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For this years AGM and 'live' auction which followed we had some 25 members present. The meeting started with the President (Peter O'Keeffe) recording the names of some of those members or former members who had died during the year (including Barrie Jay, John Rouse, Gerald Sattin and Ernie Leppard) and leading a moments silence in their memory. The AGM started with Approval of the minutes of the 55th meeting with no matters arising and apologies. At this point Peter High gave an update on John Daynes who sent his regards to the Society. On matters arising the President reported that he had now got new medals and the holding of these was split between him and the Secretary. The only other matter was the 2008 Weekend Away to Lancaster which was an agenda item. The President then went on to say that you have had to put up with him for the past 3 years as your President. He had learnt a great deal about the Society and how it is run. Although it had been a longer sentence that his two years National Service with the RAF he was not posted far from home, just trips to Leeds and Peterborough, plus trips to the Chelsea Royal Hospital and Midpex ! He once again thanked the various officers and committee for all their hard work in ensuring the smooth running of the Society, with special thanks due to our Journal editor, Colin Tabeart, under whose stewardship our Journal now stands amongst some of the best in Philately. However, his especial thanks went to Michael Dobbs who, as Secretary, had kept him informed and guided us along the right lines and ensured in his usual efficient way that things were done correctly. He went on to say that during the last 12 months we have held our usual 11 London meetings and had seen some marvellous displays - he thought that the display at our all-day meeting last September, of POW mail by member Graham Reynolds was outstanding. In closing he spoke for us all in sending our best wishes to Honorary Life Member John Daynes. The Secretary (Michael Dobbs) reported that as in previous years his main tasks during the past year had been the preparation of the Society News Supplement that went out with the Journal and providing updates to Karl Winkelmann for our website. He had provided the majority of the content for our website. He has also sent our periodic electronic Newsletters to keep members in touch - particularly those overseas or unable to easily get to our London meetings. In addition he had been involved in responding to a number of queries from both members and non-members and was either able to answer them himself or pass them to other members to respond - and was grateful for the support and help he got from those to whom he passed on queries. He led on our participation at Midpex last year and in the absence of a Publicity Officer tried to keep our name in the public domain by sending reports from time to time to the Philatelic press and ABPS News - he would welcome a volunteer to take over publicity - and asked if anyone was willing to do this ? The Packet Secretary (Ian Muchall) reported that during the year 21 packets had been circulated and finalised resulting in a net profit to the Society of £296.98. Due to insurance limitations and having to keep the weight to below 2kg to keep the postage below £6 he felt it necessary to ask all members receiving the packet for their comments and any improvements they would like. Of all the replies received only 2 wanted smaller packets to reduce the cost but the overall majority were happy to keep the status quo. Having been packet secretary for over 18 years Ian felt that it was perhaps time to let someone with fresh ideas to take over the helm. The London Meetings Organiser (Peter High) said that he had taken over the role from John Daynes and appealed to members for ideas - not only on format but also suggestions for guest speakers. He was not necessarily looking for individual speakers to fill a whole afternoon, but a partial afternoon supplemented by members displays as necessary. Our Journal Editor (Colin Tabeart) could not be with us but submitted a report in which he said he was about to put his fourteenth Journal to bed: actually it was 16 issues including the Jutland and the Shipwright Sullivan specials. The latter was a joint issue with the Society of Postal Historians and had received many favourable comments. The Author had received a lot of feedback - which Colin commented it was nice to see in an era when few bother - and had produced an update that Colin was hoping to run in Autumn. Colin went on to report that we seem to have attracted a number of articles in the last 12 months, to such an extent that he had to ask for approval to produce a 36-page journal on occasion. The first was Spring and the second will be Summer 2008. The Summer edition was virtually complete (Issue 276), after which the locker of articles was unusually fat at this moment, so he would be grateful if members who had put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, and had yet to see their magnum opus in print would be patient and excuse the delay. If we hit lean times again, as undoubtedly will happen some time, he had approval to drop to 28 pages and he thanked the Committee for allowing this flexibility. He hoped members continued to enjoy the Journal for the next 12 months: feedback and criticism was always welcome. Finally he thanked all our authors for their literary efforts, and for their patience with his editing, occasional grumbles and presentation. The Membership Secretary (Martin Hopkinson) could not be with us but had sent in a report in which he stated it had been a fairly quiet first year during which we recruited 8 new members. There were additional enquiries from 4 people, none of whom have so far joined. He had also received 3 general enquiries, one of which had nothing to do with forces mail. He commented that the majority of the membership applications, enquiries and general queries came in directly or indirectly as a result of our website. The Journal Despatcher (Alistair Kennedy) gave a breakdown of the last Journal (Issue 275 - Spring 2008) despatched in terms of numbers despatched and cost. (322 - this included exchange and complimentary copies): 304 at a cost of £271.24 (total cost after allowing for hand distribution, but including extras for new members) and 32 complimentary and exchange copies to 21 bodies at a cost of £16.31. He reported that the new postage rates effective from 7 April 2008 would result in increases (for an issue of 160 to 180 grams) varying from 6p (inland) to 10p (air outside Europe) making a total of £20 per issue. Our Librarian (Nick Martin) reported that the Library list was now online on our website, but that he only knew of one person who had borrowed a book as a result. Some 56 books were borrowed last year but he had provided photocopies in respect of 42 enquiries and in addition he provided scans in a small number of cases. We did not have a report from our Postal Auction Manager (Stephen Dunderdale) who could not be with us but to be fair the members pointed out to the Secretary that neither he nor the Librarian appeared on the agenda under the item "Reports from the Officers" ! However, one member did ask if it was possible for "cut-off" dates for the supply of material could be published for each auction. The President recorded that the Harry Cope Award for Literature for 2007 had gone to Bob Swarbrick for his "The Royal Marines Home and Abroad - A Postal History 1664-1994". The President is called upon to award the Alan Brown Trophy each year at his discretion. Peter O'Keeffe announced that after careful consideration he awarded the Trophy to Keith Tranmer for his article on The Sieges of Przemysl 1914-15 (Journal No 271, Spring 2007) and which complimented his book "Przemysl 1914-1915" published in 2003. With the agreement of the membership present the report from our Treasurer (Peter Jenkinson) was moved down the agenda to be dealt with at the same time as the acceptance of the financial statements. Peter could not be with us this year but had submitted a report in which he stated Income was down this year, as auction income had returned to normal levels. He reminded members that the Society had benefited from auction material bequests from deceased members for the previous two years, which greatly inflated auction income. Expenditure had, for the second year, been above the norm. Exceptional items (President's Cup medals, additional journal and joint publication) had contributed to this result. The twin pressures of falling income and exceptional expenditure have produced a large deficit. However, the underlying balance between income and expenditure remains steady. The Society's liabilities are minimal and there has been little change in the assets. As the National Savings closed the Society's savings account in this year another investment is required. In the coming year, the current account will be reduced to the minimum required to maintain a positive cash-flow, and the surplus re-invested in an instant access savings account, a notice savings account, and a 2-3 year bond. This three tiered approach will provide cash-flow to the current account if required and generate interest on capital. In looking forward Peter determined that rising costs would soon force an increase in subscriptions. His previous forecast has been reviewed and he determined that subscriptions will need to rise in 2010/11. The amount had yet to be determined but he would be making a recommendation to the Committee in September this year. On the acceptance of the financial statement Keith Tranmer proposed acceptance which was seconded by John Leathes. All agreed. In view of the multi-tiered approach proposed by Peter, Ian Muchall raised an issue on the need to not only to safeguard our investments but to ensure they were easily identifiable and accessible. Following a short debate the AGM agreed to the following statement "All Society funds shall be invested in the name of the Society". All officers resigned at the AGM and were eligible for re-election and all current postholders were willing to stand again. Ton Handley proposed and Albert Coles seconded that they all be re-elected en-bloc - all agreed. There were no nominations for the vacant post of Publicity Officer. The meeting re-elected the three existing Committee members. With the ending of this AGM the three year term of President for Peter O'Keeffe came to an end and he would stand down to make way for Ian Muchall - a "proper" RAF man as he referred to Ian in his opening remarks. He was sure that Ian would enjoy the next three years as much as he did and he wished him well. As a consequence there was a Vice-President vacancy and the President on behalf of the Committee proposed Peter Jenkinson. There being no other nominations and upon the unanimous decision of the members present Peter was duly elected to fill the vacant third Vice-President position. In Muchall had proposed a number of changes to General Rules 13 (Finance) and 14 (Auditor) with a slight amendment after discussion at the meeting: 13(b) After "A complete financial statement" delete all and insert "shall be prepared by the Treasurer as soon as practicable after 31st January each year, for examination by a person appointed for such purpose at an Annual General Meeting, for presentation at the Annual General Meeting." Following the agreement on the change of rules there was a need to elect an Independent Examiner (formerly Auditor) to replace Ian Muchall. There were two nominations, both of whom had excellent credentials. Following a vote Alan Baker was duly elected as Independent Examiner. The President then remarked that it was only right that we should honour another long standing member and proposed that Honorary Life Membership be conferred on Alistair Kennedy in recognition of his devotion and tireless work for the Society in so many ways and over such a long period. This was agreed unanimously. The Secretary reminded members of the forthcoming Weekend Away in Lancaster and said that we would welcome day visitors. The thanked local member Andy Brooks for doing all the organising and looked forward to seeing members in Lancaster. There was no other business and the President declared the meeting closed. |