ENDURANCE GB SOUTH EAST GROUP

MINUTES OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

HELD ON SATURDAY 13^TH DECEMBER 2003

AT THE HAWTH, CRAWLEY, WEST SUSSEX

COMMITTEE Margaret Montgomerie Nicola Cramond

PRESENT: Liz Walton Leo Davenport

Peter Davenport Andrea Baker

Georgie Calcutt

1.	APOLOGIES
	Apologies were received from Rita Dingwall, Ann Van Ross, Selena Tilley, Claudia Christopher, Jenny Anderson, Joyce Whatley, Su Baldry, Maggie Pattinson, Kim Carter & Carol McLean.
2.	MINUTES OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 7^TH DECEMBER 2002
	These were agreed and signed. Proposed by Jane Cook and seconded by Sally Clay.
3.	MATTERS ARISING
	There were no matters arising.
4.	CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
	Margaret Montgomerie gave the following report:- Good evening ladies and gentlemen. It is good to see so many of you here for the SE AGM and Awards evening at the end of the second year of EGB. I am very pleased to report that this has been another successful year. I will give a brief resume from the National AGM at the end of my report.
	In the SE the season started with three very successful training rides. These were very well supported. Many thanks to the organisers and their helpers. They certainly got the season off to a good start for many of you.
	We tried to put on some training opportunities but these were not as well supported as we had hoped. We cancelled “How to Progress in Endurance Riding” through lack of support. However, the “Heart Rate Monitor & Vet Gate Training Day” was voted a big success by all who attended. Hopefully some who gained experience on manning vet gates will help with vet gates in 2004. The last event of the season was a very successful “Ride Organiser & Helpers Day”. It was quite an eye opener for some people and everyone learned something from it, even the old stagers!
	Please let the Committee know what you want. We are prepared to organise but we need to know what you want. Some training events are already in hand for 2004.
	The SE had ten competitive rides in 2003. These started in March with a very successful Primrose Ride. Unfortunately the next ride, Devil’s Dyke, planned for April, had to be postponed due to EVH-1 virus, but was reorganised in October to finish the season on a good note. Next ride was Berkshire Downs in May and this brought success to Offa’s Dyke members in the ER classes and to SE members in the GR classes. June was a very busy month with three SE rides, starting with Plumpton, then Fontwell FEI (Arabian Festival) and Ride the Wight. Unfortunately these last two clashed – this won’t happen in 2004. In July we had Glassenbury and this was followed by Ashdown Forest and Hornshill in August, then Firle Park in September. Unfortunately the Fontwell Ride (ER classes only) at the end of September had to be cancelled due to lack of entries. All the rides run were very successful, although the weather on many was rather on the hot side for both horses and riders. Many rides were oversubscribed, especially early in the season, causing disappointment to some riders. Congratulations to all who were successful during the year – from those doing their first Novice ride to those doing the longer ER’s. The year will be remembered for its hot weather and hard ground.
	In 2004 there will be an opening date for entries. This will avoid organisers having very early entries and will also stop some riders entering rides for the whole season and then cancelling some of the entries later, resulting in some rides running with less entries than they had been organised for. It will remain with ride organisers to decide how they will ‘manage’ oversubscribed entries.
	We would benefit from more rides in the SE. We need more organisers to increase the number of rides! Established ride organisers are always prepared to offer advice and help if you want to volunteer. Remember all the current ride organisers ran their first ride sometime! Can some of you put on pleasure/training rides in 2004 with a view to possibly running a competitive ride in 2005?
	During the year the number of people taking part in team competitions has been disappointing. We had no team for Team Spirit at Lindum or the Inter Regional team competition. There was no SE representative in the Home International though several people did have their names forward. It is at Red Dragon next year so hopefully SE will have someone in the team. However on the International scene we were represented by Sally Payton on the Intermediate team, which went to Compeigne, France. Congratulations Sally on your success.
	I would like to take this opportunity to give a very big thank you to all who made the year go well. Remember without all the volunteers like ride organisers, helpers, crews, farmers and sponsors, there would be no rides for us to take part in. I would also like to give a special thanks to the Committee for their support during the year – without them there would be no SE Group. Unfortunately three have decided to stand down – Nicola Cramond, Andrea Baker & Joyce Whatley – so a special thank you to them for all their hard work over many years. They will all be involved in organising and helping at rides in 2004 and hopefully we will see them back on the committee sometime in the future.
	Can I leave you with some points to consider: · We need more organisers and helpers for rides and other events. · We need more technical stewards – offer to help experienced TS’s and gain experience. · What events do you want organised? – we need feedback from you. · Always be cheerful and thank people, be it organisers, helpers, people at gates etc. · Always ride considerately.
	Can I wish you all the best for the Festive Season and for 2004. See you on the ‘trail’ next season.
	Margaret then gave a brief outline of the national AGM which was held on 29^th November. The five members elected to the Management Committee were Wendy Dunham (who has now become Chairman), Derek Grantham, Len Beech, Deb Bennett and our own Des Payton. The members proposals which were carried were read out. Susan Hawes reminded Margaret that a proposal to allow prize money was also passed. The Ride Organisers’ Conference will be on Saturday 17 January 2004 at Kenilworth School.
5.	SECRETARY’S REPORT
	Leo Davenport gave the following report:- During the last year, the Committee of ten has held five meetings, in January, March, June, September & November, at The Red Lion in Bletchingley which kindly allows us to take over their round table in the restaurant for the evening, as well as feeding the greedy amongst us beforehand. Margaret has already outlined the training and competitive rides run by the Group in 2003 and the ride organisers’ conference day at Chertsey put on by Maggie and Andrea. This proved to be a very successful and enjoyable day which hopefully will inspire and encourage lots more of you to run training and competitive rides in the future. I answer a fairly steady stream of enquiries from new interested people. As many of you will read, Su Baldry has been busy producing our quarterly newsletter this year. This currently has 163 subscribers with 41 keen people already signed up for 2004. A job you can do tonight if you care to visit Peter with your chequebook. Still £7.50 for the 4 issues. Out of interest there are currently 319 national EGB members in the South East, made up of 8 juniors, 16 young riders, 34 life members, 243 riding members and 18 non-riding members. The South East has 282 registered horses of which 116 are Novice, 76 Intermediate and 89 are Advanced.
6.	TREASURER’S REPORT
	Peter Davenport advised that a copy of the accounts had been placed on each seat. He went through the details of the Group accounts to the end of August 2003 as submitted to EGB, and also updated the picture up to the current period at end of December. The basic message was that the Group has been very successful financially. The organisers of the training rides were particularly thanked for their significant contributions to Group income. Thanks were also given to Paul Ewing of Horse Health (Sussex & Surrey) Ltd for his generous sponsorship of the awards at this meeting both last year and this. The Committee were also thanked for their abstemious requests for expenses. On the outgoings side, some new ride equipment had been purchased, particularly horses crossing signs. The website, superbly run by Julia Harman, has generated lots of interest and enquiries, and the hosting agreement has been renewed for a further two years, thus gaining a discounted rate. A donation was received from the Arab Horse Society recognising the role of endurance as a showcase for the talents of the arabian horse. Full details of how the Committee propose to use this money will be given in the January newsletter. Two raffle prizes had been purchased, one for £25 for the national AGM raffle, and a Marks & Spencer £50 voucher to be raffled tonight. The cost of the meal tonight has been subsidised by £3.98 per ticket and all ride organisers have been given a free ticket as a thank you and an encouragement for next year. The Group intends to purchase some better venue and directional signs of a similar format to the horses crossing ones. Peter then asked for questions and views from the floor. Kevin Hawes questioned whether the cost of the newsletter would be covered by the subscription next year. The Committee were happy to continue to contribute from Group funds whenever there is sufficient information needing to be included to increase the size and therefore costs of the newsletter. The SE newsletter is one of the best in the country in terms of content and contributions. Gilly Payton asked what had been done to contact SE members who do not subscribe to the newsletter. Peter said that a letter detailing Group activities/newsletter/trophies had been sent last year but there had been a very poor response with only 6 replies from 90+ letters sent. The national office does make all new members aware of which group area they are in and the SE website is particularly helpful in alerting new members to the newsletter etc. The Committee will discuss this problem at the next meeting. Sally Payton asked if the first newsletter could be given free to all SE EGB members every year and the other 3 issues just go to those who subsequently subscribed. The committee will investigate this idea. Paul Titcomb suggested the newsletter could be better advertised at SE rides. Peter replied that a poster is put on the ride noticeboard in most cases but agreed to investigate if this can be improved to be more noticeable. Kevin Hawes questioned whether the Stoneleigh office could send out something from the Group to all new SE members. The Committee will investigate this. Sally Payton asked that a set of extra bibs be provided for crews of ER riders. Margaret and Des Payton confirmed that this was to be included in national rules for 2004, not necessarily bibs, perhaps armbands or paper numbers. Kevin Hawes reminded us that some crews are bigger than their riders and do not easily and quickly fit into the same number bib. Sallie Dudley offered the group a set of old style plastic bibs which take paper number inserts. The accounts were passed, proposed by Kevin Hawes and seconded by Jane Cook.
7.	ELECTION OF COMMITTEE.
	Margaret Montgomerie, Liz Walton and Leo Davenport are retiring by rotation and offering themselves for re-election. Nicola Cramond, Joyce Whatley and Andrea Baker have tendered their resignations. Margaret thanked them for their contributions to the Committee. Two nominations have been received: · Jane Cook, proposed by Nicola Cramond and seconded by Carol McLean. · Linda Burrows, proposed by Georgie Calcutt and seconded by Leo Davenport. Jane, Linda, Margaret, Liz and Leo were unanimously elected to the Committee. Margaret welcomed Jane and Linda on to the Committee and said that the date for the next committee meeting in January will be agreed at the end of this meeting.
8.	PROPOSALS.
	1. We need a carrot as well as a stick to encourage members to help at rides. ‘No help – no trophy’ is the stick and gets help at one ride, but only one. I propose, therefore, that help at subsequent rides be rewarded with South East Points for Neddy on his yellow card. A guaranteed say 20 or 30 South East Points every time Neddy is left at home and his people help instead may persuade more of us, when we can’t do a ride, to come along anyway and help out. Proposed by Kay Anstey. Membership No. 10943. Seconded by Liz Walton. Membership No. 10889. Kay supported her proposal stating that she wants to encourage people to help at more rides than just the initial compulsory one and that extra points would be an incentive and a thank you. Andrea Baker agreed that ride organisers desperately need more helpers but she was worried that, as trophies are horse based, extra points could lead to a situation where trophies were won by horses which were not the true winners. She proposed awarding a trophy and placings to the people helping the most during a season. Nicola Cramond reiterated how serious a problem finding adequate help can be for a ride organiser. Rosemary Attfield suggested awarding rosettes with helper points on them. Ann Campbell suggested collecting points for discounted ride entries. Karen Carruthers asked that specific pleas for help at particular rides be included in the newsletter, rather than just a general overall plea which tends to get ignored. Margaret Fogg kindly offered to donate a helpers trophy if it is decided to be a good idea. Ann Campbell and others mentioned ringing and offering to help, leaving messages on answerphones and getting no response. It was agreed that there were a number of errors in organiser’s phone numbers in the omnibus schedule. Gilly Payton suggested a scheme for accumulating helper points leading to the awarding of a badge, rather like Pony Club star system. Susan Hawes suggested a loyalty scheme. Ursula Wanostrocht would be happy to help at rides when bringing horses. Ann Campbell suggested a system of members nominating a ride and alternatives that they would be happy to help at and this could be passed to the organisers. Kevin Hawes questioned what would be the response if organisers rang members direct and asked them to help. Liz Walton had tried this and about one third agreed to help. Sallie Dudley asked if organisers not on the committee could have a copy of the subscribers list. Data protection was queried but Gilly Payton thought this would not apply as the list would be being used by the organisation for it’s primary purpose. Rosemary Attfield asked that email addresses be included. Kay Anstey agreed to withdraw her proposal and leave it to the committee to discuss and decide on a suitable rewards scheme. The details will be published in the next newsletter.
9.	ANY OTHER BUSINESS.
	Margaret Montgomerie. Two early season training sessions are being arranged. There will be a nationally arranged training day taking your horse on 1^st February at Woolgars, 9-5pm approx. This has been subsidised by EGB and a saddlers grant and will cost approx £20. It will include assessment by vet, farrier, 1 hour riding lesson, HRM training & pacing, plus crew training, followed by a general forum started by the vet in the afternoon. Names to Rosemary Attfield by the last week of January. Secondly there will be a training day without the horse, later in February, to cover map reading and other topics. Full details will be in the next newsletter. Sallie Dudley, Firle ride organiser, made a plea for competitors to let ride organisers know when they intend to withdraw from a ride. She outlined the problems she had found booking sufficient vets for 84 entries, she had six phonecalls to withdraw, but only 62 riders actually came on the day, thus wasting the services of one vet. Susan Hawes stated that the Ashdown Forest ride will not be run in 2004 as the Conservators have imposed a charge of £10 per rider and this would not be economic as the ride only made a small profit last year. Linda Burrows stated that she is looking into ways of resurrecting the ride and has a meeting with Hew Prendergast, Forest Superintendant next week. She asked how much riders would be prepared to pay as a surcharge. £10 on top of the entry fee was generally felt to be too much but Gilly Payton thought people would probably pay up to £5. Kevin Hawes suggested that if an alternative venue could be found which included toilets and other facilities which have to be imported to the Forest venue, that might reduce costs and give a little more room for manoeuvre in the negotiations. Margaret thanked all ride and event organisers for all the help they have given the group over the season. The meeting closed at 8.15 pm. Trophies, rosettes and distance awards from the national awards evening which had not been collected on the night were presented to their winners. A buffet supper followed which was enjoyed by 82 members. After this, Paul Ewing of Horse Health (Sussex & Surrey) Ltd presented the distance rosettes and Group awards. The evening concluded with a successful raffle in aid of Group funds.