Annual General meeting of West Dorset Branch of CAMRA
The Colliton Club, Dorchester
16th September 2009
Apologies for Absence 19 members attended the meeting. Apologies were received from Darren Batten, Jacky & Andrew Follett, Nick Holland, David Plater, Dave & Steve Randall, Paul Smith, John Buckley (Wessex RD)
Minutes of the last AGM The secretary apologized that the minutes of the last AGM were not available.
Matters Arising In the absence of the last minutes items will be dealt with as they occur in the agenda.
Election of Officers The Chairman stated that as there had been no new candidates and the members of the existing committee were all willing to continue he proposed that the committee was elected en bloc. Thanks were expressed to Vanessa Hartigan who has had to step down from membership secretary for personal reasons. The Secretary will carry out these duties until a volunteer comes forward.
The current committee is: Dave Harris – Chairman/Webmaster Tony Egerton – Secretary/Branch Contact/BLO Dorset Brewery-(acting Membership Secretary) Alastair Tillotson – Treasurer Alex Bardswell – Campaigns/Cider Rep Richard Gabe – Social Secretary/BLO Palmers Pete Hammond – Tasting panel Chairman Michel Hooper-Immins – Committee/BLO Badger Allan Swannell – Committee Kelvin Nicholson – Committee Phil Livsey – Committee Frank Younghusband – Committee/BLO Art Brewery Jill Diggens – Committee/BLO Piddle Brewery Paul Smith – Heart of Wessex sub-branch
Carried
Chairman’s Report David remarked on the success of the branch which now runs three beer festivals annually. This in itself brings problems and David appealed for more members to help at these festivals as occasionally we could only just cope.
The Locale initiative was running in approximately 24 pubs now and members were urged to keep checking that the pubs are fulfilling the criteria – at least one well-kept, local beer to be available at all times.
The last local pub guide was produced in 2004 and David would like to see a new edition produced in the near future and he would also like to see the re-introduction of the branch newsletter. He left members to consider if they could help in this respect.
Treasurer’s Report The treasurer circulated his report for examination by the membership. He explained that the branch had contributed £2000 to central funds in the past year. A question from the floor queried why the branch held so much clothing stock. The Chairman replied that we were approaching the Octoberfest when the clothing was in great demand.
Post meeting note – We sold nearly £200 worth of clothing at the Octoberfest and will have to re-order most items.
Wessex Region Report As the secretary had been unable to attend the last two Regional meetings Michel Hooper-Immins was asked to briefly cover any Regional points. Michel briefed the meeting on current activities within Wessex. The difference in price of the Good Beer Guide to members as opposed to that charged by Amazon was discussed and the Secretary agreed to raise the matter with the Regional Director expressing our dissatisfaction.
Social Activities Rich is running a trip to the Bowman Brewery in Hampshire on Saturday 14th November, name asap to Rich. Another event to note is a proposed branch dinner at the Blue Raddle, again names of those interested to Rich. Rich congratulated Alex and Dave for the work they put in to make the inaugural Wykefest such a success and also thanked Tony for organizing the annual Maltings trip, now in its tenth year.
