STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL
Minutes: 001 – 012
Minutes of the Inaugural Meeting held on 14 March 2015 at 4pm at Ventnor Marina
Present:
Ken Barnes – nb Lazy Susan
Michelle Barnes – nb Lazy Susan
Christine Brown – nb Tranquility
Gillian Chapple – nb Per Angusta
John Dickins – nb Long John
Charlie Dowdeswell – nb Adagio for Brass
Michelle Dowdeswell – nb Adagio for Brass
Roy Jimminson – nb Avontrader
Sylvia Jimminson – nb Avontrader
Mo Kennedy – nb Capriola
Roger Kennedy – nb Capriola
001 Chairman of the Meeting
Ken Barnes, Chairman of the Steering Committee agreed to Chair this meeting until a Chairman of Ventnor Marina Moorers Association (VMMA) was elected.
002 Constitution
Ken Barnes explained that the Steering Committee had prepared a Constitution for VMMA which was based on the model Berth Holders’ Association constitution which the RYA provided. He distributed copies and it was noted that a copy of the proposed Constitution had been available on the VMMA website.
The draft Constitution was considered by the meeting and it was agreed that some wording should be added to indicate that VMMA was independent of Castle Marinas Ltd.
It was noted that there were 3 classes of Member proposed – Full Members who had voting rights, Social Members and Honorary Members who had no voting rights. The Steering Committee explained that there would be a limit of 2 Full Members per mooring – thereafter, moorers would be able to become Social Members. This had been done to prevent, for example, multiple owners of a shared boat having disproportionate voting weight. After a general discussion the Constitution was unanimously adopted.
003 Election of Officers
Ken Barnes, who had chaired the Steering Committee, offered to stand as Chairman of VMMA. Nobody else volunteered to stand for the post and Mr Barnes was unanimously elected Chairman.
Mo Kennedy, who had acted as Treasurer for the Steering Committee, volunteered to stand as Treasurer of VMMA. Nobody else volunteered to stand for the post and Mrs Kennedy was unanimously elected Treasurer.
Sylvia Jimminson who had acted as Secretary to the Steering Committee said that she did not feel that she would be able to undertake that role for VMMA. There were no other volunteers for the post of Secretary. Gillian Chapple said that she had intended to volunteer as a Committee Member and to act as webmaster for VMMA, having already set up the website; she said that she would be willing to try to combine acting as Secretary and webmaster on the understanding that, if the workload proved too much, someone else would take over the secretarial duties. The meeting acknowledged this and Gillian Chapple was unanimously elected Secretary and webmaster.
It was noted that the Officers of VMMA would each be provided with e-mail accounts for use on official VMMA business. These accounts should be set up as IMAP accounts so that copies of all incoming and outgoing emails would be kept on a server. Upon the retirement or resignation of an officer, the e-mail account would be passed to the new post holder who would then have access to the complete historic e-mail history of the post.
004 Election of Committee Members
Michelle Barnes, Sylvia Jimminson, Roy Jimminson and Roger Kennedy all volunteered to stand as Committee Members and were unanimously elected.
005 Membership Fees
The meeting unanimously approved a membership fee of £5 per year or part year for both Full and Social Members.
006 Appointment of Bankers
The meeting discussed the appointment of bankers and the appropriate signing authorities for any bank account of VMMA. It was unanimously agreed that all payments would require 2 signatures and that it would be inappropriate for VMMA to use internet banking. It was further agreed that there should be 4 authorised signatories for any bank account, being the elected Officers of VMMA from time to time plus one Committee Member. Sylvia Jimminson volunteered to be the Committee Member and this was unanimously accepted by the meeting.
It was agreed that National Westminster should be appointed bankers to VMMA. The meeting RESOLVED that a banking relationship will be maintained with National Westminster Bank plc (the “Bank”) in accordance with this mandate and that:
- the individuals identified as authorised signatories may, in accordance with the signing rules, sign cheques and give instructions for standing orders, direct debits, electronic payments, banker’s drafts and other payments on the accounts even if it causes an account to be overdrawn or exceed any limit.
- any authorised signatory may give other instructions or requests for information to the Bank in relation to the accounts; opening accounts with the same signing rules and authorised signatories; closing accounts; or other banking services or products.
- the Bank may accept instructions that do not have an original written authorised signature provided the Bank is satisfied that the instruction is genuine and subject to any other agreement the Bank may require for those instructions.
- VMMA (the Organisation) will provide to the Bank a copy of its constitution and any amendment to the constitution, certified as correct by the Secretary.
- this mandate will continue until the Organisation gives the Bank a replacement mandate
It was further RESOLVED that the signing rules should be that the Bank may act on the instructions of any 2 authorised signatories for unlimited amounts.
007 Social Events
There was a general discussion of the type of events that VMMA should consider arranging. It was agreed that, where feasible, events should be held in different locations around the Marina. It was noted that Lee Cooper Blair had recently made the pond and walking area past Phase 2 much more accessible and inviting with mowed pathways, seating and fishing stations; all agreed that these developments enhanced the facilities at the Marina and that it would be appropriate for VMMA to write formally congratulating Mrs Cooper Blair on this initiative. Action: Gillian C
From the discussions it was agreed that the following events would be pursued:
Transport to and from Crick Boat Show 2015
It was agreed that VMMA should look into providing transport to and from the Crick Boat Show on one of the show days. Roger Kennedy agreed to look into the potential costs of a minibus or a coach. Action: Roger K
It was agreed that the level of interest together with an indication of preferred day should be gathered by means of the VMMA website and a letter to moorers, which the Marina would be asked to circulate. Action: Gillian C
Moorers’ Breakfast – 10 May
It was agreed to hold a Moorers’ Breakfast on Sunday 10 May, offering bacon rolls, tea or coffee. This would be free to members of VMMA and to anybody joining VMMA on the day. Committee
It was agreed that the level of interest should be gathered by means of the VMMA website and a letter to moorers, which the Marina would be asked to circulate. Action: Gillian C
Moorers’ Barbecue – 12 September
Ventnor Marina had asked VMMA to run a barbecue in the evening of 29 August, following the Marina Open Day. All present felt that the date was inappropriate due to the likelihood of moorers being out cruising. As the Open Day was aimed at attracting new moorers and the barbecue was for existing moorers there was no need for them to be on the same day and it was agreed to move the barbecue to 12 September. Action: Committee
008 Ideas for future events
In addition to the social events outlined above, it was agreed that in the future VMMA would look into possibly holding the boating equivalent of a car boot sale and an away day barbecue somewhere on the canal system.
It was noted that Castle Marinas wanted to rename Phases 1 and 2 and were happy for VMMA to run a competition seeking names; Castle Marinas would choose the names from those submitted and the people who suggested the two winning names would win a tank of diesel.
009 VMMA Website
Gillian Chapple outlined her ideas for the development of the VMMA website – the introduction of a Members’ Area accessible only to members of VMMA where there would be a forum with different sections such as Shopping on the Cut, Exchange & Mart, Help Wanted, Boat Maintenance, etc. All agreed that this would be a good idea.
It was also agreed that it would be inappropriate to try to use the website to generate income by taking advertising from commercial organisations. It was, however, agreed that it would be appropriate to link to the Castle Marinas website, the Canal and River Trust, IWA and other similar organisations. Gillian Chapple said that she had asked if Castle Marinas would pay an introduction fee similar to that available to individual moorers if anyone signed up to moor at the Marina as a result of visiting the VMMA website, but had been advised that this was not possible.
The Committee Members all agreed that their boat names and mooring locations within the Marina could be published on the website.
Gillian Chapple said that the forum part of the website was a work in progress as she was experimenting with different forum software and asked members to bear with her whilst she developed that part of the website. On behalf of the members, Ken Barnes thanked Gillian for the work done so far on the website.
010 Fund Raising
It was noted that the curry event in 2014 that Roy and Sylvia Jimminson had cooked for had raised £80 for VMMA funds
011 Notice Boards
Roy Jimminson voiced his concern that notices about VMMA events would be overlooked by moorers if placed on the notice boards around the Marina as they would get mixed up with other notices. He suggested that the Committee should look into the possibility of having separate noticeboards.
012 Date of next meeting
The next meeting of VMMA will be at 11.30am on Sunday 10 May, following the Moorers’ Breakfast.
There being no further business, the meeting was closed.