Item

Details

1

Apologies for Absence were received from John Mellard, John Hardy, John Paul, Jonathan Tucker, Richard Taylor, Geoff Bell and Nick Hutton-Penman.

2

Minutes of the Previous Meeting held on 16^th December 2009 were agreed.

3

Matters Arising from the above Meeting

None.

4

Treasurer’s Report

Rosemary Prior presented the latest Income & Expenditure report and explained various items. She has arranged a meeting with Barclay’s Bank with the intention of going “on-line” with our account. She also provided a draft account for the financial year ended 31^st October 2009 that will be presented to the AGM.

Roger Noble and Andrew Courts (Chartered Accountants) then gave us a presentation on the pros and cons of registering for VAT. Registering could enable us the recover the VAT on the re-building and extension works to the Clubhouse – quite a considerable sum. We thanked them for their input and a discussion followed. We agreed to proceed with registration and to seek certain clarifications from Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs.

5

Membership

Karen Sadler presented her latest Membership Report. She had also circulated lists of our membership as at 1^st January 2010; and for those who had died, resigned or had not paid their subscriptions during 2009.

We approved two applications for membership.

6

Correspondence

Jenni Blunden had received details of the RYA Dinghy Show on 6^th and 7^th March and a fund-raising request to hold a tea party in aid of a cancer charity. This would have to be deferred until we were “back home”.

7

Land Purchase

The Commodore updated us on this item. A delay had been caused by a change of DEFRA’s solicitor. Signing of the contract by the Trustees was expected in the second week of February when John Mellard is back from holiday.

With regard to the CEFAS jetty, the Maldon District Council has refused to sell this, but have offered us a long lease at a peppercorn rent. We agreed that the Commodore could proceed, although some members felt that the land it was on belonged to the Club. Rosemary Prior agreed to check the deeds.

8

Re-building

The Commodore reported that the insurance claim has now been settled and the cheque banked.

Digger Harden then updated us on the re-building. All the legal requirements (eg building regulations) regarding the re-building have been met and the builders started work on the 19^th January. A sixteen-week programme is planned with completion by 16^th April. Tracy Saunders is giving interior decorating advice. We thanked Digger for his help with this matter.

Colin Blanks mentioned that the plastic course boards had cleaned up well and odour-free, but that the plywood ones and the flag boards would forever smell of smoke. Jenni Blunden mentioned that a local company was offering practical assistance in our recovery work. We agreed that Colin would provide Jenni with our “shopping list” and she would approach the company. Other organisations had also offered practical help in re-fitting the Clubhouse.

With regard to the extension, Karen Sadler is still waiting for two figures from Mike Lewis before a planning application can be submitted to the Council.

9

Fund Raising

We thanked Jenni and her team who had raised £280 from the “Santa Float” before Christmas.

With Mel Lewis, Jenni has arranged a ladies Pamper Night to be held at Sue Hardy’s home.

John Lewis has offered facilities at the White Hart Hotel for cards/murder mystery nights.

Jane Aldridge has offered an experience day as a raffle prize.

The East of England Cooperative Society’s scheme is now running.

Other ideas mentioned at previous meetings were touched upon and finally it was stressed that a major push in fund-raising cannot begin until planning permission for the extension is granted.

10

AGM 2010

We discussed the nominations for the vacant posts and agreed the Agenda. This is to be sent out next week as it has to be with members at least 7 days before the meeting. Last year’s minutes will be attached.

11

Reports from the Sub-committees

Sailing: Before he left after the VAT presentation, Roger Noble (with the hat of the Chairman of the Lifeboat Branch on) asked if we could waive the requirement that all helms must be club members for the RNLI Pennant Race. He is trying to get extra participation in this Wednesday evening feature race, but not all will be club members. We agreed to see what we could do.

JCC: Nothing to Report

Pontoon: Nothing to Report

Dinghy & Car Parks: Nothing to Report

House: Nothing to Report

Social: Nothing to Report

Juniors: Karen Sadler reported that matters were progressing well to get the Junior Groups arranged for the coming season.

9

Any Other Business

There was no other business to discuss

10

Dates of Next Meetings

AGM: 14^th February 2010

Committee: 11^th March 2010