MINUTES OF THE MERSEYSIDE YOUNG WALKERS GROUP 20-30’S+
A.G.M
Held on Tuesday 7th November 2007 @ The Pump House, Albert Dock, Liverpool.
PRESENT
Stephanie Gebert –Chairman
Joanne Bremner – Group Secretary
Vicki Ireson – Treasurer
Sanya Sanderson – Membership Secretary
Ian Clayton – Map Man
Cameron Ward – Walks co-ordinator
Ian Berry – Website editor
Kelly Gwilliam – Booking secretary
Dave Fagan – Social secretary
Gloria Thayer - Area Secretary
Grant Gibson
Simon Rose
Steve McNally
Sally Partington
Dave Calland
MINUTES OF PREVIOUS A.G.M.
Accepted by all present.
1. WELCOME/CHAIRMANS REPORT
As chairman I would like to thank everyone for their contributions over the
past year.
2. MATTERS ARISING
None.
3. AGREEMENT OF CONSTITUTION
All present agreed to its present content.
4. TREASURER’S REPORT
Financials
At 30th September 2007 we are £359.91 in credit vs £345.44 at 30th
September 2006.
Summary of Year
MiniBus Hire
In the financial year we spent £2,029 on mini bus hire and received from
members £2,122 for payments towards costs.
Therefore, we made a surplus of £93.
Weekend Aways
We had 3 weekends away in 2006 /2007, which cost the group £246 for
accommodation and we received £540 from members towards costs.
This also gave us a surplus of £294.
The Surpluses we have made on these events have enabled us to pay for other
group expenses.
Below shows a full year summary of Income and Expenditure for the group.
Income
Walks
Weekends away
Transfer from Area
Bank Interest
Earned
£2,122
£540
£250
£9
£2,922
Expenditure
Stationary,
Photocopying
Personal Phone
refund
Mileage refund
Group Web Page
Costs
Postage
Personal Internet
Refund
Minibus Hire
Minibus Refund
Weekend away
expenses
Maps, Books,
Programmes
Leaders Course
AGM Buffet (Nov
05)
£12
£158
£115
£141
£97
£84
£2,029
£0
£246
£25
£0
£0
£2,907
Income over
Expenditure
£14
During the year we did experience a fall in numbers booking onto the minibus
for walks, this decline began to erode any small surpluses we had, therefore
we had to review the costs being charged and also looked into ways of
mitigating these exposures.
It was decided at the Committee meeting in July that for the financial year
2007 / 2008, that no personal internet refund would be required.
We will pursue with area the potential to recover Internet charges which will
help us to keep minibus charges as low as possible.
Summary
We have managed to cover all costs throughout the year and have provided an
average of 2+ walks per month and 3 weekends away.
5. BOOKING SECRETARY’S REPORT
Bookings for the bus have continued to increase since February, most
buses have gone out full and no bus has run at a loss to the group. Reserve lists
have been long for many walks and the possiblity of approaching the bus
company for a twenty-seater bus could be considered. This would be
particularly useful in light of increased membership and the expected extra
interest after Christmas.
Any previous problems with payments appear to have been ironed out, late
payments are now very rare.
Buses are booked for every walk between now and April, all have at least
one person already booked on.
6. WEBMASTERS REPORT
The website has been growing in popularity this year, with nearly 15000 unique
visitors to the site, up from 12000 last year. This has increased following the
publication of the eagerly awaited new walks programme, which I have been
working on with Walks Coordinator Cameron Ward. The walks programme has
now been
now completed for the whole of 2008 and is currently published on the internet
until July 2008 (the rest to follow soon).
The message board helps the group with informal matters and last minute
changes
as anyone can change the content so long as they are a registered user. It has
been improved to categorise information into sections including: walks
information, socials, RA, car share, booking information to make things easier
to find. There are currently 112 registered users for the message board up from
50 last year all contributing to discussions about the group.
Photos have been consolidated due to sheer numbers we have had taken in the
past. New photos are still being added after every walk either by myself of Jo
Bremner.
The website has incurred costs of around £140 for this year for website hosting
and photograph sites and use of the address - plus a fair bit of hard graft on
my part! If anyone is interested in helping out with the website please don’t
hesitate to ask!
7. MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY’S REPORT
The year ending Nov 2007 has been a successful year for LL6. We have seen
a large increase in interest in the group.
Nov 2005-2006: 46 enquiries to membership secretary Janet
Nov 2006- 2007: 136 enquiries to myself, up ~ 3 fold on last year
Of these 136 enquiries, 35 have joined (26% joining rate).
New members comprise ~50 % of current paid up LL6 membership
The same proportion of men and women joined.
We have had interest from people aged 18 to late 50s and also from family
groups.
31 of members have renewed at least once since the start of LL6 records
(2004)
There is a discrepancy in the membership records provided by Head Office.
Head Office numbers 114 members but looking through the detail, many are
lapsed memberships.
According to our records, we have 84 paid-up members who regularly walk
with LL6
Of these, 7 are not listed by head office – 3 are new LL6 members; 4 belong to
other RA groups but walk most regularly with us.
Of the 84, 8 have just become overdue by a few weeks and may not be listed
by head office.
Most memberships are single as expected for a young group.
Since the start of LL6, 62 members have left either not renewed, transferred to
LL2 or other groups, moved from area, lost interest in walking. This is not
surprising considering the migratory nature of this age group.
Most members are now contacted by email which has cut down on paper and
postage related costs.
8.
MAP MAN’S REPORT
No advice on a suggested walk to lead has been sought from the Map
Coordinator. The group now owns 3 maps, two of which have been bought
this year. During the year 4 requests (from 2 members) for map loans have
been received. For the benefit of new committee members: a spreadsheet of all
maps owned individually by committee members is kept by the Map
Coordinator - the diversity of which effectively means that all areas we
normally walk in are covered. People have agreed in the past to loan out,
where requested, their maps to any member who requires one, on the proviso
that any damage would be compensated by MYWG. To date nobody has
ever requested such a loan!
At the 5th September committee meeting a suggestion was received that we
consider purchasing mapping software, which would offer suggested routes
and the facility to print out sections/ personalised routes. Adverts placed on
the group message board in the past offering colour photocopies of map
sections and sources for walk ideas have provoked no reponse. As a result the
committee felt that the £100+ may not prove a good investment at present.
This should be reviewed when the 2008/ 09 programme is being put together
in order to keep the pool of leaders as high as possible.
9. COMMITTEE ELECTION
As standard all committee members resigned their positions. Nominations
were sought over several weeks, deadline for inclusion being 3rd November
2006. Details of outcomes below:
Position: Walks Co-ordinator
Nominee: Cameron Ward
Nominated by: Vicky Ireson
Seconded by: Dave Fagan
Carried forward by all present.
Position: Membership Officer
Nominee: Sanya Sanderson
Nominated by: Kelly Gwilliams
Seconded by: Ian Clayton
Carried forward by all present.
Position: Social Officer
Nominee: David Fagan
Nominated by: Jo Bremner
Seconded by: Cameron Ward
Carried forwarded by all present.
Position: Booking Secretary
Nominee: Kelly Gwilliams
Nominated by: Vicki Ireson
Seconded by: Ian Berry
Carried forward by all present.
Position: Chairman
Nominee: Stephanie Gebert
Nominated by: Jo Bremner
Seconded by: Ian Berry
Carried forward by all present.
Position: Treasurer
Nominee: Vicki Ireson
Nominated by: Cameron Ward
Seconded by: Jo Bremner
Carried forward by all present.
Position: Map Person
Nominee: Grant Gibson
Nominated by: Simon Rose
Seconded by: Sanya Sanderson
Carried forward by all present.
Position: Webmaster
Nominee: Ian Berry
Nominated by: Dave Fagan
Seconded by: Sanya Sanderson
Carried forward by all present.
Position: Group Secretary
Nominee: Joanne Bremner
Nominated by: Ian Clayton
Seconded by: Sanya Sanderson
Carried forward by all present.
Position: Walking Weekend Coordinator
Nominee: Sally Partington
Nominated by: Kelly Gwilliams
Seconded by: Dave fagan
Carried forward by all present.
Position: General Committee Member
Nominee: Simon Rose
Nominated by: Stephanie Gebert
Seconded by Kelly Gwilliams
Carried forward by all present.
Position: General Committee Member
Nominee: Steve McNally
Nominated by: Sanya Sanderson
Seconded by Vicki Ireson
Carried forward by all present.
Twelve committee positions were filled for the next coming year of the
MYWG 20-30s+.
10. ANY OTHER BUSINESS
No other business was discussed