We held our 21st AGM on
Wednesday 18th April at St. Benedict's Church
Forty-six members and friends attended including Cllr. Graham Parker.
The chairman welcomed everyone, and Rev. Reiss said an opening prayer.
The guest speaker Tony Brown gave a very interesting and informative talk with slides, entitled “The Living Woodland”. The chairman thanked the speaker and presented him with a cheque.
The business of the evening continued with a brief resume of the previous AGM minutes which were accepted and signed. Four members of the committee, including the current chairman and secretary, were standing down so the election of the new committee was done individually. All nominees were accepted and Peter Smith was appointed as the new secretary. No nominations had been received for the position of chairman, so David, the retiring chairman, put forward a suggestion that a new position of “Honorary President” might be a solution to the absence of a chairman. The person in this new position would act as a figurehead, communicating with outside parties but would not be on the committee or have voting rights. David offered to take on the role but it was pointed out that this would need a change to the constitution. It was decided to let the new committee change the constitution and have the amendments voted on at a Special General Meeting which could be held at a Thursday workparty. The maintenance work in Gunton Wood will continue and it is hoped that we will receive a grant from “Tesco Bags of Help” appeal, which will be used to improve the surface on the main path. John & Julie Moore have said they will be cutting down the amount of work they do, and David thanked them for all their hard work over the last 20 years. There is some work outstanding in Foxburrow Wood which will be completed.
After the general business of the meeting, Mike Field gave a vote of thanks on behalf of all the workers and members, to the committee for this year’s work. He also thanked David for all his work over the last 20 years, both as secretary and as chairman, and presented him with a cut glass whisky decanter and set of glasses, along with a bottle of single malt whisky in appreciation.
David then thanked Mo & Chris who were retiring from the committee and gave them a personal thank-you gift.
The meeting closed at 9:45pm.