Carlisle and District Rambling and Fellwalking Club Annual General Meeting
Friday 26 January 2024
Minutes of the Meeting
48 club members attended
Apologies received from Cath and Tony Fenton, Barbara Bell, Liz Sargasin,
Rodney Mostyn, Chris Fortune, Sandra Stockley
A minute’s silence was observed for club members who had passed away during the past 12 months: Pat Nottman; Dereck Huntington and ……
All were long standing members of the club
Chairman’s Welcome:
John Mackay welcomed everyone to the meeting. He introduced himself and the committee members and observed there were a number of new faces in the audience. He thanked all of the walk leaders for continuing to lead the Sunday and Wednesday walks. He also noted that the Clubs social evenings continued to be popular and well attended and that overall it felt like the club was in a good position. Financially there was a small surplus for the year and membership had increased.
He thanked the committee for their hard work during the past 12 months. He also asked for volunteers from the club members to join the Committee not to fulfil any specific function but to make sure the committee was reflecting the wishes of the members
He also said that as he was standing down form the position as chairman there would be a ballot of members at the end of the meeting to select a new chair and that there were two nominations. Pete Rutland and Stephen Parker
Minutes of 2023 AGM
Minutes were approved by general consensus without a formal vote being carried out.
Reports from the Committee Officers:
Treasurer
Christine Milton presented the club accounts and thanked Roger Tringham for auditing them. Overall the club again made a small surplus. The coach walks had lost money but not as much as in the previous year. Overall the club’s finances remain sound with a healthy reserve.
The accounts were accepted.
Membership Secretary
Stephen Parker reported to the meeting that there had been an overall increase in numbers with 26 new members including seven in the last month. he felt this was a positive sign and hoped that it would continue.
He reminded everyone that the deadline for renewal was March 31st and that if paying by BACS they should also let him know by email when they had paid. Members who did not pay before this date would have to rejoin and pay the additional £5 joining fee.
Walk Secretary.
Ian Rowley thanked all the walk leaders who had volunteered walks. Whilst t it was the case that there was a small pool of regular leaders it would be good to have some new blood. He thanked those club members who had led walks for the first time and hoped it would encourage others to come forward. He said that the coach walks for all of 2024 had been planned and would n be available for members to look at on the website. In particular there will be an annual coach ramble to Malham as well as a coach to Melrose. The committee had also decided to put on a Wednesday coach walk as a one-off experiment in the summer and if successful this could be repeated.
Comment form the floor. Member Joyce Beatty fed back that the Tuesday walks group regularly attracted 15 attendees and was as also a valuable social connection for members who found that even the shorter walks on the Sunday and Wednesday programmes were too much.
She asked if this could be reflected on the website. John Mackay said he was happy to put walk reports and photos if they were sent to him. He also thanked Peter Flynn for continuing to lead the Tuesday walks.
Safety officer
Pete Rutland fedback that there had been no serious incidents to report.
He also said that recently there had been a couple of walks with 20 plus in the group.
Whilst this was largely down to only having one walk available it again raised the issue of trying to keep the group together safely.
Walk groups of this size are not ideal and do pose greater risk. He also fedback the difficulties experienced in parking cars. Both problems would be greatly relieved if there were more walk leads guaranteeing at least two car walks every Sunday.
Webmaster Report
John Mackay reported that as well as standing down as chair he would also be handing over the managing of the website. He planned to train up one or two volunteers who would then be able to take over the task.
Donations and Subscriptions
The committee had discussed in some detail the current membership fees which have not increased for a number of years. There had been some feedback from members that the fees were perhaps too low but as the financial report indicated the club was not losing money. Increasing the fees might be used to support more coach walks, perhaps subsidise the Christmas lunches or cater the Christmas party.
He asked for feedback from the floor. There were no comments in favour of increasing the fees.
It was agreed to keep membership fees at the same level.
It was proposed we continue to make donations to the Air Ambulance, Mountain Rescue and Fix the Fells. Each organization would receive £150. it was noted that in addition to the official contributions, money had again been raised by club members through various raffles and events including the Christmas Cake raffle organized by Judith Mingins, the Wednesday Soup walk and Xmas tea at High Rigg as well as the 2024 Calendar so that in total the club has donated over £1000 to local good causes.
Election for positions on the committee
There were no nominations for any of the other Committee posts with the exception of the chair and the current incumbents were happy to continue. A nomination from Sharron Murray to join the committee was accepted.
It was noted that there was still a vacancy for a Social Secret
Any Other Business
Ken Halliday asked if the Walk Grades could be reverted back to ABC as he felt the number system was confusing. John Mackay replled that the committee had discussed this and were not against the idea they also were looking at the wording of the grade descriptions and would be revising them shortly
Ann Cameron Macintosh raised her concern about the grading of walks in particular the pace of A walks which she felt were not always quick enough for some walkers and contributed to the difficulties in groups getting split up. She believed that the A walk grading suggested these walks should be taken at a faster pace. She also felt this contributed to less challenging A walks being put on and that this would put off new club members from returning.
Pete Rutland responded that he was aware of this issue and that to some extent the shortage of walk leaders meant that walks had to accommodate a wider range of abilities but that it was the job of the leader to set the pace appropriate to the ability of the group. Getting ahead of the leader, he felt, was disrespectful and a safety issue.
Ann Cameron Macintosh suggested that it might be possible to divide A walks with two leaders to allow the group to walk at different speeds
John Mackey said the club rules clearly stated that all walks have to have regards for the pace of the slowest in the group. Pete Rutland also felt this was not a practical suggestion and might be a major safety issue. He wasn’t aware of anyone being put off doing walks because they weren’t tough enough.
John Mackay said the committee had discussed this and were in agreement.
There was support for the committee’s view from members including Barbara Bainbridge and Carol Telford who both felt the suggestion was potentially divisive and not in the spirit of the club.
Start Times of walks
It was suggested that an earlier start time might be helpful and encourage longer or harder walks
JM replied whilst this wasn’t practical for coach walks it was an option open for walk leaders to suggest an earlier start if they felt it was appropriate.
Election of Chair. Both the candidates were invited to speak to the meeting about their nomination for the post of chair.
Meeting Adjourned for refreshments and election ballot for the post of chair
Result of the Ballot
Pete Rutland was elected by a majority of the votes cast
John Mackay was presented with a Lifetime Membershjp Certificate in recognition of his long-term dedication and commitment to the club.
The new chair thanked everyone for attending
Meeting Closed
AGM Minutes
Carlisle & District Rambling Club
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