THE VICTORIA BOWMEN ASSOCIATION
THE VICTORIA BOWMEN ASSOCIATION
Annual General Meeting September 25, 2006
1. CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order by the President Greg Birtwistle at 7:30 PM
The following members were present:
Sonya Bell, Doug Bell, Samantha Bell, Alyssa Bell, Greg Birtwistle, Helena Myllyniemi, Bruce Reed, Andrew Reeve, Sophie Roberts, John Clark, Bradley Clements, Stella Holiday, Janis Roberts, Bruce Somers, Scott Sommerville, George Trattner, Allison Weick, Mary Wills, Al Wills, Shirley Wong
2. CHAIRMAN’S OPENING REMARKS
Welcome to the Annual General Meeting of the Victoria Bowmen Association. This meeting will be run under the current bylaws of the Association. The purpose of this meeting is held to provide information to members of this society on the activities of the past year.
Because this is an Annual General Meeting, In order for business to be conducted 30 days notice is required. There has been no notice of motion received within those 30 days, so this meeting is purely informational.
Agendas have been distributed and you are welcome to speak on any issue when it comes up or question any director when his or her report is tabled. You will also have an opportunity to address the meeting during good and welfare at the end of the meeting.
There have been a number of special archery friends who have passed on during the past year including Don Lovo, please join me for a moment of silence in their memory.
3. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Moved Tracy Klat/2nd John Clark/Carried
4. REPORTS:
a. President
I have always been very proud of Victoria Bowmen and the membership, it is the finest archery club there is with our target, field and 3D courses. I have spent countless hours on the range trying to hit the Gold or the 10x as it were with my longbow left handed or compound right handed. I have attended work parties, my wife thinks I've spent the better part of my life out here! I have been President for 2 years and served on the Board for 6 years and as a member since 1984. It has been fun and very rewarding.
b. Vice President
As Vice President I have taken on many jobs. Everything from servicing lawnmowers, directing work parties, cutting grass and Adhoc committees. My job is to support the club in its operation and day-to-day activities.
I have enjoyed the friendships, frustrations and joys of trying to make our club a 'little better' for all of us. We are always in a state of change and new issues continue to challenge us. As volunteers our time and services are given freely for the betterment of the Victoria Bowmen
Thank you for your continued support
Bruce Somers.
c. Secretary
During the past year I have attended all Board meetings, took and produced minutes, printing them for the next meeting and publishing them on the club website. Notices were sent out to all Board members prior to each meeting with a copy of the minutes. Minutes and agendas were printed and distributed for each meeting
Newsletters were also produced after every Board meeting and distributed to all members who have provided email addresses or subscribed to the newsletter from the website.
Because my phone number is listed for the club, I have answered very many phone calls for information and forwarded them to the required director if possible. This included the many calls for school outings, summer camps and birthday parties, which Helena was able to help with. We hope to have a policy worked out soon so that this information can go on the website.
I also coordinated the lawn cutting in the spring and early summer, thank you to Mark and Rhys for your tractor riding prowess.
In the spring of this year, the past member who was providing us with our internet services, served notice that we would have to find our own provider. Unfortunately this was with very short notice, so it took some time to get everything back up and running. The site is very easy to maintain where it is now and I don’t foresee too many problems in the future with it. The webmaster function is certainly is a job that could move from this portfolio.
During the past year, we worked with Greg Durward applying for a lotteries grant to help with the costs of running the club. Unfortunately the grant was denied because we were not members of the Societies Act, which governs the running of associations in BC. As it turns out, this was an oversight by previous secretaries not knowing the requirement to file annually, exacerbated by the fact that when I moved we had not notified the societies act of a proper address, so their warnings of our being suspended were never received. Getting us reinstated has been an inordinate amount of work, producing affidavits, requisitions and appeals to the Supreme Court, having the documents notarized etc. Not to mention the trips to the court house and time on the phone and internet learning how to do it all. It is my hope to have us restored in the next month.
I have agreed to serve in this position for another year, if that is your wish.
Respectfully submitted,
Al Wills, Secretary,
d. Treasurer
Another year at the Victoria Bowmen has come to an end. It has been a challenging year and next year might be even more so. WE had a hefty increase in the property taxes and that is reflected in the overall 'bottom line'. Another big item in revenue was in the tournament section. We did not host any JOP tournaments provincially and fewer FITA tournaments. 3D tournaments were fairly well attended and what we hear is that the participants are having fun.
Last year's deficit was about $300.00, but this year we ended up spending $2085.00 more than we took in. If we face a further increase in the property taxes next year we will be financially challenged. We have to become more creative in fund raising and maybe host a few bigger events.
WE cannot stress enough the importance of member volunteerism. Your efforts have not gone unnoticed and do reflect in the overall health of your club.
I have enjoyed my year and will keep on doing 'my stuff' and have put my name again for the treasurer's job.
Respectfully submitted,
Helena Myllyniemi
e. Membership Director
161 members including Life, honorary and associate. It's been a year already since Laurie left us and I took her place. Over the past year, I really enjoyed filling in as a membership director in the club. I enjoyed talking to the members and dealing with them. It also opened an opportunity for me to get a new job in March.
Since my kids aren't members of the club anymore, maybe it is a good idea for one of the members or members' parents to fill in the membership director position. If anyone is willing to step up at the AGM, I am going to step down. If not, I will be glad to stay for another year.
Shirley Wong
f. Tournament Director
We have hosted 12 FITA Star, 4 Canadian 900 rounds, and 2 indoor FITA I. Thank you to all the judges that made our tournaments possible. Attendance was low this year. We had a donation of 122 and 80cm targets from the Lovo family.
Tracy Klat
g. Junior Olympian Director - Mary Wills gave a verbal report
h. Public Relations Director - not present
i. Bowhunting Director - not present, verbal report given by Bruce Reed
j. Equipment Director - George Trattner gave an interim report
k. Liaison Director - Bruce Reed gave a verbal report
l. Junior Director - not present
m. Standing Committees - Gaming Grant Committee
An application was submitted May 30, 2006 to the Gaming and Enforcement Branch of the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General.
Our 2004 application was rejected because it was incomplete (which we don’t believe was the case in fact) and because the Club had not correctly set aside the Worlds legacy monies which is intended to secure an indoor range. A Board motion has been passed to this effect and was included in the 2006 submission.
A letter was received September 11, 2006 from Mr. Gerry Wells, Manager, Direct Access Grants in which our 2006 application was rejected because the Club is not in good standing with the BC Registrar of Companies. The Club last filed with the Registrar in 1999.
I have spoken with Ursala Cowland who handles appeals and she has advised me that they may reconsider our application if we send her proof that we have applied for reinstatement. A package of documents showing that Al Wills is undertaking to have the Club reinstated with the Registrar was sent to Ms. Cowland September 25, 2006.
The process of reinstating the Club is not simple. The name request was $30, the witness fee was $20, the court filing was $208, we not sure how much the add we have to place in the Gazette will be, and the re-file fee is $100. Add to this Al Wills’ time and the time spent in preparing the application (twice now) and we have quite a bit invested in this process.
I don’t know how long it will be before we find out if they will consider our appeal and then whether it is successful.
Greg Durward
5. BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES
None
6. ELECTION OF OFFICERS
Bruce Somers, chairman of the Nominating took the chair, the following positions were elected:
- President - Greg Birtwistle
- Vice President - Bruce Somers
- Secretary - Al Wills
- Treasurer - Helena Myllyniemi
- Membership Director - Lynn Brochu
- Tournament Director - Tracy Klat
- Junior Olympian Director - Mary Wills
- Public Relations Director - vacant
- Bowhunting and 3D Director - Doug Bell
- Equipment Director - George Trattner
- DND Liaison Director - Bruce Reed
- Social Director - Mary Wills
- Junior Director - Brad Clements, Josh Fyfe, Allison Weick
Greg Birtwistle took the chair
7. TIME AND PLACE OF NEXT MEETING
Next Board Meeting will be October 23, 2006
8. GOOD AND WELFARE
Members spoke about the club
9. ADJOURN
The meeting was adjourned at 8:45PM