Annual General Meeting 2016
Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on 3rd May 2016 at Buckingham School
There were 23 members present
Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Chris Hawkins and Dennis Purr
Minutes of the 2015 meeting - were accepted as a true record of the meeting.
Proposed by Steve Cory Seconded by David Gillman
Matters arising from the minutes – There were no matters arising from the minutes
Chairman’s report
Graham welcomed everyone and thanked them for attending. He reviewed that this time last year we were looking into taking on the lakes at Radclive. This unfortunately fell through due to high costs and lack of long term prospects. After a lot of searching, an alternative has been sourced near Syresham, with potential for the future. The club has stocked this with good quality fish and are currently undertaking a feeding programme, as recommended by Andrew Ellis our Fisheries Consultant. We have also done some crayfish trapping on the lake and will continue to do this through the summer. We have managed to fit 15 pegs on the lake. It is 3 to 5 foot deep. There are currently ropes across the lake as there are 2 cormorants that have been in residence, but we are working on several different solutions to move them on. When the ground is dry, parking can be by the lake but there is no vehicular access through the spillway. There is a car park at the top which has been hard cored and there will be a gate to secure it. This work has been undertaken by the farmer / landlord. There is a day ticket water to the left side of the track as you turn off the road and Jubilee lake is to the right.
Question from Rob Upton – What fish have we actually stocked?
Mick Taylor confirmed we have stocked as follows:
From AE Fisheries we had 200lb of tench (approx 100 fish around the 2lb mark), 100lb of bream (approx 50 fish around 2lb mark).
From Mainstream we had 250 crucians 6-8ins, 100 Rudd 4-6ins, 117 Roach 6-8ins, 100 perch 6-8ins, 70 tench 4-10ins mixed sizes.
The committee undertook a fish survey by Andrew Ellis before committing to the lake. When he netted it there were several carp seen, including one Ghostie 15 to 18lb and a large number of small silver fish.
Question – What’s to stop day ticket water people going to our lake to fish?
There will eventually be a gate on the car park (waiting for the farmer to put this in) which will have a lock and key to ensure only members can get in. There is a footpath that runs past the lake so foot access will have to also be available for the public.
Secretary’s report
Well here we are again! Another year, even more headaches, big challenges and far more hours work than I care to count. I’m still waiting for the turn up at the meetings and just take the minutes job, but hey, maybe this will be the lucky year.
The committee has held regular monthly meetings at Silverstone Football Club, thanks to Dennis Purr and his wife for organising and hosting this for us. It is very much appreciated.
In May the Oxford Water lease was finally signed and paid for 3 years. The National Trust extended the car park and also rechipped the swims as promised. Thanks to Paul Stefanovic for this. We are still awaiting replacement of the removed swim with no timeline given by the National Trust for the work. There were problems with weed during the summer months, however the cost of professional removal was felt to be too high to justify by the committee, as this was only suggested as an option by the National Trust late on in the summer. Hopefully the cold start to the spring will prevent the same happening this season.
There was a working party held on 9th May to do some tidying up at Oxford Water. This was very poorly attended with only 3 committee members turning out. We have also held working parties on the river over the winter, clearing out 10 existing pegs and also creating 5 extra pegs with stile access. A big thank you to all who attended, it has made a big difference to our river stretch. Please support our working parties, we don’t hold many and they do really make a difference for everyone.
The river lease has been secured for an additional 3 years to March 2018. Thanks to Snowy, Joe and Hilary for arranging this. Please be aware that there will be some closures during the winter due to Conrad holding shoots on his land. We also have a visiting club booking the water for a 1 day match. These dates are to be confirmed. We will let you know by email once we are given the dates. There will be signs put up on the gates when the water is closed to members fishing.
In June it became clear that the lakes at Radclive were not a viable option for the club. The land owners would only offer a lease for a maximum of 7 years with a very high chance that the water would then be sold as an established fishery, with all the work and cost being shouldered by our club, with all the sale profit being taken by the land owners. The committee agreed at this point to walk away and again start the seemingly impossible task of finding another venue.
In August Graham sourced a potential new lake for the club and with the committee’s approval started to talk to the land owner about the possibilities. By October this was looking like a very strong opportunity for the club and in November we were lucky enough to be able to sign contracts to secure the lake for Stowe Angling Club. This is a massive relief to the committee and we all feel that we have finally secured a real asset for the club’s future. Mick will give you a lot more information later in tonight’s AGM, but I wanted to formally thank the committee on behalf of the members for the dedication and commitment given to get the club to this fantastic position. Huge thanks are also due to Phil Rose who, despite previously resigning from the committee, has put just as much time and dedication into securing a new water as the committee members.
In February we agreed with Winslow club to offer 20 members an extension to the Stowe ticket to also cover their Mursley lake, with a contra agreement for 20 Winslow members to have access to Oxford Water. Thanks to Charlie and Dawn Green of Winslow for organising this. Charlie is here this evening, so if anyone would like any further information please do have a chat.
In March Allan Hawkins decided it was time to retire from the committee. We would all like to thank Allan for his support and commitment to the Club and to wish him well for the future. Thank you, Allan. In light of this and the dedication he has shown to securing the Club’s future, the committee felt it was appropriate to ask Phil Rose to rejoin us and I’m very pleased to say he has agreed. He will be standing for re-election this evening, along with the rest of the committee.
The club continues its membership of the Angling Trust and is insured for liability via them. We also have access to Fish Legal via our membership, fortunately we have not needed to access their services this year.
No one should ever call me an optimist; however, I definitely feel the Club’s glass is finally getting fuller and who knows, maybe this time next year I will just be turning up at meetings and taking the minutes. A massive thank you to Graham and all of my fellow committee members for making this journey easier. I think you’ve all proved that we can collectively swim through whatever is thrown at us.
Happy fishing everyone.
Match Secretary’s report
Last season was the worst match season that I have known since I took over as Match Secretary, for most of the matches there were only two of us fishing.
There were three matches in the calendar when only I turned up.
The matches against Brackley home and away fared no better, with only five of us fishing both legs, with only one member of Brackley taking part in the home match.
We have two more matches to fish from last season’s match calendar, which are the 29th May and the 5th June.
This coming season there will be no match calendar apart from the two dates mentioned above. I will be re-instating the matches in the 2017/18 season when we have had a year of fishing on the new lake, and then I will alternate matches between Stowe and Syresham lakes.
There will be no presentation of trophies this year as the winner of the matches has decided that the money would be better spent on the new lake.
I hope you all have plenty of tight lines when fishing on the new lake.
Treasurer's report
Income this year was £4,436 which included a £1,000 donation from Mrs Lloyd, in memory of Peter Dyer. Dave read out a letter from Mrs Lloyd. Income from membership was down by around £300. Expenses were £9,085.82, which included all the start-up and fish stocking cost and 1st year rent for Jubilee Lake, and 3 years rent for Oxford Water. This gave a total Excess of Expenditure over Income of £4,649.82.
Bank Balance at 15 April 15 AGM was £ 7,691.86
Income 2015/2016 £ 4,436.00
Grand total in bank £12,127.86
Total Expenses £ 9,085.82
Final Balance as of 24 Apr 16 £ 3,042.04
Proposed by Samantha Gillman Seconded by Matt Mallett
Membership Secretary’s report
Current membership stands at 77 Adults, 3 Juniors, 5 Children, 8 Complimentary, 6 Honorary and 1 Half Season Ticket. Membership remains open.
Membership was down quite significantly on the previous year which seems to be in line with the National trend, but also due to the fact that we only had Oxford water to fish which was significantly different to what members were use too.
The Introduction of the Child category ticket for under 12’s also didn’t have the desired effect. This year the Junior membership will rise to under 18.
In order to attract new members in the coming season we have an agreement in place with Winslow & District Fishing club to offer some Tench fishing in an estate type lake. In return we are allowing Winslow members to fish Oxford Water only. We will restrict the number of tickets to 20 to start with to see how much interest we have. We have Charlie Green from Winslow here to answer any of your questions on the lake.
Anybody wishing to join needs to indicate their interest on the membership application form and return to me by the 16th May. The successful applicants will then be contacted to pay the additional £5. Tickets will be issued and sent out to you with Rules and directions.
Subscriptions will increase this year to £35.00 Adult, £15.00 Junior and Children under 12 Free. This is the first increase in subscriptions that I can remember. This basically to help
Fund a stocking and feeding program for Jubilee Lake.
Can I just remind everybody to keep us up to date with any changes to your email addresses, as we use these to send out newsletters and updates. Off course anybody who still doesn’t have an email address will continue to receive updates via post. All updates and forms will also be posted on our website.
Election of Officers
The committee stepped down and Graham advised that he was prepared to continue as Chairman.
Proposed by Samantha Gillman Seconded by Phil Rose
Graham advised that the remainder of the committee were prepared to continue in their offices and suggested that they be re-elected on block.
Proposed by Graham Brigginshaw Seconded by Mick Grace
Committee officers as follows:
Chairman Graham Brigginshaw
Vice Chairman Matt Mallett
Secretary Samantha Gillman
Treasurer David Ridgway
Membership Secretary David Gillman
Match Secretary Steve Horwood
Committee Members Mick Taylor
Dennis Purr
Phil Rose
General Propositions – no general propositions have been received
Due to technical problems we had to move rooms to do the presentation on Jubilee Lake so the Agenda was reordered to do AOB first.
Any other business
Graham asked the question with regard to introduction of a closed season in the future. Phil Rose commented that this might scare off the membership, which the club can’t afford to happen.
Sam proposed that we run with no closed season for 1 year and then review again next AGM. Agreed by all members. Graham advised that the farmer does have CCTV covering the entrance somewhere so we could get stats on how many are fishing during the winter months to see if there is actually any need or if a natural break occurs anyway.
Steve Cory suggested that a CCTV in operation sign is placed on the gate to keep non-members and undesirables away.
A new member brought up the subject of litter and that the club should enforce a zero-tolerance policy. Graham explained that due to the tight restrictions we have been subject to at Stowe our members are used to this and we hope this will be carried over to the new lake. We will keep an eye on it and raise it next AGM if there are any problems.
Jubilee Lake
Mick Taylor gave a presentation on Jubilee Lake showing photos of the location, the lake from several angles, the netting that was carried out by Andrew Ellis, and the various stockings that have taken place. He also reminded us that there is a working party arranged for Sunday 8th May at Jubilee Lake to install the final 3 swims, and finish off the couple that have extra work to do, put in the steps and cut back some of the bushes and trees.
Meeting closed 2105 hrs
There were 23 members present
Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Chris Hawkins and Dennis Purr
Minutes of the 2015 meeting - were accepted as a true record of the meeting.
Proposed by Steve Cory Seconded by David Gillman
Matters arising from the minutes – There were no matters arising from the minutes
Chairman’s report
Graham welcomed everyone and thanked them for attending. He reviewed that this time last year we were looking into taking on the lakes at Radclive. This unfortunately fell through due to high costs and lack of long term prospects. After a lot of searching, an alternative has been sourced near Syresham, with potential for the future. The club has stocked this with good quality fish and are currently undertaking a feeding programme, as recommended by Andrew Ellis our Fisheries Consultant. We have also done some crayfish trapping on the lake and will continue to do this through the summer. We have managed to fit 15 pegs on the lake. It is 3 to 5 foot deep. There are currently ropes across the lake as there are 2 cormorants that have been in residence, but we are working on several different solutions to move them on. When the ground is dry, parking can be by the lake but there is no vehicular access through the spillway. There is a car park at the top which has been hard cored and there will be a gate to secure it. This work has been undertaken by the farmer / landlord. There is a day ticket water to the left side of the track as you turn off the road and Jubilee lake is to the right.
Question from Rob Upton – What fish have we actually stocked?
Mick Taylor confirmed we have stocked as follows:
From AE Fisheries we had 200lb of tench (approx 100 fish around the 2lb mark), 100lb of bream (approx 50 fish around 2lb mark).
From Mainstream we had 250 crucians 6-8ins, 100 Rudd 4-6ins, 117 Roach 6-8ins, 100 perch 6-8ins, 70 tench 4-10ins mixed sizes.
The committee undertook a fish survey by Andrew Ellis before committing to the lake. When he netted it there were several carp seen, including one Ghostie 15 to 18lb and a large number of small silver fish.
Question – What’s to stop day ticket water people going to our lake to fish?
There will eventually be a gate on the car park (waiting for the farmer to put this in) which will have a lock and key to ensure only members can get in. There is a footpath that runs past the lake so foot access will have to also be available for the public.
Secretary’s report
Well here we are again! Another year, even more headaches, big challenges and far more hours work than I care to count. I’m still waiting for the turn up at the meetings and just take the minutes job, but hey, maybe this will be the lucky year.
The committee has held regular monthly meetings at Silverstone Football Club, thanks to Dennis Purr and his wife for organising and hosting this for us. It is very much appreciated.
In May the Oxford Water lease was finally signed and paid for 3 years. The National Trust extended the car park and also rechipped the swims as promised. Thanks to Paul Stefanovic for this. We are still awaiting replacement of the removed swim with no timeline given by the National Trust for the work. There were problems with weed during the summer months, however the cost of professional removal was felt to be too high to justify by the committee, as this was only suggested as an option by the National Trust late on in the summer. Hopefully the cold start to the spring will prevent the same happening this season.
There was a working party held on 9th May to do some tidying up at Oxford Water. This was very poorly attended with only 3 committee members turning out. We have also held working parties on the river over the winter, clearing out 10 existing pegs and also creating 5 extra pegs with stile access. A big thank you to all who attended, it has made a big difference to our river stretch. Please support our working parties, we don’t hold many and they do really make a difference for everyone.
The river lease has been secured for an additional 3 years to March 2018. Thanks to Snowy, Joe and Hilary for arranging this. Please be aware that there will be some closures during the winter due to Conrad holding shoots on his land. We also have a visiting club booking the water for a 1 day match. These dates are to be confirmed. We will let you know by email once we are given the dates. There will be signs put up on the gates when the water is closed to members fishing.
In June it became clear that the lakes at Radclive were not a viable option for the club. The land owners would only offer a lease for a maximum of 7 years with a very high chance that the water would then be sold as an established fishery, with all the work and cost being shouldered by our club, with all the sale profit being taken by the land owners. The committee agreed at this point to walk away and again start the seemingly impossible task of finding another venue.
In August Graham sourced a potential new lake for the club and with the committee’s approval started to talk to the land owner about the possibilities. By October this was looking like a very strong opportunity for the club and in November we were lucky enough to be able to sign contracts to secure the lake for Stowe Angling Club. This is a massive relief to the committee and we all feel that we have finally secured a real asset for the club’s future. Mick will give you a lot more information later in tonight’s AGM, but I wanted to formally thank the committee on behalf of the members for the dedication and commitment given to get the club to this fantastic position. Huge thanks are also due to Phil Rose who, despite previously resigning from the committee, has put just as much time and dedication into securing a new water as the committee members.
In February we agreed with Winslow club to offer 20 members an extension to the Stowe ticket to also cover their Mursley lake, with a contra agreement for 20 Winslow members to have access to Oxford Water. Thanks to Charlie and Dawn Green of Winslow for organising this. Charlie is here this evening, so if anyone would like any further information please do have a chat.
In March Allan Hawkins decided it was time to retire from the committee. We would all like to thank Allan for his support and commitment to the Club and to wish him well for the future. Thank you, Allan. In light of this and the dedication he has shown to securing the Club’s future, the committee felt it was appropriate to ask Phil Rose to rejoin us and I’m very pleased to say he has agreed. He will be standing for re-election this evening, along with the rest of the committee.
The club continues its membership of the Angling Trust and is insured for liability via them. We also have access to Fish Legal via our membership, fortunately we have not needed to access their services this year.
No one should ever call me an optimist; however, I definitely feel the Club’s glass is finally getting fuller and who knows, maybe this time next year I will just be turning up at meetings and taking the minutes. A massive thank you to Graham and all of my fellow committee members for making this journey easier. I think you’ve all proved that we can collectively swim through whatever is thrown at us.
Happy fishing everyone.
Match Secretary’s report
Last season was the worst match season that I have known since I took over as Match Secretary, for most of the matches there were only two of us fishing.
There were three matches in the calendar when only I turned up.
The matches against Brackley home and away fared no better, with only five of us fishing both legs, with only one member of Brackley taking part in the home match.
We have two more matches to fish from last season’s match calendar, which are the 29th May and the 5th June.
This coming season there will be no match calendar apart from the two dates mentioned above. I will be re-instating the matches in the 2017/18 season when we have had a year of fishing on the new lake, and then I will alternate matches between Stowe and Syresham lakes.
There will be no presentation of trophies this year as the winner of the matches has decided that the money would be better spent on the new lake.
I hope you all have plenty of tight lines when fishing on the new lake.
Treasurer's report
Income this year was £4,436 which included a £1,000 donation from Mrs Lloyd, in memory of Peter Dyer. Dave read out a letter from Mrs Lloyd. Income from membership was down by around £300. Expenses were £9,085.82, which included all the start-up and fish stocking cost and 1st year rent for Jubilee Lake, and 3 years rent for Oxford Water. This gave a total Excess of Expenditure over Income of £4,649.82.
Bank Balance at 15 April 15 AGM was £ 7,691.86
Income 2015/2016 £ 4,436.00
Grand total in bank £12,127.86
Total Expenses £ 9,085.82
Final Balance as of 24 Apr 16 £ 3,042.04
Proposed by Samantha Gillman Seconded by Matt Mallett
Membership Secretary’s report
Current membership stands at 77 Adults, 3 Juniors, 5 Children, 8 Complimentary, 6 Honorary and 1 Half Season Ticket. Membership remains open.
Membership was down quite significantly on the previous year which seems to be in line with the National trend, but also due to the fact that we only had Oxford water to fish which was significantly different to what members were use too.
The Introduction of the Child category ticket for under 12’s also didn’t have the desired effect. This year the Junior membership will rise to under 18.
In order to attract new members in the coming season we have an agreement in place with Winslow & District Fishing club to offer some Tench fishing in an estate type lake. In return we are allowing Winslow members to fish Oxford Water only. We will restrict the number of tickets to 20 to start with to see how much interest we have. We have Charlie Green from Winslow here to answer any of your questions on the lake.
Anybody wishing to join needs to indicate their interest on the membership application form and return to me by the 16th May. The successful applicants will then be contacted to pay the additional £5. Tickets will be issued and sent out to you with Rules and directions.
Subscriptions will increase this year to £35.00 Adult, £15.00 Junior and Children under 12 Free. This is the first increase in subscriptions that I can remember. This basically to help
Fund a stocking and feeding program for Jubilee Lake.
Can I just remind everybody to keep us up to date with any changes to your email addresses, as we use these to send out newsletters and updates. Off course anybody who still doesn’t have an email address will continue to receive updates via post. All updates and forms will also be posted on our website.
Election of Officers
The committee stepped down and Graham advised that he was prepared to continue as Chairman.
Proposed by Samantha Gillman Seconded by Phil Rose
Graham advised that the remainder of the committee were prepared to continue in their offices and suggested that they be re-elected on block.
Proposed by Graham Brigginshaw Seconded by Mick Grace
Committee officers as follows:
Chairman Graham Brigginshaw
Vice Chairman Matt Mallett
Secretary Samantha Gillman
Treasurer David Ridgway
Membership Secretary David Gillman
Match Secretary Steve Horwood
Committee Members Mick Taylor
Dennis Purr
Phil Rose
General Propositions – no general propositions have been received
Due to technical problems we had to move rooms to do the presentation on Jubilee Lake so the Agenda was reordered to do AOB first.
Any other business
Graham asked the question with regard to introduction of a closed season in the future. Phil Rose commented that this might scare off the membership, which the club can’t afford to happen.
Sam proposed that we run with no closed season for 1 year and then review again next AGM. Agreed by all members. Graham advised that the farmer does have CCTV covering the entrance somewhere so we could get stats on how many are fishing during the winter months to see if there is actually any need or if a natural break occurs anyway.
Steve Cory suggested that a CCTV in operation sign is placed on the gate to keep non-members and undesirables away.
A new member brought up the subject of litter and that the club should enforce a zero-tolerance policy. Graham explained that due to the tight restrictions we have been subject to at Stowe our members are used to this and we hope this will be carried over to the new lake. We will keep an eye on it and raise it next AGM if there are any problems.
Jubilee Lake
Mick Taylor gave a presentation on Jubilee Lake showing photos of the location, the lake from several angles, the netting that was carried out by Andrew Ellis, and the various stockings that have taken place. He also reminded us that there is a working party arranged for Sunday 8th May at Jubilee Lake to install the final 3 swims, and finish off the couple that have extra work to do, put in the steps and cut back some of the bushes and trees.
Meeting closed 2105 hrs