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Minutes of the Annual General Meeting at Witton Albion Social Club on Wednesday 18th January 2006. Present :- The Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer, 6 Management Committee Members, 2 Trustees, 2 Life Members, 28 Senior Members & Miss. J. Whalley of H. Worth & Co. THE CHAIRMAN’S INTRODUCTION The Chairman opened the Meeting at 7.40pm by welcoming all present and asked that before the Business of the Meeting commenced all present stand to remember Members who had passed away in the last 12 months and he mentioned 2 Members in particular who were well known, John Finlay & Charlie Brannon. The Chairman introduced Miss Julie Whalley. Howard Worth ( Auditors Roy Garton, Secretary Hugh Arathoon, Treasures and himself Russ Moores, Chairman. He thanked Members who have turned out tonight at least you have shown some interest in your club. He also thanked those who have contributed in one way or another throughout the year, Bailiffs, working parties, those who assisted at the junior festival. He said 2005 has again been and very successful year for NAA. But it has meant a lot of very hard work done by committee members. We have had some one off financial benefits and we have also taken BWB to task over rent valuations and won our case. The Treasurer will give more detail later but it has taken over twelve months to achieve our goal. I would like to also register a vote of thanks to the management committee for the enormous amount of effort they have put in throughout 2005. I will be giving a detailed report on what we have been doing during 2005 at the end of the formal business. There is some time allocated to questions and answers. If we get through the formal business in time. APOLOGIES. Mr. R. Terrace and Mr. P. J. Moore MINUTES OF THE 2005 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING. The Minutes were passed as a true and correct record. Proposed by J. Simpson and Seconded by T. Kettle MATTERS ARISING None TREASURERS REPORT The Treasurer, Mr. H. M. Arathoon gave details of this years accounts. Income had increased by £9238 compared to 2004 however Subscription Income had dropped by £4743 and this was particularly disappointing. (equivalent to the loss of 125 Senior Members) and possibly attributable to the Carp Deaths in May and June 2005 and the closure of some of our waters to prevent the possible spread of disease. Income over over Expenditure in the last financial year was down £576 at £29019 however the Treasurer went on to describe some of the reasons which included a one off payment from BWB of £15000 for our 3 Year Plan. The Chairman asked if there were any questions to the Treasurer or the Auditor from the Floor. No questions were forthcoming and the Chairman asked that a Proposal be made to accept the Treasurer ‘s report This was Moved by Mr. M. Fox and Seconded by Mr. R. Meggs. All were in Favour. HONORARIA FOR 2005 The Management Committee recommends that the Honoraria for the Club Officers and Officials be increased in 2005 by the rate of Inflation (2.5%) to the following amounts; PROPOSED FOR 2005 PAID IN 2004
The Chairman stated that these increases were in accordance with the Rule Book. ELECTION OF OFFICERS The following were nominated for election as Officers of the Association
On being put to the vote the above Officers were duly nominated and it was Proposed by J. Simpson and seconded by T. Fallows that they were elected en bloc. On a show of Cards a clear majority of Members were in favour and there were no abstentions or votes against ELECTION OF OFFICIALS The Chairman pointed out that 2 official positions were still vacant, Assistant Secretary & Maintenance Manager and a new official position of Communications Manager had been created
On being put to the vote the above Officers were duly nominated and it was Proposed by R. Meggs and seconded by S. Brown that they were elected en bloc. On a show of Cards a clear majority of Members were in favour and there were no abstentions or votes against ELECTION OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS The following have been nominated for election to the Management Committee for a period of 2 years Mr. P. J. Moore The following Members of the Association having been co-opted on to the Management Committee of the Association during 2005 require confirming as Members of the Management Committee for a 2 year period Mr. M. Fox & Mr. S. Harrison. On being put to the vote the above Committee Members were duly nominated and on a show of Cards a clear majority of Members were in favour and there were no abstentions or votes against
AMENDMENTS TO CONSTITUTION. The Management Committee have recommended the following amendments to the Constitution italics) 3. EXECUTIVE COUNCIL. The affairs of the Association shall be conducted by an Executive Council (hereinafter called the "Council") which shall consist of a President, Chairman, Secretary, Match Secretary, Treasurer (herein after called Officers of the Association) to be elected pursuant to Rule 9 infra, and not more than twelve other persons elected to the Council pursuant to Rule 10 infra.To ensure some continuity, six of the twelve council members shall retire each year, after two years in office, and shall be subject to reelection. 7. NOTICE OF MEETINGS. The Secretary of the Association shall give fourteen days notice before any General Meetings and publish a notice to be inserted in the Local Press, On the Association Website and in Headquarters stating the time and place of such meeting and the business to be conducted. 8. BUSINESS AT ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING. At the Annual General Meeting the following business shall be conducted:a) The presentation (and if accepted) the passing of the accounts for the previous year ending the 31st October prior to the Annual General Meeting which accounts shall have first been audited by the Association's auditors. 11. POWERS OF THE COUNCIL. The Council shall have the following powers and duties:a) generally to administer the day to day matters of the Association and to take all proper and reasonable steps to ensure the efficient like conduct of its affairs and in particular. b) to appoint Trustees pursuant to Rule 16 infra; c) to co-opt members to fill casual vacancies on the Council or the Officers; d) to purchase land, buildings and borrow money's upon such security or otherwise as appears reasonable and to execute such deeds or instruments are incidental hereto; e) to apply all profits accruing from the Association's activities for the general benefit of the Association; f) by its Officers to keep accurate records of its transactions including the keeping of minutes of all meetings and of the receipt and expenditure of all monies;g) and generally to promote the interest and objects of the Association. h) to bring and defend proceedings in the Courts in respect of any matters affecting the rights, obligations and liabilities of the Association in circumstances where the Council reasonably believe such proceedings are in the best interests of the Association, such proceedings to be conducted either in the names of the members of the Council for the time being or in the names of such persons who shall have been appointed Trustees pursuant to Article 16 of the constitution for the time being in each case such proceedings to be a Representative Action pursuant to Order 15 Rule 12 Rules Of The Supreme Court the Council or the Trustees as the case may be to be indemnified in respect of the costs of any such proceedings out of the assets of the Association. 12. FINANCIAL YEAR. The Financial year of the Association shall be 1st day of November to the 31st day of October in the following year. 16. TRUSTEES. The Council shall appoint not more than four persons being either officers or members of the Association to act as Trustees. The Council shall have the power for any reason to remove a Trustee from office. The Council shall appoint members of the Association to fill any vacancies existing due to death, retirement or removal of the Trustees or any of them. The Trustees shall hold any real or personal estate of the Association (other than cash which shall be held by the Treasurer) in their names on behalf of the Association and shall deal with such real or personal estate by way of sale, mortgage or otherwise as the Association from time to time determine, the Trustees shall have the power upon authorisation in that respect by the Council, to bring and defend any such proceedings as the Council shall have authorised pursuant to its powers in that behalf in sub-clause (h) of Article 11 of the constitution and the Trustees to be indemnified in respect of any costs incurred in any such proceedings in the same manner as in Rule 17 17. DISSOLUTION. If in the reasonable opinion of the Council for any reason whatsoever it appears reasonable that the affairs of the Association be wound up and the Association dissolved, an Extra-ordinary meeting of the Association shall be called to pass and implement the resolution of such meeting. In the event of dissolution of the Association then a statement of the assets and liabilities be prepared. In the event of a surplus of assets all creditors of the Association shall be satisfied and the surplus assets shall be held by the Trustees for the benefit of whosoever is decided by the members and the receipt of the Treasurer of such an organisation shall constitute an effective discharge. In the event of a deficiency of assets then a meeting of the creditors shall be called and an agreement entered into with the creditors for the liquidation of the Associations liabilities on a pro rata basis. The Council shall appoint the then Chairman and not more than two members of the Council to act as a liquidation committee with full power to act on behalf of the Council in the dissolution proceedings including the powers specially conferred on them by Rule 17. The Secretary at the request of the Chairman gave a brief resume of the reasons for the amendments which in many cases were simply word amendments and a tidying up of the Constitution of the Association. On being put to a card vote a clear majority were in favour of the amendments being moved en bloc and there was 1 vote against and no abstentions AMENDMENT TO THE RULES The Management Committee have proposed that the General and Match Rules of the Association be added, amended and deleted as shown. The reason for the change to each individual rule was explained and Members were given the opportunity to discuss the change and ask questions. Each Rule alteration was voted for separately. GENERAL RULES RULES TO BE AMENDED 9.No Carp are to be kept in keepnets, carp sacks or any other type of holding device on any Association water. 14. Keepnets must be made of knotless material and at least 3 metres long. 21. Members wishing to play their radios or any other form of audio equipment on Association Waters may only use them with the Volume moderated so that other Anglers cannot hear it. MATCH RULES AMENDED RULES 3. All matches that are entered in the current published match list have priority of Water on the pegs nominated and Members not engaged in the match must move 2 pegs (24 yards) from the match if requested to do so. 6. All fish must be retained in keepnets (except carp which which must be weighed in immediately) and returned to the water at the point of weighing. RULES TO BE DELETED 14. Match Bookings will be limited to one bank only, each bank being used on alternative weeks i. e. no peg will be included in a match on two consecutive weeks. 15. All competitors in the free matches must hold a current Members card of both Northwich A. A. and the Club holding the match AMENDMENT TO GENERAL RULES 1. There is no close season on the waters of the Association with the exception of the Following waters :- River Weaver (includes Marshalls Arm and the Old River at Vale Royal), River Dane, Big Billinge Pool, and the Wides (Non Towpath side only) on the Trent and Mersey Canal at Whatcroft which will retain the close season of 15th March to the 15th June inclusive Approved with all in favour 12. Camping on Association waters is not allowed except with the prior express permission of the Landowner in writing and no camping or sleeping in cars is permitted in Association car parks Approved with 15 in favour and 4 against 18. Members are forbidden to take Luncheon Meat, Drink or Sweetcorn Cans or glass jars or bottles on to any Association Water. Approved All were in favour 21. Members wishing to play their radios or any other form of audio equipment on Association Waters may only use them with earphones. Approved All were in favour 26. Members are not allowed to take or consume alcohol on all Association Waters. Approved All were in favour 27. In exceptional circumstances the Management Committee have the right to amend the existing rules or introduce a temporary rule at any time when it is in the best interests of the Association. For any such changes or additions to the Rules to be made permanent it will be put forwarded to the next Annual General Meeting for confirmation. Approved All were in favour 28. The lighting of fires or use of portable barbecues is strictly forbidden on any Association Water. Approved All were in favour 29. The use or carrying of Firearms or Air Rifles and Guns (unless authorised by the the Management Committee in writing) on any Association Water is strictly forbidden. Approved All were in favour 30. The Management Committee reserve the right to close any Association water for Maintenance purposes by working parties. Approved All were in favour RULES TO BE DELETED 2. No person found guilty of poaching is allowed to be a Member of the Association. Approved with 20 in favour and one against MATCH RULES AMENDED RULES 4. Matches that are not entered in the current match list do not have priority of water and Members not engaged in the match are not required to move. However a notice will be placed on the length to be used. Approved with 15 in favour and 4 against 13. All Match bookings will only be accepted and if necessary paid for before February 1st for the following season unless other arrangements have been made by the Match Secretary. Approved All were in favour RULES TO BE DELETED 13. Match bookings will be limited to one bank only, each bank being used on alternative weeks i. e. no peg will be included in a match on two consecutive weeks. Not Approved 6 were in favour and 10 against 14. A maximum of 10 clubs will be approved for working parties. Approved All were in Favour 15. 4 members of each club approved for working parties will attend 3 official working parties on the dates specified by the maintenance manager to qualify for a maximum of 12 free matches(6 weekend and 6 midweek) No two weekend matches to be on the same venue. Approved All were in favour 16. All competitors in the free matches must hold a current members card of both Northwich A. A. and the club holding the Match. The Management Committee recommended that this rule be reinstated as it had been included in the Rules to be deleted in error. All were in favour of the Rule being retained. 17. The Association will accept a maximum of 6 matches from those clubs whose Members are not all Members of Northwich A. A.. Matches to be fished after September 1st apart from the Red Lion, Saltersford and Newbridge which can be booked throughout the season. Approved All were in favourNOTICE OF MOTIONS The Management Committee have proposed the following Notice of Motion in accordance with the Constitution Night Fishing Permits will be sold to Senior and Senior Citizen Members of the Association Only. The Chairman gave reasons for this to Members and stated that there had been particular problems with Youths Night Fishing at Eyres Pit. A short discussion ensued and on being put to the Vote all were in favour. ANY OTHER BUSINESS. Management Committee Following on from last year, this Association cannot continue with the same few people doing all the work. Some members of this Committee are putting in endless hours work for you the Membership. The workload has to be shared and distributed more evenly. We have seen additional members coming forward onto the committee during 2005 Simon Slater ( IT and Publicity) also welcome back Jimmy Seddon (Senior Bailiff) Martin Fox (Bailiff) Steve Harrison (Bailiff) A change in any Committee is vital to allow new ideas to come forward. It is also needed to allow people to step down when they feel they have done their term in office. There are several Committee Members who have without any stretch of the imagination done their bit for Northwich Anglers Association. You will always find me very supportive of any Committee Member because I know how much work these people do for you the Members. Please give this some serious thought. Persistent offenders to our sport Sadly this has again taken a considerable amount of Committee time up throughout 2005. We `have also involved the police because of the nature of the offence. In some cases we have taken an extremely hard line on offenders. Petty Pool I would like to confirm Petty Pool is open to all Members of this Association and not just a selection of bullies who believe they can use this water for their own personal gain. I would like all Members to report anything they find unusual regarding this water, or any other water The Committee will deal with all offenders in an appropriate manner, and if that means they end up with a life ban that’s what they will get. Junior Festival A lot of effort for the few who enjoy this event so much, we will be running this event again but we hope to make it more interesting for the juniors. I would also like to thank our new Junior Officer (Christine Jones) for all the good work she did during 2005 Membership and entrance fees Following the previous success with Membership numbers, last year we saw a decline in numbers. (possibly due to the carp and water closure problems ) Although the committee will continue to review entrance fees we will be putting the entrance fee back to £20 We will review offers throughout the year Family membership. We are Continuing with the Family Membership Permit books / Map book Will be modified again for 2007 to avoid fraud and we will also be modifying the handbook following AGM. The Association has now a really good map book and I would like to thank Richard Terrace for all his hard work on both of these items. Matches Thanks again to Bob Meggs for all the work he does for the matchmen. There being no further business the Meeting closed at 9.00pm
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