Morris Minor Owners Club

How many branch meeting members were there, it would be interesting to see how many 'ordinary' members attended.
Strange request re expenses and the use of a Minor.

As usual most AGM attendees had been to the Liaison meeting in the morning but there were a handful of extra folk in the afternoon.

In the Liaison meeting there had been discussions on the 2 tier system for paying MMOC travel expences between branch members & committee members & the AOB point followed this & was possibly to highlight or encourage Minor usage by the committee to meetings.

Any mention about the National at Haynes in the AGM.
It would be more appropriate to encourage committee members driving Minors to the National rather than concentrate on the use to the meetings. Didn't know about the two tier system, but nothing suprises me

Harry, thanks very much for giving a flavour of what went on at the AGM.

Was there any report/discussion on membership numbers?

cant see the point of encouraging committee mebers to drive morris to the agm, as jonathon says more like drive them to the rallies

Just like the useless 'Government' then - main business is worrying about their expenses!

Well it at least shows that the MMOC has a very satisfied/ content membership. Clearly no parts issues , perfect traders, excellent National Rallies,sustainable membership numbers etc etc, wow !!, just need to worry about the branch meeting catering then

Are they allowed to have 'second' Minors - and to 'flip' them occasionally to maximise expense claims ? Exactly how much 'expense' are they allowed to claim - is it just petrol money - or a mileage allowance ??
Personally - I would say NO expenses should be paid. None of the orgs I belong to pay expenses - folks do it for the honour/enjoyment etc!

not this club then

glad my money is not wasted then

To clarify expenses, whilst Branch reps can now only claim 15ppm, National Committee members can claim 40ppm.
Where's your'e can'o worms Roy

Jonathan your statement is incorrect - honoraiums were not increased !

I have amended my statement accordingly. I shall consult my source again.

So - there are two grades of mileage claim ? How strange ! And -Honorariums ????????? Wow. Do they declare both of these income sources on their income tax forms - I wonder.<br><br>
Worms as requested!

Details of what was discussed at the AGM will be made available to club members via Minor Matters. Posting information that is inaccurate, whether from a 'source' or otherwise, or making assumptions without knowing the full facts, is not helpful.

On the question of membership, Ray Newell was pleased with the fact that new members were joining on line and that new membership in general was up but he did point out that renewals were down. I later questioned him about this and suggested that it could be the new members who were leaving after their first year. This situation had not been researched.

Louise, some members of the MMOC would simply like to be informed , informally about what happened at the AGM.
I would have thought that those who write on this forum and who attended the AGM might have been keen to explain to others what was discussed.
I have removed the part of my post which refered to honouries because it was in the 08-09 that these were destined to increase by 3%. (I can provide written confirmation of this should it be required)
I don't know what assumptions you are refering too specificaly, my references were simply mentioned because there had been concern on this forum ,for the umpteenth year in a row about, facilities at the National, the quality of parts , the quality of traders and the falling membership. So forgive me if I'm interested to see if these were raised, but I had thought that this forum was a source for comment and discussion about the MMOC, the cars and any other business.
It would seem however that either those who attended the AGM and also write on here have either not been reading this thread or are disinclined,or simply unwilling to answer quite civil simple questions.(edited to avoid any possible offence/misunderstanding)
Funny how we can discuss, trains , word games etc but not the workings of our AGM.No ones comments were against the T and C's.

Thanks to Mike and Harry for your contribution to this thread.

Louise , if you have issues about any of my comments I would appreciate a PM rather than public rebuke, thankyou.

There is no problem with those who attended the meeting posting details here if they wish, and both Harrymango and Mike.Perry have already done so. If others prefer not to that is a matter for them but as stated a full report will be published in Minor Matters in order to inform all members of what was discussed.

mike.perry wrote: membership in general was up but he did point out that renewals were down. I later questioned him about this and suggested that it could be the new members who were leaving after their first year. This situation had not been researched.

This should be a fairly easy statistic to pull shouldn't it? Since joining the club is likely to be linked to the euphoria of getting your first moggie, the retention rate of new members is a much more useful indicator of the success of the club.

Given the postal strikes, perhaps an official 'summary' of what happened at the AGM could be posted online or through the forum. I think there are quite a few people who are interested but couldn't make it on Saturday.

As the meeting was open to Club members only I think that any official minutes would need to be published on the Members Site rather than the open forum but I'll make some enquiries to see what can be done.

Any mention about the National at Haynes in the AGM.

Lots of mentions, and a certain Trader also got many mentions and won a special award... [well deserved IMHO!]

I believe a guy called Julian will bring it over to you in the next weeks when he goes to JLH

Was there any report/discussion on membership numbers?

Lots of discussion on membership, how the decline has been going in all classic clubs and what the effects have been regarding recent figures with the last year's worth of recession...
It was great to hear that new membership is actually on the increase in the MMOC

Yet again the website was praised for helping to maintain the club as a viable organisation.

Lots and lots of other discussion - including the scrappage scheme, transferring the mag to the new printers and the (limited) teething trouble, the sad departure of the mag editor after only ~1 year. The refurb performed on the club offices. The great efforts and achievement of charity collections.

New club advertising is underway - including flyers etc..

Branch handbooks have been updated and were distributed to the branches present (the remainder to be posted)

also there was a presentation by someone from North Wilts on the next 5 capitals rally in 2010 (sounds pretty good to me, watch this space)

Also discussion regarding use of the internet for rally details, but not excluding non-internet members (there have already been instances of non-inclusion). Branches were reminded to allow members to obtain rally details with SSAE if they choose to.

Also mentioned were new branches (including Ilse of Man), and some discussion on making the branch news in the Mag to be more relevant/interesting!

main business is worrying about their expenses!

Only a lunatic would expect the club not to look at it's own finances amid a recession. I find your additional comments very insulting when the committee have been doing exactly the opposite of self-serving. I guess that those who like to make up this kind of tosh would also be able to make up excuses why they "can't" help the club as much as the other members they are criticising.

Didn't know about the two tier system,

It's new! Partly brought about by the previous year's increased travel expenses, but also due to some other changes to increase branch funding.

Strange request re expenses and the use of a Minor.

It came from a strange person :p
Actually as Roger already mentioned it was more relevant based on the reduced mileage allowance (from national club funds) for branch related travel. The funds to branches have been increased together with a simpler rebate system, allowing branches to top up mileage claims if they choose to do so (or not), within the bounds of the previous levels.
This was actually a stab at 'devolution' allowing branches to decide, what level they pay for branch travel.

However as committee members can't expect their own branches to subsidise travel directly relating to committee business, so they've been left out of the changes, and hence my request that they also consider at what level to pay.
For anyone who needed to do a fair bit of mileage for committee business and choses to use a Minor I think this would reflect very well on the club. Having a Minor for long commutes often leads to wanting nicer seats / brakes etc... and therefore I don't see it as unreasonable to pay a higher level for Minors! This would be in the spirit of the club itself - directly promoting the use of Minors!


As for club costs, unlike the government, and their disgraceful behaviour on expenses, the MMOC has in fact been working purely in the members interests to maintain excellent service and still reduce expenditure where possible.
There was actually a round of applause on this issue, as although much of the efforts are unseen, they are not unappreciated (except, it seems, by a certain person )

I know of enough examples where committee have either not claimed at all or claimed far less expenses than they could have done. My suggestion regarding higher mileage allowance for using a Minor came to mind many years ago, but seemed more relevant this year so I raised it.
As I stated at the AGM, it was NOT a criticism of the current expense claims and/or in no way meant to criticise committee as they have actually been doing a very good job of controlling costs.

The lunchtime sandwiches were rather sparse - however I'd bet money that the Hotel had their own part to play in that. I didn't see anyone mention yet that the committee were at the very back of the sandwich queue. (especially as I made sure I got a reasonable place in the queue).

Poor old Christine Haigh was running herself ragged at times making sure that the Hotel staff replenished empty coffee and tea dispensers and so on.

Had I not been at the AGM, I would have been at work. Had I not been at work I'd been doing things with the family (who don't get much of my time at the moment). I appreciate that some don't have a choice but for those that do want to take an interest, I'd really recommend that you go. It's much better to experience it 1st hand than to pick it up from an aricle.
This is one of the reasons they combine it with a branch liason meeting - not only to make best efforts to share the information far and wide, but to make sure the membership is represented.