Minutes of 2007 Annual General Meeting, September, 24, 2007

Sonya Bell, Doug Bell, Samantha Bell, Greg Birtwistle, Lynn Brochu, John Clark, Bradley Clements, Greg Durward, Lynn Durward, Ivan Flora, Tracy Klat, Sam Martin, Helena Myllyniemi, hazel Prince, Bruce Reed, Wess Reed, Andrew Reeve, Georgina Scott, Bruce Somers, George Trattner, Allison Weick, Mary Wills, Al Wills

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, business Is not conducted without 30 days notice, the only business notice we have received is for the dues increase, which will be discussed in business arising. There will be no other business discussed, however you are welcome to question any director during their report and say whatever you like under good and welfare.

I would like to thank all the Victoria Bowmen members who have worked diligently to make our club one of the best on the island. We have had numerous shoots throughout the yearthat have introduced the various forms of archery to a wide age group. Thank you all for your on going support. As the President It has been my pleasure to be a part of this great club that addresses all aspects of archery.

3. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING September 26, 2006

Bruce gave a verbal report, he will not be running for another term, he has served over 30 years and feels the 'spark has gone', he will continue to work for the club as required.

I have attended all Board meetings this year, 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. Agendas were printed and distributed for each meeting. I have also maintained the club’s website posting new information there as required, such as meeting minutes and newsletters.

Newsletters were also produced after all but one Board meeting and distributed to all members who have provided email addresses or subscribed to the newsletter from the website. The newsletter is only available by subscription from the club website, I try to inform all new members of the newsletter, but subscribing is required.

The notice of meeting for this meeting was distributed by email and mailed by Canada post to all members households.

Because my phone number is listed for the club, I have answered 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 desperately need some people to step up and assist and/or take on these camps and classes, which operate in addition to George’s classes

The Forrest Gump Club lawn cutting crew did a great job this year, thank you to Mark, Rhys, the Birtwistles and any others for your tractor riding prowess.

After our finding out that our membership in the Societies act had lapsed, as reported in my last year’s report. I was able to have our good standing renewed after extensive research and letter writing. This allowed for us to put forward our lottery grant application, which was approved.

For this year, I worked with Greg Durward and Helena to update our lottery application, which was approved for more than last year, certainly good news!

While I would rather serve the club in another position, I have agreed to serve in this position for another year, if that is your wish.

Helena gave a verbal report and submitted written copies of the Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss statement. Helena thanked Greg and Al for their work on the grant application, which was the only thing keeping the club out of the red this year. Helena will run for this position again this year.

Type of Memberships	Number		Total
Individual	71	JOP	33
Couple	13	Adult	89
Family	6
Other	4
Total Number of Archers	122

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 average this year.

At the February Indoor FITA I we hosted the BC and Yukon Canada Games team, which made it a very large tournament.

At the start of the JOP Indoor season for 2006/2007, we had 16 registered archers. All of them turned in scores working toward their different badge levels. Two of the archers took part in the JOP mail matches. Five of our JOP took part in the 2007 JOP Regionals. Over the spring and early summer we saw an average of 15 juniors come out Saturday mornings at the outdoor range.

For the 2007/2008 season I would like to see more adults attend Saturday morning shooting along with the juniors. I would also propose that we hold some fun shoots both indoors and outdoors throughout the winter to encourage more club member participation. Respectfully submitted - Mary Wills

11 Feb 3D shoot - 46 shooters + kids and families.

My first shoot and all went off almost as planned, the important thing being, everyone had a good time and the team that set up the course, prepared the food and took care of all the details, from toilet paper to prizes were fantastic. A challenging course with an almost vertical straight down shot that cost me an arrow, shooting at the wolves circling their "kill" from the bluff top over the FITA field were all part of the fun.

The "rabbits on the rotisserie" was a real hit with the kids (Big kids too) as was the 50/50 long shot.

This shoot brought in $871 of which some funds were allocated for the purchase of2 new 3D animals, a Canadian lynx and river bottom buck.

4 Mar 3D shoot - 36 shooters + kids and families.

More families and kids at this one. Great shoot and loads of fun. The elk shot from the berm top into the long grass resulted in a lot of metal detector work the following week (many arrows were recovered). Who set up the almost vertical down shot onto a bear partly hidden by a sloping tree trunk (hint see above). My wife's new carbon arrow is still out there after a glancing blow on the caribou out by the soil reclamation field. The "rabbits on the rotisserie" was again fun and the long shot was a hit again.

Over the spring a big effort was put out to redesign the 3D trail to take in our changing times, Housing encroaching on our north boundary. The shots are almost exclusively "in" from the fence line and the direction traveled was reversed. It is a fun trail with a couple of offshoots that were added later.

The club was bequeathed a number of home made 3D animals. As a trial one was placed on the course as a trial to see how it stood up to heavy regular use. It has exceeded expectations and when time permits more will be put out for the enjoyment of shooting them. A surprising pleasure was the small foam critters, a rabbit & groundhog, which are challenging and fun small targets that will often be thrown a distance when struck (my favourite shots).

The 3d course would not be what it is without the efforts of one outstanding member who is out there rain or shine, changing target faces, re-hanging bags, trying new shots & trails and doing everything needed to keep the trail fun to shoot. Thank you Mike Hughes for all your work on the course.

A major policy change initiated this year, that of restricting club-owned archery equipment to use within archery classes only, has well achieved its intended purposes.

JOP coaches / supervisors are no longer burdened with providing instruction and supervision to casual range visitors: the security and general care of club-owned equipment is more effectively controlled, and despite initial reservation from some members, the requirement to each have our own personal archery equipment has led to more dedicated and capable archers.

A formal training program was put in place to cater to interested novices, adults and teens, where club equipment is provided in a controlled environment. Since the fall of 2006 three indoor and four outdoor introductory courses have been conducted, with a total paid attendance of 77. Gross income from the courses has totaled $4620.00, but of greater value is the 30 plus new memberships that were generated as a result of the program.

All club-owned archery equipment has been cleaned, refurbished and maintained in top-notch condition. Some older equipments (one-piece fiberglass bows) have been liquidated (sold to the local SCA chapter) while new arrows and recurve bows have been purchased for use in classes.

A commercial-duty bush trimmer was purchased for use in controlling the heavy vegetation growth in areas unreachable by our power mowers and a new metal detector

The process of refurbishing and replacing our long-suffering target butts is under way.

To date, four new butts have been constructed and installed, and thanks to the initiative and effort of Andrew Reeve, most of the others have been refurbished and strengthened.

I, as other board members, have been kept very busy this past year. We can all take satisfaction in the many positive accomplishments of the current board. I have agreed to put my name forward and continue serving in this position in the coming year, should that be the wish of the club membership.

k. Liaison Director - Bruce Reed gave a verbal report, he keeps in touch with the commissionaires for all VB events, he asked that we keep him informed so he can be sure they know.

l. Junior Director - Brad Clemmens gave a verbal report for himself, Josh and Allison - mentioning: - September Funshoot, - J.O.P. Newsletter, - J.O.P. turnout and coaching, - Halloween Funshoot

Dues increase - the board of directors had sent a notice of motion for a dues increase in line with that of the BCAA, however, BCAA did not have an increase for this next year, so a dues increase could not be brought forward.

The President informed the members present of the negotiations underway for a Base Archery Club to take over some of the obligations of the Victoria Bowmen. Discussions are very preliminary right now.

Bruce Somers, chairman of the Nominating took the chair, the following positions were elected: