ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2009

The Trust’s Annual General Meeting  took place at Edington Village Hall on 25 April 2009, with 54 members attending.
The Chairman welcomed members to the meeting. Reviewing the past year he referred to problems of  misinformation being circulated . This was undermining the work of the committee and bringing stress to its members. He stressed that far more volunteers were needed from the membership to enable the Trust to remain viable.
The following matters were subject to discussion at the meeting:

• There had been a communication from a member disputing the accuracy of the Minutes of the 2008 AGM due to the omission of a letter of competent business .He requested that this letter be appended to the minutes, on being put to the vote his proposal was agreed.
• It was noted that the Membership Secretary, Ian Briggs, had relinquished his post and Terry Dart had taken over the duties. The Trust currently has about 700 members.  Overall membership is falling which is a cause for concern. A discussion took place as to ways to encourage prompt renewals of membership and the recruitment of new members.
• It was reported that the Trust had lost the services of the Archivist, Dr Peter Cattermole and the Chairman thanked him for his many years of service.
• A discussion took place about the Trust Journal, the Pines Express, including the frequency and size of issues and the costs involved. It was agreed that in future the Editor could use items from the Yahoo Group . He pleaded for articles to be submitted to him so that he could maintain the current 20 page issues.
• Much work was needed to update and revamp the Website, the Chairman asked for volunteers to assist in this work.
• The programme of events and publicity items undertaken on behalf of the Trust during the past year was reported to members. A member raised the fact that 2010 marked the 150th anniversary of the railway opening to Blandford.
• A discussion took place about the clearance of scrub and its effect on wildlife at Washford. The issue had been satisfactorily dealt with in discussions with Somerset Nature.
• A report was received from the Area Group Co-ordinators of the Bath and the Bridgwater & South Somerset Area Groups. Brian Parnell had retired as Co-ordinator of the Hampshire Group  but Rosie Jacob will take over the role.
• A report was received on the presence of the Trust’s sales stand at various events.
• Liaison meetings with other S & D related trusts continued.
• Thanks were given to all the volunteers who had helped in the shop and museum at Washford in the past year. Volunteers were still needed and members were asked to come forward with offers of help.
• Developments at Washford were reported although progress had been slow and development of the museum had been put on hold until the Forward Plan had been formulated. Continued digitisation of the archives had been slowed following the departure of the Archivist. A replacement for the post is urgently needed. A discussion covered the need to appeal more to the general public and the need for more storage space. Concern was expressed about continued access to items which might be displaced by any redevelopment of the museum. The ownership of Kilmersdon was in the process of being transferred to the Trust.
• The photo collection was in the process of being handed over to Keith Barrett for identification and cataloguing.
• Progress was reported on vehicle restoration and an appeal made for more volunteers to come forward. An alternative would be to put the work out to contract.
• The committee will consider the future of the remains of the Wells brake van as there is no space or volunteers to carry out restoration.
• No.88 was to undergo her annual inspection at the members Open Day. Since the problems caused following the rail-head grinding on the WSR the locomotive had had its tyres turned at the West Somerset Railway’s expense.
• A team of 6 was now working on wagon restoration. The 12 ton open wagon had now been restored , the side doors of the CCT had been replaced ,the Road Van was next into the Works and this was to be followed by the Fruit D.
• The Treasurer presented the Annual Accounts stating that the Trust held its own with income. Sales were good and expenditure on the Museum was down. In answer to a question it was reported that the new CCTV system at Washford would cost around £5,000. A member  asked for reassurance that the Trust had not lost financially due to the downturn in the financial market. The Treasurer replied that the Trust had not lost on capital although interest was reduced. A report was also made on the Trust’s investments. All were reported to be giving good interest. The Annual Report and Accounts were adopted by a majority vote.
• Martyn Stroud was re-appointed Independent Examiner for 2009/
• Roger Newport and Andrew Naish were standing down from the committee and David Wright from the Curator post but he was continuing on the committee. The Chairman thanked them all for their hard work. The remaining honorary officers and committee members were willing to stand for re-election.There were no nominations for Secretary or Curator. The committee nominations were : Paul Guppy, Rosie Jacobs, Andrew Marsh, George Moon and David Wright. As the Trust would be unable to function without a Secretary, a ten minute adjournment was proposed to resolve the issue. Following this Ian Young was proposed as Secretary and an en-bloc vote was taken and all the committee proposals were elected. Ian Young said he hoped the Trust would move forward with development and healing.
• The date of the next meeting ws set for 24th April 2010 at Edington Village Hall.
• The annual raffle was drawn and prizes presented to the winners of the Modelling Competition.
• The consultant engaged to formulate the Forward Plan presented his initial recommendations to the committee to the Annual General Meeting. A number of questions were asked and dealt with. The Chairman said that a summary of the presentation would appear in the Pines and members would be asked to comment. It was also agreed that the presentation would be placed on the members section of the Trust’s website.  A future report would be considered by the committee. The  Chairman reminded members that the Trust had 10 years left on its lease at Washford.
• The Chairman thanked the ladies who had provided refreshments for those attending the meeting. This was met with warm applause from all those present.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING PHOTOGRAPHS

The Mike Palmer Trophy, judged by Dave Wright, was awarded to John Wakeman for his 4mm scale model of an S&D class 7F 2-8-0.

The Modelling Cup, judged by the members present, was awarded to Andy Watson for his 4mm scale model of an LMS 6-wheel coach.

The Photographic Competition, judged by Dave Wright, was won by David Milton with a photograph of S&DJR 2-8-0 No. 88.

Photographs (c) Andrew Marsh, David Milton and John Wakeman