1 The Minutes of the 2002 AGM

The Minutes of the 2002 AGM, published in Bulletin 175, were approved unanimously, proposed by Brian Sanderson and seconded by Len Wingfield.

The President said that he was very grateful to those who rang him up or wrote to say that they will not be attending the AGM, but as he has now abandoned the system of trying to get ample notice of which members will be attending, (because half the people who come just leave it to the day before they ring to ask “is there still space?”), he feels it is a needless formality to record apologies in the minutes.

2. Matters Arising

There were none.

3. Reports by Officers

President – Roger Barnes

The President again said that his job was mainly to rush round attempting to keep everyone’s enthusiasm up, and bask in the glamour of the post, but that he had done one or two things including organising the last AGM in the Lake District at which David Moss gave an excellent talk on his work as a boat builder on the Fylde coast.

The early part of the year also brought the very sad news of the death of Peter Bick, whose great contribution to the Association we are all immensely grateful for. He is missed both by the committee personally and for his tireless work for us in many roles, and his passing has left a hole in the work of the DCA that we are still struggling to fill a year later.

Once again the Association had a stand at “Boats on Show”. The President as usual organised the boats, leaving the more taxing task of organising the people to the PRO. At the stand we were approached by the staff of Dinghy Sailing Magazine, who subsequently wrote up the show, mentioning the DCA. A month or so later one of the journalists interviewed the President for a dedicated article about Dinghy Cruising, which appeared in the magazine later in the year.

The president also announced that the venue for the next AGM would be at Elton SC in 2004 as we have not been there for some years, and they always make us very welcome - and it is the turn of members in the North to host the event. The president was asked whether the AGM could be moved to a later date in the year, and possibly held during a major DCA rally. The president replied that he would welcome suggestions from the membership concerning venues for future DCA AGMs, but that it is increasingly necessary to be able to offer speakers reasonable facilities such as black out and digital projectors, both of which are available at Calshot – and were used by the speaker from the “Endeavour”. And a March date avoided clashes with sailing!

National Secretary - Roger Howard

This year has gone quite smoothly from my point of view. I’ve written about a hundred and fifty letters and spoken with or written to people from as far apart as Turkey and the Netherlands, Poland and Hong Kong. E-mail contacts have increased further, and the website has again received a good deal of complimentary comment, both in terms of its contents and its design. It is often the first point of contact for prospective members, and the application form which appears on the website is used with increasing frequency. The number of brochures I have sent out has fallen correspondingly, although hey remain an attractive means of publicizing the Association. However on occasions I have been acutely aware that the website offers much more information and the brochure seems to serve little purpose when it follows a web-prompted enquiry.

Treasurer – Jeff Rogers

The treasurer was unable to be present, so Roger Barnes read his report: The accounts for 2001/2002 have been published in the last edition of the bulletin - Page 16. Please note that these are unaudited. Gerald Levenson advised that he is no longer able to continue as auditor, and we would like someone to replace him.

(Dan Moriarty agreed to be the new auditor at the AGM).

I judge that we can keep the subs increase to pay for the colour printing in the bulletin down to a £4.00 increase instead of the £5.00 planned last year. I have advised Roger Gingell of this and he will proceed accordingly.

Great thanks are due to Gerald Levenson for auditing the DCA accounts for so long.

Editor – Joan Abrams

The editor echoed the president’s comments concerning Peter Bick and the large gap left in the DCA organization caused by his passing. The editor congratulated Jeremy Hewer for taking over as Publisher of the DCA Bulletin at considerably short notice. Articles submitted for the 2002 Bulletins contained 10 which were very good accounts of cruises. A further 5 articles concerned incidents reported by DCA members, 6 reports of activities and talks around the regions and 5 technical articles. The editor felt that it is crucial that the vacant technical editor position in the DCA is filled as soon as possible to offer sensible advice to people seeking it This correspondence has often in the passed resulted in some very good articles in the Bulletin.

The editor would appreciate an increase in the number of articles submitted concerning places visited by members on their cruises which would be very useful to members planning later cruises. Very few descriptions of boats built/sailed by members had been received, she would like to have more of these, also other such peripheral articles perhaps containing humour would be appreciated. The editor commented on publishing problems in particular where articles presented for publication have not been clearly written, they don’t have to be written on a word processor just easily read.

Librarian – Mike Williams

The Librarian reported that borrowing from the Library has increased considerably over the year and in terms of the number of books borrowed, it has been the best since he took over the library. Over the year, 196 books, leaflets and magazines and 149 copies of the Bulletin – a total of 345 items borrowed by around 10.5% of the membership. More than 50 books and magazines have been added to the library (now well over 700 items plus 4 sets of bulletins), and once again, no books have been lost during the year. In fact, a copy of Frank and Margaret Dye’s book “Open-Boat Cruising” was donated to replace the one which had been missing from the library for at least 5 years.

The library list is updated every time there is a change; free copies are available – by post or E-mail. The Librarian reported that he has acquired some database software from a small Dutch company to assist in the task of improving the main database of Library books. The process of transferring the existing data is nearing completion, and he will be in a position to expand on the detail for each of the various items contained therein. The Librarian continues to work on a separate database for the contents of Bulletins, but this is proving to be very time consuming, the Bulletin Contents list is updated after each Bulletin is produced.

Finally, in respect of the Roamer and Rebell plans which are temporarily residing with the Librarian, he has sold 5 sets of Roamer plans, 1 Rebell set, and 2 sets of Rebell study plans. The sale of these plans has profited the DCA by around £230. The last sail numbers issued were 210 for the Roamer and 60 for the Rebell. It should be noted that the Librarian will be passing all plans held for the two boats to the newly appointed Technical editor.

Membership Secretary – Roger Gingell

The current membership is 534, an increase of 24 members over the year with 62 members not renewing for whatever reason and 86 new members joining. Membership has risen to the present level from 372 in 1994, an average each year of 50 lost members and 70 new members. The final reminder of unpaid subscriptions sent out in June, continues to safeguard many memberships which would otherwise be lost. Most renewals were received in time to take advantage of the £11 renewal fee for UK based members, 98 members paid the £13 fee or included a donation. The Membership Secretary reminded those present that membership subscriptions will increase for 2004 by £4, in line with the recommendation put forward by the Treasurer at the last AGM. New and overseas members will be required to pay £17 with UK members paying £15 if they pay by 30th April 2003. The list of members who have submitted E-mail addresses is up to date; the last list published was included with the Autumn 2002 Bulletin along with the membership list.

Publicity – Ted Jones

The DCA had a stand at ‘Boats on Show’ in 2002, 12 members manned the stand, bringing 5 boats in total. Ted Jones confirmed that he will carry on in the position of PRO, writing to magazines, joining in various discussions like VHF etc. However, it was agreed that the task of organising the DCA presence at boats shows would need to be undertaken by another member (see item 5). Sample Bulletins have been sent out to raise the awareness with magazines. Jeremy Hoylake has given us a smashing write up in ‘Free as the Wind’. Philip Dunn is giving us another in ‘All at Sea’. Radio Essex improved their weather forecast for us following our contact with them. When we emailed magazines concerning that, we got thanks from editors. Tribute was paid to David Sumner’s article, suggesting that he had done more for PR than he (Ted) had. Again, although the PRO was not involved, the making and subsequent showing of the video involving Len Wingfield, Liz Baker and others would greatly raise the profile of the DCA. A study of new membership during 2002 shows that of the 75 who did tell us where they first heard of us, 29 said the internet, 18 say friends and members, 16 say books and magazines and only 12 say exhibitions.

Shop – Ken Brown

This weekend being my younger son's birthday, I am unfortunately again unable to attend the AGM. Therefore, here is my usual brief DCA Shop Report.

Total sales from the Shop were £210 in the year 2002 (2001 - £278) and my expenses were £15 (2001 - £41). As always the Association Burgee was the most popular item sold, followed by car and boat stickers. Since early last year, the Bulletin Contents List has ceased to be available from the Shop; the updating and sale of this having been taken over by the Librarian.

The president, having read the report from Ken Brown was asked questions from the floor. Firstly, it was asked if the DCA sweatshirt is still available and a second question asked whether the range of clothing could be updated. The style of clothing has remained much the same for a number of years and some members present wondered whether for instance a fleece type of garment could be obtained. The president was also asked to ascertain whether a denim hat could be offered through the DCA shop. The availability of Shop Merchandise at events such as the Open Boat show at Beale Park was asked and again the enquirer was advised that his comments would be passed on to Ken Brown for consideration.

5. Election of Officers

The position of some posts on the DCA committee has still to be finalised:-

Bulletin Publisher – Jeremy Hewer has resigned from this position and at present this post is un-filled.

Public Relations Officer – Ted Jones has agreed to carry on doing this work but a decision was made to create a new position of Exhibition Officer as Ted Jones felt he could no longer include this task within his position. Peter Baxter was willing to take on the position of Exhibition Officer, proposed by Ted Jones, second John Kuyser.

Technical Officer vacant since Peter Bick’s passing is to be jointly filled by Dave Jennings and George Saffrey, proposed by Werner Cook, seconded Len Wingfield.

The remaining committee members were re-elected en-bloc, proposed by Len Wingfield, seconded Terry Hughes.

The president proposed a vote of thanks to Jeremy Hewer for the splendid effort he has made producing the Bulletin over the last year.

6. Colour Covers

A short discussion was held as to whether a change to the format of the Bulletin to include colour covers. A unanimous decision was made to continue with the present cover style.

7. Memorial to Peter Bick

The president reminded the members present that Peter Bick’s contribution to DCA in his official capacities and his presence at various rallies and functions requires suitable recognition and asked for suggestions. These included:-

Prize for the Best Technical Article. Naming a DCA cruise – The Peter Bick Memorial Cruise Prize for someone encouraging Youth into the DCA. Naming the AGM lecture – The Peter Bick Memorial Lecture Prize for anything that doesn’t meet the criteria of the Naylor Noggin

A proposal was made by Phil Clamp, second John Kuyser to name the AGM lecture after Peter Bick and also to make an annual award for best Technical Article published in his memory.

8. Naylor Noggin

The Naylor Noggin was presented to Paul Constantine for his account of a cruise undertaken in his Torch ‘Tyne’ on the East Coast. The cruise is entitled – The Quaint Boat (see Bulletin 177)

9. Any Other Business

It was agreed that Life Membership will continue to be offered to members and other as a mark of their contribution to the aims of the Association, but that we should have a more formalised system of bestowing the honour. If a member feels that someone should be granted life membership in recognition of some aspect of their activity within the DCA, they should submit the name in writing to the President for the committee to consider. Life memberships will be announced at the following AGM after the potential life member has been privately contacted. A limit of such awards would be 5 people per annum – although the committee can review this.

2005 – 50 Years of the DCA. Aidan De La Mare outlined his proposal for a large DCA rally to take place during 2005, to celebrate the Association’s 50th birthday. The full text of Aidan’s proposition follows these minutes. (179/56)

Father of the DCA – The President paid tribute to very long standing and intrepid member Talbot Kirk who reaches his 101st Birthday on April 1st 2003.

The meeting closed with a showing of the video made by a TV company of one of the South Coast rallies during 2002.

Roger Gingell