AGM Meeting 2020

NOTICE FOR ALL SUFFOLK CENTRE MEMBERS

AGM MEETING 2020

 

Following consultation with the Club the Committee has taken the decision that for 2020 the AGM meeting will have to change in the way that it is operated.  This will now be run as a closed meeting – Centre and Club members will not be able to attend.  This does not mean that members will not be able to take part and have their say. Members will have differing views on this course of action, which we appreciate, but times are not normal and we feel in this way all our Centre members will have the opportunity to be involved and remain safe, not just those who may have attended a face to face meeting.  

The following will now apply:

DATE AND PARTICIPANTS OF AGM

As Trinity Park is unable to host our AGM due to current restrictions, and subsequently the rally, our AGM meeting will now be held onSunday 18th October at which those present will only be: current and proposed committee members for 2021, Janice and David Kent (on behalf of the Anglia Region Committee), Joy and Mick Threadgold from North Essex Centre to act as Tellers and to monitor how the meeting is recorded. To act as a representative for members questions there will be Graham and Wendy Noye – Graham is a Past Chairman of the Centre and well known amongst regular ralliers. Connie Pyett as Chairman’s Lady, will also be asked to be present during the meeting.

There will be NO access for any other Suffolk Centre or any Club members to attend in person.  

VENUE

The venue for the AGM meeting will be Hintlesham Village Hall, Ipswich, Suffolk.

NOMINATIONS

Members may now submit nominations for the committee by two means.  Normal signature of the printed forms in the handbook or by using an online form available from the Centre Secretary.  Details of Proposer and Seconder must be given and this will be followed up by an email trail of acceptance.  The date for closure of acceptance of forms will be two weeks before the scheduled date of the AGM meeting which is noon Sunday 4th October 2020.

At the time of posting this notice the Committee understands that Mark Terry will not be putting in a nomination for Treasurer for 2021 and this is one of the vital roles in the formation of the Committee.  We welcome any member who would like to put in a nomination for this and can offer all support that may be needed.

PROCEDURE

All those who are registered as a Centre member 35 days before the date of the meeting will be notified by email or in writing of the changes and will be invited to put questions to the meeting, via your representative Graham Noye at grahamnoye@suffolkcentre.co.uk. where they will be recorded in the minutes and answered.  Please provide full name, membership number and a contact number when submitting a question. Graham may wish to speak to you. Following the due process of the AGM, membership will be checked and only those registered as Centre members as at 35 days before the meeting will be allowed to put forward questions.  We wish to make the process as transparent as possible. Questions from members who have subsequently not renewed their membership in the interim period before the meeting will be noted but not put for discussion. Questions are to be with Graham no later than end of day Friday 16th October.

All reports and paperwork (minus a copy of the Centre accounts) will be posted on the Centre website – www.suffolkcentre.org.uk – before the meeting (this is because the website does not at this time have a secure members section), and the proposed Agenda has already been published to members in the 2020 handbook and will be followed.  Members need not give the normal “apologies” as all paperwork will be on the website. Applications to see the accounts to be made to the Centre Secretary at secretary@suffolkcentre.co.uk.

The rally programme for 2021 may be delayed and final publication of the list will be placed on the website at the earliest opportunity.  

After the meeting, minutes will be drawn up, checked and verified, and will be put up on the website as “Proposed” for all Centre members to have access to. It is hoped this will be done in a timely manner.  As normal any questions raised that could not be answered to satisfaction at the meeting will go on the Agenda for the first main Committee meeting scheduled.

These are unprecedented times and we hope members can appreciate the situation the Committee find themselves in.  We feel in this way all members will be consulted and by holding the meeting this way, no member will be put at risk or disadvantaged by wanting to attend but unwilling or unable to do so.

We have looked at other ways to enable this AGM to be held and discussed this at length with the Club who have confirmed that this “Closed Meeting” approach (which many Companies are also doing for 2020) may be taken, and may well benefit members who may feel unable to attend a gathering but still wish to be part of the process.  At the time of making this decision we could not run either the rally nor the AGM meeting in the way advertised in the handbook, so both the AGM rally and AGM meeting at Trinity Park in Ipswich have been cancelled.