Chairman’s Opening Remarks – Dr Steven Adams
The chairman welcomed all present to the 10th AGM of the Adventure Club, held at the Cafe Royal in London. He promised an interesting evening ahead, but said he would not steal the thunder of those that had reports to present. He limited himself to saying that it had been a year of solid achievement for the Adventure Club in its quest to become the MCC of Combateering.
Those Present
Mrs Jennifer Jones Mr Peter Jones Mr Trevor Jones Mr Alan King Mrs Brenda King Miss Patricia King Mr Alan Miles Mr Peter Miles Mr Simon Miles Miss Jane Peters Mr Richard Peterson Mr Alan Simpson Mrs Freda Trueman Mr Keith Trueman Rabbi Lional Yittaris
Secretary’s Report – Graham Rix
Completion of the new competition facility
I am delighted to report that our new facility, constructed on the site at Kinesda in Norway, is now complete. It has a base camp that can accommodate parties staying over to enjoy the facilities. There is also a finishing hut which can accommodate tired competitors and adventurers. The site will allow the club to add booby traps to the courses for the first time. The course will stage the final rounds of the Founder’s competition this year. A diagram of the course is annexed.
Facilities in the finishing hut
Your committee believed that we should provide lodges that could be used by members to provide comfortable overnight accommodation after strenuous competitions. It also has to act as a first aid post and have rapid access to the base camp and facilities in Kinesda. The cable car provides this vital link and allows us to ferry up provisions. An outline and write-up of the hut are annexed to these minutes.
Appointment of a Club Steward
Your committee is delighted to announce the appointment of our first Club Steward, Jed Eames, who is with us tonight. Jed comes to us on the personal recommendation of one of our members, Jan Cotter. I am sure you will join me in wishing Jed every success in the post and in thanking Jan for introducing Jed to us. Jed’s CV is annexed to these minutes.
Purchase of a Computer System
Another first for the club is the purchase of our very own computer system for scoring in competitions. Again we can thank one of our own, Ann Barnes, for acquiring the system for us at a substantial discount. But that is not all, Ann has spent a lot of her own time programming it for our competition needs – at no cost to the club. I propose a vote of thanks to Ann for all her effort. (Motion passed unanimously). For the technical minded it is a Compaq Pentium with 2 GB of RAM etc, whatever that is. If you need more details please ask Ann.
Article in the Sunday Telegraph
After several articles about club members in local presses throughout the country, the Adventure Club is now starting to attract the interest of the National Press. An article will appear in the Sunday Telegraph on January 7 1996. A draft will be attached to the minutes.
This has been a very successful year for the club. Our membership has risen from 535 in 1993-94 to 803 in 1994-95. This has enabled us to turn a loss of £1,731 into a profit of £21,162. Our Founder’s and daily competitions continue to be successful allowing us to continue to run the junior competition at a small loss. Our two dances have also been successful. We opened a mail order business last year, which I am pleased to say has contributed £3,300 this year. We increased our mortgage on the Norway site to fund the building of the new Finishing Hut. This has meant an increase in our mortgage repayment from £40,000 to £48,000. With the vast increase in membership your committee decided to appoint Jed Eames as our full time steward. The accounts show his salary for 3 months, so next year we must expect
this figure to be quadrupled. This will be off-set to an extent by a reduction in committee expenses. A reduction from last year is already evident. My recommendation is that the joining fee can stay at £250 for adults and £50 for juniors (under 18). Our rule, that the joining fee for immediate family members of an existing member is waived, can be retained. Annual subscriptions need only be raised in line with inflation as follows:
Adults from £110 to £115
Juniors from £51 to £54
This change was approved unopposed.
Election of Officers
Chairman
Dr Steven Adams elected unopposed
Secretary
Mr Graham Rix elected unopposed
Treasurer
Mr Alan Watson elected unopposed
Tournament organiser
Mr Peter Joiner elected unopposed
Committee members
Mr Gregory Chapman
Mr Peter Franks
Mr Peter Jones
Miss Patricia King
Mr Alan Miles