New Forest Cycle Rally AGM 29 July 2024 19.15 – 20.40
Apologies
Marie Cook, Richard & Claire Haworth, Dan & Jan Montgomerie, Dave & Jo Chaplin
The Chair welcomed everybody to the Rally calling out the nice weather & reminding rally goers that bike security on & off site was necessary due to locally active thieves.
The congratulations of the rally were given to Abigail Chaplin who was representing Scotland in a cycle competition which clashed with the rally.
Sharon also spoke of the sad loss of Bob Cooper an absolute stalwart of the rally for so many years who passed very recently & who had left a generous contribution to us in his final days.
Reports:
Treasurer
Rupert gave the Treasurers report and made the accounts available the Rally has a solid financial footing with similar income streams and expenses – accounts were circulated and no concerns were raised.
An action from last year was to investigate hiring a marquee to hold the barn dance in the rally field – this was looked into but the committee found it too expensive & an alternative hall was booked by David instead.
Rupert advised that accounts had been submitted to Cycling UK in accordance with their rules and thanked Richard Haworth for auditing over the past several years – Richard has now stood down & a new auditor was requested. Phil Barnes volunteered.
Rupert advised that the rally runs at a small loss each year & the meeting voted to increase the subs to £1 per adult per day of attendance.
The Treasurers report acceptance was proposed by Phil Barnes and seconded by Ingrid Harris
Website/Merchandise
Alastair had nothing to report about the website but still holds a small stock of cycling shirts asking anybody interested in a new jersey to make themselves known. The committee would also support resale if needed.
There is an opportunity for somebody to improve the website & both David Glazbrook & Holly Harris said they would be happy to support this.
Social Secretary
Anita advised that the Barn Dance had been very successful & the weeks plans included childrens time trials, yoga, a ride to the Isle of Wight for those interested & limbo cycling followed by a BBQ.
Secretary
Anna advised that the 2023 minutes had been published on the website and asked for any questions – there were none.
Site
David gave a Site report starting by thanking the campsite their team are working well with him.
He had a stock of flyers & cards for rally goers to hand out & expressed his own thanks to Bob Cooper who had taken a leading role in producing these.
While we are happy with this site there is a concern that we are now outside of the New Forest & not close to forest tracks, David is continuing to look at sites within the forest to see if there is a better fit. One possibility is the scout field on Braggers Lane however this is booked by scouts on the first weeks of the holidays & would mean moving our week to mid August. Alastair mentioned that Holmesly campsite are also open to discussion.
A vote was taken & 20 were in favour of staying at this site while 5 were against
The question was then put as to whether the meeting wished to give the committee a mandate to actively search for a new site.
During the discussion the older teenagers advocated strongly for a site that had more appeal to them
The meeting agreed that next years rally would return to this site but we should continue to look at other sites. David also recommended that rally goers promote the rally to friends as greater numbers of attendees will make us a more attractive proposition to sites.
Elections
All existing Committee members except the Social Secretaries were willing to stand, and nobody stood against
Bridie Harris offered to stand as Social Secretary nobody stood against
The election of all roles was proposed by Ingrid Harris & seconded by Maureen Flint
Chair Sharon Clifford
Secretary Anna Russell
Treasurer Rupert Harris
Site Organiser David Haward
Web master Alastair Petrie
Youth member Holly Harris
Social Secretary Bridie Harris
The Meeting accepted all nominations unanimously.
Any other business
Ingrid proposed thanks to the Committee & Sharon thanked all attendees she also requested more ride leaders & encouraged GPX route sharing (now in a WhatsApp group under the community) and the meeting ended at 8.40 with no other business.
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