St. Leonard’s Rambling Club

Annual General Meeting via Zoom

17th November, 2020


Apologies:


Mary Gallagher, Irene Daalman, Eleanor McKinlay and Suzanne Freeman


Attendance:


34


The AGM this year was held via Zoom and chaired by Bill Stanton.

Bill welcomed everyone and thanked them for attending.   He asked anyone wishing to ask a question to raise their hand and state their name.


Agenda:


1. Minutes of previous AGM

2. Treasurer’s Report

3. Route Convenor’s Report

4. Chairman’s Report

5. Future Plans

6. Committee Election

7. AOCB


MINUTES OF PREVIOUS AGM:


Bill stated that the minutes of the previous AGM had been emailed to members and asked if everyone had read them.  He then asked for them  to be verified as a true record of the meeting.    The minutes were adopted by Hazel Gunning and seconded by Linda Moir.


TREASURER’S REPORT – SHEILA CAMPBELL:


Sheila stated that everyone should have received a copy of this year’s accounts by post.  She thanked Jim McGuicken for auditing them once again.

On 1st November 2019 we had £3638.17 in the bank and £50.00 cash floats.   Our closing balance as of 31st October 2020 is £3532.65.

Due to the impact of COVID there is no point in reviewing like for like income/expenditure this year.    The only item that is similar is membership fees at £996.00, £84.00 less than 2019.



In May we received a grant from South Lanarkshire Council of £300.00.   We generally have to spend this within six months, however this year we have an extension to the end of the financial year (March 2021).   Sofar, we have spent the £50.00 allocated for stationery.  The remaining £250.00 is for entrance fees normally linked to a National Trust outing.   We hope to be able to spend this at the turn of the year.

Our Secret Santa 2019 raised £255.00 and it was agreed that the money should be donated to the Lanarkshire Cancer Care Trust.


Income


Our total income for 2019/20 was £10189.17


Expenditure


Although we have not had the opportunity to use the facilities of St. Leonard’s Church Hall this year, the committee agreed to pay the annual donation of £300.00 to the church.

We also agreed to join The Scotway Ramblers’ Association costing £30.00.

On the back of the Accounts Sheet is a list of the extra expenditure amounting to £1991.40.

£1361.00 was for our annual Christmas outing.

£27.72 to Freeola the hosting package we use for our website.

£172.80 was spent on new compasses which, unfortunately, we have not had the opportunity to use as yet.

Our total expenditurewas £6656.52.

To date we have £3532.65 in the bank and £50.00 cash floats.


ROUTE CONVENOR’S REPORT – KRIS GROMEK:


Kris began by stating that he hoped everyone had enjoyed the eight walks that we had managed to do since the last AGM – two in 2019 and six in 2020 before lockdown.He thanked all the leaders and backmarkers saying each of them had either led or back marked at least one walk up until 14th March as well as the recces and organisation involved and that each member of the Recce Committee had volunteered to organise at least five walks during the year.   He also stated that as we don’t have enough leaders and backmarkers some people had volunteered to do as many as nine walks!

The final two walks of 2019 were Water of Leith and the ChristmasWalk.  We will remember the Water of Leith walk as the time we lost David Young.   We eventually found him in hospital in Edinburgh and fortunately, everything was OK.  The Christmas Walk was to Culzean Castle, starting at Maidens and walking along the beach through Culzean Country Park to the Castle.   We then drove to Souters Inn in Kirkoswald for Christmas dinner with Arthur as Santa.

Kris stated that we had in fact done another walk this year.   The seventh being a walk at Balloch Country Park.   He had hoped that we would be able to start walking as a club again but shortly after that government restrictions made it impossible.


Kris noted that attendance had decreased slightly this year, averaging 36 per walk compared to 45 last year.   However, he felt this was a good number for the winter months.


The Statistics


Kris stated that if we had done all six high walks since January, we would have walked 50 miles and climbed 1643 feet.

If we had done all six low walks, we would have walked 33 miles and climbed 1356 feet.   He added these together and found:

The high walkers walked 909 miles and climbed 6 miles and

The low walkers walked 680 miles and climbed 5.8 miles.

(Mount Everest is 5.5 miles high, so both high and low walkers climbed higher than this!)

Kris keeps a record of the walks all the members do and while several people did five of the walks only two did all six.   They are Susan Dowds and for the second year running, John Aird.   


Kris stated that next year’s walks will probably be those we were unable to do this year.


He hoped that Recce Committee Members would stay on next year but asked if not, would they let him know by email.


Kris informed members that he would be continuing as Route Convenor.


CHAIRMAN’S REPORT – BILL STANTON:


Bill began by thanking members of the committee and recce committee for volunteering and for all their hard work.   Although we didn’t get beyond March 2020, he was appreciative of the commitment they all gave.  

He informed the members that the committee had been meeting each month to discuss how to get the club running again but that it had been

difficult to achieve this with the amount of restrictions and guidelines we would have to adhere to in order to keep members safe.  

Bill referred members to the Newsletter stating that there will be no membership renewal this year.   All current members will have their membership extended until November 2021 with no further fee.


Events of the Past Year:


December – The Christmas Walk was the usual mystery walk this time walking to Culzean Castle then on to Souters Inn in Maybole for a lovely meal.   Bill hoped a good day was had by all.

March – We applied for a Council Grant and were awarded £300.00, £50.00 of which we have used for stationery and hopefully the remaining £250.00 will go towards an outing.

The end of March - the Coronavirus Pandemic hit the world and since then we have been unable to do any of the walks from our programme.

May – Our annual holiday was to Costa Brava Spain and had to be cancelled.   Bill stated that the holiday had been organised by Kathy McCann with help from Linda McAllister and he thanked them both for all their hard work.   He also thanked Kathy for “fighting” on the club’s behalf with travel agents, airline and coach companies to retrieve all the money that had been paid out and for reimbursing those members involved.

September – Kris organised our first walk since the start of the pandemic.   It was to Balloch Castle Country Park with social distancing safety guidelines being adhered to.


Bill stated that this year there were also sad occasions.   The following people passed away:

In May, Nancy Fisher and in August, Ruby Gibson, both former club members.   Also, in August, Theresa Brady’s husband, Michael and in October,Angela McGroarty, a club member.   Bill stated that they would be in all our thoughts.


Future Plans:


Bill stated that at this point he would normally let members know about the Christmas walk, the annual trip abroad, the barbecue and the weekend away and that Kris would have discussed next year’s walks, however all these events will have to be put on hold until we can return to some sort of normality.


Committee Election:


Bill reminded members of the email he sent out on 28th October regarding the committee which read as follows:

     “Are you happy for the existing committee to continue in

     their positions until things get back to normal?”

Members only had to reply if they were not happy with this arrangement and Bill asked them to do so, giving reasons, by 10th November.  As no one replied Bill stated that he assumed everyone was happy for the present committee to remain in their positions until November 2021.


Committee for 2021:


1. Sheila Campbell - Treasurer

2. Kris Gromek  - Route Convenor

3. Hazel Gunning - Minutes Secretary

4. Elizabeth Mair - Bus Convenor Assistant

5. Rose Martin  - First Aid Kits/Mobile Phones

6. Alex Morrison - Medical Cards

7. Marie McCarney - Membership Secretary

8. Anne Paterson - Bus Convenor

9. Bill Stanton  - Chairman


Recce Committee for 2021


1. Kris Gromek

2. Alex Morrison

3. Hazel Gunning

4. Rose Martin

5. Mary T Gallagher

6. Dorothy Church

7. Bill Stanton

8. Betty Stanton

9. Jim Rorrison

10. Sandra Rorrison

11. Hazel Armstrong

12. Susan Dowds

13. Kathy McCann

14. Linda McAllister

15. Cathy MacPherson

16. John Wilson

17. Maureen Rooney




Bill finished his report by saying how much he had missed the walks, the places we visit and especially the members who all make the club what it is.  The fun, the banter, the friendliness and the help we all give each other make the club special.   Lastly Bill mentioned Arthur our driver who makes such a difference to our walking days.


AOCB:


Bill stated that unfortunately Sadie Dickson would not be returning to the club due to health reasons and that David Young was not keeping well.

Maureen Gromek suggested that rather than have to send the remainder of the Council Grant back we should try to book a visit in advance.

Maureen Gromek suggested sending a thank you card to Arthur.   Bill said had thanked him by phone but would send a card as well.

Elizabeth Mair mentioned a Christmas night via Zoom.   Bill and Kris will look into this.

Jim McGuicken stated how appreciative he was of the committee for keeping the club going throughout this difficult time.

Elspeth Gray thanked the committee for keeping in touch with the members.

Sheila Campbell thanked Kris for keeping us informed about shows and theatre productions.



There being no further business Bill closed the meeting and thanked everyone for attending.   He reminded the new committee that there would be a meeting via zoomon Tuesday 24th November 2020 at 19:0