Held at Dinton Pastures Country Park Centre, Winnersh, RG10 0SU, 18th December 2007 at 8 pm (this meeting was called because the meeting held on 21st November 2007 was not quorate)
The President, Mr Gordon Langsbury in the Chair. The meeting was adjourned for 30 minutes as the quorum (50 members) was not present at 8 pm. The meeting was commenced at 8.30 pm with 14 members present following paragraph 7.6 of the constitution.
Apologies for absence: apologies had been received from Robert Gillmor, Martin Sell,
Minutes of meeting held on 22nd November 2006 and a Special General Meeting held on 21st March 2007 were approved and signed by the President.
Matters arising: The President noted that the change of name of the Club, approved at a special General Meeting on 21st March 2007, had been effected.
Honorary Treasurer’s Report and the Club Accounts: John Roberts presented the Club accounts for 2006/7, which were unanimously approved by the meeting. He believed that the Club was in a sound financial position and did not intend to propose an increase in subscriptions for next year. Separate accounts were provided for the “Birds of Berkshire Conservation Fund”, a restricted fund managed by the Club. It was noted that under the new Charities Act, a Club with income or expenditure exceeding £10,000 is required to submit its accounts to “external scrutiny”, but not required to submit audited accounts unless its income or expenditure exceed £100,000. However, audit is a requirement of the BOC constitution. Don Reid, the Club’s Auditor, was thanked for his work and reappointed for the 2007/8 year. Colin Wilson was congratulated on the growing income he was generating from the records database.
Election of Officers and Committee: the Executive Officers (Chairman, Neil Bucknell; Secretary, Renton Righelato; Treasurer, John Roberts) being eligible had offered themselves for re-election. There being no other nominations, the meeting unanimously approved the appointments. The Secretary noted that no Committee members were due to retire by rotation and no nominations had been received. The President thanked the Officers and Committee, noting in particular the work done by Ruth Angus to promote the Club and recruit members.
Report of Chairman and Officers: The Chairman, Neil Bucknell, noted that membership continued to grow, reaching 327 members (263 membership units) in September 2007. There had been a full programme of indoor and outdoor meetings, though, despite membership growth, attendance at indoor meeting had been static for several years. The Chairman and Secretary had tried to address concerns raised by the Newbury District Ornithological Club at the change of our name to “Berkshire Ornithological Club” in a memorandum of understanding and were awaiting feedback from the NDOC. Neil concluded, thanking the other officers and committee members for their hard work and advice through the year.
Ted Rogers gave a brief review of the excursions programme, which had included many excellent trips and a full mid-week programme, and he thanked the leaders on behalf of the Club.
Colin Wilson, Report Editor and Records Co-ordinator, was unable to be present, but he had provided a list of highlights of the year’s bird records, which was read by Renton Righelato.
The Committee was asked to readdress the issue of the quorum. While some members thought that a lower quorum should be set, others felt that this would not be good governance and inappropriate with a growing membership. It was suggested (i) that higher attendance would be likely if a popular speaker or event were held in conjunction with the AGM; (ii) a provision for proxy votes counting towards the quorum should be considered.
Because of the low attendance, it was thought particularly important that the reports to the AGM be communicated to members through the Newsletter.
The President closed the meeting at 9 pm.