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As last year this meeting drew a better than average turnout, no doubt this was the result of our members' willingness to play their part at the AGM and help in the running of the society. There again this willingness may have been fuelled by the 'live' auction that followed ! The meeting started with a minutes silence in memory of Ben Ferguson who sadly died this spring. The society is much indebted to Ben who played important roles as Editor of the Newsletter and Live Auction Manager among them. The AGM started with Approval of the minutes of the 52nd meeting with no matters arising and apologies. These were followed by reports from the Hon. Treasurer, Hon. Secretary, Packet Secretary, London Meetings Organiser, Newsletter Editor, Membership Secretary, Publicity Officer and the Newsletter Despatch. Most presented well documented reports which are available to members on request. The salient points are as follows. From the outgoing President after his two year tenure thanking members for their support and to announce the winner of the Alan Brown award (in the gift of the President) to Phil Schreiber of New Jersey for his two part article recalling the writer's recollections of his service aboard a landing ship tank during WW2: "From initial training to posting aboard USS LST 991 Phil Schreiber then describes not only his own experiences, but also what amounts to the history of LST 991, until the time he is discharged from the Navy and returns home in November 1945. He concludes with a brief summary of the fate of former LST 991, latterly as the ss KUN YEEP sunk by Chinese torpedo boats in 1958. His story occurs during wartime and the battles against the Japanese in the Pacific, but Phil still manages to collect mail associated with his service aboard the LST. Whether by design or accident I don't know. To help recall his experiences Phil has been able to research two ship's logs and call upon the collective memory of fellow crewmen during annual reunions. This is living history, which includes associated postal history and original research." Congratulations to US member Phil Schreiber of New Jersey. Under his tenure Michael found this last year has been a busy and often hectic time, but nevertheless overall an enjoyable time. Overshadowing the Society's was the sad loss of Ben Ferguson on 27th February. He commented on the very successful weekend away - this time to Leeds and commended Peter High for the excellent work he did in organising the venue and weekend experience. He hoped that we can continue the trend and hold further weekends away every two years. You have been forewarned. He expressed warm thanks to John Daynes for all he has done over the years taking on several tasks but sadly having to relinquish some due to poor health. He thanked Nick Martin and Colin Taebert for respectively taking the tasks of Librarian and Editor of the Newsletter. Thanks were due to the diligence of the Treasurer, Peter Jenkinson we have established the correct membership figure towards the end of last year which came as a surprise and deep disappointment not only to himself but the rest of the Committee as well as the overall membership was less then expected. As a result he recognised the need for a membership drive, the alternative being to let the membership stagnate fall and the Society slowly wither away. Michael thanked the efforts Nick Colley who drew up a flyer and circulated it to dealer members and friends for inclusion in their lists and catalogues. Subsequently there has been increase in a good number of new members. He ended by saying that it was individuals who fill the positions of officers and we own then our thanks and he hoped that there will be others out there who will join them to ensure we remain a thriving and active Society. The outgoing Secretary thanked all those who had helped him over the last two years and it was due mainly to their periodic timely remainders that the little he did was done at all. From the other reports it can be noted that the Newsletter is dispatched to 341 recipients, 243 in the UK, 72 overseas and 26 complimentary copies. This last number drew some comment and may have to be evaluated. Auction 264 was in preparation and from auction 255 to 263 42% of the lots sold form the 1298 lots available. Due to the recruitment campaign some 40 new members have joined. During the last year 22 packets were circulated with gross sales of over £3,000 giving a net profit of £310. From the well presented accounts for the year, ended 31st January 2005 it clearly shows that the finances are in rude health. The treasurer stated that income has risen in the year as a combination of increased membership, outstanding performance from the packets and auctions and the increasing returns from the Society's investment. Expenditure had also risen during the year in particular, the cost of the Newsletter has moved upward by about 5%, mostly in increased distribution costs. Members should be aware that improvements to the Newsletter in the coming years will continue to inflate its cost. Additional items this year were the sums spent on advertising (new members). The excess of income over expenditure for the year was 16% higher than last year. Looking at the summary, the picture is one of steady progress and an even performance. Looking forward his projection to the year 2010 shows that small deficits will occur from 2006/7 onwards. Two aspects of costs will have a major bearing on performance for the foreseeable future. Firstly, the effort to improve the presentation of the Newsletter will require increasing budget; secondly, meeting room costs are rising (60+% for UJC). The subscription does not cover the operating costs of the Society. Changes in the Rules concerning Honorary Life Membership and to those for the 9 and 16 sheet competitions were approved. The later involved the acceptance of high quality images from overseas members to be entered into the competitions. The provisos is that the material must be from the members own collection and accompanied by letter to that effect. It was debated whether the letter should be from some third party but it was considered that the members should be trusted. The accounts were accepted unanimously. All officers resigned and were unanimously re-elected other than the changes which are that Peter O'Keeffe becomes President, Ian Muchall becomes a Vice President and Michael Dobbs returns to being the Hon. Secretary. This does leave one position of Vice President empty. It was confirmed that another away meeting is being arranged for May 2006 at Peterborough. The AGM was followed by the usual spirited live auction. |