individuals agreed to act:

 

Position

Name

Go Ride coordinators (x5)

Steve Lyons

 

Gareth Smith

 

Alec MacAndrew

 

Andrew Poodle

 

Andy Holt

 
7.    Plans for 2013.
The Chairman briefly outlined the matters set out in section 6 of Appendix A and there was some general discussion from the floor. More details on individual items will be communicated in due course but in respect of the proposals to increase subscription fees and time trial entry fees, those present at the meeting unanimously agreed to the following changes:

a.    To increase the annual membership subscription fee to £20 for the year 2013 (£10 for those joining the club for the first time after 1 June 2013)

b.    To increase the Time Trial entry fee to:

i.    £2 per event for members; and
ii.    £4 per event for non-members.


8.    Any other business

a.    Website forum
There appeared to be consensus that the forum provides a valuable tool to encourage lively and topical debate on a range of interesting subject areas. It was further noted that as forum activity increases web traffic which in turn raises the profile of the club due to the club website appearing more prominently in search engine results. Accordingly, the club website is for many potential new members the first (and sometimes only) impression they will get of the club and its membership. To that end, whilst freedom of expression is rightly promoted, authors of forum posts should be mindful of the impact that their messages might have on the readership. In addition, all members should be encouraged to report any examples of inappropriate comments so as to assist effective moderation of content.

b.    Maintenance training sessions
With the increasing diversity of the membership, the range of experience in relation to bike maintenance varies hugely amongst members and there appeared to be interest in running maintenance training sessions. It was remarked that there was probably a considerable body of expertise in the club which could be utilised to a greater extent.

c.    First aid courses
There was discussion about first aiders in the club and first aid courses available. There was considerable interest and discussion about this topic and it was suggested as something the incoming committees should consider. It was also noted that first aid matters were likely to be included in the Go Ride initiative.

9.    Meeting closure
There being no other business, the Chairman closed the meeting at 9.40 p.m.

Position

Name

Chairman

Richard Ostler

Treasurer

Alistair Henderson

Secretary*

Steve Rodley

Social Secretary

Mark Colmer

Webmaster

Alec MacAndrew

Marketing Secretary*

David Lindsay

Press Secretary

Ruth Stapleton

Race Secretary

Richard Ostler

Go Ride Secretary*

Gareth Smith

Club Members (x3)

Wayne Tunnah

 

Steve Pleasance

 

Dan Baxter