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2006 SOCIETY AGM MINUTES

Minutes of the twenty-sixth Annual General Meeting of the Safety and Reliability Society held ay Lloyds Register EMEA, Aberdeen on Wednesday 27th September 2006

Present: Seventeen members were present together with twenty-two proxy votes meant that the meeting was adequately quorate.

David Holland as Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting. He thanked those who had submitted proxy votes and accepted apologies for absence. Apologies had also been received from A B Buchan, D J Smith, S. Clark, D.Cook, H, Hopkins, G B Guy and A Bain.

  1. 2005 AGM. The minutes, reports and accounts for the Society 2005 AGM had been placed on the website. Their acceptance was proposed by M R Sleath and seconded by J J Pearce. The resolution was carried by thirty nine-votes for, nem con.

 

  1. Council/Chairman’s report. The full report was appended to the AGM call papers. The chairman highlighted key features. He noted that during the year business pressures had restrained many prospective participants from volunteering their services, and hoped that this trend would be reversed. In addition to this, he reviewed the benefits to members, which were improved during the years and mentioned that this would help in retaining members in the future. In these terms, the questionnaire had helped to identify weak areas that were now being improved. Recruitment was high on the Chairman’s agenda this year as was the raising of the Society profile. As a result of measures taken in both areas the Chairman reported that two members of the Society had attained CEng status via the Society and SEE route to Chartership. The Chairman thanked Harry Hopkins and the EAC for their efforts in this direction. Additionally, there have been two major events in the Society calendar that had helped to attract members and remained a benefit to members. These were SARSS05 in London and the North of Scotland Annual Dinner. The Chairman thanked all involved in the organisation of these events. Finally, he thanked the Branches for their efforts and reminded them that a change in format (eg to lunchtime meetings) may help to increase branch meeting attendance.
  1. Sarah Young, the Society Treasurer, then gave a financial report for the previous financial year. The main points of the year were that through the 6K initiative, which assumed a 6K loss during the year in order to invest in business building measures, the office continued to employ extra staff. Accordingly, mailshot business had improved and more bad debts collected which meant that the forecast 6K loss was turned around to a 2K profit over the group. The SARS Ltd financial statement had been tables at the SARS Ltd AGM. The budget for 2006/7 was:

 

New budget:

 

Society                                                                        Limited

                                    New Budget                                                    New budget
Income                                                                        Income
Subs                             32000                          Mailshots                      8000
Affiliates                       12000                          Events                          5000
Misc                                 550                          Interest                           250
                                    -------                                                              -------
                                    44550                                                              13250
                                    ====                                                               =====

Expenditure                                                    Expenditure
Sec                              540                              Sec                              60
Salaries                        25740                          Salaries                        2860
Office                           13500                          Office                           5500
Journal                         4000                            Accountant                   1000
Postage                        5000
Accountant                   1000
Miscellaneous               1500
Sundry                         675
Committee exp 1700
                                    --------                                                                        ---------
                                    53605                                                              9420
                                    =====                                                             =====

Income – exp               =====                                                             =====
                                    -9055                                                               3830
                                    =====                                                             =====

Group                          -5225

 

  1. It was resolved that the Council Report and Accounts should be accepted. Proposed by D C Holland and seconded by J J Pearce. Accepted nem con.
  1. It was resolved that Voisey and Co Chartered Accountants should be reappointed as auditors. Proposed by D C Holland seconded by M R Sleath. Accepted nem con.

 

  1. It was resolved that the revised subscription levels should be accepted.

2005/6                         2006/7
Fellow                                      108                              112
Member                                   68                                72
Associate member                    43                                45
Associate                                 43                                45
Retired Member                       41                                43
Retired Fellow                          65                                67
Student                         16                                16

Affiliate                         525

Proposed D C Holland and seconded by D Clark. Carried nem con

  1. External Affairs Committee

The EAC Committee Report was given by David Holland in the absence of Harry Hopkins. The main achievement was the success of the route to Chartered Engineer, which had produced several applications and several successful candidates. Additionally, affiliate membership had increased through the year. The EAC had operated throughout the year in liaison with various external organisations and institutions to raise the profile of the Society.
  

  1. Membership and Grading Committee

Martin Cottam presented this report and stated that whilst membership was down to 541 there had been a late improvement in application numbers. Additionally, due to the sad passing of Mike Fryatt, the committee consisted of just three people now and needed to be rebuilt.

  1. Publications Committee

John Pearce gave this report and covered areas such as the Broadsheet and the Journal, both of which had been successful throughout the year.

  1. Branches Committee

Sarah Young gave a report on active Branches of the Society and appealed for increased branch membership and stated that the Branch is an important point of focus for members.

  1. Society by laws. It was announced that there were no changes to the by laws or resolutions to discuss.

 

  1. Election of Council Members and Officers

Nominations: The following people were nominated for Council:

Mr S O Clark
Mr D Thompson
Mr B Bain
Dr Ashraf Mohammed
           
Their nominations had been accepted and David Holland welcomed them to Council

The following people were to be co-opted to Council:

Mr H F Hopkins
Mr P Edwards
Mr A B Buchan

The following people will be leaving Council and David Holland thanked them for their input:

Prof M L Preston (Retiring Secretary)
Mr M P Cottam
Mr SCD Young
Mr D C Cook
Mr M P Fryatt – dec’d

The following people will be joining Council as officers of Council:

Jacqui Christodoulou – Secretary
Mr P J Stanton – Treasurer

David Holland particularly thanked Sarah Young, Martin Cottam and Malcolm Preston for the contributions they had made to the Society.

  1. There being no other business the Chairman thanked Council officers for their contributions and welcomed new members. The new Chairman , M R Sleath was introduced. He took the chair and thanked D C Holland for his service as Chairman

.

  1. The Society AGM was closed at 19.00 and followed by an address by the incoming President, Richard Denning.

 

Jacqueline Christodoulou
Secretary
30th September 2006