Page 12 - Summer 2016

ESMBA ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
12 ESMBA ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
EGM proposal lost

County delegates arrived at the Crossroads Hotel in Weedon, Northants
prepared for a long day with a 10am start for an Extraordinary General
Meeting, which would be followed by the Annual General Meeting and an
Open Forum. Norfolk were represented by their Chairman Selwyn Goldsmith
and Records Officer Teresa Goldsmith.
ESMBA Chairman Barry Hedges opened the meeting and explained that in the absence of
a General Secretary Ann McGuire had agreed to take the minutes. The purpose of the EGM was
to decide on a proposal put forward by the ESMBA Committee “That the ESMBA registration fee
be increased by £1 from £3 to £4 to include personal accident insurance for every ESMBA regis-
tered member to take effect from September 2016.”
The Chairman then introduced Neil Hobbs, a manager within Sutton Winson’s commercial
division, to answer questions on the personal accident insurance. There were many questions
from delegates, particularly Cheshire, on the scheme which Neil Hobbs dealt with. Delegates were
told that since the details of the scheme had been sent out a change had been made and that
there was now no age limitation.
Norfolk CSMBA raised questions about an e-mail sent to the ESMBA requesting clarification
on the issue which had gone unanswered. This involved the changes to the ESMBA Constitution
put forward by West Sussex & Norfolk, and passed at the 2015 AGM, which had still failed to ap-
pear in the Constitution.
Norfolk felt the proposal in its current form was not in line with the Constitution and if passed
in its current form would cost Norfolk CSMBA over £1,000 as it had already set its fees at its own
AGM for the 2016/17 season. After much discussion and questions the vote was taken on the pro-
posal and could not have been closer with 18 delegates voting for the proposal and 19 delegates
voting against which meant that the proposal had failed. Further discussions indicated that had
the proposal set the starting date as the 2017/18 season, in line with the ESMBA Constitution,
more delegates would have supported the proposal.
ESMBA Constitution not updated
The ESMBA AGM was then held and West Sussex raised the matter of the minutes and the failure
of the Constitutional changes to be detailed in them. The point was made that the minutes failed
to record the precise wording of the proposals that had been passed. The situation regarding the
Constitutional changes passed at the previous AGM were raised and the Chairman explained that
he had been told that the changes had been made and apologised for this.
The meeting was assured by the Chairman that the ESMBA Constitution would be rectified
with the Constitution updated and changed on the ESMBA website. Agenda item five dealt with
the Officer Reports. The Chairman’s Report stated that when he was elected two years ago he
had hopes of turning around the ESMBA and making it a professional well-organised Association
and gave himself three years to do it. He said that this was probably not now a three year plan but
did not believe it would take five years as some had told him. He highlighted setbacks which he
said it had needed addressing first.
These included the resignations of the Administration Officer and the Committee Secretary
and thanked Brandon Whittaker for taking on the lion’s share of the workload with himself. His re-
port stated that the year had shown him that the present set up of Administration does not work.
He also said that at first glance the financial report doesn’t look good but said the World Champi-
onships was a very costly exercise to host.
Nationals to move to Melton Mowbray IBC

He told the meeting that the four main National Championship events would be held at Melton
Mowbray IBC this coming season with Tamworth IBC the venue for the National Mixed Fours and
Under 18s. He praised Melton Mowbray IBC as a good venue and with a large car park.