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Bedfordshire
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Annual General meeting of the Bedfordshire Section of the VMCC.
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Chairman's ReportSome organisations seem to treat their AGM as a competition to see how quickly they can get through it. Personally I see it as a good opportunity to look back at the last year and forward to the next to see how well we're doing in providing what Section members want. It's also the one formal opportunity in the year to kick out the Chairman, Secretary or the whole committee should you so wish. Once again, we kept the formula for the year pretty much the same as previously - talks, runs, the quiz, the auction, good food, and some great gatherings of bikes in the Summer. And we're hoping to keep it pretty much that way next year as well - although we're always open to suggestions. Can you believe we held no less than 32 events last year. The digital projector we bought last year in memory of Peter Jones, with a very generous donation from his widow Dorothy, has seen good use, apart, unfortunately, from when Ellis Billington kindly stood in to fill a gap, and we forgot to bring it - our apologies once again to Ellis but I know the talk was very much enjoyed as it was. New for next year will be a slide-show on AGM night of pictures taken at the various events over the year. Nigel is our semi-official archivist and will hopefully be wielding his camera at every opportunity but please take your own pictures, or short films, and let us have them. This could also feature members riding in other events like the Banbury, trials, sprints, racing, whatever. Also new for next year is what Brent has labelled 'Beds Boys on Tour'. It doesn't feature in the programme as we have neither a date nor a destination yet. The idea is to take a small group away for a long weekend to join in another section's run and maybe have a few beers and a laugh or two whilst we're away. I did a bit of research and found no less than about 30 sections within 100 miles of Shefford so plenty of choice. I've now survived my second year as Chairman and I'm still really enjoying it so I'm happy to carry on if you're happy to have me. As I said last year, as Chairman, I've got the easy job. The people who keep the section running are the committee and all the other helpers who twist arms to get speakers, plan runs, lunches, help with the raffle, the quiz, the food, the audio-visual equipment, the finances; and even simple things like putting chairs and tables away. None of these things happen by themselves and we're lucky to have so many members who contribute in a practical way. But even if you just come along to meetings or runs you make it all worthwhile. But we can, of course, always use more help. I know that our secretary, Brent, will be offering our thanks to many of the individuals who make the Section work and I don't want to steal his thunder in any way but, on behalf of the whole Section, I'd like to say thanks to him for doing the really tough job of Secretary, and doing it so well. And in his spare time organised the Albert Brown Run and the Pie & Pint Night, wielded the gavel at the auction and gave a hilarious account of his antics riding the Moto Giro in Italy. And still found time to get married. |
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Secretary's ReportThe last twelve months activity within the Bedfordshire Section has been both hectic and fantastic! At the December clubnight last year, we had the Christmas Auction that raised £127, this we donated to the coronary trust in memory of Jeff Davies. Thanks very much to everyone that donated something. PLEASE, PLEASE bring us something that you want cleared out of your shed or house for next months auction. All of the proceeds are going towards a donation for a new clubhouse for us. Yes, this place is due to be knocked down and rebuilt - it's an ambitious project but let's do our little bit to help. So, if there's something you just want rid of then we'll sell it and give the funds to the hall. If you have something more expensive, then we'll auction it off and only keep a measly 10% of the proceeds, the rest goes to you, and at 10%, we’re much cheaper than Bonhams and Cheffins! Bring the stuff in nice and early next month please, that would be very much appreciated. Moving on to the presentations, we have had an amazing turnout of speakers since last year's AGM. We had Ashley Atkins giving the second part of his talk about WW1 and the Bedfordshire Regiments involvement in it. Then I did my party piece describing my trials and tribulations at the Italian Giro de Italia. Following this, we were flying high with Ellis Billington's stories of flying in his Cessna light aircraft, really interesting and I think we all wanted our own aircraft after that! At last month's clubnight we were all wowed by Bryan's motorcycling adverts through the ages, great stuff and very well researched, although mainly Triumphs for some strange reason! The Intersection Quiz was a great success thanks to the extremely tricky questions set by Will. Our own section was just pipped to the post by the Anglia Section in the final head-to-head contest, nail biting stuff! We had a Bring Something Interesting night, lots of good stuff on display that was both interesting and educational and I'm sure we all appreciated the people that brought along their memorabilia. It;s not been all clubnights though, thanks to the terrific effort put in by Roger King, yet again, we've had five mid-week lunches and six mid-week runs and I can tell you that they've all been terrific, thank you Roger! Very well done! Apart from the mid-week runs this section has also hosted John's Spring Run, Chris' Ride out to Another Club Run, Roger's Arthur King Run, the Pie and a Pint Night Run, the Albert Brown Run, Dave and Nigel's Autumn Gold Run and Bryan's Curiosities Run. I think I can say that they've all been thoroughly enjoyed by the participants, thank you so much to those run organisers. As well as all of this we've had the fish and chip evening, the Ride Your Bike to Shefford night and of course the Car Park Concours. There are many thankless tasks carried out by members of this Section, so tonight I’d like to take this opportunity to actually thank a great team of people that have brought this smorgasbord of fun to us. First of all Bryan for his very hard work as Chairman, nothing is ever too much trouble for him, and what a great example he sets to us all with his high-mileage Triumph riding. Bryan of course also makes out the monthly reports for the Club Journal, it’s always witty and very entertaining stuff. Thanks to Dave for his never-ending hard sell raffle work, Nigel for the labour he puts in with the archive section, the projector and other hi-tech stuff that the rest of us struggle with. Bob for keeping us on the straight and narrow financially, Will for the quiz questions extraordinaire and continual website upkeep, Chris for the very welcoming committee venue and hospitality, also big thanks go to both Geoff and John, our long serving Committee stalwarts. Finally, I'd like to remind us all of one man's quiet backroom work that has gone on all year. He's worked his socks off in that kitchen, pouring teas and coffees, buttering bread for the Fish and Chip nights, organising the Quiz grub and generally kept us all well fed and full of cheer. In recognition of all of that hard work I'd like to call on our very own Galloping Gourmet, Mr Martin Brookman to come on down and accept the shield for 2011 - Well done Martin! (Applause) |
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Treasurer's ReportThis will be available soon. 13th November 2010 to 10th November 2011
Note:Fish & Chip evening paid for from raffle takings
Balance for year: - £2.34 Petty cash brought forward: £68.00 Cash in bank: £620.02 Total section funds: £685.68 |
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