Minutes of an Extra ordinary General meeting of Grimsby Archers, held at Waltham Library meeting room, Waltham on Tuesday 25^th February 2003

Chairman Kelvin Oldham opened the meeting at the appointed time of 7:30pm

Those present at the meeting were: Harold Frayne, Keith Gower, Ralph Greenbury, James Kent, Chris Light, Andrew McArthy, Eddie McHardy, Kelvin Oldham, Sheila Oldham, Chris Petchey, Liz Petchey, John Quinn, John Rodger, Richard Seddon, Ian Sherratt, Glen Smith, Val Taylor, Jeff Tucker, Eddie Turner, Alan Vine, Rory Campbell, Neil Taylor, Paul Tucker and Chris Whitworth.

Apologies received from Tony Beech, Carl Breeze, Andrew Harrison, Ged Sherratt, Dave Tomlinson, Lorraine Tomlinson, Adam Beckett, Bradley Goodhand, Sam Jones and Aaron Thompson.

Postal vote received from Graham Crampin.

Late arrivals Ashley Beckett

The chairman started by thanking those present for attending and explained that although the secretary would go into detail about the issues that the meeting was called to resolve, the committee had not reached its recommendation lightly. He then passed over to club secretary Chris Petchey

The secretary reported to the meeting that a reply had been received from GNAS which stated that GNAS were not prepared to insure the club room as it didn’t meet the minimum requirements for safety. Since no other insurer had been found willing to insure the club room, this meant the club is operating with no public liability insurance. This presents a dangerous situation for the members as they are all liable for the club's debts in case of a successful personal injury claim against the club.

The secretary continued that due to the rising costs of the club room, coupled with some major loss of income, namely money paid to the club to allow Alan Finegans group to make use of it, meant that the current account had been steadily whittled away for the last few years, and this year would see the pot empty, despite an increased membership and increased membership fees. The big imminent cost being the council tax which was to increase by some 10%

It was these two insurmountable facts that had led to a meeting of the committee and shooting representatives. At that meeting, those assembled formulated a recommendation to all ties with the club room and it was decided that an extra-ordinary general meeting of the club members must be called to vote on the recommendation.

At the end of his presentation, the secretary invited questions from the membership and asked if anyone had any alternative proposals, or wished to speak "in defence" of the club room. Eddie Taylor asked what the period of notice would be on the club room, and what the clubs liability would be during that period. He also commented that he was not willing to remain a member unless the current situation were to be resolved. The treasurer replied that the notice period was 3 months, but felt certain that if we were to pay 3 months rent in lieu of notice and terminate the agreement immediately, this would absolve the club of any liability.

A few members asked what was to become of the equipment in the clubroom, whether the landlord would want it removing immediately, how this could be achieved and where the equipment was to be stored. The general feeling expressed was that most of it could go straight to the council tip via a low cost hired van and a few willing helpers. It was finally agreed that the treasurer should investigate the landlords position regarding the items being left in the club room, before any move to empty it was made.

With no further question or suggestions forth coming from the members, the secretary suggested that the recommendation be put to a vote and explained that the committee had decided to hold a secret ballot to remove any problems of peer pressure that are present in a "show of hands" vote. Ballot slips were handed out to the senior and junior members present who were entitled to vote. Once collected in and counted, the secretary announced that the result was unanimous to accept the recommendation.

John Rodger proposed a motion that it should be recorded in the minutes of the meeting that members should not be going into the club room at any time after the meeting was concluded. This motion was seconded by Andrew McArthy, and in a show of hands vote, there was one vote against and one abstention, so the motion was declared carried by majority vote.

With no other business to carry out, the chairman thanked the members for attending and declared the meeting closed at 8:30pm