Royal Oak, Tabard Street, London.
Attendees: Steve Hunt (Chairman), Andy Burton, Graham Pearcey, Roy Garner, Clive Loader, Richard Barker, Phil Henstridge, Robin Stieber and Phil Nesbitt.
Apologies Pam and Adrian Smith, Peter Wicks, Ann Rochester, Jim Pruden, Clive Deverall.
The Chairman opened the meeting at 14.10 and welcomed all the attendees.
The minutes of the 2008 AGM held on 12th July 2008 were agreed unanimously as a true reflection of the meeting and signed by the Chairman.
The Chairman reported that it had been a disappointing year for the football club.
The Treasurer, Roy Garner, reported that the club was in a very healthy financial position with over £3,100 held in our bank account or in cash.
The Secretary, Phil Nesbitt, reported that no formal committee meetings had been held due to the problems of organising a date and venue where all the committee could attend. Any issues had been resolved via telephone calls or emails and a consensus reached.
The Membership Secretary, Pam Smith, was unable to attend the meeting. Due to ill health and other problems funds received for membership had not been paid into our bank account until recently. Due to this a full report was not possible. In general the number of members has further reduced from the previous year..
The Travel Advisor, Phil Nesbitt, reported that some rail trips were now organised from London, usually by Jim Pruden, but that the numbers travelling was very low. During the season a few exiles had made contact requesting advice and assistance in particular with rail bookings.
The Marketing Officer, Andy Burton, reported that sales for the year amounted to £112.50. The stock held has an estimated value of £4,000.00 of which £2,800.00 is past copies of Exiled! A copy of the stock held is attached.
The APFSCIL Representative, Richard Barker, reported again that we were not the only supporters club that was struggling for numbers. The internet and the abolition of the group travel facility had greatly reduced the need for supporters to join clubs. We continued to be unable to compete in any of the sports competitions due to lack of numbers and continue our membership to maintain visibility of the club and in case we need to make use of any20of the facilities that APFSCIL provide.
The Match Report Officers, Andy Burton (home matches) and Richard Barker (away matches), reported that all matches had been covered during the season although it took a while for some reports to be submitted to them. Their thanks was expressed to the regulars who write the majority of the reports. As stated last year more volunteers were required and a way of attracting these was needed.
Steve Hunt reported that a few competitions had been run last season and there were plans for an increased number this season.
The Pub of the Season Officer, Clive Loader, reported the winner for 2008/9 was the Briardene in Whitley Bay which was visited after the cup defeat away at Blyth Spartans. A copy of the full list of pubs can be found here.
The following were elected as the Officers of the AFC Bournemouth Exiles Club for 2009/10:
- Chairman Steve Hunt
- Treasurer Roy Garner
- Secretary and Travel Advisor Phil Nesbitt
- Membership Secretary Andy Burton
- Marketing Officer Andy Burton
- APFSCIL Representative Richard Barker
- Match Report Officers Andy Burton and Richard Barker.
- Competition Secretary Steve Hunt
- Pubs Officer Clive Loader
- Website officer Andy Burton.
The first five (different individuals) above would form the committee.
Any social events would be organised by the committee, volunteer or an appo inted person.
During the meeting a text was received from Joe Roach confirming his willingness to continue as our President and his pride in holding the post. Due to personal problems he had been unable to carry out the role for the past few months.
The level of Membership subscriptions was not discussed during the actual AGM as it was included in a much larger overall discussion during any other business.
The Exiles season ticket had continued to be well used despite the poor performance of the team at the start of the season. It was decided to continue to have an Exiles season ticket as it was one way of supplying funds to the club. It was decided to maintain the cost of using the season ticket by exiles at £16.00. This cost would also apply to other season tickets in our 'block' that were available for use as the holder could not attend the match.
The club website continues to receive a large number of hits and an income is received due to this. The website provider has recently altered the way that they measure these hits and it was not possible, at present, to give a clear figure of hits nor the income generated by these due to this..
No funds had been paid to the football club during the 2008/9 season due to the continuing financial problems of the club and the funds ending up being used for inappropriate purposes. Funds will continue to be withheld until the club is in a proven financ ial situation. The committee would decide when and if it was appropriate to forward funds to the club and by what method.
Any Other Business
A motion to express the clubs thanks to Pam Smith (and Adrian) for her years of hard work as Membership Secretary was proposed and passed unanimously. It was also passed that some flowers would be sent to her. The Secretary was instructed to arrange this.
Over the last few years in particular the membership of The Exiles Club has been falling. There are a number of reasons for this. The main ones are the availability of information on the internet and the increased number of people who have access to this, the privatisation of the railways has resulted in the demise of group travel (although cheap fares are available on many routes by booking early but this is easier for small groups) and sadly the recent poor seasons suffered by the football club.
The meeting held a lengthy discussion about the role of the Exiles Club and whether there needed to be changes. It was concluded that the following were benefits that we can offer to our members:
Obtain tickets for all ticket matches.
Enable members to sit with other exiles at home matches through our season ticket and other exiles' season tickets which they are not able to use.
Provide a website for news and match reports etc.
Advertise meeting places for away matches.
Provide assist ance and advice for exiles travelling to matches both home and away.
It was also concluded that there were several things that we did that were now no longer necessary. In particular the production of Exiled! entails a lot of work whereas all the information is already available on our website and the information is out of date when received by our members.
It was resolved that the Exiles Club will continue to exist but it was passed unanimously that the production of Exiled! will cease in both pdf and paper formats. It is realised that some members do not have internet access and that the lack of Exiled! may cause them to miss out on information. If this is advised to the committee a solution will be found. It was also resolved that no membership fees would be collected during 2009/10 as the production of Exiled! was our only real expense. However, this will be reviewed at the next AGM.
For 2009/10 membership will be on a registration basis to enable members to make use of our ability to obtain tickets for 'all ticket matches' and use of our season ticket(s). New members would have to be members for 6 months to obtain full rights for these facilities. This is to avoid people becoming members just to obtain tickets for one match although these could be made available if some were still spare.
To allow this new type of membership to work correctly the information on our website needs to be kept up to date and also exte nded to include the articles that only appeared in Exiled!.
The present editors of Exiled!, Andy Burton and Richard Barker, were thanked by the meeting for their sterling work over the past few seasons.
The committee was also instructed to review the constitution and to redraft it if any of the above changes made this necessary.
There being no further business the Chairman closed the meeting at 16.55.