Omibus Society

2015 AGM Minutes

2015 AGM Minutes

The Omnibus Society

(Registered in England No 3081365; Charity No 1048887) 

 

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting 2015 

 

Held on Saturday 11 July 2015 at the Unitarian Church, Brunswick Square, Bristol BS2 8PE starting at 1400.

 

Present: 23 members of The Omnibus Society, including the Secretary (Tony Francis) and Treasurer (Pat Russell) and Directors Don Akrigg, Ian Barlex, Geoff Lusher and Alan Mills.   

 

Apologies: These were received from Harry Barker (Chairman), Ray Armstrong, Ralph Barker, Roger Barton, Richard Diamat, Gordon Edwards, Nigel Eggleton, Brian Elvidge, Malcolm Flynn,  Andy Gipson, Peter Hale,  Tony Hart, John Howie, Ian Lowe, Tony Newman, John Smith and Ken Swallow.  

 

Good wishes were sent from the meeting to the Chairman, Harry Barker on a speedy and full recovery, following a recent illness. He had, however, kindly provided a copy of the Chairman’s Address which is appended to these minutes.  It was agreed, with the full support of those present, that Geoff Lusher, one of the two Directors with responsibilities for the Affiliated Groups, would Chair this AGM.

 

  1. Brief introductions were made by Directors present, namely, Alan Mills (Librarian & Archivist), Don Akrigg (Director for Affiliated Groups), Ian Barlex (Safety and Risk Assessment) along with Pat Russell, the newly appointed Treasurer, who was welcomed by the Meeting Chairman and Members present. Full details of those Directors seeking appointment, along with their supporting statements, have been contained in the agenda papers for this AGM.

 

Of particular note was the statement by Alan Mills over the need for further accommodation to manage the increasing amount of relevant archive material now being acquired by the Society. This was a matter currently receiving attention by Council and a number of options were currently being explored around the Telford and Ironbridge area where volunteers, essential to manage the incoming stock, could still be found.

                       

  1. The Minutes of the previous AGM, held on 14th June 2014, were received and approved. Proposed by Don Akrigg and seconded by Derek Persson.

 

  1. The Accounts for 2014 were presented by Pat Russell, who indicated that, with one minor amendment (relating to the netting off of OSMART subscriptions) they had been accepted by the auditor. They were thus received and approved by the meeting (proposed by John Hart and seconded by David Domin). A short discussion took place over the future presentation of such accounts, to ensure they were more easily understood by the wider membership.          

 

  1. The Report from the Secretary of the Company (Tony Francis) was received and accepted by the meeting.     

 

  1. The Resignation of Tony Francis as a Director of The Omnibus

Society was duly noted (Geoff Lusher thanked Tony for his past and continuing involvement with the Society as he would remain as Secretary (Paragraph 32 of the Articles).  

 

  1. Gavin Booth was re-appointed as a Director of the Society, proposed by Ralph Barker and seconded by Don Akrigg. 

 

  1. John Howie was re-appointed as a Director, proposed by Harry Barker seconded by Julian Peddle    

 

  1. Alan Mills was re-appointed as a Director, proposed by Tony Francis and seconded by Alan Oxley   

 

  1. The appointment of  Nigel Eggleton as a Director was confirmed, proposed by Julian Peddle and seconded by Tony Francis

 

  1. The appointment of Patrick Russell as a Director was confirmed, proposed by Harry Barker and seconded by Ian Barlex.  

 

  1. And the appointment of Patrick Russell as Treasurer of The Omnibus Society was confirmed by the meeting.  

 

  1. The grant of authority to Council was confirmed by the meeting to re-appoint and remunerate The Barker Partnership (Charles Gill, partner) of Kirkgate, Ripon, North Yorkshire, as examining accountants, until the conclusion of the next general meeting when at which time accounts are laid before the membership. 

 

  1. Any Other Business

 

The meeting allowed a useful debate about the activities of the Society and encouragement was given to further such dialogues, to help capture the ideas and priorities of the membership. However, as was pointed out by Ian Barlex, every activity required volunteers to carry out the tasks and there was an extremely short supply of such a resource. Dave Bubier suggested out sourcing of more activities and although Directors confirmed this was being done, especially regarding photo sales, it could be applied elsewhere, subject to cost.

 

Members were also anxious that, in promoting the Society through adverts and other means, more could be done to present its unique selling points, namely information provided about routes, services, premises and operations.  It was agreed that these matters would be pursued by Council.

 

Interest was also shown in ensuring that the various publications produced by both the Society itself and the affiliated bodies are more widely promoted. This particularly related to the recently produced “Recollections of Henry Webb” which had wider appeal beyond the bus enthusiast market.   

 

Reference and a discussion took place over the new membership subscription scheme, aimed at ensuring that it was both easier for existing (and new) members to understand as well as administer and contain costs. Full details of the changes were shortly to appear in the Omnibus Magazine. Geoff Lusher pointed out that there had been a considerable dialogue with all sections of the Society before arriving at the new position, but matters would be kept under review to ascertain where further refinements might be pursued.

 

Dave Bubier had earlier presented a paper to Council supporting continuation of the present arrangements whereby each “branch” determined its own fees, but allowing members to effectively join as many branches as they wish. However, Geoff Lusher explained that the geographical branches and LHRG, as well as PHRG, were the basic building blocks of the Society; it gave members a closer and more personal relationship with the body they had chosen, although did not prevent involvement with the activities of all other such organisations.         

 

No further business was raised and the meeting closed at 1520. 

 

 

Grateful thanks go to the SWW Branch for arranging the venue and providing the morning speaker, Peter Davey, who gave a most entertaining and comprehensive talk entitled

“Around Bristol by Tram”. Peter certainly brought to life the public transport system which disappeared almost 75years ago but provided the foundation for today’s network.    

 

 

150711 OOMNIBUS SOCIETY AGM MINUTES

 

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