Carlisle and District Rambling and Fellwalking Club Annual General Meeting
27 January 2023
Minutes Of the Meeting
32 members attended
Apologies received from Judy Cherry, Barbara Bell, Barbara Eden, Ken Halliday and Ann Halliday
A minute’s silence was observed for club members who had passed away during the past 12 months: David Roberts; Fred Blundell; Alan Nash; Cynthia Mackay
All were long standing members of the club and are sorely missed.
Chairman’s Welcome:
John Mackay welcomed everyone to the meeting.
He reflected what had been a difficult year in some respects and felt that the fortunes of the club were still recovering form the pandemic and lockdown. He thanked all of the walk leaders for continuing to lead the Sunday and Wednesday walks. As well Peter Flynn for his Tuesday group rambles. The rising cost of the coaches and the fall in numbers joining the coach walks had meant that coach walks had reduced to one per month and for most of the time coaches were being run at a loss. However this had been offset to some extent by increasing the coach fare and overall the losses were sustainable. It was generally felt that the coaches were an important part of the club’s activities and he hoped that in time it might be possible to increase the frequency of coach walks.
He thanked Graham Bell for his service to the club in organising the annual club holidays for the past 20 years and noted that the annual holidays would continue.
He also thanked the other committee members for their support and commitment to the club in past 12 months.
Minutes Of 2022 AGM
Minutes were approved by general consensus without a formal vote being carried out.
Reports from the Club Committee:
Treasurer
Christine Milton presented the club accounts, which have been audited by Roger Tringham. Overall the club made a small surplus, which compared favourably with the loss of the previous two-year period. It was also noted that the club has raised more than £1300 in the past year donated §to various good causes through the generosity of the members. Generally the clubs finances remained sound with a healthy reserve.
The accounts were accepted.
Membership Secretary
Stephen Parker reported to the meeting that there had been a small decline in numbers with some members not renewing membership. The club had recruited some new members most of whom seemed to have found out about the club through the website. There had also been some response to the publicity promoting the coach walks and responses following a local radio programme feature.
The committee would be happy to receive ideas and suggestions from club members
He reminded everyone that the deadline for renewal was March 31st and that if paying by BACS they should also let him know by email when they had paid. Members who did not pay before this date would have to rejoin and pay the additional £15 joining fee.
Walk Secretary. Ian Rowley thanked all the walk leaders who had volunteered walks He commented that it was harder to get walk leaders for Sundays but the Wednesday group had started setting up regular planning sessions to agree the Wednesday walks which had proved to be successful
A map reading session had been held in the previous autumn and he hoped it would encourage some new faces to come forward As always there is plenty of support available if anyone wants to have a go at leading a walk for the first time.
There was a question from the floor asking if it was still okay for older club members to join the coach even if they were not able to walk. The committee confirmed that this was still the case.
There was also a reminder quest the hard copies of the walk programme could be sent out to members if requested.
Safety officer
Pete Rutland feedback that there hadn’t been ant serious incidents to report but he did want to remind walkers of the etiquette of not getting in front of the walk leader. In response to several requests he was still looking to provide a First Aid awareness course and had spoken with a representative from one of the Mountain Rescue teams. Anyone interested should keep an eye on h the club website.
There was a question from the floor about the club’s insurance. It was explained that it did not cover any accidents or injuries and that the club rules state that walkers join walks at their own risk. The insurance indemnified the club against any claims that might result form actions such as leaving gates open or any subsequent damage as a result.
Members were also reminded that their membership card had a space for emergency contact details and it was strongly recommended that they completed this section in case of an emergency on a walk.
Donations and Subscriptions
The committee proposed to continue to make donations to the Air Ambulance, Mountain Rescue and Fix the Fells. Each organization would receive £150. It was also proposed to keep membership fees at the same level.
The committee proposed to keep Membership and subscriptions at the current amounts but as always this would be kept under review.
Election for positions on the committee
There were no nominations for any of the Committee posts and the current incumbents were happy to continue.
It was noted that there was still a vacancy for a Social Secret ary to help organize the winter social evenings
Any Other Business
Meeting Closed
AGM Minutes
Carlisle & District Rambling & Fellwalking Club
affiliated to hfholidays
