******* Notes from the AGM******
Ladies and Gents, last night we held our first AGM for three years due to covid. With a respectable turnout of 40 or so members, it was good to see some newer faces and some of our returning members once again. As you would expect it was rather different than the norm with minutes of the previous one being three years old. Anyway we went through the agenda and one or two things were proposed, discussed, and voted upon.
These were :
1) That we look at the possibility of connecting the canal lake and the stock ponds together to make a larger lake for matches.
2) The committee considers and implements a silver fish policy of stocking into this lake.
Both of these were approved.
It was also suggested by the committee, and then ratified by the membership present, that we remain at the same price for membership for the coming season.
Committee wise there are a few new faces and some others have disappeared.Those that have left previously to the meeting or did not seek re-election are Wayne Scase, Robbie Beecroft, and Bob Squirrell. With Bob being proposed to become a Vice President for his previous work and service to the society.
Also Peter Pollard has stepped down as chairman but will continue to be President of the society. Peter had been doing the dual role only since the removal of the previous chairman and to help out.
On behalf of the rest of the committee and members I would like to say a big thank you to all of them for their efforts and continued support.
Unfortunately with Peter stepping down there were no offers to fill the chairman position. This is a problem the new committee will have to make a decision upon at the meeting next week.
So with vacancies to be filled there were volunteers ready to step in and we now have more than a full compliment to carry our club forward. Hopefully their new enthusiasm and different perspective on how we currently do things will give us fresh ideas to progress in the future.
The new committee is as follows.
Andrew Winfield, Ryan Baker, Nick Clarke, Stacy Bird, Rob Denny, Gordon Banks, Gary Marjoram, Ben Hart, and Les Hart. I am also continuing as secretary for the next year.
Financially the society is in a good place although we face challenges keeping spending under control in view of the increased prices of electricity and pretty much everything else. That said I think we can still move forward and with good financial planning can still maintain and improve our fisheries.
To this end we have been looking at getting grants wherever we can and a special mention to Robbie Beecroft for his work in the past on this. John Rozier also has done a lot of work in the background and managed to get grants to improve Alderson and fish welfare.
As the meeting was progressed I also received a message which confirmed we had been approved for a grant to improve the section of the river at Sharmford lock. This is a very welcome addition to our funds and helps us improve this fishing section of the river which sadly has declined in recent years. I will post a separate item giving more details on this later.
So with business complete, trophies handed out and
(I think) everybody appearing to see that the club is being looked after, and in good hands, the chairman closed the meeting.
Now comes the hard work and very soon, BUT NOT YET, I will be after your money for membership.

Les