Extraordinary Committee Meeting ~ 2 February 2009

Minutes of the RN&RMAA Extraordinary Committee meeting held at HMS Temeraire on Monday 2nd February 2009

Present: National Secretary, Membership Secretary, Coarse Secretary, Sea Secretary, Trade Secretary

In attendance: Coarse Secretary (Desig)

Apologies: Chairman, Game Secretary, PRO, Treasurer, Coarse (Carp) Secretary

Item 1 - Minutes of last minutes

1. The minutes of the last meeting held on 22 October 2008 were accepted.

Item 2 - Matters arising from the last meeting

2. The meeting was called in response to Item 5: Review of 5 year Plans and Finances from the 22 Oct 08 Committee Meeting and proposals to increase membership fees.

3. Discussion: The Coarse Secretary stated that associate participation in future events was likely to increase due to unavailability of serving personnel. Associates who fish RN&RMAA matches are not able to use public funds – the RN&RMAA general fund, made up from membership monies, would have to foot the bill. Whilst there has not been an increase in membership fees since 2005, other costs have increased e.g. pegging fees.

4. Associates and Full members who fish RN&RMAA matches are subsidised e.g. bait, boats, discounted fees for lake bookings etc.

5. It was acknowledged that an increase in annual fees would not have a significantly negative impact on membership fees as long as the reasons for the increase were carefully communicated and the trade accounts with Fox and Richworth and web site access are considered to be a significant retainer even for the casual angler who chooses not to fish at regular match events.

6. The desire to conduct a foreign fishing exped was raised and would only be achievable if sufficient non public funds were available to help to cover costs.

7. The National Secretary formally proposed a motion to increase annual membership fees for full and associate members from £10 to £20 per year from 1 Apr 09 The Coarse Secretary seconded the motion. The voting committee members voted unanimously in favour of the motion. Motion carried.

8. Decision

1. The National Secretary agreed to write a letter to each member stating the reason for the increase which would be mailed with annual membership application forms. Action: National Secretary
2. Membership fees for part of the general fund and as such may be used by the relevant sections as required. It is important that members have a clear understanding of how their membership money is spent and this should be included in an annual report either by service fund examiners or via treasurers annual report at the AGM. Action: Treasurer

Item 3 - Division of Annual Sport Lottery Grant between Sections

9. In order to allow the Coarse (Carp) Section to plan venues and events well in advance, the National Secretary suggested that the Coarse Secretary give as much notice as possible to the Carp Secretary on how much money would be allocated for the Coarse (Carp) Section.

10. Decision

1. Future grant money will be split between the sections including the Coarse Carp section such that there will be no negative impact on the annual diary of events for the Coarse, Sea and Game sections. Action: Treasurer

Item 4 - Travel at public expense

11. Division of available representative travel events between the Coarse and Coarse (Carp) section was discussed, noting that only 2 intra service and 4 inter service events were eligible for funding from the public purse. The Coarse Secretary agreed that a single carp event (RNRM carp championships/inter service match) would take up one event and a combined silver fish/carp event would be organised at the same venue thus enabling carp anglers to receive travel at public expense to both events. However, given that the maximum number of anglers per event that were able to claim travel at public expense is limited to 20 (+2 officials) it was identified that this may not enable all anglers to claim travel expenses.

12. Decision

1. Coarse Secretary to submit travel requirements to the National Secretary as soon as possible and to include the dates of the events which the Coarse (Carp) section will be eligible for travel at public expense. Action: Coarse Secretaryretary
2. Concerns were raised that when events are over subscribed by more than 22 anglers, those individuals not on the SPORTSIG would not be released to fish by their respective COs. This will need to be monitored by all Secretarys. Action: All Secretaries

Item 5 - Angling Trust (AT) Membership

13. The National Secretary suggested that the RN&RMAA should join the AT and presented the committee with pamphlets highlighting the benefits of membership. The committee agreed that AT membership was beneficial and the motion to join the AT was carried. The Coarse Secretary raised the question of whether the RN&RMAA NFA membership had been renewed. It was stated that even if we had renewed this, the impact would be zero as AT would not take anymore money from the RN&RMAA for AT membership until the NFA subscription period has expired.

14. Individual membership for the AT, currently at a rate of £20 pa (rolling 12 month period from the date of joining) is required to fish certain matches (e.g. the Division 1 National Champs – formally known as the NFA Div 1 National Champs). It was suggested that anglers of sufficiently high standard would have their individual membership subsidised by the RN&RMAA.

15. Insurance - there are special rates of Public Liability (PL) insurance that come with AT membership.

16. Decision

1. Treasurer to send club membership fee to the AT and establish which PL insurance scheme offer the best value for money. Action: Treasurer
2. The National Secretary reminded attendees that applications for membership of any angling organisations outwith the AT would have to be forwarded to the National Secretary before the Treasurer was engaged. Action: All
3. Section Secretaries to identify those anglers of sufficiently high standard to warrant AT individual membership subsidy and inform the National Secretary and Treasurer. Subsidy will be at a rate of 50% of annual fee. Action: All Section Secretaries

Item 6 - RN&RMAA Constitution

17. The National Secretary stated that the Constitution was in work and would be finalised by the AGM. Action: National Secretary

Item 7 - AGM

18. The National Secretary stated that the AGM requires 8 non committee members to attend in order to have a quorum and be able to vote on new committee members, life members and matters of RN&RMAA governance and policy

Item 8 - AOB

19. The Membership Secretary provided an update on membership numbers as follows:

20. Membership welcome packs in the process of being put together to include confirmation of fees received, welcome letter, membership card, committee officers’ contact list, summary of benefits, fixture list, constitution, trade information, list of corporate items available and the last AGM minutes.

21. The subject of the missing membership cheques was also raised. A significant number of members had re-issued cheques to replace those not cashed. It is very pleasing to note that 2/3 of the missing money had been recovered and now was the time to draw a line under the whole issue and move on.

22. The Sea Secretary stated that he was progressing with attempts to gain sponsorship with TRONICS. Engagement with the Trade Secretary was suggested. The National Secretary offered to assist if required.

23. The Trade Secretary stated that he was keen to push the trade accounts as much as possible. Approximately £2,400 of Fox orders had been taken to date and Sections Secretaries were reminded that a lot of information exists on the website and forum. Postage of official equipment to service addresses from a service address is free and should be used wherever possible.

Geoff Hayward, RN&RM National Secretary