Minutes of the 37th Annual General Meeting held on Saturday 4th July at the premises of the British Trust for Ornithology, Thetford, Norfolk, UK
Members Present AbdulRahman Al Sirhan, Nabegh Ghazal Asswad, Dawn Balmer, John Bartley, Pat Bartley, Mike Blair, Sal Cooke, Elaine Cowan, Peter Cowan, Andrew Grieve, Ian Harrison, Jon Holmes, Mike Jennings, Marcus Kohler, Maxim Koshkin, Andrew Lassey, Nick Moran, David Murdoch, Helen Murdoch, Bernard Pleasance, Julia Porter, Richard Porter, Dora Querido, Doug Radford, Bev Randall, Geoff Randall, Nigel Redman, Mike Reed, Judith Ross, Irene Sabiniarz, Cliff Waller, Effie Warr, John Warr, Simon Wotton.
Ian Harrison explained that in the absence of Rob Sheldon who had been unavoidably delayed in Saudi Arabia, he would be chairing the Meeting.
1. Apologies for absence had been received from: John Atkins, Phil Cannings, Hanne Eriksen, Jens Eriksen, Mick Carroll, Mick Green, Chris Hughes, Tristan Reid, Rob Sheldon.
2. Minutes of the 36th Annual General Meeting held on 5th July 2014. Acceptance was proposed by Mike Blair, seconded by Dawn Balmer and carried unanimously. In the absence of the Chairman and in the absence of an elected Secretary, Nick Moran signed them as a true record of the Meeting.
3. Matters arising. There were no matters arising.
4. Chairman’s overview of 2014 and introduction to OSME strategy
On behalf of the Chairman, Nick Moran presented a PowerPoint presentation which highlighted the points described in the Chairman’s Report on page 4 of the Summer Meeting Programme and which had been made available on the OSME website. In addition, Charlie Moores of Talking Naturally was thanked for his work producing a podcast of the day’s events including interviews with people.
5. Presentation and adoption of the Accounts for 2014/Appointment of Accounts Examiner for 2015.
A leaflet with the summarised accounts for 2014 was distributed at the meeting and the contents, with additional detail, were described in a graphical presentation by John Warr, Joint Treasurer. He drew attention to the following:
a) membership subscriptions remain the biggest source of income.
b) there had been a very slight decrease in the amount of money available for use by OSME (£25,345 as opposed to £25, 840 in 2013)
c) administrative costs continue to be well controlled and are broadly in line with previous years.
d) the main expenditure item continues to be the publication of Sandgrouse, free to paid-up members.
e) the amount of money actually disbursed through the Conservation and Research Fund would have been higher if OSME had been able to find a secure way of sending £1,500 to a project in Uzbekistan for which funding had been approved by Council.
John Warr thanked Mike Jennings for examining the 2014 accounts (gratis) and explained that Mike was willing to act as Accounts Examiner for 2015. Acceptance of the accounts and Mike Jennings as Accounts Examiner for 2015 was proposed by Mike Blair, seconded by Nigel Redman, and carried unanimously.
6 – Election of officers:
Vice-Presidents: No nominations.
Council Members: There were two nominations for Council Membership – Ian Harrison and Irene Sabiniarz – both were elected unanimously.
7 – Any other business.
No issue was raised.
There being no other business, the Meeting was closed at 14.32.