AGM 2025-26

By EMD East Midlands | 2026-01-13

Minutes of the 2025 BRANCH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING  on Tuesday 13th January 2026 at 13.45h.

  1. Welcome by the Chairman

The Chairman welcomed the members present and briefly listed the key points of his review of the year which was  generally very positive, the main concern being the fact that we had had to halt our lucrative book sales operation. This was referred to more extensively in the Treasurer’s report.

We are unusual in holding two meetings per months during the “season” (most branches have just one)  and we believe our range of speakers and topics is as good as any. We have now switched all our meetings to 2pm (except for the Christmas social evening) which also has the benefit of being less expensive than hiring a room in the evening.

  1. Apologies for absence

Apologies were received from - Brian Harby

  1. Approval of the Minutes of the 2024branch AGM

Minutes of meeting of 14th January 2025 were approved by a show of hands, and acceptance was proposed by Brian Savage and seconded by John Wayman

  1. Secretary’s Report

The secretary reviewed the meetings so far in the 2025 session  He was congratulated on a varied choice of subjects. He noted that we have gained 14 new members since January 2025. The meetings held in the afternoons were well attended.

  1. Treasurer’s report

Robin Gibbons has been acting Treasurer for some months. The acting Treasurer noted that we now use internet banking to make payments. The acting Treasurer highlighted the significant shortfall between donations taken on the door and room/speaker costs. This is not a new situation but the absence going forward of the significant cash benefit of the book sales means that we will be overall cash negative because of  the significant shortfall between donations on the door and costs of the room and speaker.   While we have a significant cash balance and could continue much the same for several years, the acting Treasurer felt that we should make some effort to address the situation and had listed in his written report a number of possibilities of varying degrees of unattractiveness.

  1. Proposal to increase recommended minimum donation. The main adjustment proposed by the Committee was to increase the minimum recommended donation for meetings, to £3 (for members) and £4 (non-members), to take effect from September 2026. One member was strongly against the proposal, preferring to use our cash balance, also suggesting that the higher rates may well cause a decline in income due to attendees baulking at the new rates. One member felt the current level was too low. The increase was formally proposed by Bob Pearce and seconded by Brian Savage and was put to a vote by show of hands, with 17 being in favour and two against. Accordingly the new levels of minimum donation will take effect in September.
  2. Election of Officers

Chairman Robin Gibbons

Vice Chairman in abeyance

Branch Secretary Dave Coxon

Treasurer Robin Gibbons

Publication Sales & Exhibitions Chris Bush

Committee member John Wayman

As usual, there were no contested places. The above were elected en bloc by a show of hands. There were no votes against.

Rodney Allen has relinquished the role of Vice Chairman and was presented with a gift in recognition of his service to the Branch. It was decided not to appoint anyone to this office for the time being.

David Wright has left the Committee.

8 Any other business.

None

Date of next AGM 14thJanuary 2027

The meeting closed at 2.15 p.m.

 

 

Posted in EMD Meeting Report