NMC AGM Minutes

Wednesday 28th January 2015

Attending

Edward Sciberas (ES), Peter Smith, Paul Quin, Gary Brosnan, Martin Cooper, Sonia Byers, Dan Leadbitter, Derrick Cragg, Dorothy K Cragg, Doug Blackett, Jean Robson, Malcom Rowe, John Mountain, Steve Blake, Eva Diran(ED), Adrian Wilson (AW), Andrew Shanks (AS), John Dalrymple (JD), Ian Birtwistle (IB), Tom Curtis (arrived late), Grace Curtis (arrived late).

1 Apologies

Sarah Follman , Dave Hume, Tim Hakim, David Angel, Trevor Langhorne, Bill Renshaw, Alastair Boardman,John Spencer(JS), John Vaughan Jim Rigg,Richard Pow,Peter Flegg(PF), Stephen Porteus,Tommy Smith, John Earl, Chris Davis, Cliff Robson

2 Approval of Minutes of 2014 AGM

Minutes approved by JD, Seconded AW

3 Action Points and Matters arising

• No matters arising

4 Secretary's report

The committee's business to this year has been focused on improving services to members in four areas:

• New items in the meets rotation

• change in the apporach to the winter speaker's program

• New guidebook

• Streamlining communications

5 Treasurer's Report

• Income and expenditure

◦ Roughly £3k surplus to accumulated fund, representing an increase over last year's surplus – mainly due to social and guidebook changes, and change to Burnside agreement.

◦ Supscriptions down compared to last year due to decrease in membership and reduction in subscription fee.

◦ Largest chunk of expenses is the payment of BMC fees.

◦ The net cost of the winter social program is only around £100

◦ Guidebooks have made about £2k before tax. Treasurer expects to have to write off unsold guidebooks next year or the year after

◦ Burnside now charges individual climbers directly, rather than relying on the NMC to guarantee a minimum payment, so the winter's indoor climbing is now cost-neutral

◦ The away meets were generally well attended and covered their costs with one exception that makes the average worse than last year

◦ A £600 grant was received from the BMC for IT and has been used for improvements to the website

◦ The NMC still holds stock of T-shirts and hoodies

◦ £100 has been received from the BMC for equipment, this will be used to buy helmets that can be lent to new outdoor climbers

◦ Two hut items have been re-added

▪ Key deposits the return of which has been waived by the keyholders

▪ Corrected misrecorded hut fees.

• Balance Sheet

◦ Main assets are guidebook stock.

◦ Some assets on the balance sheet are very old, and due to be reviewed next year

• Q&A

◦ Martin Cooper raised the question of whether it is worthwhile for the club to spend more to attract more members. ED confirmed that attracting new members is a priority for the NMC.

◦ Paul Quin suggested a special focus on younger people and raised the possibility of additional training and sponsoring weekend meets.

6 Membership Update

• 117 full members and 26 prospective members as of last count.

• A number of members left when the NMC lost the hut. However, we have been actively recruiting new members and seen a recovery

• There are currently 4 under-18 or student members.

• Membership fee staying as it is

• We have been making efforts to encourage prospective to convert to full members and will continue to do more, including the recent initiative for individual committee members to take responsibility for contacting new members who fail to attend meets.

• Running the Get Outside meets has been a challenge, but the club has become more active in recent years

• The Winter Skills course and subsequent winter meets were well attended

• Good links have been established with the Cleveland Mountaineering Club.

• We have had joint meets with the Wanneys Climbing Club

• 24 people attended the New Members' meet at Raven Crag in Langdale

• The most underattended meet last year was the annual dinner at Battlesteads – this year we will have the annual dinner in Langdale.

• First winter meet of this season has been held at Mill Cottage and was fully booked.

• Martin Cooper proposed a New Members day meet in Northumberland

◦ IB plans to continue to improve the Get Outdoors program

• The possibility of hiring a minibus for events was raised

7 Guidebook report

• The Guidebook Editor's report was delivered on John Earl's behalf by John Dalrymple.

• Last year the route guide sold 112 copies compared to 98 in 2013

◦ Sales are still lower than in 2010

• Sales of the bouldering guide are up from 2013, but still below the level of 2010, 2011 and 2012.

• 2013's sales were low because of the Rockfax guide, but sales are now rallying

• Steve Blake is working on a new bouldering supplement

◦ the guide will be a series of downloadable pdfs

◦ 4 crag guides have been produced so far

◦ The new crags have been publicised in Climb and County Climber

◦ We are in contact with other teams who are developing new crags in the county

◦ Steve Blake plans multiple rounds of guide development to get varied photographs and grade feedback once interest is generated

8 Change to constitution and rules

• Line 8.1 to be changed to “Management of the club shall be vested in a committee consisting of 6 officers and up to 8 committee members.”

• Line 8.2 – rule 8 to be changed to “At a meeting of the committee a quorum shall consist of 5 members.”

• The primary reason for the changes is that without the hut, the financial risk and associated responsibility are lessened

• Accepted unanimously by 19 members present, short of quorum

9 Election of officers

• President: Ian Birtwistle

• Vice President: Steve Blake

• Membership Secretary: Adrian Wilson

• General Secretary: Andrew Shanks

• Treasurer: Eva Diran

• Magazine Editor: John Spencer

• Proposed by John Dalrymple,seconded by John Mountain.

Carried Unanimously

10 Committee members

• Ed Sciberas, Alastair Boardman and David Angel to remain

• Peter Flegg and John Dalrymple seeking re-election to the committee.

• Dan Leadbitter, Sonia Byers, Sarah Follman and Pete Hubbard standing for election.

• Proposed by Steve Blake, Seconded by Malcom Loweson, accepted unanimously.

• At this point, Tom and Grace Curtis arrived.

11 Vote of Thanks

• Thanks to John Dalrymple for long service as President and Vice President.

12 Any Other Business

• John Spencer wishes to make the club aware of changes to the County Climber

◦ The new software received from a BMC grant has allowed a new template that will accommodate more photographs.

◦ John is willing to provide guidance for those who want help writing articles

◦ John would welcome feedback on the magazine

• Martin Cooper expressed appreciation for the County Climber

• IB reiterated the club's developing plans to attract new members and called for suggestions on how to improve the club.