I mentioned in an article last year that the committee will all resign this February. They do this every year at the AGM. If they wish committee members may stand again and most years most of them do which is just as well as we are usually short of volunteers. Should there be more volunteers than positions or more than one candidate for any post there is then a vote among the members present and a new committee is duly elected.
The committee is empowered to opt on additional members and during this year we were joined by Jan Smewing who has taken on the role of Treasurer thus freeing up Peter Jenkins to concentrate more on the competition side of things. We are therefore all very thankful for the skills and efforts of Jan as Treasurer, as we are also for Bruce as Editor and Margaret as Secretary. These three and me mean there are now four non-riders on the committee. Of the others who may be prepared to stand again I think it is fair to say that Pat, Eric, Derek and Antony are not riding club trials as often as before due to their work and other commitments and therefore more and more responsibility is falling onto Peter who has been a very able assistant Competition Secretary. I believe he will make a good Competition Secretary in his own right should the members decide to vote for him to replace Rick who unfortunately feels it necessary to stand down this year due to his new business commitments which now take him all over Europe. I’m sure I speak for all the Members when I say thanks for all your efforts in the past Rick.
I now believe we need more regular riders on the Committee. After all this is principally a trials club and it would seem illogical to me for it to be run more and more by non-trials riders. I believe the roles of Editor, Secretary and Treasurer are more crucial (and probable harder to fill) than who chairs the meetings and so this year I think it appropriate that I stand down to make way for another riding member on the Committee. I nearly did this last year but was persuaded to stay on because of the lack of volunteers. This year I shall not change my mind.
We have a lot of new members who have joined the club during the last two years and I believe it is time for them to broaden their experience of trials and participate more in the arrangements and organisation behind the scene.
Its your club and if its to continue providing you with good club trials, evening trials and other social events in the year to come it needs at least four new committee members this year. So come to the AGM and be prepared to volunteer to help.
Over to you.
Steve Whitmore