Minutes of 66th Annual General Meeting of the Kent Ornithological Society
13th April 2017 at 7.45pm at Grove Green Community Hall, Grovewood Drive, Maidstone ME14 5TQ.
1. President’s opening remark.
The meeting was opened by the Society’s President Don Taylor who thanked members for attending and thanked the work of the committee and officers over the last year.
2. Minutes of the last meeting, 13th April 2015 Noted and agreed.
3. Chairman’s Report.
Thank you all for coming. I shall start as usual by thanking committee members for their unstinting support during the year. Thanks too to Don for being our President for the last 15 years, chairing this meeting and always being available for help and advice. I was sorry to hear of his decision to stand down. He will be difficult to replace.
Where would we be without our Chancellor of the Exchequer Mike Henty? We shall find out later. Steve Wood, our Hon Sec, has no slot, but co-ordinates a lot of what we do, and like other EC members, is a pleasure to work with. I reported on the sad demise of the Indoor Meetings last year. These days, when fewer and fewer people are joining things, the maintenance of our membership numbers is a great achievement. Thanks for all your constructive energies, Chris.
Although the website is an important recruiting sergeant the KBR is our big output and has always been our raison d’etre. Keith Privett will update you on progress of KBR 2015. I would like to thank all those involved in the production of the KBR for thier hard work and dedication. Norman McCanch has stood down as Chairman of our Conservation and Surveys Committee, and I would like to thank him for all he has done. You will be hearing from his successor Murray Orchard, who is very active in this area and a very welcome addition to the Executive Committee. Norman is still on the other two committees and editor of our on line Newsletter.
Barry Wright continues as the inimitable Chairman of the Editorial and Records Committee and contributes so much to Birding in Kent, despite having an important day job. We will be hearing from him again in both halves. Geoff Orton continues his good work as our BTO rep. It is vital to continue working closely with BTO, RSPB and KWT. Robin Mace gives us his valuable technological expertise, for which we are very grateful. Thanks too to Ray O’Reilly for taking the outdoor meetings to places where a lot of birds are to be enjoyed.
We also have ordinary members, but they are not ordinary. Jack Chantler still spends a lot of time organising the species account writers for the KBR, assisted by our only, for the moment, Vice-President, Ken Lodge. Anthea Skiffington has valuable contributions to make too. I am sorry to say that Tony Morris has decided to stand down for personal reasons after many years as a committee member. We shall miss him and what he has to offer.
May I wish you an interesting and productive 2017/8 and please send in your records either through BirdTrack, our website, email, letter pigeon or smoke signals.
4. Committee updates
Other committee members updated the meeting on different aspects of the Society’s work. Brendan Ryan spoke about the need to strengthen the Societies publicity and promotions work. Chris Roome gave an update on membership and the work to attract new members. Keith Privett outlined progress on producing the 2015 Kent Bird Report, Barry Wright spoke about the work of the records committee during the last year and Murray Orchard spoke about the projects in which the Conservation and Surveys sub-committee was involved.
5. Annual Accounts for year ending 31st December 2016
Mike Henty, Treasurer reported on the audited accounts for the previous year. The Society’s reserves at the yearend stood at £29,649, up from £27,960 in the previous year. This included provision of £13,073 for the next Birds of Kent. Subscriptions for members was to remain at £12 per year. The Treasurer’s report was noted and the accounts approved.
6. Election of Honorary Life Vice-Presidents
John Hollyer proposed by Norman McCanch and John Cantelo proposed by Stephen Wood were elected to as Honorary Life Vice Presidents in recognition of their life long contribution to the Society and to bird watching in Kent generally.
7. Election of Committee Members
The following were elected to serve on the Executive Committee for the following year
President: Don Taylor
Chairman: Martin Coath
Vice Chairman: Brendan Ryan
Hon. Secretary: Stephen Wood
Hon. Treasurer: Mike Henty
Membership Secretary: Chris Roome
Chairman of Editorial & Records Sub-Committee: Barry Wright
Chairman of Conservation & Survey’s Sub-Committee: Murray Orchard
Editor of Kent Bird Report Keith Privett
KOS News EditorNorman McCanch
Indoors Meetings Organiser: Vacant
Outdoor Meetings Organiser: Ray O’Reilly
Archivist: Robin Mace
Ordinary Member: Jack Chantler
Ordinary Member: Anthea Skiffington
Ordinary Member: Vacant
Ex Officio member (BTO Representative) Geoff Orton
8. The formal business was closed by the Chairman and was followed by an illustrated talk :Alaska – The Final Frontier by Barry Wright
Dr Stephen Wood
Honorary Secretary