Civil Service Club

Draft minutes in Microsoft Word format

DRAFT

The Civil Service Club

Annual General Meeting

Minutes of the Fifty-Fifth Annual General Meeting of the Civil Service Club held at the Club on Thursday 29^th May 2008 at 6:00 pm.

Present:    Officers and Committee Members

                    Mr Roy Cozens           -    Vice Chairman

                    Mr Brian Kirvell         -    Hon Treasurer

                    Mr John Barker           -    Hon Secretary

                    Mr R Chapman

                    Mr M Hall

                    Ms R Hatcher

                    Mr R Hewlett

                    Mrs M Robinson

                    Mr J Smith

                    Mr B Watts

 A total of 41 members attended.

 In attendance

 Mr D Rowberry – General Manager

 Mr C Young – Assistant Manager

 1.                  Welcome and Introductions

 The Vice Chairman explained that the Chairman had had to resign as he had recently left the Civil Service.  He introduced the other Officers and the Managers present.

 2.                  Minutes of the last Annual General Meeting held on 22^nd May 2007

 The minutes of the previous meeting were approved.

 3.                  Report on the year to December 2007

 It had again been a difficult year requiring difficult decisions.

 The Committee had been grateful to those Life Members who had responded to the Club’s financial difficulties by giving donations and to those who bought additional shares in the 100 Club.

 The Premises had required more than usual maintenance particularly the electrical system.  This had led to delays in the plans to refurbish the bar but we were now in a position to go ahead with this.  It will start at the end of July and has been arranged through a loan from Greene King Brewery.

 To facilitate the turnaround we have had to make a number of staff redundant and have outsourced some functions.  We have also had to raise prices to reflect budget increases and inflation which has been particularly high on food.

 However, the signs for 2008 were very positive.  Thanks to excellent food quality with the Chef, Lorraine and an increase in Room Hire and Functions turnover had increased and the financial position was picking up.

 The Committee is conscious of the need to keep meeting Members’ changing needs and the Trading Committee were actively reviewing the overall strategy.  Comments and ideas from Members are particularly welcome.

 An up date was given on the discussions with the Cabinet Office over the future ownership of the Club’s premises.  This issue had still not been finally resolved and it was not possible to say what will happen yet.

 The death had occurred this year of Jack who members will know well from his presence in reception.  The club had been represented at his funeral and had made a donation to the Hospice in his memory.

 The Vice-chairman thanked the General Manager and the staff for all their hard work in helping to turn around the Club’s position.

 He thanked the Committee and especially Ken Healy who was standing down this year – he had made a valuable contribution to the Club.

 The Vice-Chairman then thanked the retiring Treasurer, Brian Kirvell.  He had been an outstanding Treasurer for the last 12 years and will be sorely missed from the Committee.

 In a general Q and A session the following issues were addressed:

·                    Is it possible to reintroduce the “Library” area now taken over by Darts.
·                    Can non-smokers be provided a place to sit outside in Summer?
·                    Have staff reductions gone too far – staff seem under some pressure.
·                    The General Manager had introduced a commendable approach to the use of the Club’s facilities.
·                    Could Carlsberg be reintroduced?
·                    Could we make sure there is a lounge area over the Xmas period – the Peter Ward lounge had been decommissioned last year.
·                    Should partnership arrangement be struck with other Clubs such as the Commonwealth Club or the Oxford and Cambridge?
·                    How can we compete better against nearby facilities by getting more civil service members?

4.                  Election of new Committee member s and review of Membership

 The Hon Secretary announced that there had been only three nominations for the Committee.  The following were therefore elected unopposed:

Richard Chapman
Brian Watts
Kathy Corander

 Unfortunately there had been no nomination for the post of Hon Treasurer.  Until a Treasurer was found Brian Kirvell had kindly agreed to act in a consultancy capacity.  He could not be expected to do this for nothing but details of the remuneration arrangements had not yet been finalised.

 Membership had been maintained at broadly the same level of 11,500 over the year.

 5.                  Statement of Accounts

 The Hon Treasurer introduced the Audited Accounts for the year.  As the year saw the transition to the new accounting system there were problems with the allocation of receipts and expenditure in some areas.  This did not however affect the final position.  This was a loss of some £50,000 over the year.  The underlying trading position however was improving this year and a repeat loss was not expected at this stage for 2008.

 6.                  Election of Auditors

 Mazars were re-elected as Auditors for 2008.

 7.                  Any other business

 The following points were raised in a general discussion:

• Could the beer be kept better – it was at times flat?  Greene King had been looking at the cellar to overcome the problem of the proximity of the Whitehall heating system.

• Could afternoon teas be reintroduced?  Potential suppliers were being investigated at the moment

• Were membership subscriptions and room hire fees at the right level?

8.        Close of the meeting

The Vice Chairman closed the meeting at 7:30 pm.