Steve Travis, Branch Chairman & Rep opened the meeting at 20:10 hrs. Oliver Rose, Yorkshire Regional Rep in attendance as Region observer.
All members in the branch area had previously been notified via email, the December 2015 mailshot, of the date, time, venue and agenda for the 2015 AGM. The details of the AGM were also publicised in The Road magazine, on the branch website (wakefield.mag-uk.org) and the MAG website (www.mag-uk.org).
Apologies received from John Greenwood & Eddie Johnson (Clubs Liaison Officer) for non-attendance at the AGM
The minutes of the previous AGM (for the 2014 year), held on Wednesday 14th January 2015 were circulated. These minutes were also published on the branch website before the AGM. The minutes were Proposed (Justine Travis - 97513) and Seconded (Chas Milner - 126291) and voted on by all meeting attendees as being a true and accurate account of that meetings proceedings.
No Matters Arising
Reps Annual Report for 2015
FINANCIAL
Covered in Finance Officers Report
RALLIES & OTHER SOCIAL EVENTS
POLITICAL
MEMBERSHIP
OTHER ACTIVITY
ACHIEVEMENTS AGAINST 2015 PLAN
SUMMARY
Another excellent year for the branch. The Membership trend is upwards, as is member retention. Meeting attendance has remained very strong throughout the year and the majority of meetings have around 15-20 members in attendance. We have been hugely successful in our fund raising for the MAG fighting fund, beating last years amount by £400. We have remained very active, and packed an awful lot of activities into the year and laid on some very successful events. We now have Seven annual events in our 'portfolio':
A huge thanks to all our meeting regulars and all those who have supported the branch in all our activities. Hip Hip .. Hooray.
Steve Travis
Branch Rep
97513
Finance Officer Report - Financial Report & Audited Accounts for 2015
Income £2011.20 - significant increase against £1638 prior year
End of year balance £640.14 - allowed to hold £250 so need to donate post-auction
| Month | Event | 2015 | 2014 |
| January | Auction | £400 | £416 |
| February | Bingo | £195 | NA |
| March | Party | £94 | £55 |
| April - Donations | NABD Wakefield Hospice Air Ambulance | £50 £50 £50 | £50 £50 £50 |
| May | Bike Show | £180 | £160 |
| June | |||
| July | |||
| August | |||
| September | Treasure Hunt | £12 | £10 |
| October | MAG Donation Bingo | £1800 £164 | £1400 £190 |
| November | Remembrance Quiz | £20 £173 | £25 £172 |
| December | |||
| Product Sales | £92 | Minimal | |
| Raffle Ave £55 pm | £647 | £610 |
Events raised over £1200 this year - extra bingo night meant £200 more than last year
Room for improvement on quiz night and bingo as we could have raised more:
Raffle £647 averaging £55 pm and increased due to addition of rideout raffles
Donation of £1800 made to Yorkshire Region so an increase of £400.
Donation to Yorkshire Region to be agreed after Auction, but anticipate Auction income plus £500 from funds.
Justine Travis, Finance Officer - 97513
Auditors concurred - Ian Whittaker - 115847, Martin Burgess - 126979
Deputy Rep Report
Chas Milner, Vice-Rep - 126291
Clubs Liaison
Dear all
This was the year my life with motorcycles went treble ... kept Jumbo happy too ... I attended our local MAG branches. Did Andy Wards wedding photography May 23rd, attended local motorcyclists funerals. Did some photos at Yorkie pud and same weekend Yamaha Virago Star rally photos. Attended Leeds MAG xmas run with East Leeds Lions, promoted our branch on FB ect with my photography, Fred Hill and last but not least the Wakefield Park May Day Bike Show, this is a great social PR for MAG plus our family and friends enjoy it too.
Well, I am happy to stand in the year ahead.
Eddie Johnson, Clubs Liaison Officer - 97314
Press Officer
In my role as Press Officer I am responsible for contacting Ridings FM and Wakefield Express to advertise MAG events.
I always ask if they would give our event a mention and give all the information needed such as what the event is about and where and when the event is taking place.
Sharon Scott, Press Officer - 132886
Political Officer
Following the publication of a consultation document approx a year ago by the West Yorks Combined Authority, outlining a transport plan for West Yorks for the next 20 years with no mention of motorcycles I raised this both locally and regionally. As this issue was across the whole of west yorks it was agreed that a unified approach was needed by all west yorks branches. This involved Wakefield, Huddersfield and Leeds MAG branches nominating a lead from each branch to take the issue forward. Following a very successful political lobbying campaign with MP’s from across the region being contacted and indeed I met with my local MP to raise our concerns.
Following this we were invited to become involved in a series of meetings with the West Yorks Combined Authority, which have been very useful and indeed myself, Manny from Leeds MAG and Steve from Huddersfield are now meeting with a team of consultants who have been commissioned to compile a report on access to bus lanes throughout West Yorks on the 14/1/16, where we will be able to put MAG’s position across regarding this issue. Although hopeful we are aware that any decision is eventually a political one by local authorities which may require further lobbying so tin hats on.
Ian Whittaker, Political Officer - 115847 Products Officer
Total value of stock held 1st Jan 2015 = £291.58 Total sales for 2015 = £92.50 making a profit of £20.79 Total stock held 31st Dec 2015 = £219.87 With the exception of 2 x large jackets the only stock held now are “small items” e.g. beanie hats, patches etc. It has been suggested that the 2 x jackets could be included in our auction sale at the end of January. All T shirts, fleeces etc have been sold this year I suggest we look into sourcing more items to suit member’s requests (possibly including mugs and shopping bags, as we’ve already discussed at meetings). I am happy to continue as products officer though 2016, unless anyone else fancies the role? but I suggest we only purchase larger items “to order”, so that (a) we’re not holding expensive stock indefinitely and (b) it’s not taking up space in my spare bedroom. Finally a thank you to everyone who purchased products in 2015 and supported MAG and the Wakefield Branch.
Martin Burgess, Products Officer - 126979 Rideout Coordinator's Reports
Good evening ladies and gentleman and anyone else not in either category. Full rideout reports are on the Wakefield MAG website so I don’t intend reiterating them here save to say that lessons have been learned which will be put into place for this years rideouts.
The first rideout scheduled for May to How Stean Gorge was unfortunately cancelled as weather reports for the weekend were of gales and heavy rainfall so we took the unanimous decision on the meeting before the rideout to cancel rather than have people turning up at our meeting point and then
cancelling. Every effort was made to advertise the fact that the rideout was cancelled but the possibility remains that someone could in theory have turned up and would have quite likely been disappointed and annoyed that the rideout wasn’t going ahead. In the event the weather forecast was completely wrong and the rideout could have gone ahead as planned so the lesson here is not to trust the weather forecast or you could end up with egg on your face. But hindsight is a wonderful thing and the decision was made on information available at the time. Personally I don’t think we can make hard and fast rules on whether or not to cancel, I feel this should be discussed at the meeting before the rideout and a decision made on information available and accept the consequences. Provided a caveat is added to the advertised rideouts to the effect that it is recommended you check before setting off whether the rideout is going ahead then I think we have done as much as is possible to mitigate any potential problems. Last year the weather was very unpredictable and the circumstances described may not occur this year but we need to have safeguards in place for if they do. Any suggestions more than welcome. Moving on this rideout was rearranged for August and unfortunatly did not go according to plan. As I was leading the rideout I couldn’t see for myself exactly what was going on behind me all of the time but it seems our group got split up at traffic lights heading towards Wakefield on Doncaster road. This shouldn’t normally have caused a problem as our 2nd man system states that unless a deviation to the route is marked by the 2nd man then the assumption is to carry straight on. Unfortunately this didn’t happen and part of the group branched off left on Ings road rather than going straight on up Marsh Way. On another occasion a right turn was made which was marked by the 2nd man but part of the group did not make the turn and carried straight on for several miles before realising that they were not on the correct route. This obviously caused major delays and concerns for the safety and wellbeing of the rest of the group. The 3rd occasion I accept responsibility for as I made a left turn at Pattley Bridge and incorrectly assumed that the 2nd man had seen me turn. In the event he obviously hadn’t and although I did an immediate U turn several of our group had followed the 2nd man up the hill and out of sight. Thus despite again waiting and trying to make contact with the rest of the group we eventually accepted the fact that we had lost part of our group and carried on the rest of the ride. These events had an adverse effect on the enjoyment of what should have been a good ride and I think most of the participants myself included were relieved when it was over. All of the above problems could have been avoided and perhaps we ought to place a little more emphasis on implementing the 2nd man system and ensuring we are all as observant as possible. Not all doom and gloom though as I believe my 2nd rideout I led to The British Waterways museum bike show at Goole was an unqualified success. It was by a large margin our highest ever attended rideout and went without incident. Having said that my personal opinion is that the actual ride itself was one of the most uninteresting I have ever led as it was an almost straight road from Wakefield to Goole through mostly built up areas and made me question the format that I prefer when planning rideouts. To expand on my last point I have tried when planning rideouts to use more interesting and challenging routes often off the beaten track and with a minimum of other traffic as my theory is that the ride is more important than the destination. However the last rideout completely disproved my theory as the ride was easily the most boring I have ever led but the destination was obviously the most popular and so is this what people want, to ride the fastest route from A to B to get wherever we are going in the shortest possible time. Please let me know what you think. Finally may I sum up by thanking my fellow rideout co-ordinators Martin and Terry for stepping up and volunteering to lead their own rideouts which I enjoyed immensely. I believe our current format of three co-ordinators worked extremely well and hope it will continue. I also thank Chas for taking up the back marker position and for collecting raffle money’s assisted by Sharon and everyone that attended last year’s rideouts
I hope you enjoyed them and thank you for your patience and understanding when things did not go quite according to plan. I would be happy to continue in my role as one of the rideout coordinating team if re-elected however if someone else would like to take a
turn I am more than happy to stand down. Thank you.
Mick Culpan, Rideout Coordinator – 123530 On behalf of Terry and myself, I think it’s fair to say that the Wakefield MAG ride outs during 2015 have been a great success. We’ve been blessed with good weather, some interesting and varied destinations and some great routes all round. All ride outs have been well attended by members and non-members alike, especially our “memorial” ride out to Bridlington and our trip to the bike show at Goole. We both agree that 3 of us sharing the responsibility of being the ride out leader has worked as no one person has had the “pressure” and commitment of sorting and attending all of the rides. It was nice to lead one or two and then sit back on other rides. We have managed to live up to our reputation of being “The Lost Riders” on a couple of occasions which kind of adds to the fun of things, but also raises the issue of whether a back-up plan should be introduced in the event of the “second man marker” system going boobies up!!! This is something we could discuss at a future meeting. We would like to thank everyone for joining our ride outs and especially Chas for being back marker on all the rides he was able to attend, which was most of them, and also for adorning his Dick Turpin mask and squeezing a quid out of everyone for our ride out raffle. Who knows, if petrol prices keep falling maybe £5 prize money might actually fill your tank? Both Terry and I are all willing to continue this role (on a 3 way basis) and we look forward to seeing you nice and prompt at the start for rides in 2016. Martin Burgess, Rideout Coordinator - 126979 Social Committee
In our role as Events Committee we discuss ideas that the members may have suggested for raising funds or social events, such as bingo nights, Mayday Gala tombola stall and MAG birthday party. We look at getting prizes together and organising food and venues etc. We also help out at events
selling raffle tickets, running stalls and getting all monies ready for banking after events. Cath Parker - 131300, Lorna Jaques - 120474 & Sharon Scott - 132886, Social Committee MAP Consultative Committee Representative
Meetings attended and input to discussions. Ian Whittaker - 115847, MAP Consultative Committee Representative Fund Raising Officer
Chas Milner, Fund Raising Officer - 126291 Membership Secretary
Covered in Reps Report Webmaster
Covered in Reps Report No motions received prior to meeting – 2 motions raised at meeting. 1) Wakefield MAG lottery syndicate – Mick Culpan Mick suggested we start a syndicate – there is a syndicate manager online – winnings would roll into a pot and be paid out annually. Branch liked the idea but wanted to carry over more detailed discussions to a later meeting. 2) Xmas Savings Club Following on from the lottery syndicate discussions it was raised that we could also start a Xmas savings club. This was also agreed as a good idea but details to be discussed at a
later meeting. The following officers were elected / re-elected onto the 2016 branch committee, unanimously in all cases: Awards were presented for the branch heroes of 2015, based on points accumulated by members for attendance/participation in MAG/Branch events over
the course of the year. Our branch heroes for 2015 were: None The date of the next AGM was set for Wednesday 11 January 2017. The meeting closed at 21:55 hrs. Observer confirmed it had been run in a democratic manner. Steve Travis
5) Motions
6) Election / Re-election of branch officers for 2016
7) Objectives and branch development plan for the forthcoming year (2016)
8) Presentation to Branch Heroes
9) Any other business
10) Date of Next AGM
Wakefield MAG Rep
97513