Present: Mike Fox (Chairman), Michelle Jefferson (Treasurer), David Bell (secretary), Mark Langford and Rodney Vincent plus 13 members of the Social Club
No apologies for absence were received.
The Chairman gave a brief welcome to all the members. The minutes of the last Annual General Meeting held on Wednesday 19th November 2008 were read by the Secretary, confirmed by those present and signed by the Chairman.

Matters Arising from the minutes: There were no matters arising.

Chairman’s Report:

Generally this has been a good year.
Firstly, on the negative side, several people have chosen to resign from the Committee for a variety of reasons – almost all being “personal reasons”. Consequently, the Committee is in need of people to serve the club to the best of their abilities.
There have been alterations to the Club – internal redecoration, the curtains, the disco has been refurbished, the oil tank has been made as secure as possible, the gates are also aiding the security of the grounds, and, of course, general maintenance of the premises. Many Members of the Committee have worked very hard to ensure that we have respectable premises and I would, on behalf of the members of the Club, like to thank them all!
A great big “thank you” to Rod for coming up with the idea of and organising the monthly Coffee Mornings: assisted by Audrey and his willing band of helpers.
We are very grateful to all those people who organise functions: bingo and the quizzes. These functions are usually free to the Club and consequently they tend to make some profit and are all totally self-funding. The Committee have come to the realisation that “employing” external entertainment is almost always a loss-leader. There is so little support for these events. Br /> The ladies who organise the food for the Pigeon Club in particular and the Club in general: I know that all this food is most acceptable and well presented. Thank you.
Then there is all the work that goes on behind the scenes. The paper work from secretaries is vital – for example, without the necessary form-filling the grant would not have been awarded that permitted the purchase of the curtains. But most of all I think we should all express our tremendous gratitude to Michelle for her tireless work in the day to day running of the Club and also in her capacity as Treasurer. I am not sure that this Club would survive without her.

(The accounts were available for anyone to view)
Profits for the club have improved this year. Greene King beer prices are cheaper. The pool table is no longer charged for. Hire of the club has offset the electricity and oil charges. The Anglian Water bill this year has been higher due to previous invoicing problems.
I would like to thank Mike Fox for sorting out the accounts for us and Christine Windsor and Wendy Fox for acting as Examiners.

1. Chairman: There was only one nomination, Mike Fox, proposed by Rodney Vincent and seconded by Michelle Jefferson. Mike Fox was duly elected as Chairman.
2. Treasurer: There was only one nomination, Michelle Jefferson, proposed by Mike Fox and seconded by Wendy Fox. Michelle Jefferson was duly elected as Treasurer.
3. Secretary: There was only one nomination, David Bell, proposed by Mike Fox and seconded by Jamie Brown. David Bell was duly elected as Secretary.

The following members were nominated and duly elected: Rodney Vincent, Mark Langford, Jamie Brown, Dawn Brown, Gez Smallwood, Sally Bell, Lisa Bell, Pete McCaig and Terri Hawkins.

1. It was decided that there was no need to increase membership charges for the coming year and that the hire fees for the club should remain the same.
2. It was proposed by Mike Fox and seconded by Rod Vincent that a charge of 50p per drink per visit would be applied to non members after the three free visits. As membership fees are now due it was decided that this would be applied after 31/12/2009 to give members a reasonable period to renew their membership.
3. New Years Eve entertainment was discussed and it was decided that the only option was to use the club disco as any other form of entertainment would not be profitable.
4. Selling tickets for functions was discussed. This may well be an option and will be discussed further at committee meetings.
5. Following the Mayor of Ely’s visit to the Village Council AGM we have learnt that the club may be eligible for Section 106 Funding grant. This could be used to pay for new furniture or flooring for the club. This will be followed up at committee level.
6.It was suggested that that the committee should also look to see if any other grants were available. This was agreed.
7. There being no other business to discuss the meeting was closed at 8.55pm