Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on 31^st July 2004 at the London & Middlesex Rifle Association. Meeting called to order at 20:57.

  1.             In attendance

1.1.      Members: Simon Hardy (Minutes), Pete Clarke, Russell Higgs, Jonathan Kemp, Antony Dingle, Chris Manners, Trevor Hart.

1.2.      Non-members: Rachel Dingle, Steve Bowden.

  2.             Apologies

2.1.      Apologies were received from Keith Langmead, Ollie Campbell.

  3.             Minutes of the previous AGM

3.1.      The minutes of the previous AGM were made available and read by those present. There were no matters arising from the previous minutes. Minutes do not appear to have been proposed as a true and accurate record.

  4.             Committee members reports

4.1.      Chairman: Generally been a good year. Only points to raise are membership and finances.

4.2.      Secretary: Good year opening with shoot at Tetbury club. Archery again this year at first shoot at Bisley was enjoyed by all. Next year's shoots to be block booked with NRA to ensure no late changes.

4.3.      Treasurer: Approximately £250 in account. Can cover next year without membership fees.

4.4.      Vice Secretary: Good year with Tetbury shoot as success. Northern Ireland shoot enjoyed by seven members. Report on website. Slight cock-up with May/June shoot with no range availability. Asked by Isle Of Mann shooting council to run next year's Festival of Sport for Shooting events. Have priority over students with regard to accommodation. Will try to get same hotel as last time if can remember name. Represented club in Pistol Competition in Northern Ireland. Along with Pete helped out at Blenheim Palace Game Fayre. Looking into providing more help for next year's fayre, look to make a weekend of it. Going for national squad next year so won't be around much at club events from now on.

4.5.      Archery Captain: Competition fell through this year due to NRA range bookings. Thanks to Lintman Archery club for equipment loan at beginning of year. Archery making a good event for Sunday's at Bisley. Several members from Exeter University interested.
Keith was proposed for The Spent Cases Trophy for work on Archery this year and membership drive.
Proposed: Antony Dingle
Seconded: Pete Clarke
Motion Carried.

4.6.      Full written reports appended to minutes from Secretary, Vice Secretary and Archery Captain.

  5.             Items For Discussion

5.1.      PC – Finances
Raise membership fees?
More members?
AD: We are the cheapest club in the country.
JK: Try to recruit at least one member each.
PC: Big push for recruitment.
AD: Each shoot to be an open day.
JK: Is this legal?
PC: Contact NRA/Police to cjeck if we can have all our shoots as open days.
Proposed: Pete Clarke – If all shoots can be open days, then declare as such.
Seconded: Jonathan Kemp – Will do so, but need to check with police to make sure.

5.2.      Meeting adjourned to move indoors for light. Starlight not bright enough. Unable to locate outside light switch.

5.3.      PC Finance continued. 20 members is break even point with regard to finances. Need a big push next year for members. 26 would be ideal.
CM: Clarify that JK needs to know 48 hours beforehand to declare open day.
JK: Ideally have all guests on one day so we can concentrate resources.
SH: Open days at shorter distances than 600 yards to encourage.

5.4.      PC – Shoots for next year.
PC: Fix dates for next year and book targets and accommodation in advance.
JK: One shoot per month from April to October.
TH: Social events during off season.
PC: If members see an ideal social event use the Forum to communicate to all interested people.
PC: Thanks to AD for all hard work.
JK: Discipline captains to run shoots rather than Committee Officers.
PC: Replacement for AD as Vice Secretary. No volunteers. Rest of committee to fill the position. No other ideas so duties are divided amongst rest of the committee. Vote of thanks to AD proposed, seconded by JK. UK shooting gains a superb member.
AD: Will organise Tetbury shoot next year as this was enjoyed by all.

  6.             A.O.B.

6.1.      CM: Added thanks to AD

6.2.      JK: Added thanks to AD. Club could do with at least one NRA Range Conducting Officer. TH/RH to look into black powder activities for the club. Club cannot afford to subsidise courses. PC to look at NRA RCO courses possibly with father.

6.3.      PC is now UKPSA qualified. Aaron (new member) also qualified. Possible Practical Shotgun Captain.

6.4.      AD: Proposed CM as Social Secretary. Seconded PC. Motion carried.

Meeting closed at 22:11.

Appendix 1: Secretary's Report.

 That time again? Another year has passed and we merrily come towards the close of our second year of actual shooting.

 Over the last year the club has continued to enjoy good shooting and regular shoots. This year saw us arrange all our shoots in advance and I think that this was well received.

 This year began with a well organised charity shoot at Tetbury range in  Gloucestershire. Many members attended and we look forward to hosting Tetbury at Bisley soon. I am sure Mr Dingle will cover this more in his report. The Sunday of the weekend saw the club's clay pigeon competition, held over from last year. Finally Mr Dingle won something to add to his haul of second places.

 We had our second taste of archery at our first Bisley shoot of the year, along with a contested 300 yard competition. The phoenix meeting saw a good turn-out from the club, unfortunately no actual shooting. Our membership increased by one this year and there are possibilities for more over the next few shoots.

 For my part things have been quiet for the year. We had a little trouble with range bookings for one shoot and I would like to get all our bookings placed at the beginning of next year to prevent similar problems arising again.

 I am hopeful that we can freeze our membership rates for this year, especially if we can gain a couple more members. Ideally 20 will keep us running smoothly and should guarantee a reasonable turn out at shoots.

 Well. it's dull I know, so here's to next year.

Appendix 2: Vice Secretary's Report

 Year opened with friendly multi-discipline comp against Tetbury. Shoot was well received by all who attended (as were the prizes). Prizes were kindly donated by Eley and Lothar Walther. The Sunday saw the last of the club competitions with a clay shoot. Again, well received by all.

 Monthly shoots – despite booking early, NRA seemed to have made large cock ups with regards to booking arrangements. First shoot was excellent, though that has been only outdoor shoot so far this year.

 Club tour 2003 – NI, attended by seven members. Good fun but no actual competition held. Report / photos can be found on Web site.

 Plans for this/next year. I am revisiting NI on October 12^th (that weekend anyway). Anyone from the Spent Cases who want to attend please forward a £50.00 deposit asap.

 Also, we have been asked to help organise / run next years IoM festival. Deposits will be asked for in Nov as usual. Disciplines will include pistol and rifle events as normal plus clay pigeon and ISSF airgun events.

 Miscellaneous items:- Shot many times over the last twelve months. Finished winter season with highest rifle average in the county for division 2 + Tetbury club rifle champion. (Currently leading the summer season averages). Finished 16^th in the British pistol championships.

Represented the Spent Cases in an international pistol match held in NI (finished bottom in all but air pistol where I managed to qualify for the semi final stage).

Still Glos County captain.

Have been asked to represent Gloucestershire for Full bore rifle and won an Astor medal earlier in the year.

 Also, Pete and I helped out on the NSRA mobile range at the CLA game fair. A lot of fun and free passes to get into the game fair – normally £16.00 each. I would like to suggest that the club volunteers on bloc for next year's show. 

Finally:- Due to the qualification requirements for the national squad, it is unlikely that I will be attending many of the club shoots next year (or indeed later this year). This means I will not be able to put in the time required to be vice-secretary of the Spent cases and organise the shoots as I have. This is advance notice that I will not be standing for re-election at next years elections. It's time for someone else to have a go!

 That's me done – who's ever round it is, mine's a pint!

Appendix 3: Archery Captain's Report

 This is the second year of Archery for the club, during which time we've managed to have two shoots. While we did have a friendly competition pencilled in for the June shoot, against the University of Exeter Archery club, this obviously didn't happen for various reasons, so we'll have to re-schedule this in for a later date.

 Thanks to Lintman Archery Club agreeing to let us borrow a boss and stand from them for our April shoot, and the Exeter University Archery club not objecting to me continuing to steal their bows and arrows occasionally, we seem to have resolved any potential issues with getting hold of equipment. Hopefully this arrangement will be able to continue into the future.

 As I mentioned in the club newsletter earlier in the year, if there is anyone in the club who is interested in taking up Archery where ever in the country they are based, I'll give you any help you might need in finding a club near to you. Additionally, normally if you wanted to join an Archery club as someone new to Archery you would first need to complete a 6 week beginners course, with their courses being run periodically throughout the year at the club. This can often mean joining a waiting list of people to do the course before you can then join the club itself. Once people have a few more shoots under their belt, if they are interesting in joining a club I should be able to write a letter to the club for you, which should then allow you to forgo the beginners course, after I've confirmed you understand all the necessary rules etc.

 Finally, thanks to all those who made Dan from the Exeter Uni Archery club feel welcome at the April shoot. Amazingly it seems he wasn't scared off and does intend to come and shoot with us again in the future. We have several others who have also expressed an interest in coming, however the dates this year have quite nicely conflicted with holidays and exams each time, but hopefully I can manage to drag a few more people along to future shoots.