Minutes of the 91st Glasgow HF AGM
Minutes of the 91st Annual General Meeting held on 12 February 2008 in Woodside Halls, Glenfarg Street, Glasgow at 7.30pm.
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Present:
Committee Members: T Addie President, S Thomson Vice President, M McCrae Secretary, M Alexander, Sue Swinson, M Taylor, M McLaughlin, A Galletly, J Barrowman, K Moody, J Moore.
Members: St McLeish, S McLeish, T Rutherford, A Henderson, A McCrae, P Wilson, E Maclean, M Keppie, A Monoghan, E Christie, J Moody, E Barrowman, D Boddy J Cassidy, J Williams, C McBride, R Dunlop, A MacKenzie, M Hawthorn, G Hird, C Campbell, D Sinclair, M Janetta, K Stevenson, J McGuigan, J McIntyre, R Mackay.
Apologies: W Radziwonik Treasurer, Jean Kennedy, James Forbes, Bill Wilson.
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Presidents Report:
Tom welcomed everyone to the meeting. He was sorry to say that club members Queenie Rowan and Archie McMillan died during the year.
The ‘Awards for All’ lottery application did not get past the first hurdle as our bank account was under a different name to our Constitution. This has now been changed. We will update our application and re-submit our application in March/April.
The 90th Anniversary Ceilidh was very enjoyable night, the attendance was a bit disappointing and unfortunately it ran at a loss. The Christmas party was around a third down in numbers, but made a small profit.
Costs continue to rise. Postage, Insurance Policy, fuel cost and bus costs. In line with the Retail Price Index the petrol charge will be increased to 25p from 1st April 2008.
Tom thanked Jim Cassidy for taking on the role of webmaster and updating the clubs website. The feedback from members has been extremely positive. Please send any photos to Jim for inclusion in the website. Jim also ran a very successful GPS course and Alice continues to run a general map and compass reading course.
Major changes – To help with the 10 year Munro Programme it is intended to introduce Wednesday climbs some of which will include overnight stays.
As always we require more folk willing to lead so if anyone fancies leading a walk please come and speak to me. We have put together an interesting and comprehensive programme for the summer.
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Minutes of previous Annual General Meeting:
Copies of 90th AGM were circulated to members prior to the start of the meeting. It was noted that Keith Moody’s name should have been included in those present. With this amendment recorded the minutes were approved. Proposed by A Henderson and seconded by Moya Taylor.
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Matters Arising:
None.
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Proposal to increase membership fees:
The committee recommended that the fees be increased for concessionary members from £8 to £10 and for full membership from £10 to £15. Following some discussion a counter proposal was put forward by Mario Janetta and seconded by Kenny Stevenson: That membership fees be increased to £20 for full members and £12 for concessionary members.
A vote was taken on the counter proposal recording 13 members voting for this. A second vote was taken on the committees proposal and 21 members voted in favour of this.
It has been agreed that from January 2009 the membership fees will be £15 for full membership and £12 for concessionary membership. It was also pointed out that people can pay more if they wish. At present some concessionary members pay the full subscription.
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Nomination for Honorary Membership.
The committee proposed Moya for Honorary Membership. This was agreed by all present.
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Treasurers Report: Willie Radziwonik
Unfortunately Willie was unable to attend. Tom made the following observations on the clubs finances. The Social Section has been running at a loss. Room hire charges have increased. There is around £1,600 in the bank.
The financial report was approved, proposed by John Moore and seconded by Keith Moody.
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Secretaries Reports:
Secretary and Minute Secretary: Maisie McCrae
Maisie reported the number of club walkers and attendances that had taken place from 2nd December 2006 to 30th November 2007 based on the forms returned by walk leaders.
|
Day & Grade |
No. of walks |
Members |
Non members |
Total |
No return sheets |
Cancelled walks |
|
Saturday |
43 |
533 |
16 |
549 |
3 |
3 |
|
Sunday A |
42 including 6 A/B |
336 |
13 |
349 |
2 |
4 |
|
Sunday B |
33 |
317 |
19 |
336 |
2 |
0 |
|
Sunday C |
6 |
39 |
1 |
40 |
0 |
0 |
|
totals |
124 |
1176 |
49 |
1225 |
7 |
7 |
A Web Site working group of Sue Swinson, Willie Radziwonik, Jim Cassidy and I have met to look at how the Website for the club can be improved. Jim Cassidy has taken on the role of Webmaster and has done a remarkable job of updating the Website. If you have not seen it I suggest you have a look at it, if you do not have a computer at home you will be able to use one at your local library. Just log onto www.glasgowhf.co.uk. The committee would like to thank Jim for the excellent job that he is doing and the sub group will continue to support him in any way they can. It is thanks to the Website that we are attracting new members.
HF Holidays has written to us regarding their new affiliated walking and social clubs programme. The committee has still to examine all the details – it requires us to use their new logo with conditions etc. The committee will let you know about any decisions they make regarding this through Packchat.
Margaret Hawthorn expressed concern that she would be sorry to see the club break with tradition and that HF Glasgow are shareholders in HF Holidays. She was assured that the committee would consider this matter.
Saturday Secretary: Keith Moody
Keith thanked all the leaders who have led walks and the sub committee members Jo, John McGuigan, David Boddy and Rhona Dunlop. He highlighted some interesting walks coming up Arran in June, Rail trip to Corrous station with a choice of 4 walks. Saturday walks will contribute to the Munro Challenge through the clubs programme.
Weekend Secretary: Margaret McLaughlin
Margaret reported that at Easter 2007 the Club went to Pitlochry where 12 Members stayed at the Hostel and 13 members stayed at B&B’s. There were A&B walks on the Saturday and the Sunday. Leaders were Sandy Henderson and Stephen Thomson.
May 2007 the May weekend was at Braemar where 9 members booked in the SYHA and 6 booked B&B’s. There were 2 levels of walks on the Saturday and 1 Level on the Sunday. Leaders were Sandy Henderson and Sandra Patterson.
September 2007 the Club went to Hawkshead in the Lake District.
There were 2 levels of walks on the Saturday and 1 on the Sunday with some Members following other pursuits. Leader was Sandy Henderson on the Saturday and the Sunday A/B walks.
Club Weekends 2008: Easter 21st to 24th March will be at Melrose, May 23rd to 26th will be at Ratagan where Tom hopes to organise quite a few Munros. The September venue has still to be decided. The SYHA has recently changed its booking conditions and now requires a non refundable deposit for each place booked. The committee will discuss the implications of this and inform members via the next issue of Packchat.
Margaret closed by thanking as always the weekend leaders and drivers.
Sunday Secretary: John Moore
John stated that Sunday attendances on the whole had been good. However he has personally noticed that there is a general decrease in the number of people out walking. This could be due to cheap flights and people walking abroad and not in Britain. From 1 April to the end of September the club will have climbed 86 Munro’s. He stated he is keeping Ben Eime for the last Munro. Included in the Summer programme are 2 cycle trips and a sail on Loch Lomond. The loss of 8 leaders is a big problem and there are only 3 people on the Sunday walks committee. John finished by thanking the Sunday sub committee, Tom, Margaret Brown and John McGuigan.
Programme Secretary: Alice Galletly
Alice announced that she was stepping down as Programme Editor and that Stephen had agreed to take on the duties. During her six years as editor she had observed that Keith had managed the intricacies of emailing, Moya was always so polite, and John Moore was always so correct! Alice said she enjoyed working with David Parry who is responsible for getting the Programme set up and printed. Alice noted that over the past 20 years that the number of people serving on committees was decreasing and some members of the committee had to do two jobs. She felt that this was a pity and made a plea for more members to join the committee. She closed by saying that it was interesting and fun.
Saturday and Sunday Buses: Stephen Thomson
Stephen reported that there have been a couple of changes in bus programming and pricing since last year:-
(1) following a suggestion at the AGM the programmes of the Saturday & Sunday buses have been combined, alternating monthly from October 2007 through to May 2008;
(2) the cost of bus trips was increased to £10 to try to maintain a break-even position in the face of increasing hire charges & decreasing attendances.
In this winter’s programme there have been 4 outings to date, 3 of these had reasonable attendances but unfortunately the December Sunday bus had a poor attendance (just 20), leaving us £100 down over the 4 buses. Hopefully we can recover some, or all, of this on the remaining outings.
Although the individual cost of a trip has increased to £10 I still believe that this is reasonable value and I hope that you do too. Compare it to the costs charged elsewhere for day walks with transport provided: Glasgow City Outdoor Team - £14.40; Scot Trek - £16 to £23.
Thanks to all who agreed to lead bus walks and to members who have turned out so far this programme. Hope to see more of you on the next 4 buses.
Membership Secretary: Moya Taylor
Moya reported that 27 new members had joined the club 39 had not renewed their membership. Membership for 2007 was136 concessionary members and 90 full members making a total of 236 for 2007. Total for 2006 was 237.
Social Secretary: Moya Taylor
Moya reported that sadly the numbers attending Tuesday nights had declined to the extent that the committee had decided not have a Tuesday night programme for 2008. However if anyone has any proposals for social events they should speak to Tom or any member of the committee. Moya closed by thanking Jean Gibson, Tom Rutherford, Tom Addie, Dorothy Sinclair and all those who undertook door duties. The last Tuesday evening will be Alice’s slide show on North of Thailand on 26 February.
Goodwill Secretary: Margaret Alexander
Margaret read out the list of cards that she had sent over the past year; 6 Sympathy cards; 11 Christmas cards; 12 Get Well cards, 12 Easter Cards; 1 Thank You card and 2 Special Birthday card. Margaret received on behalf of club members a Christmas card and a Thank You card.
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Election of Office Bearers:
Programme Editor: The committee proposed Stephen Thomson as there were no other nominations Stephen was duly elected.
Social Secretary: As there were no nominations for this vacancy the post remains unfilled.
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AOCB:
Mario stated that he did not hear about the Dinner/Ceilidh until it was too late. He suggested attendances would have been higher if the publicity from the club had been better. He also suggested that the club should consider having an Annual Ceilidh as the social side of the club is now fragmented.
Tom replied that the Ceilidh was in the programme and the Christmas Party which is really a Ceilidh was also on the programme and this was also poorly attended. The reality is that many members particularly the active Sunday walkers are not particularly attracted to that type of event.
Alice pointed out that the programme only came out 2 weeks prior to the Dinner/Ceilidh and that was insufficient notification to members.
Tom replied that the committee will consider Mario’s comments and get back in touch with him.
Moya stated that doing away with the summer programme meant that the Dinner/Ceilidh was not mentioned. She herself phone around 40 members and she felt that committee did what they could.
Elaine expressed concern that the Munro’s objective could be elitist and seen to be aimed at the particularly fast walkers. The clubs strength Elaine felt was that it has always embraced a wide range of abilities and it could be in danger of losing this strength.
Tom replied that the pace of the walks are determined by the leader. However he has noted Elaine’s concerns and the committee will take them into consideration when planning weekends and Wednesdays.
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Close of Meeting:
Before closing the meeting Tom made a presentation to Alice and Moya. In his tribute to Alice he stated that he first met her 18 years ago when she was the Sunday Secretary and held meetings with the Sunday Committee in her house where she made everyone very welcome and provided delicious home baking. Tom reminded the members of the remarkable contribution Alice has made to the club by listing the various offices she has held over the years, Sunday Secretary, Vice President, President, Programme Editor and in addition organising Map and Compass Courses. To warm applause Tom presented Alice with a book on Birds and a Bottle of Wine.
Tom then paid tribute to Moya. She has been Social Secretary for the past 14 years and she has organised 300 nights, 14 Christmas Parties and many Day Outings. She has also had a portrait painted by one of the club members, organised dance sessions and wine tasting. To warm applause Tom presented Moya with 3 books that he said reflected her taste and a bottle of wine.
Tom closed the meeting by thanking everyone for attending and a special thank you to the leaders and committee members.