AGM 28th Apr 2018

There was a wonderful, positive and enthusiastic air about the whole proceedings, much remarked on by those present. It was more a gathering of friends than a formal AGM. Thank you to everyone who attended and contributed. You make this Club the success it is today.

As previewed in the last issue of the Magazine, three Committee Members have retired – James Fack, David Booth and Cecil Schumacher – and three new ones have now started – Guy Gregory, Simon Scott and David Kenworthy. Michael Marshall also retired as a Director of the Club and we are grateful to all the retiring officials for their contributions to the Club.

Committee Chairman, Martin Bryant, despatched the business efficiently: the minutes of last year’s meeting were approved without opposition, as was the annual report.

For the first time in a while, Treasurer Viv Fishwick reported a small loss for the year due to the substantial investment the Club has made on behalf of Members. This included completion of the Club website, expenditure on the Regent Street Motor Show, higher Magazine costs due to increased Membership numbers and more pages, a ‘thank you’ gift for David Booth and a new Club laptop. This last point is to enable me to hand over to a new Editor should one be required – for whatever reason! Annual running costs are well covered, so finances are sound and there will be no increase in Membership subs. And on the subject of Membership, Viv noted a healthy increase from 249 to 270 full Members, 41 of whom are overseas, plus 111 spouse Members.

The Club’s IT systems continue to develop and the next area to receive attention will be the Forum, where Guy Gregory will take the lead in its redesign. Guy also urged Members, however technically literate, to add details of themselves and their cars onto the database – it’s really very straightforward!

Martin Bryant reviewed the full selection of Club events through the year, almost one per month, providing a terrific choice, and Ian Potts explained the spares provision currently on offer by the Club.

Archive activity has slowed somewhat; perhaps James Fack has now bought almost everything ‘Talbot’ in existence!

Data protection is a hot topic nationally and I explained how the Club will comply with the new EU General Data Protection Requirements. For those with a burning interest in the subject, there is a full explanation on the website, along with the full minutes of the meeting.

The après-AGM discussion centred around spares provision with many Members contributing useful advice and information. This is clearly an area where Members wish the Club to be more active. Martin Bryant also outlined his plans for events in 2019 and 2020 – which are exciting – and the subject of technical advice videos on the Club website was aired with a call for volunteers to contact myself or Glyn Lloyd.

David Roxburgh