2007 AGM Minutes
LONG DISTANCE WALKERS ASSOCIATION
LTD
MINUTES of the 8th ANNUAL GENERAL
MEETING of LDWA Ltd
held at 10am on Sunday 11th March 2007
at the Mansion Lions Hotel, Grand Parade, Eastbourne, East Sussex
PRESENT
90 members whose names are recorded in the Attendance
Register and are listed, in alphabetical order, at the end of these Minutes.
Notice of Meeting
The formal notice convening the meeting was read by
the General Secretary.
1. Apologies
for absence
Apologies for absence were received from David Allen,
Isobel Falconer, Tony Rowley, Garfield Southall, Avril Stapleton and Susan
Wilkinson.
2. Minutes
of the 7th Annual General Meeting of LDWA Ltd held on 5th March 2006.
The Minutes of the meeting were contained in the AGM
booklet which had been supplied to those attending the AGM.
Graham Hemsley was concerned that according to the
accounts the cost of the Outdoors Show was 3,489.00 which was far in excess of
the 2,000 stated. Tom Sinclair confirmed that the cost of 2,000 was correct.
Janet Chapman said her apologies for absence had been
missed off. No written notification had been received.
It was proposed by Les Maple, seconded by Tom
Sinclair that the minutes be accepted as a true record and this was AGREED.
Post meeting note: John Sparshatt confirmed that
an error had been made by the accountants in wrongly assigning some costs to
the Outdoors Show and this had been explained to Graham Hemsley.
3. Matters
arising
Janet Chapman questioned the statement that groups
should be “pushed into have a website” but Tony Willey said he thought it was
justified.
She also pointed out that the increase in
subscriptions prior to 2005 was self-funding.
4. Accounts
The accounts for the period ended 30th September 2006
and the reports of the Directors and Auditors had been supplied to those attending
the AGM. The full Directors’ Report and Accounts and the Report of the Auditors
were incorporated in the AGM booklet.
John Sparshatt reported that the investments had been
sold, those in Aberdeen Asset Management having been written off, and the
proceeds were now in cash on the money market. There were no questions and it
was proposed by Tom Sinclair, seconded by Geoff Smith, and RESOLVED that the accounts be received and the reports of the
Directors and Auditors adopted.
5. Auditors
John Sparshatt reported that he had a verbal
indication from R. F. Miller & Co that in accordance with the Financial
Reporting Standard for Smaller Entities (effective January 2005) we would not
need a full audit which would reduce expenditure. This would be discussed in
committee to check if the Constitution needed a slight amendment. Sir John
Johnson felt that it would be all right.
It was proposed by Geoff Saunders, seconded by
Barbara Blatchford and RESOLVED
that R. F. Miller, Chartered Accountants and Registered Auditors, Bellevue,
Princes Street, Ulverston, Cumbria LA12 7NB, be appointed Auditors for the year
ending 30th September 2007 and that the Executive Committee be authorised to
fix the remuneration of the Auditors.
6. Annual
Reports
The reports listed below had been supplied to those
attending the meeting. Tony Willey, from the Chair, proposed and it was AGREED that the reports be taken as read and that each of
the committee members should introduce their reports in turn followed by
questions, if any, on each report.
6a) Chair
− Tony Willey
Tony had nothing to add to his report and there were
no questions.
6b) General
Secretary − Edith Moran
Graham Hemsley said that the report suggested numbers
for the AGM were disappointing but from his observation there was an average
attendance, the format was good and he would not like to see it changed.
6c) Membership
Secretary − Peter Haslam
Peter reported that 1000 reminders had been sent out
at the end of February at which time renewals had reduced to five per day. The
cost of this was 300 but was felt to be cost effective as only 20 renewals
were needed to recoup this amount. He was now receiving 20/30 renewals per day
and there were 11 in the post when he left on Friday. Current membership was
5215 fully paid up with 100 direct debits to be actioned in March. 2,545 paid
by direct debit, 601 by credit/debit card and 2,069 paid by cheque.
A speaker from the floor had expected her direct
debit to go out on 1st January but was happy now she knew that it was the
middle of the month. Should there be a penalty for late payers. Peter said he
thought about it privately. Catharine Gregory asked about the comparative cost
of the various methods of payment and should there be a discount for the
cheaper method. It cost 40p for a cheque, direct debit cost double that.
John Lay said that membership seemed to be static,
gaining 1,000 and losing 1,000 including natural wastage. It was easy to join
but more difficult to renew and we needed to make this easier.
Tony Willey said that the membership figure in
Geoff’s 2005 statistics of 6,384 was incorrect, 6,000 was about the correct
number. We had 250 new members so far this year and he expressed his thanks to
Peter for answering the call. Applications were processed straight away and he
had done a tremendous job. Thanks also to Reg Chapman for his help with the
direct debit. We were not there yet but things were improving.
6d) Policy
Sub Committee
The Policy Sub Committee had not met this year. Tony
said inherited problems needed solving and hopefully these had been sorted out
and we could now take the Association forward.
6e) Editor
− Julie Welch
Julie expressed her thanks to Les Maple for all his
contributions to Strider and to Geoff Saunders, who amongst other things did
such a good job of proof reading Events and Social Walks. It had been a very interesting
and entertaining five years and she was confident the person taking over from
her was going to be a most marvellous editor.
6f) Local
Groups – Paul Hatcher
Keith Chesterton said that most walk leaders willingly
took responsibility for risks on walks and as far as dogs were concerned, it
was up to the leader to tell the owner if their dog was misbehaving and if
necessary ask them to leave the walk.
Paul said that he was in the process of preparing a
basic web page, using the LDWA template, for all those groups who did not
currently have a website and then anyone within the group could take over. His
main concern was that if the only information for prospective new members was
“see Strider for details”, this was no help and there should at least be
contact details. He received about two queries a month asking who was their
local group.
Janet Chapman said new members should receive labels
with their name, number and local group and the group would get an automatic
e-mail. Paul said this would only happen if the e-mail was known, and groups
would be contacted to ask for this. If the Group Secretary did not want their
details to be available they were not really doing their job.
Group Programmes Co-ordinator for Strider.
Eva had presented a report and had nothing to add. John
Lay praised the job Eva was doing, she got on with her job efficiently and was
the best we had had.
6g) Internet
– Tony Willey
There was a huge potential for development. At a
recent Internet Sub Committee meeting 26 items were highlighted for future
action. We had a very good framework with a classically written piece of work
and future development could be done relatively cheaply. There was frustration
that it was slower than we would want but we were excited about the future.
6h) Events
Pat Ryan made a plea for information to be sent in
time. We were to have a new Events Secretary and it was hard enough at first
without the added burden of being at the last minute with copy. Pat was thanked
for his work on the committee.
6i) 100s Sub
Committee – Paul Hatcher
Paul Lawrence gave a brief outline of a proposal for
a 2012 hundred. Colin Saunders was in contact with the Olympic Delivery
Authority but it was very sensitive from the press angle and it was better to
keep under wraps at the moment. Graham Hemsley congratulated those responsible
for their initiative and hoped costs would not escalate as those for the
Olympics were doing.
John Stewart reported on a meeting he had with the
leader of Perth and Kinross Council when he submitted a proposal with a view to
getting funding for the 2010 Scottish 100. He was quite optimistic of the
outcome as there was a lot of local support, bed and breakfast proprietors
would be very welcoming. He thanked Garfield Southall for the presentations and
Helen Terry who took notes. Aberfeldy would be the starting point, and he said
if it was considered a long way, at least you would not have to go round the
M25 to get there.
Paul Hatcher said we had 100s through to 2009, the
proposed 2010 Scottish 100 and the potential exciting 2012.
6j) Environment
– John Stewart
John said we needed some cold winters to kill off
pests. The Asian hornet was advancing 10 miles a year and whilst not life
threatening it could give a nasty bite. He repeated his warning not to pick up
dead birds and was pessimistic about foot and mouth disease – DEFRA were
not doing anything and it would come back. He also invited the members to take
a look at the Wolves Trust website.
The committee were going to look at where we should
be putting our money and he would like to hear views from the floor in the
general forum.
Graham Hemsley said that although we were not a
campaigning organisation we had never shirked from joining in. Keith Chesterton
said there was plenty of precedent; in the past we had given money to various
organisations and this should be resuscitated. He wondered if global warming
was causing midges to come down from Scotland.
Susanne Waldschmidt said she would like to see more
effort being made to use public transport for events and walks. Tony Willey
said he had come down by train but because he could not get back today was
having to stay an extra night, so it was not easy. This would be further
discussed in Open Forum.
6k) LDPs
– Paul Lawrence
Paul said Adrian Rayner was now editing the LDPs
article and his first column would appear in April Strider. It was to be put on
the website but details would still appear in Strider.
The LDPs site on the web was now live with
approximately 200 routes detailed and a further 100 ready to add. It was
probably the most sophisticated site in the UK with links to buy OS maps
online, books etc. all of which would earn LDWA commission. In comparison Ramblers had a total of
200 routes. The database now had 1000 routes compared to 140 in the first
handbook when Barbara was involved. There were route descriptions on line as
well as GPS track files and digital mapping. Paul invited members to try it and
promote it within the groups. He expressed his thanks to Les Maple, without
whose help it would not have been possible.
Ken Falconer said he had spent an hour on the site
and could have spent weeks. He congratulated Paul on the extraordinary amount
of work he had done – it was something we could be proud of.
6l) Merchandise
– Tim Glenn
Tim said the merchandise stock was old and tired but
new items would be added shortly. He had been doing the job for 10 years and it
would be changing in the near future. There were some good and cheap offers
available and he invited everyone to visit him in room 109.
6m) Publicity
– Norman Corrin
Norman had nothing to add to his report.
Peter Haslam said new membership forms were available
and there were 12 display stands available to first comers.
Norman was leaving the committee as he had found it
difficult to combine the dual role of Publicity Officer and Group Secretary for
BB&N, but would continue with discounts both in Strider and on the web. It
was proposed to co-opt Catharine Gregory to the committee, which was allowed under
the constitution, and Tony said that having talked with her she had lots of new
ideas.
7. Election
of Officers
At this point Sir John Johnson took the chair. A
nomination for Chair, Tony Willey proposed by Avril Stapleton, seconded by
Dennis Allport, had been received. There being no other nominations Sir John
declared that Tony had been duly appointed Chair of the Executive Committee and
of LDWA Ltd.
Single nominations had been received for the
positions of General Secretary, Treasurer, Editor and Membership Secretary and
seven nominations had been received for the other seven Executive Committee
positions by the due date. It was suggested from the Chair and AGREED that the nominations be taken en bloc. Accordingly
the following persons were declared to have been appointed to the positions
shown and consequently as Directors of LDWA Ltd.:
General Secretary Edith
Moran, proposed by Albert Bowes, seconded by Gerry Parson
Treasurer John
Sparshatt, proposed by Carole Engel, seconded by Alan Greenwood
Membership Secretary Peter Haslam,
proposed by Ian Hamilton, second by Bernard Hushon
Editor Ken
Falconer, proposed by Julie Welch, seconded by Tom Sinclair
Executive Committee Members
Eva Bowes Proposed by David
Wain, seconded by Carol Stather
Fiona Cameron Proposed by Edith
Moran, seconded by Tony Cartwright
Reg Chapman Proposed
by A. G. Cartwright, seconded by B. K. Chesterton
Tim Glenn Proposed
by Andrew West, seconded by Nigel Dean
Paul Hatcher Proposed
by M. E. Brissenden, seconded by V. J. L. Brissenden
Paul Lawrence Proposed
by Jerome Ripp, seconded by Christopher Dent
John Stewart Proposed
by Michael Rayner, seconded by Eva Bowes
8. Special
Resolution – Amendment to Articles 6.1 and 6.3
The proposed amendments to be made were set down in
the AGM booklet, the reason being that we needed the certainty that we would
have someone who had the skills for the job of Internet Officer.
Ken Falconer said he would like some clarification of
the job. Internet Officer was too fuzzy, perhaps Web Editor would be better,
and how would this relate to other activities. He felt it important that the
committee decide on a precise remit. In reply Tony Willey said this was a
developing subject, there was an internet sub committee meeting in mid April
when responsibilities would be clarified taking into consideration the skills
that Reg had. Ken said it was important that the individual should fit the
role, not the role fit the individual. Webmaster was suggested as a title but
Tony said he had a personal dislike of the term. Reg Chapman said the role
should not be too narrow, but more general.
Geoff Saunders was concerned about the balance on the
committee. It could have an effect and he was nervous about it − care
should be taken. If necessary increase the numbers on the committee.
There was a suggestion to defer until we had a job
description but this was opposed on the grounds that nothing would get done,
let’s get on with it. The Amendment was carried with one vote against.
9. Subscriptions
There would be no change in subscriptions for the
year 2008.
The Chairman declared the
formal business of the meeting closed at 11.16am
10. Open Forum and Discussion
10.1 Guidelines
for Leaders
Colin Saunders of London Group said they had formulated
a policy for leaders of walks and suggested the committee take this on board.
Ann Sayer had read this and thought it useful and sensible and was amazed it
had not been devised before. Ken Falconer thought it was a good point if we
were able to demonstrate we had a policy.
Paul Hatcher said it could be forwarded to all Group
Secretaries. They would have to be adapted for other groups as what applied to
walking in London was not necessarily relevant to most other areas. Subject to
approval from Colin Saunders it could be put on the website along with other
useful information such as the Constitution, and Guidelines for Events.
10.2 Risk
Assessment
Hazel Bound of Devon and Cornwall Group asked if a
standard risk assessment was proposed. Paul Hatcher said this was in hand, he
had asked all groups to send in the risk assessment they used and we would
formulate a standard one which could be adapted by groups to fit their
different circumstances. It would be added to Guidelines for Events. There was
general dismay at the form filling necessary but it was thought the mere action
of writing a risk assessment concentrated the mind. Under the terms of our
Insurance Policy it was necessary and John Sparshatt said he had been asked for
a risk assessment by the school he was using for the Yoredale 100. In general,
common sense should prevail, events had always been planned with safety in
mind.
10.3 AGM
Weekend
Vivian Lee of East Lancs Group said Geoff Saunders
had done a marvellous job and she meant no criticism but was worried that he
was pre-occupied by keeping down the cost. She felt if we paid more, there
would be more choice of venues.
Geoff said he accepted what she said but would
probably take no notice.
10.4 Public
Transport
Susanne Waldschmidt of London Group would like to see
more information about the availability of public transport in the events programme.
Julie Welch said this had been discussed but it was extra work for the Events
Secretary and it was felt this information could be obtained other than in
Strider.
There was much discussion about this but it was felt
that in practice very few events could be accessed by public transport. Those
living in London had easy access to many forms of public transport, but in the
countryside there were very few trains and buses, and certainly not at the time
required. It was generally felt that maps gave information about whether there
was a nearby railway station, and it was up to individuals to find out the
information for themselves.
It was felt that this kind of information, if given,
could be put on the website as room was limited in Strider but Reg Chapman said
we should not disenfranchise non-web users, if it was not in Strider, it should
not be put on the web. Tony Willey said the world had moved on, nothing would
be taken away from Strider but we should make use of the web.
Only 1 in 3 members access the web, but in the case
of new members this rises to 2 in 3. Ken Falconer said one just had to look in
the nearest newsagent at the increase in magazines on offer so see we were a
long way off a paperless society.
As the incoming Editor, Ken said he would be using
the blue pencil if there was anything of excessive length, but Susanne made a
plea to think about public transport.
10.5 LDP
News
Les Maple thanked everyone for the contributions sent
in, without them there would be no LDP News. He thanked Paul Lawrence and Julie
for their support and asked for similar support for his successor Adrian
Rayner. He would still be involved with book reviews and the LDPs library and
now he had some time to spare he was to be Chiltern Way Officer for the
Chilterns Society.
10.6 Local
Groups Template
Paul Hatcher said he had omitted to thank Ron Brown
who had agreed to help get the group templates off the ground and he was
grateful for Ron’s perseverance with this. Tony Deall had been a pioneer in
using the group template. We would look into a download button for event forms.
10.7 Finances
Tony Willey said that much of last year had
concentrated on the finances of the organisation and he did not wish to imply
any criticism of the previous committee. He had been fortunate that a lot of
the work had been done to set changes in motion and last year had been
concerned with implementing those changes.
11. President’s
Address
Sir John reported on the position with the two new
National Parks. New Forest had been designated but there had been objections to
the boundary on the grounds that some of it was not an area of natural
outstanding beauty. The proposed South Downs National Park would largely
consist of Sussex Downs AONB and East Hampshire AONB and consultations were
still going on.
LDPs were a large element of what we do and the
Cotswold Way National Trail was opening shortly, some ten years after the
initial proposal.
We now had Natural England which took the place of three
previous agencies, the smallest of which was the Countryside Agency which had
been responsible for Access. We now had to compete with statutory nature
reserves and rural payments and needed to keep a link with Natural England
which was not as focussed. It would take one or two years and we needed to let
them know we were here. He was glad we had been represented at Outdoors Show in
Birmingham.
In conclusion he thanked the walk leaders for
yesterday’s walks.
Before the meeting closed Tony said he had made a
serious omission in not thanking Julie for all her work on Strider. He
remembered when the committee spent most of their time agonising over when
Strider would arrive but Julie had ensured that Strider appeared like
clockwork. The standard was excellent and he gave Julie his personal thanks as
well as those of all members. Strider is the LDWA and Julie had upheld that
very well.
Hazel Bound wished to thank all members of the
committee for all they were doing.
The meeting closed at 12pm.
The following members signed the Attendance
Register:-
Chris Baines-Holmes Peter Bearne Mark Beaumont Trevor Beeston Ernie Bishop
Barbara Blatchford Hazel Bound Terry Bound Albert Bowes Eva Bowes
Hilary Brown Ron Brown Brian Buttifant Fiona Cameron Dave Challenger
Janet Chapman Reg Chapman Keith Chesterton Bryan Clarke Linda Connor
Norman Corrin Carol Coyne Tim Dawe Tony Deall Derek Ellis
Abigail Elrick John Elrick Pat Endacott Ken Falconer Laurence Foe
Ann Freeman Tim Glenn Catharine Gregory Peter Haslam Mary Hatcher
Paul Hatcher Graham Hemsley Madeleine Hemsley Jean Howroyd Katie Hunt
Malcolm Hunt Phyl Jackson John Johnson Elizabeth Keeler Reg Kingston
Paul Lawrence John Lay Vivien Lee Melvyn Long Kathy Loraso
Les Maple Janet Maughan Bob Mills Joy Mills Edith Moran
Val Mowlam Godfrey O’Callaghan Brian Pitts John Purnell Adrian Rayner
Renate Romer Gordon Rushton Sandra Rushton Ivan Rutter Brenda Ryan
Pat Ryan Marita Sanders Colin Saunders Geoff Saunders Ann Sayer
Chris Seddon Betty Sherry Tom Sinclair Geoff Smith Leslie Smith
John Sparshatt John M Stewart John F Stuart Norman Thomas Lonica Vanclay
Susanne Waldschmidt Margaret Waller Robert Waller Diana Warland Ray Watson
Wendy Watson Julie Welch Rob Wilkinson Tony Willey Anne Wood