WELTON OWNERS CLUB
Meeting of the 53rd Annual General Meeting held at
Elm Cottage Touring Park, Winsford, Cheshire.
Saturday 8th October 2022.
1. Apologies for absence.
Denis and Val Mattocks, Brian and Barbara Gent, Jeremy and Christine Walker, Paul and Julia Burden, Sheena and Michael McCartney, Tony and Lynn Syrett, Kenny and Marion Clow, Jean and Malcolm Mortimer, Chris and Maggie Sanderson, Jan and Dave Hale, Viv and Bernie Hawkins, Gail and Richard Haste, Peter Reynolds, Linda and Malcolm Boyce, Louise and Brian Buckingham.
2. Minutes of the 52nd Annual General Meeting.
The minutes of the meeting were agreed and proposed by Gill Dance and seconded by Bill Arbuckle.
3. Matters arising.
No matters arising.
4. Chairmans Report.
My last AGM report began with ‘Another Covid affected year’ and ‘Will we ever get to the Lawns I wonder’, well, we did get to the Lawns this year, but I think members catching up on Covid postponed holidays, has affected some of our rallying figures.
My sad news is that Gerry Smith, our past Treasurer has passed away, after many years of suffering from a degenerative condition of the brain. The Club was represented at the funeral and sent a donation to the family’s chosen charity.
I must also mention Barbara and Brian Gent who are hanging up their towing mirrors after a lifetime of caravanning and Welton Membership. Brian was our rally secretary before Jean Jennings and me, so that is more than 40 years ago. They owned a Welton Caravan, and I always refer website enquiries about refurbishing old Welton Caravans to them. Strangely, for the last couple of years, these enquiries have emanated from Holland. We will be offering Barbara and Brian Honorary Membership which I hope they will accept.
For those new members who perhaps have not heard of this, honorary membership is offered by the Committee to members who have served the club well and can no longer rally. It means that they continue to receive newsletters, and rally information, keeping them in touch, but they do not have to pay the annual fee.
We currently have four honorary members and 47 paying members, but Tracy will be giving us details of numbers in her report.
I would like to repeat part of a paragraph that is in my last year’s report. “The most difficult job is that of Rally Secretary, I know, I did the job for twenty years. To find a site, has often taken many hours of work, phone calls, emails and negotiations. So can we please be kind to our rally secretary and his secretary, and to all our rally officers who are doing their best for you and me’
Anyone who can achieve a reduction of around 50% on a site gets my thanks, and if you are not aware, we are currently on pitches which cost between £25 and £35 a night. We Weltonians are paying £17.50.
Could we adopt a new Welton Mantra where we all help and contribute, it would make running the club and rallies so much more pleasant and easier for those who take on these jobs.
When I joined this club, the Chairman, Rex Milward, said to me there is nothing difficult about putting white boxes on a field. But in 25 years things have changed. We rarely put white boxes on just a field these days, our expectations are so much more, and caravans are designed very differently.
It is impossible to please everyone, and meet every member’s desires, but I would like today when we reach A.O.B to have a discussion concerning the increase in fuel and energy costs and how that may affect our future. My question for you to ponder on, and discuss later is: -
What is the most important factor when you choose the rallies you are going to attend?
Is it the services such as electric, wi-fi etc, is it the venue as in the area of the country, is it the dates fit with other commitments, or will it be the price?
We will come back to this.
Moving on, Pat has kept our finances in good order for another year, and perhaps with the Coronation of Kings Charles III on the horizon, we may persuade her to loosen the purse strings and do something special in 2023.
You will see under item 9, that we have a few changes to the Constitution. One concerns the length of time that a chairperson should hold office. The rules currently state that 3 years is the maximum. Partly because of Covid, which has been an exceptional time, been chairman for 4 years and now am about to enter my 5th year. But this situation cannot continue. For me to step down and for the Welton Owners Club to continue, we need someone to volunteer to take on one of the officer’s jobs of Secretary or Rally Secretary, because I am giving notice today that I do not intend to stand again next year.
It just remains for me personally to thank the officers and committee for their work and support this year, in particular Chris Sanderson, who is coming off the committee this year, and those who have run rallies in 2022 and those who have offered to run rallies in 2023, and you the membership for your continued support of the club.
Proposed John Tyler. Seconded Dianne Ford.
5. Treasurers Report.
As you will notice these accounts differ from previous ones as the year dates have been changed in the Constitution from 1st January – 31st December to 1st September - 31st August. This means that you have 20 months figures instead of 12 this year. Back to 12 months next year.
The clubs final balance is £2644.75p which is, I believe, quite healthy. Each rally has been successful, helping to add funds. The Platinum Jubilee rally provided Pimm’s, and a lovely cake (made by Tracy’s daughter) and the cost paid for them from the rally fees.
New flags were purchased and have proved successful. The web site is now paid six monthly – March and September.
I have asked for a further amendment to be made to the constitution because Banks facilities (BACs) make it easier to pay funds into the account.
Proposed Dennis Harris Seconded Gaye Reynolds.
Bill Arbuckle asked Pat if Banks charged for paying money in. Pat replied they did not.
6. Secretary’s Report
There is no relevant correspondence to report.
The Membership stands at 47 members at the present time. Seven members failed to renew this year. Many of them had joined and had not rallied with us, some had reached an age where they felt it was time to hang up their caravan keys for good.
We have 5 members that joined this year or before that have not rallied yet. We have 6 new members that have joined this year.
The membership is much less East Anglian based. We now have 23 members in East Anglia and 24 members from around the country, ranging from Wales, Devon, Southeast and the North. These members have come from recruiting from the rally field and word of mouth from happy members.
I have membership cards ready for 2023 and I will be happy to take your money after the AGM or anytime on the rally field.
Proposed Rosemary Germaine Seconded Brain Ford.
7. Election of Officers
There was no vote, so the Officers and Committee are as follows.
Chairman Jean Yates
Secretary Tracy Totman
Treasurer Pat Vigors
Rally Secretary David Totman
8. Election of Committee and presentations.
Committee
Dennis Harris
Gail Haste
Marion Clow
John Tyler
Gill Dance.
Jean then presented the plaques to the officers and Committee.
Tracy presented Jean with her plaque
Thanks was given to all those serving.
9. Proposed Changes to the Constitution.
There was a discussion around the proposed changes to the Constitution and why we needed to change it. All the changes were agreed. The changes had been sent to all members and no one had objected.
There was a vote, and it was unanimous.
10. A.O.B.
Pat Vigors raised the issue around Rally Officers confirming that they had received rally slips from ralliers. There had been some confusion this year when people thought they had sent slips and rally officers had not received them. All rally officers must confirm receipt of slips to members.
Jean Yates said for many years we have tried to offer a variety of venues with a range of services in order to give members the choice of less expensive rallies and top of the range super sites. This year a rally with no electric in Cardiff was cancelled because people said they would not go if there was no electric, and a more expensive one on a commercial site was substituted at Monmouth which was supported.
What is the most important factor when you choose the rallies you are going to attend?
Is it the services such as electric, wi-fi, is it the venue as in the area of the country, is it that the dates fit with other commitments or is it the price?
Can we now talk about it and then have a hands up?
There then ensued a discussion.
Gill Dance said it was the location, as somewhere they wanted to visit and the cost.
Alan Germaine said he had a motor home and wished for hard standing.
Brian and Dianne Ford, said electric was very important, cost was not an issue for them.
Bill Arbuckle said that EHU was getting very expensive, and he anticipated that we may be having to use meters soon. There was a discussion around this, and it was said that some sites were struggling with the cost of electric and were having to pass it on to the customer but having meters fitted was also very expensive.
We then had a show of hands,
Must have electric 1 vote
Venue important 12 votes
Distance not an issue for most although some would restrict the distance driven. David Totman said that as we have members all over the country rallies needed to be in all areas to give people choice.
Rose Germaine said she like how the rallies were linked together in months, not to far apart.
The cost was also said to have an impact on some ralliers.
Dennis Harris suggested buying a generator for the use of ralliers so that if we went on non EHU fields we could charge batteries if there was an issue.
There was a discussion, and it was decided that the logistics of passing a generator around the rally officers was not viable.
The conclusion was really that we all wanted something different from our rallying, so we needed to put everything in the programme over the year to please everyone.
It was suggested by the Committee that the Rally officers should receive a free night on the first night that they attended the rally, to help encourage volunteers and to say Thank you. This would be funded out of Club funds. This will start next year in 2023.
11. Rally Secretary Report and presentation of 2023 rallies.
All rallies went ahead this year as there were no cancellations, which is an improvement on last year.
Rally attendance is down, may be due to the higher cost of fuel this year and also rally site costs have increased.
It has been quite a challenge booking sites for 2023. Many sites won’t commit to prices due to the expected cost of electricity over the next few months. Some where asking £30 plus a night for a rally. I have tried to keep the costs below £20 a night but this does restrict where we can go. We have two rallies next year that are over £20 but they are on sites with good amenities. Two sites have also given us a price and have said they have to increase this depending on how much electricity goes up over the next few months. Lots of CL’s and small sites are now charging £20 to £30 a night. Many sites are asking over £40 plus a night.
Many members at the last AGM that they wanted EHU but that does pose a problem for me trying to find places at cheap rates. I have tried to put a bit of everything in the programme. I have linked rallies to months away so that members can dip in and out of them to reduce the fuel costs of doing long journeys. I have also booked sites that some of you said you would like to return too.
I would like to thank all those who ran rallies this year and to those of you who have volunteered to run them in 2023. We have two sets of new members coming forward to run rallies, Dianne and Brian Ford and Arlene and David Hall, Thank you to them.
I have started to look at 2024, any suggestions would be welcomed. New areas, or sites that you would like to visit. Henley on Thames is already booked.
I am taking the rally co-ordinates out of the rally book as I don’t think anyone uses them now. Does anyone object.
There was no objection.
David then went on to present the 2023 rally programme by power point presentation.
The rally programme for 2023 will be as follows: -
22nd March to 2nd April Ashfield Touring Park, Dunnington York
2nd April to 16th April Easter Wolds Way Caravan Park, Malton, North Yorks
26th April to 7th May BH Burleigh Hill Farm, St Ives, Cambs
Coronation
7th May to 21st May Stanford Hall Caravan Park, Swinford, Leics
4th June to 18th June Shrubbery Caravan Park, Rousden, Dorset.
18th June 2nd July Orchard Farm, Chidham, Chichester
16th July to 30th July Red Lion Ice Cream Farm, Haughton, Staffs
30th July to 13th August Smeaton Lakes, Newark, Notts
12th Sept to 26th September Lickhill Manor Caravan Park, Stourport, Worc.
26th Sept to 8th Oct AGM Monks Farm Barn, Stratford Upon Avon,
22nd Oct to 31st Oct Halloween Deer’s Glade Caravan Park, Hanworth Norfolk.
Date and Venue of Next AGM
Saturday 30th September 2023 at 2p.m
The Barn, Monks Farm Barn, Stratford-upon Avon Warwickshire CV37 8NA
Previous PDFs AGM reports.
53rd AGM 51st AGM, 50th AGM, 49th AGM