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2004 AGM Minutes

Mike Anslow - August 2004
Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the Merlin Rocket Owners' Association held at Looe Sailing Club on Monday 23rd August 2004 at 8.00 p.m.


1. Notice of Meeting
35 Full Members of the Association and 1 Associate Member were present and signed the attendance list.

2. Apologies for absence
Apologies were received from Steve Watson and Magnus Smith.

3. Minutes of the AGM held at Abersoch on 25th August 2003
Dan Alsop proposed that the minutes of the AGM held in 2003 be accepted, and this was seconded by Judith Massey. The proposal was carried unanimously.

4. Chairman's report
Pat Blake said it had been a privilege for him to have been Chairman of the Merlin Rocket Class Association. He found it difficult to judge whether the Class was doing very well or not. The Class was growing and the turnout for the Championships was the same as last year, but the numbers at some Silver Tiller events so far had been a little down on last year. The number of new boats built was around the same (12 - 15 a year), and the number of Merlins at some clubs had improved recently - particularly Whitstable, Parkstone, Starcross and Tamesis. Overall he felt things were quite good, though we needed to sell the Class harder.

Many members of committee had worked very hard on behalf of the membership and some had done so for a long while. Three committee members were retiring at this meeting - Jennie King, Paul Gilbert and Julian Parry. Approaches had been made to other Association Members to join committee, and Richard Whitworth (northern Area Representative), William Warren (2005 Championships organiser), Rob Wilder and Alex Jackson had agreed to serve and would be co-opted by committee at the next meeting.

Pat thought the routine administration of the Class was going very well, but he felt we needed someone to bring in sponsors and raise the profile of the Class and he had asked Alex to take on this role. The Class was in good shape, but we should not be complacent.

5. Treasurer's report
Demelza Mitchell said that a full report had been published in the summer issue of the Class magazine. There were no questions and Paul Davies proposed the adoption of the accounts. This was seconded by Graham Williamson and the proposal was carried unanimously.

6. Appointment of Auditor
Demelza Mitchell said that Peter Austen had stepped in this year when our auditor, Clare King, had fallen ill. Simon Blake proposed that Peter Austen be elected Association Auditor, and this was seconded by Dave Winder. The proposal was carries unanimously.

6a) Membership report
Demelza Mitchell said we had gained 61 new Members this year. A number of these had bought older boats and were club sailors. There had been 19 resignations, and 54 Members had not paid for the current year, including 13 who had paid their subscriptions at the old rate. She said that any help in encouraging sailors to join the Association would assist greatly in expanding the membership.

7. Election of Officers of the Association
Pat Blake proposed that the following be appointed to the relevant offices for the next year: -
Mike Anslow as Honorary Secretary
Demelza Mitchell as Honorary Treasurer
Judith Massey as Honorary Keeper of the Class Records
Graham Williamson seconded these nominations. The meeting voted unanimously in favour of these appointments.

8. Election of Committee Members of the Association
Pat Blake proposed the election of Chris Martin, who had been co-opted onto committee during the year. Mike Anslow seconded this proposal, which was carried unanimously.

Pat Blake proposed the re-election of the following members who were up for re-election after 3 years on committee: - Dan Alsop, Andy Jones, Dave Lee, Hywel Bowen-Perkins, Will Rainey, Lawrence Tosh, Steve Watson and Graham Williamson. He pointed out that Jennie King's name had been included in the Agenda for this meeting, but she had since offered her resignation. Mike Anslow seconded the proposal, which was carried unanimously.

9. Any other business

SPONSORSHIP
Simon Blake asked whether the Class Rules could be changed to allow some advertising on boats. This would help younger, less well off sailors afford to sail. At present we were a 'Category A' Class. 'Category C' allowed unlimited sponsorship, but the Class could advise ISAF of the limitations we felt appropriate. He had been prompted to bring this subject up because Magic Marine had been surprised the Class didn't allow sponsorship. Rob Wilder thought this would offer a good opportunity of raising the profile of the Class. Dan Alsop thought we were lucky to have a good number of younger sailors in the Class, and we ought to help younger people afford to sail Merlins so long as advertising was kept within bounds.

Andrew Mills thought the issue was one of control - we needed to maintain control within the Class. Simon replied that the Class could draft the Rules and get the agreement of ISAF. Paul Gilbert felt that advertising or sponsorship of individual boats could be divisive and produce the 'haves' and 'have nots'. Mike Calvert felt there was an impression outside the Class that we were a bunch of "old farts" sailing very expensive boats. What did good young sailors think about our Class? Matt Winder suggested that the Class could set up a Foundation managed by committee to disburse funds.

Paul Davies said that personal sponsorship might deter those young sailors who had no sponsorship, and Nick Turner thought individual boats could look messy with sponsorship stickers on them. Hywel Perkins pointed out that a lot of youngsters joined the Class mainly through crewing and many didn't want to turn up at an event like the Championships in an older boat. This was now a younger fleet than it was a few years ago.

The discussion then went on to deal with event or series sponsorship. Tony Blackmore said event sponsors needed to be given value for money. Younger sailors liked to sail in a "party" class, but from his point of view he felt the sponsor was likely to be interested in the whole class. Matt Winder said sponsors would give money if youngsters were involved, but many youngsters were sailing borrowed boats. Dave Winder thought that corporate sponsorship of the Class could be messy - e.g. the Fireball class which was sponsored by both Musto and Typhoon.

From the debate Pat Blake thought that most had been in favour of individual sponsorship being allowed. He thought that this was a subject that committee should consider. Paul Davies suggested that the magazine or Forum could be the place for further discussion on the subject. Pat pointed out that any change in the Rules couldn't be agreed before the next AGM.

AGM
Tricia Scroggie asked whether the Championship Week was the right time and place to hold the AGM. Why shouldn't it be held at Salcombe? Pat Blake said that committee had discussed this after the last AGM, when it had been raised by Alan Warren, and we had felt that Salcombe was more of a holiday week. Mike Calvert said there would be a broader spectrum of the fleet at Salcombe. Paul Davies thought the AGM was about the membership, and there were only 65 boats at Looe as against 90 at the recent Salcombe Week. A straw poll taken of those present showed that a number of people were in favour of the idea.

Dan Alsop thought attendance at the AGM was a cultural thing - there used to be a much greater sense of responsibility for running the organisation. Should we hold AGMs electronically in future? Hywel thought that a consequence of holding the AGM at Salcombe would be to slow down development of the Class.

Graham Williamson suggested that the AGM be held at Salcombe for one year to see if it was successful. Pat Blake said committee would consider the matter.

Demelza Mitchell said she had plenty of Class clothing and other 'goodies' for sale.

Dan Alsop rounded off proceedings by proposing a vote of thanks to Jennie King for her sterling work in arranging the fixture list for many years, to Paul Gilbert, especially for his work in organising a great Championship Week, and to Julian Parry for his work as Northern Area representative. He then proposed a particular vote of thanks to Pat Blake, a quiet man who had brought something special to the job of Chairman over the past 2 years. Members of Hampton SC also wished to congratulate Pat on the way he had led the Class as Chairman over the last couple of years.

Pat replied that he really hadn't wanted to take on the job, but he had enjoyed it immensely and he wished to thank the whole Class for the huge support he had received.