The meeting was not very well attended, but we welcomed a new member, David Richardson, who had been a member of the club in the 1990s. I arrived a little sad as I has heard that at least three members were leaving us, but left much happier.
Chairman Chris decided to kick off with the presentation of the cups.They were awarded as follows:
- The Picthall Cup (for the most improved PI worker of the year) to Glenn Donnelly
- The Rowling Cup (for the most improved print worker of the year) to Norman Kirby
- The Petworth Cup (for the Best PI of the year) to Martin Tomes
- The Taylor Cup (for the PI worker of the year) to Daisy Kane and Derek Grieve
- The Emmett Cup (for the Best print of the year) to Daisy Kane
- The Dixon Cup (for the print worker of the year) to Martin Tomes
- And finally, The Anonymous Cup (for the photographer of the year) to Derek Grieve
The best of these, I thought, were the awards to the most improved photographers i.e. Glenn and Norman. Very well done to both of them, as they have both worked hard to improve and it was nice to see them rewarded.
Then the main business of the AGM started with the Chairman's report. Chris outlined several events and speakers that we had enjoyed together during the season. The highlight was winning the Regnum Print Shield in November, and the Shield was there for us to see. We also very successfully ran the Crouch Shield PI competition at the Steyning Centre in March.
Chris thanked the members of the Committee for all their hard work, and especially John Gauvin who is retiring as Print Secretary, having done the job for several years since he took over from me. Chris presented John with a present from the club as a 'thank you’.
There were not so many entries for competitions this year and several members have said they think we have too many competitions; this is a problem which the Committee have discussed and come up with a new procedure for next season. We will only enter two prints and two PIs in each competition and both will be judged on the same evening. We will now only have four competition evenings next season, which frees up four nights which will be filled with other events.
One member who is leaving is doing so because of the the way in which our competition entries are judged, and there followed some discussion on the subject. I would ask the critics to ask themselves would they like to do the job? Camera Club judges do a hard job, giving up their own time to come to us and often only being paid travelling expenses. The most important person to please with your masterpieces is yourself and to hell with what anyone else thinks of them. I think we all learn a lot looking at other people’s pictures and hearing criticism. You do not have to agree with the judges, but they are doing their best, and it is only their view. The very best judges are in big demand, which is why we do not get them very often.
I have finished my rant.
There will be two events during the summer, our cream tea at Chris’s house on August 15th and a treasure hunt in Worthing on August 30th.
Janet then gave her report on the club’s finances which are in good shape and so we do not need to increase the subscription. She thanked Norman for carrying out an audit of the accounts.
We then had reports from our two print and PI Secretaries and Alex thanked Martin for his help checking the PIs. Alex has had a promotion at work and he has a young family to take care of, but hopes to have more time next season.
Liz continues with the exhibitions and the selection for our external competitions.
There was a vacancy for Programme Secretary and David Seddon has stepped up to the mark to do that job. We also needed a new Print Secretary and Anne Nagle has volunteered to fill that post. Our thanks to both of them.
There is however one other vacancy - Publicity. Glenn did a fantastic job previously, but so far nobody else has volunteered to carry on. Daisy has been successful in getting us some good coverage in local newspapers, but we do need someone else to do this job which is vital to get new members. The formal meeting then finished and we broke for a cuppa.
After the break, the ever cheerful and smashing good egg Alex assisted by the Chairman carried out the Auction which caused a good few laughs, especially when Alex unsuccessfully demonstrated assembling two tripods. The Auction raised £170 odd with more to come from some items to be sold on e-bay.
And so another season comes to a close and we look forward to seeing everyone back in September, and maybe seeing most of you at the summer events.