Minutes of 28th Annual General Meeting of the West Central Region of the Caravan
and Motorhome Club held by zoom on 12th October 2024 at 12 Noon.
The meeting was called to order at 12.02pm
The Secretary introduced the officers of the Region
Mr Martyn Prince
Regional Chairman,
Mrs Caz Fleet
Treasurer
Mrs Carolyn Aberley Secretary
Mr Greg Potter
Vice Chair of Club
1. Notice convening the meeting:
The chairman asked the secretary to read the notice convening the meeting.
The secretary duly read the notice convening the meeting and informed the meeting
that the notice of being published in the Caravan and Motorhome Club magazine, and
that advance notice of the meeting had been circulated by constituent Centres of the
West Central Region to their members, by means of their Facebook pages and
webpages and on the regional Facebook page.
A show of hands confirmed that the notice have been properly posted and read.
2. Chairman’s Welcome
The chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting and explained that the meeting was
open to all members of the Caravan & Motorhome Club, but only members residing
in the West Central area plus those duly registered as members of the Cheshire and
Worcestershire Centres, the Caravan Club officers are nominated in accordance with
the constitution were entitled to speak and vote.
3. Apologies for absence.
Apologies received from Mr Dave Turner CAMC Chairman who is away on Club
business, Mr John Leffley Executive Member, Mr Paul Bedworth Past Chairman
Cheshire Centre and Mr David Orr.
There were no apologies from the floor.
4. Minutes of the 27th Annual General Meeting held on 14th October 2023
Minutes of the previous annual general meeting has been distributed to all members in
advance. The chairman asked if the minutes could be taken as read and that they were
a true record of the meeting
Proposer Mike Tolley Seconder Caz Fleet
The chairman, then took a hand vote for acceptance of the minutes. All in favour.
The chairman signed the minutes
Matters arising from the minutes.
There were no matters arising from the minutes.
5. The Chairman ‘s Report
SPEECH Ref. NEW CONSTITUTION
As most of you will know by now there has been a review process underway with the
primary aim of creating a single constitution across all Regions and Divisions.
Other aims included making changes to a Region or Division’s council structure and
more broad changes affecting the Region/Division’s role in communicating with and
assisting Centres by helping Centres address any local issues and then attempting to
reach some resolution before escalating up to Governance. Such issues may include
promoting Centre Committee recruitment and offering guidance and support should a
Centre need to seek a merger with another Centre but, moreover, be proactive in early
days if a Centre appears to be having any problems. This is the new way forward in
communicating between Not a huge change but a distinctive new approach to the
lines of communication Centres and Club.
Historically, across the whole of the UK, there has been 4 different constitutions in
place – in England we have the Regions, then Scotland is a Division with its own
constitution and Ireland and
Welsh divisions each had their own, some AGM dates were at different times of the
year.
Now, we have just one constitution for all, and all will be working from the same song
sheet with consistency throughout.
As we know from previous changes such as the brand name and logo changes of any
kind are not universally popular but like the rebranding these changes are necessary
for the future of the club.
The Review group has consulted broadly with much analysis and deliberation. Their
findings have been approved by The Club’s Executive committee and it is hoped that
this simplified convention will be relevant in today’s Club and a clearer structure for
all Club members to follow.
So, significantly, from today we shall be known as the West Central Division.
And at all AGM’s across Regions and Divisions the new naming convention will be
adopted.
I have outlined how our Division will have a new operating scope but the changes
don’t stop there.
In order to attract volunteers to become active players and to make specific roles more
transparent new titles have been created.
Our Regional Council Officers will now be called a Division Team.
The Division will still have a Chair,
Vice-Chair becomes deputy chair,
Treasurer remains as the treasurer but
The Secretary will now be Division Administrator.
These four posts are elected annually, and they have the opportunity for assistance by
non-elected support.
A new position, again elected, is Division Digital Champion and up to two deputies,
non-elected, can join the team to help share this workload.
Two further changes in the new Team structure. First, Centre
Representatives have previously been two from each Centre and this will become one.
And, another name change, formerly called Independent Members where up to three
were allowed, now become Member Representatives, and the new Team can
accommodate up to 6.
As the name suggests, these Member Representatives should broaden the Team make
up and better assist in representing the views of the general Club Membership who are
non Centre Members.
This is then the summary of the key changes being made in changing Region to
Division.
The second phase for the review group is to see how Centre activity and operations
can be updated, again the primary objective will be to simplify, to unify and make
more accessible the Centre’s committee roles so that their existence can be
safeguarded in the future.
I will keep this part short as I could talk for ages but it’s been an honour to be your
regions chairman for the past three years, representing members at many varied club
events & meetings including our own successful question times at RAF Cosford & the
national waterways museum in Ellesmere Port. Thanks to all the committee members
and their families for their loyal support & our Officers Caz for being treasure for 7
years, Janet and this last year Carolyn for being our Secretary. And finally my wife
Wendy for her much encouragement support.
So it’s now time to turn the page and start a new chapter not of a region but of a
division.
The changes to our constitution has been approved by Club Executive Committee but
we need to see, a show of hands that it has been endorsed by this meeting.
Thank you
The chairman asked for the report to be accepted.
Proposal Wendy Prince
Seconded Caz Fleet All in favour.
There were no matters arising from the report.
6. Treasurers report.
Mr Chairman, ladies & gentlemen, good afternoon.
Copies of the regions accounts for the year ending 31st December 2023 have been
made available to you prior to this meeting.
These accounts were compiled in accordance with The Caravan & Motorhome Clubs
general letters to regions, section 5, by Kendal Wadley of Worcester.
If you look at pages 2 & 3 showing our income & expenditure you will see that the
grant from The Caravan & Motorhome Club was £1600 plus £679 from our Question
time at The National Waterways Museum making our total income £2279. Our total
expenditure was £1073 leaving us with a surplus of £1206 for the year.
I would like to thank Kendall Wadley for their assistance in preparing these accounts.
As you are aware I am stepping down from the Regional Treasurer role, I took on the
position back in 2017 when Brian McMurray was chairman, then Terry Denslow and
more recently Martyn Prince. So thank you Martyn for your support over the last 3
years, and thank you to everyone who I’ve worked with, there are too many of you to
name! I have enjoyed my 7 years looking after the regional accounts but it’s time for a
fresh start for the new division. My biggest thanks go to my husband Kevin &
daughter Katrina for your support over the last 14 years whilst I have been a centre &
regional treasurer. You never know I might miss you all so much I’ll want to come
back for a new challenging role within the Caravan and Motorhome Club. I wish the
new West Central Division all the best for the future.
This concludes my report which I hope meets with your approval.
Back to Mr Chairman.
Proposed by Janet Kelly
Seconded by Bill Taylor.
The chairman took a hand vote to accept the Treasurers Report. All were in favour.
The chairman sent thanks to the Treasurer for her report.
Mr Chairman explained that it is usual to present service plaques at this point, to
members who have served on regional Council. This is not possible to do over zoom,
but he offered his sincere thanks to the committee members for their support and
practical knowledge given freely to the Regional Council. Plaques will be given as
people are seen.
7. Elections.
The chairman announced that we had now arrived at appointed a meeting for the
election of the Division Team Officers for 2024/2025 and declared all positions
vacant. He handed over chairmanship to Mr Greg Potter Executive Vice Chairman to
conduct the election, who thanked the committee from the Executive in particular
Martyn and Caz.
a)
Division Chair
There that has only been one nomination for the position of chairman that
being Mrs Janet Kelly who is duly elected
b)
Deputy Chairman
There were no nominations received for the position of vice chairman so no
one elected at this point, but if a volunteer emerges the they can be co-opted
c)
Treasurer
There has only been one nomination for the position of treasurer that being Mr
Mike Tolley, who is duly elected and
d)
Administrator
There has only been one nomination for the position of Secretary that being
Mr Keith Hardell who is duly elected.
After the elections Janet Kelly chaired the rest of the meeting.
5
8. Appointments
a)
Division Member Representatives
Mr Mark Lloyd Mr Martyn Prince
Proposed by Carolyn Aberley Seconded by Mike Tolley
b)
Webmaster
The chairman took a hand vote for the continued cooperation of Julian into
this role.
All were in favour.
9. Delegates to Club Council and Division Forum
a)
The chair explained to the meeting that she would be one of the Division’s
representatives to the Council meetings as required by the constitution. Three
need to be sent to Division Forum in January.
b)
Prior to the meeting. Mike Tolley had said that he would be a delegate at the
forum, as had Mr Keith Hardell.
Approved by all present.
10. Appointment of Auditors
The chairman asked the Treasurer to announce the auditors for 2024/25.
The treasurer recommended Kendall, Wadley and Co. of Worcester to be auditors for
the forthcoming year again.
This was approved by all present.
11. Any Other Business
Martyn: Change of name, all agreed last year and adopted. But social media
rebranding is not until Christmas – why was it not done foe A.G.M weekends?
Greg: Approval after A.G.Ms and the Scottish agreement was not resolved until
May/June. He will take back to Emma. Should all be in place for Question
Times/early spring.
Greg thanked the outgoing committee – Martyn, Caz and Carolyn for all their work
and the incoming Division who will take Club forward.
Club finds it difficult to recruit volunteers, this is a society issue. For clubs to run for
the benefit of everybody, need people to give up their time voluntarily.
Less auditing of accounts would be beneficial. Recruits to help some positions, would
make jobs less cumbersome
Division can ‘shout’ to Executive if they need support.
Next A.G.M – Saturday 11th October 2025 Venue and time to be arranged
Meeting closed at 12:28
