Keith Mott
L&SECC AGM 2011
The London & South East Classic Club held its Annual General Meeting at the North Leatherhead Community Centre on 24th January and the turn out of members was excellent, if fact one the best I’ve witnessed in many years. I had a phone call before I left home for the meeting from Committee member, David Bridger of Leatherhead, apologizing for not be able to make the meeting, as he had under gone serious heart surgery only a few days before. He told me he wanted to continue on the Committee and I wished him a speedy recovery from his surgery. There wasn’t many changes in the officers this year, Daryll Luxford has taken more on this time, and he is the new Vice Chairman, Auditor and assistant Press Officer. The second new Auditor is the Accountant, Mrs Clare Ruff. Two members retired from the Committee, Keith Barber and Martin Greetham, and thanks to those gentlemen for giving up their time to attend the meetings. Guy Mullen of Horley has joined the Committee this time and we welcome to him! The Classic will be holding two Breeder / Buyer sales at Leatherhead and Horsham in April and the first Carentan race in August will be the Breeder / Buyer race. ‘Gold Rings’ are available from Keith Mott and Terri Hoskin again this season, and that prize money will be flown for from the second Carentan in September. The whole meeting went like ‘clock work’, thanks to experienced handling of the proceedings by our chairman, Brian Doick.
The officers for 2011 are: President – Keith Mott: Chairman – Brian Doick: Secretary – Terri Hoskin: Vice Chairman – Daryll Luxford: Life Vice Presidents – None added this year: Vice President – Peter Coles: Auditors – Daryll Luxford / Clare Ruff: Convoyer – To be elected at next meeting: Race Advisor – Steve Appleby: Press Officers – Keith Mott / Daryll Luxford: Webmaster – Keith Mott.
The Classic secretary, Terri Hoskin, said the voting ballot papers came in thick and fast this year and Item 1 won the four way vote, with the 2011 race programme being: Alencon (code 5001): Tours (code 5044): Tarbes (code 5055): Bergerac (code 5005): Carentan Young Bird / Old Hens (code 5092): Carentan Young Bird / Old Hens (code 5092), dates to be advised after the February meeting. The voting results of the other propositions are: Item 5 – With Drawn: Item 6 – Defeated 13/51: Item 7 – Carried 54/29: Item 8 – Carried 84/12: Item 9 – Carried 74/18: Item 10 – With Drawn: Item 11 – Carried 39/30: Item 12 – Carried 45/17: Item 13 – Carried 65/18: Item 14 – Carried 73/13: Item 15 – Out of Order: Item 16 – Carried 63/23.
A few words from the President
I would like start this section of the article by saying that the 2010 season has not been one of our easiest, racing wise or financially! Low birdage seems to have been a general trend through out the Classic and National racing fraternity in the 2010 season, mainly because of hard weather conditions in the early summer months, resulting in more that usual losses. Also in my opinion because of the increased amount of races put on by other Classic and National clubs this year. The average fancier doesn’t carry enough birds to cope with a Classic or National race every weekend of the season! With this latest low birdage trend, it is even more important that our committee work even harder to protect the Classic’s financial well being. I have personally had several meetings with the Central Southern Classic Flying Club in recent months to secure our transport amalgamation for the two longest old bird races in 2011, which is a major financial factor for both Classic Clubs. I personally think this arrangement is paramount in our financial agenda, as with out this annual amalgamation both the Classics would loose thousands of pounds.
A special thanks to our secretary, Terri Hoskin, for all her good work last season. I can’t praise Terri enough, she has been just brilliant! A year ago she took on the job, with the admin side of the Classic in a bad state and was thrown into the ‘deep end’ with no real experience of being a pigeon club secretary. Here we are 12 months later and she has sorted so much of the administration, and with that experience behind her, is shaping up to be one of our best ever secretaries. One issue to come up in the 2010 season was the lateness of the publication of the race results, which had caused Terri a great deal of frustration, as several clock stations have continually sent in their paper work late and held up the result. Clock stations must address this problem, as we intend to get the race results out on time this season.
Back in November we had a very successful ‘Phone In’ auction to cover the costs encured in a few improvements we have carried out on the new transporter this year. The main items being a new bigger water tank and extra racking at the rear of the vehicle to increase the birdage capacity. Next job on our agenda is to have the side curtains vented properly before the first old bird race. Sincere thanks to all the donors for their generosity and to the purchasers who put their hand in their wallets to make this sale an outstanding success. I’m very pleased that we have the Breeder / Buyer race back this season. We have arranged two sales at Leatherhead and Horsham in April, so please support these events; it will generate some nice prizes in the first Carentan Young Bird Classic.
We at the L&SECC have one of the best work forces in the sport and I would like to thank them all personally for their good work in the 2010 season and hope for their continuing support this year. Regrettably we are loosing two of marking stations for the 2011 season. The first, which actually closed early in the 2010 season, was Gravesend and this was due to the sad passing of one of the Classic’s great workers, Cyril Howes. The long serving I/C, Bob Alty, is packing up and this will result in the closure of the Stevenage marking station. These two gentlemen have been great workers for our Classic for many years! We are very lucky to have the continuing services of Steve Appleby as our Race Advisor. I have said it many times before and make no apologies for saying it again, Steve is the best and is totally dedicated to producing good racing for us. Last, but certainly not least, I come to my good friend and our Chairman, Brian Doick! He really is one of the great workers for our Classic Club and I must say it was a great pleasure working with him last season. Over the 2010 season we have struck up a really good working relationship and we are both looking forward too greater things in 2011. I would like to finish this article by wishing all our membership the very best of luck for the new racing season.
TEXT & PHOTOS BY KEITH MOTT (L&SECC PRESS OFFICER).