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International Club Salobreña
Annual General Meeting
Hotel Salobreña
February 2nd 2011
1. Welcome and Apologies
The president, Mike Warrington, opened the meeting and thanked everyone for attending.
2. Minutes of 2010 Annual General Meeting
The minutes of the 2010 AGM were read to the meeting by the secretary, Margaret McNeill.
Proposed by Charlotte Whalley, seconded by Gordon Roberts, the minutes of the meeting were accepted. All in favour.
3. Matters Arising
There were no matters arising.
4. President’s Report
Mike Warrington gave the meeting a brief resumé of his first year as president of the club, how he became involved and how the ethos of the club – friendship – had been so effective in welcoming him and his wife Wendy, to the club.
It was explained how the year had been challenging, learning how the club was run and making sure that members were notified of events.
The president thanked everyone for their help and support particularly from the vice president, David Slocombe, the secretary, Margaret McNeill and the treasurer, Charlotte Whalley.
Mila Ramirez and Helen McCormack were thanked for their help as community liaison officers and for organising the eco cultural which had been overwhelmingly successful.
The eco cultural had had a great impact on the Salobreña community and provided donations to the Food Bank, gazebos and benches in the Parque Fuente.
Thanks were given to David Chapman who had volunteered to take over the organisation of the eco cultural but stressed that help was required and members were asked to continue to support as they had done during the last year.
The meeting was reminded that the club was now official, a bank account had been opened and the club now had statutes as a guide to how the club should be managed. There were official books for the minutes, accounts and list of members attending the AGM. Members were asked to ensure that the membership book was signed before leaving.
The membership of the club now stood at one hundred and forty three (143) paid members.
During the last year there had been a diverse range of events including a talk on Spies in Spain, water colour painting, self massage, charity work in India with a charity lunch provided by Mike and Jenny Comley and a very successful wine tasting presented by member Trudy Spencer.
Member, Sean Brown was introduced to the club and it was explained how Sean runs trips to various venues in Spain and how details of these trips were posted on the weekly newsletter together with Sean’s contact details.
Thanks were given to the Hotel Salobreña for the hospitality provided and for allowing us to use the Salon Saga for our talks and the AGM. The meeting was advised that a donation of €100 was given to the hotel to be divided between the staff. Approval was required from the meeting for this donation to be given.
It was queried as to whether the donation actually went to the staff and the meeting was advised that as far as was aware it did.
Proposed by David McNeill, seconded by Hilary Smyth it was agreed that the donation of €100 be given.
A programme of future events had been organised and once this had been finalised the members would be notified via the weekly newsletter.
The meeting was reminded that the club had a web site and it was recognised that it was a little slow but work was being done to improve this and regular maintenance work was required.
Finally the president offered his thanks to all members for their support and asked that any ideas for trips or other events be put forward to ensure that the club continued for many years to come.
5. Secretary’s Report
Margaret McNeill, the club secretary advised the meeting that she had enjoyed her first year as secretary and that Mike and the rest of the committee had been a pleasure to work with. She advised that much work had been undertaken to update the membership list and the e mail site and thanked her husband David McNeill for his help in doing this.
6. Treasure’s Report and Approval
Charlotte Whalley presented the accounts to the meeting.
The meeting was advised that money set aside for tree planting had not been used owing to the crisis and lack of funds within the ayuntamiento. Should the ayuntamiento ask for the funding for the trees at a later date a decision would have to be made by the club as to whether there was still an option to continue with the project.
There was a suggestion that money be spent on providing equipment in the park for children. A question was raised as to whether the club would be liable should anyone be injured whilst using the equipment but this would not be the case as it would be on land owned by the local authority. However the club does now have public liability insurance.
A bank account had been opened at the Caixa Bank in Salobreña and as in all banks in Spain there were fees for banking cheques.
The manager of La Caixa said that a contribution to the cost of a Community Project would be considered if a written request was made to the manager of the Salobrena Branch of the bank.
A question was raised as to the cost of the wine tasting but the meeting was advised that a profit had been made.
The issue of the subscription for club membership was raised. There was a discussion as to what the subscription should be if a member joined in October or November as it appeared inappropriate to charge the full fee for just two months.
Proposed by David McNeill, seconded by Chris Smith it was agreed that the fees remain at €10. All in favour.
Following discussion as to the subscription due from members joining in November, proposed by Paul Craddock, seconded by Karen it was decided that these members would be charged €10 but that this would be valid until December of the following year. All in favour.
There was confusion as to when the membership year commenced as the club reconvened after the summer break in September and some members thought that this was when the year commenced. The meeting was advised that the membership year ran from 1st January to 31st December.
There were a number of members who had not paid the subscription for 2010 and the meeting was advised that if the subscription was not paid by 31st March names would be removed from the membership list.
It was agreed that members would be advised of this and asked those members who would be returning to Spain later to let the president know that they wished to retain their membership of the club.
The treasurer advised that owing to personal commitments she was unable to continue as treasurer.
7. Community Liaison/ Eco Cultural Report
Helen McCormack advised the meeting she thought that a market in Salobreña would be a good idea after the closure of the Almuñeca market. It would help the club integrate into the local community and that the residents of the town would benefit. Helen wanted the club to be known to the community in the hope that relations would be enriched.
In order to obtain permission from the ayuntamiento to hold the eco cultural it was agreed that the club would contribute items to the park. Hence the gazebo and the benches.
There had been some opposition to the eco cultural but it was important that the club focused on providing a friendly event and this could be done by not allowing the eco cultural to become too big and therefore impersonal.
The ayuntamiento had asked if the club could provide paint to enable the boys who had dropped out of school a chance to learn a skill. It was proposed by the club that the boys could paint over the graffiti.
Permission had been granted by the ayuntamiento for the eco cultural to continue until May but it was thought that this would be extended to July.
Although willing to help Helen McCormack and Mila Ramirez were no longer able to organise the eco cultural and were therefore succeeded by David Chapman.
A vote of thanks was given to Helen and Mila for the organisation of the eco cultural.
8. Election of Officers
Mike Warrington was to continue as president.
David Slocombe had reluctantly resigned from the post of vice president.
Thanks was given to David Slocombe for the work he had done over the past year and the support given to the president.
Helen McCormack proposed, seconded by Wendy Warrington that David McNeill be nominated for vice president. All in favour.
Charlotte Whalley proposed, seconded by Teresa Roberts that Margo McNeill continued as secretary. All in favour.
Charlotte Whalley had resigned as treasurer due to personal commitments.
It was proposed by Chris Smith, seconded by Charlotte Whalley that David Chapman be nominated for the post of treasurer. All in favour.
Thanks was given to Charlotte Whalley for the work she had done as treasurer.
Linda Wainscoat, Mila Ramirez and Wendy Warrington were happy to continue to serve on the committee.
Proposed by Mervyn Smith, seconded by Gordon Roberts. All in favour
9. Handover
The meeting handed over to the new officers and the president, Mike Warrington, continued with the annual general meeting.
10 Any Other Business
It was requested that any new undertakings of the club should be put before the membership. It was understood that some members felt pressurised to give their time.
It was agreed that any new ideas would be included in the weekly newsletter therefore the members were given the opportunity to comment.
Volunteers were required if the eco cultural was to continue and a request was made that any members were to give their name and contact details to Dave Chapman if able to assist.
The question was raised as to whether a weekly newsletter was required because it took considerable time to write. The general opinion of the meeting was that a weekly newsletter was required.
The newsletter would therefore be simplified to include details of event and items for sale etc. and included on the web site.
Members who wished to attend the trip to the Olive Museum were requested to give their name to Dave Slocombe in order that the reservation for lunch at El Rio could be made.
A request was made that the list of e mail addresses for members be issued to all members. It was considered that this could be contrary to the Data Protection Act and also there were members who did not wish to have their details published.
The work of maintaining the web site had been given to a professional IT expert but it was recognised that nothing had been done on the site for the preceding six months.
Spike Ringwood and Paul Craddock both volunteered to look at the site to see how it could be improved and become more user friendly.
This item was to be included in the agenda for the first committee meeting.
There being no further business the meeting closed at 13.20. |
