MINUTES OF THE SIXTH DBYC ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Held on 10th May 2008 at the DBMC, commencing at 1845 hrs.
Committee Members present: Paolo Alvera (PA) Commodore (Chairman)
Ken Wiltshire (KW) Vice Commodore
James Fernie (JF) Rear Commodore
Andy Küng (AK) Secretary Dave Wilson (DW) Treasurer
Lindsay Pickles (LP) Merchandise
Thomas Wiesinger TW) Web Master
Jan Neuhaeusser (JN Web Master
Garry Smith (GS) Media & PR
1. Welcome and Apologies
PA opened the meeting by welcoming approximately 39 club members to the 6th Annual General Meeting of the Discovery Bay Yacht Club. Apologies had been received from Neale Nowosad, Jug Thornton and Richard Winter.
2. Previous Minutes
PA summarized the minutes and matters arising from the previous AGM, copies of which had been circulated prior to the meeting. He then called for a motion that the minutes reflected a true and accurate record of what had been discussed at the previous AGM. The motion was proposed by James Oliver, seconded by Michele Cameron, and passed by a unanimous show of hands.
3. Commodore’s Report
PA presented the Commodore’s Report and advised that since he had taken up the Commodore’s position he had tried to delegate responsibility for the operation of the club and especially for management of events to more members of the committee and therefore trying to spread the work load.
PA then advised that a handicapping committee consisting of 5 members had been established to set and amend handicaps in a more transparent manner. He pointed out his aim was to have an outside organization such as IRC to provide handicaps however due to the varied range of members boats and the minimum size limitations of the IRC handicapping system this was currently not practicable.
PA mentioned that sail training had been resurrected during the year and that two training causes had been held brining is substantial funds to the club. He described the club structure as a pyramid in which the top half was fine as it consisted of members who had been sailing for many years, enjoyed the sport and owned yachts or crewed regularly. He pointed out that the sail training was a key function of the club in order to bring more people into the sport and at the same time was a good method in obtaining new members for the club allowing it and the sport to expand.
He thanked all the skippers who had donated their time and yachts to undertake training sessions and raised his idea on obtaining large sailing dinghies for sail training which could also be rented out to members when not being used for training which would help the club offset the cost of the dinghies and their maintenance.
PA raised the point regarding seeking a person for a part time position to undertake the secretarial services for the club and assist in race management however it was difficult to find such a person and he was proposing if club finances allowed to split this into two positions. He also pointed out that more volunteers were needed on the race committee as currently Ken Wiltshire undertook this large task on his own.
4. Treasurer’s Report
DW presented the Treasurer’s report, including the Annual Statement of Accounts and an outline of income, expenditure and current financial position to date. He noted that the Club’s current cash balance was HK$ 120,384.85 against HK$ 61,000 in 2007. He pointed out that the Club had sailing equipment with a depreciated value of HK$ 15,156 plus HK$ 12,864 in unsold merchandise. Total income for the year was HK$162,200 with total expenditure of HK$ 104,083.26
DW advised that due to pressure of business during the year he would be standing down as Treasurer and he also thanked PA who has stepped in to undertake most of the treasurers role during the year. There being no queries on the accounts from the floor, PA called for a motion to accept the Accounts as presented. This was proposed by Lindsay Pickles, seconded by Saint-John Cameron, and the motion was passed by a unanimous show of hands.
5. Election of Officers and Committee
PA advised that William Wright had resigned from the committee during the year and Neale Nowosad had advised that he wanted to stand down from the committee at the AGM however the other current Officers and Committee members had agreed to continue for a further year. He then called for interest from any other members present who wished to join the committee and after discussions the new committee was made up of the following members:-
Officers Commodore Paolo Alvera
Vice Commodore Peter Forsythe
Rear Commodore James Fernie
Treasurer Lindsay Pickles
Secretary Andy Kung
Committee Racing Representatives Ken Wiltshire
Dave Wilson
Nik v. d. Luhe
Mike Huggins
Cruising Representative Saint-John Cameron
Training Representative Paolo Alvera
Webmasters Thomas Wiesinger & Jan Neuhaeusser
Media & PR Representative Garry Smith
Merchandise & Sales Tatiana Marrarri
Charities Representative* Sytske Kimman
PA thanked all the outgoing committee members then called for a motion to accept the new Committee and this was proposed by Dave Wilson and seconded by Ken Wiltshire. The motion was passed by a unanimous show of hands
* Voted in under AOB
6. Any Other Business
Charity Work.
Garry Smith suggested that as the club currently has reasonable funds could it consider sponsoring an under privileged person on a sail training program. A discussion took place and JF suggested that the club could sponsor the South China Sea Challenge raising funds for the Sunny Side Cub and Hong Kong Heart Foundation. Siska Kinaman suggested the club may wish to consider participating in Sailing for the Disabled which other yacht clubs are already involved.
JF raised a motion that the club sponsor the South China Sea Challenge for the amount of HKD 5,000 and this was seconded by Siska Kinaman and a vote was taken by way of show of hands in which 8 members voted for the motion and 9 against with all other present abstaining. The motion was therefore not carried. It was agreed that the committee discuss this matter further at its next meeting and should include a new committee position as Charity Representative. A motion was proposed by DW and seconded by KW that Sytske Kimman becomes the Charity Representative. The motion was passed by a unanimous show of hand
Members Assistance & Vote of Thanks
JF pointed out that the club organisation included sub committees such as the racing, sail training, social etc and that any members were welcome to participate in the sub committees at any time. Co-opting members on to committees and spreading the load of running the club among the members helped greatly helped the club function efficiently. He proposed a vote of thanks to the Commodore Paolo Alvera which was agreed by all those members present.. KW also proposed a vote of thanks to the Secretary Andy Kung who had held the position since inception of the club.
There being no other business, the meeting closed at 1945 hrs.
