Notes from:

SEAHORSE DIVE CLUB ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

LIME KILN LEISURE CENTRE WOOTTON BASSETT

Meeting opened at 19.40 hours

IN ATTENDANCE:

Sam McCormick, Derek Chatfield, Mike Scott, Matthew Harrison, Terry Walters, Malcolm Cole, Richard Harrison, Mark Horton, Dave Hall, Tony Curtis, Steve Cain, Dorothy Arthur, Dave Jones, Ian Roriston, Delwyn Evans, Sue Meakin, Graham Morrison, Graham Skeats, Paul Cole, Mark Hampshire, Lesley Skeats, and Marcus Sanderson.

The meeting commenced with a welcome by Mike Scott

Apologies were received from Chairman Graham Whiter (Unable to attend due to illness)

The Minutes of AGM 20th March 2003 were agreed as a true record and endorsed by the Chair.

Chairman's Report.

Mike Scott stated it was gratifying to see so many of the members making the effort to be at the AGM.

He informed the members that Graham Whiter is not well at the moment and that we send him our best wishes.

He reviewed the last 12 months of the club operations, dealing with the good and the bad in the last 12 months. He stated the club enjoyed one of the best diving seasons in several years, with two long weekends that worked well, including accommodations and catering systems, and many successful days out in RIB's and Hard boats.

The two RIB's had operated very successfully and the storage of the RIB's close to Lyme Regis has saved time and effort (and often tempers!) on dive days.

He informed members that we had seen the pool busier than ever, with more members making use of this facility.

On the Dark Side, he informed members that we had undergone scrutiny by the Maritime and Coast Guard Agency regarding our RIB operations and Club Status. This being generated by persons later identified, operating out of The Cobb.

It has been resolved by adopting new techniques for 2004 to ensure any questions are answered easily under any future scrutiny. The MCA require us to be able to prove we are members of a Club. Thus, we will be issuing number tags that are to be worn at all times when diving off the RIB's and should be worn during any other diving excursions in the UK. Further to this, we will issue Photographic ID Membership Cards to all members.

These should be kept close to hand when we are at the coast and on Club activities, in case the enquiry comes while we are on shore. He informed members that we have taken out insurance to protect the club and the members from any claims from third parties. Stating that this is an essential addition to the Club armoury for the modern world, where litigation is a popular hobby these days.

He stated the reason he had announced these Membership changes before the meeting is that we have had little, if any, choice in these matters, regardless of who is elected to the 2004-2005 Committee.

He then formally ended the 2003 - 2004 Year and thanked the Committee for their efforts, some of which have taken more time and effort that usual.

Questions for the Chair:

Mark Horton asked when the numbered discs would be ready. He was informed that they are with the club now and when the new photo style membership cards are issued to the members the discs will be issued along with them. Steve Cain will be starting taking the photos of the members after the AGM.

There followed the Treasurers Report, by Terry Walters :-

All members at the meeting were given the opportunity to view the accounts statement. See below:

Narrative to the annual accounts by Terry Walters:

The first thing to notice is that the overall position at the end of the year is £579.34 less than the start of the year, and this needs to be explained.

The membership numbers were lower than expected this year, so income was reduced, but the committee took the decision to use some of the reserves rather than reduce the diving plans. The committee also took the decision that the club needed liability insurance, and after a lot of investigation elected to use DAN. This has this now been put in place at a cost of £322.00 per year.

At last year's AGM you asked to spend more on diving, and less on social events. This has been achieved and only £20 was used for social subsidy. All events that were planned were to be self-funding, and only the paintballing failed in this respect.

You also asked last year for more dive weekends, and these too have been delivered using both Rib's and the hardboat Miss Pattie. Only member's costs directly associated with the weekends were paid for.

Next year's costs for the pool and the room will increase, as will fuel etc for the boats. If we do not get a large increase in members, which is always desirable but very difficult achieve, we need to increase our membership fees, or reduce the diving. Since promoting diving is the main purpose of the club, the latter is not really an option.

To raise extra money, we have now obtained a cash and carry card to reduce our bar costs, and therefore increase profits. Tony has also started a raffle to raise some more money for the club coffers. The committee has also decided to stop the practise of giving an "early payment discount" for membership fees and will no longer reduce membership fees for introducing new members. Both of these action cost the club about £150 in lost revenue last year.

There has been no increase to the subscriptions for several years, but now the time has come to bite the unpopular bullet and propose an increase. The insurance will cost approximately £10 per head, and there is the rising cost of the pool and room to consider. The committee therefore proposes increasing the full membership fee to £80 per year (still the cheapest and most active club in the area), but to leave Junior and Social membership unchanged.

It was proposed by Mike Scott and seconded by Malcolm Cole that the accounts be accepted as correct. Terry then asked if the increase in fees could be put to the vote, this was proposed by Mike Scott and seconded by Dave Hall.

The motion for the increase was put to the members present and carried unanimously.

Questions for the Treasurer:

Malcolm Cole asked why some items on the copies of the accounts circulated around the room were highlighted in yellow. Terry informed the members this was transfers from Deposit account to Current account.

The resignations of 03/04 Committee was announced by Mike Scott.

Graham Whiter had informed the secretary prior to the AGM that on standing down as chairman he would stand for re-election if no-one else wanted the post. He had suggested that a post of deputy chairman could be established. This would help the elected chair during the coming year as members do hold down full time jobs and the role of chair can be time consuming.

Terry Walters would be standing down as treasurer and had informed committee he would not be standing for re-election The other members of the committee on standing down had all informed the committee they would stand for re-election. The members were informed that posts of Deputy Chair, Membership Secretary, and Social Organiser were to be made.

Programme of Committee Meetings:

It was agreed meetings would continue to be held on the second Tuesday of every month at the Check Inn Wroughton, and would start at 20.00 hours.

Other Items:

It was stated that Graham Whiter had made some small amendments to the Club Rules and updated the Constitution. A copy of these where passed around the members for appraisal.

They were accepted except for paragraph 9 in the constitution, which the members asked to be looked at more thoroughly at the next committee meeting.

It was agreed that the address for correspondence and to be used on the new membership cards will now be Mark Hortons. The Wroughton and Wootton Bassett carnivals and fetes should again be looked at by the club, to promote interest in or club and sport. This again to be discussed at the next committee meeting

The meeting closed at 8.45.

Photos for cards were then taken by Steve Cain. If you were not there you need to send a digital photo to Steve with your membership application, or contact Steve to have the picture taken. REMEMBER - the Liability Release should accompany your application.

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