AGM 2018 Report

Annual General Meetings are not renowned for being particularly entertaining, so perhaps it’s not surprising that attendances in recent years have dwindled. The holy grail is a meeting which is well attended but costs little or preferably nothing at all to hold, and this year’s AGM did reasonably well on both fronts, with the room being made available free of charge and 17 members attending.

This year’s AGM was held at the MINI plant at Cowley, and incorporated into the Drive It Day event organised there by Tanya Field. The weather was unseasonably warm and a good number of cars made the trip and parked up together in the sunshine, while their drivers enjoyed a slice of cake baked to celebrate British Leyland’s 50th anniversary.

The meeting began at 2 o’clock and heard reports from the outgoing chairman (see Chairman’s Chat) and all committee members. The meeting heard that the club was doing well in all respects, with a packed calendar of events, a thriving spares service, a regular schedule of Quartics and a healthy bank balance.

Richard Howe stood down as a director, and was replaced by Graham Toye and John Windwood. The committee then reshuffled their roles between them, following the customary appeal for fresh blood, with the eventual result as follows:

Chairman: Colin Corke

Vice Chair & Regalia: Paul Atkinson

Treasurer & Membership Secretary: Peter Simmonds

Quartic Editor: Jenny Thurston

Committee Secretary & Publicity: John Windwood

Spares Secretary: Graham Toye

Events Secretary: Tom Morley

Finally the Directors’ Award was presented to Graham Toye, in recognition of his extraordinary contribution to the club since coming on board. The award is not normally presented to a serving committee member, but on this occasion an exception was made as it was felt that Graham’s efforts had gone above and beyond what could be expected. As well as finding a new spares unit, relocating an enormous amount of stock from Hastings to Hereford largely single-handedly (buying a van especially for the purpose), and running an excellent spares service, Graham has driven all the way to Belgium to buy spares, designed and had manufactured a new range of branded tape measures, supplied a lengthy contribution to Quartic every three months, and even turned up at the Restoration Show in March with a scrap shell which he had cut into two halves and mounted on a frame for display on the club stand.

The meeting closed with thanks to all who had made the effort to attend, and members disbanded to enjoy the afternoon sunshine.