2023 AGM Minutes

2023 AGM Minutes
Date: 15th April 2023 Time: 14.30
Venue: Orton Waterville Village Hall, Jubilee Room

Attendance:
Phil Bridger, Lesley Coombs, Julie Crossman, Bryn Dawkins, Richard Gibson, Miles Goff,
Angela Henderson, Peter Herron, Gary Hilborne, David King, Jamal Lumsden-Din, Laura
Porter, Pauline Smith
Apologies:
Paul Newman, Paul Carey, Richard Donoyou, John Dewis, Paula Fye, Jonathan Orchard,
Tony Dalton.

Election of Officers:
No new nominations have been received. Current committee members have agreed to
stand again for election.
The club committee has previously expressed a collective view that it may be beneficial for
the club if committee members are restricted to holding a post for a maximum of 3
consecutive years but previous AGMs have decided it would not be sensible to have a
fixed rule as this could lead to a post becoming vacant with no candidate to fill it. However
this will be the 3rd year for current members so we would ask people to consider standing
for office next year.

Nominations
Chair – Pauline Smith
Secretary & Membership Officer – Peter Herron
Treasurer - Miles Goff
Ride Secretary – David King
Social Secretary & Safeguarding / Welfare Officer – Jonathan Orchard
All positions were proposed as a block by Lesley Coombs, seconded Angela Henderson.
There was a unanimous vote to re-appoint the committee.
Approval of Minutes of previous AGM November 2022
Last years minutes have been available all year on the club website. The minutes were
unanimously approved.

Chairman's Report
Pauline Smith thanked everyone for attending. Pauline thanked the Ride leaders for their
work and discussed that more ride leaders are needed, encouraging anyone who felt they
could help to contact Peter or David.
Pauline reflected on the year which had been a good one for the club. The committee
organised a First Responder Course on 27 June 2022 following discussion at the 2022
AGM. This had been planned in response to the tragic accident of Richard Bland in 2019
during a group ride. A grant from CUK paid for the event which was due to happen in
March 2020. However like many events it was postponed due to the Covid crisis.
Feedback from those who attended was very positive. We have some money left from the
original grant to run another event in 2023-24.
Also in 2022 the club had successfully run a weekend trip to Kent to ride the Cantii Way.
Thanks to David King for organising.

Treasurers Report
Miles Goff presented the Treasurers Report for the financial year 2022 to 2023.
Income for the year was £511 and expenditure was £281. Funds in the club account at the
end of the year are £806.
This includes money which was paid to the club by CUK to facilitate a First Responder
training course but which was left over after the event last year. It was agreed that this
money will be used in the near future for a similar event.
The accounts were audited by Andy Cox and approved.

Secretaries Report
This year we ran 74 rides in 2022 + 28 in 2023 = 102 rides since last April.
Just 10 rides have been cancelled, normally due to bad weather.
Over 50 different people have ridden with the club over the last year.
Numbers have still not reached pre-Covid levels. Attendance has been typically 8 to 14
riders with a slight dip in the very cold winter months. However from a ride leader point of
view very high numbers had become problematic in terms of managing the ride and fitting
everyone in the cafe. Current numbers do feel easier in that sense however we are also
naturally keen to see the club thrive.
We have had reduced ride leaders recently, particularly putting pressure on the weekends
with just 3 ride leaders recently, but also just 4 for Wednesdays. This has been partly due
to injury or other personal reasons. It does show that the success of the club is entirely
dependant on just a few volunteers to whom we are all grateful. Numbers are gradually
increasing again. If you have any ability to step into this role do please talk to David King
or Peter Herron.
Peter reflected that we have lost many favourite cafes and gained just a few new options.
The current cost of living pressures have obviously made the profit margins on cafes
extremely challenging. Particularly sad losses recently have included Spokes and The
Watermill.
2022 saw the return of a club weekend away event. David King kindly organised a two day
Cantii Way trip 1 & 2 October 2023. This excellent, partially off road route is one of CUKs
flagship national routes. The trip was a great success. We started in Ashford with an
overnight in Dover. Everyone enjoyed themselves, although some members may have
enjoyed off road riding more than others. Many thanks to David.
In December we had a great turn out for the annual club Christmas dinner. Many thanks to
Jonathan Orchard for organising this.

Any Other Business
Richard Gibson raised that active membership numbers are down and have not returned
since Covid. He expressed the view that other local clubs may have done better and
asked what the Club would be doing to improve the number of active riders. Richard
suggested the club might die out if we were not more proactive.
There followed a debate about the pros and cons of various options. Options discussed
included a mail shot to local CUK members. Peter Herron discussed that this had been
done some years ago and proved entirely unsuccessful. In his view we are better at
attracting people because of what we offer and they then join CUK to ride with us. A sub
committee to look at the issue was suggested but not widely supported. Advertising in
local bike shops was discussed, but again it was pointed out previous lack of uptake
through this. There was discussion about beginner rides. These have been tried many
times with limited uptake. No overall consensus was reached, however the committee
agreed to actively consider how it can increase membership.

There was a request for more 'away days' and general support for some special events in
a similar vein to the Cantii Way.