The post you are reporting:
after a pause things are now moving on, andy cooper has kindly sent us in the minutes from the agm held on saturday.
Chairman's Report
The Chairman began by noting that a quiet winter period had been replaced with renewed vigour, attributing this to 'Team Strength' and the value of the website which was undergoing a revamp. 2013 had begun well with the Secretary's guest talks to groups around the area, the success of the event at Manston Airport and the Chairman's talk to Sixth Formers at a South London School in March.
Targets for the forthcoming year had been identified as completion of the HQ exhibition at Dover Transport Museum, including the scale model of the Bleriot XI aircraft currently under construction by Pete Paine, and the final choice of location for Peter Naylor's agreed statue design. The initial choice of the area immediately adjacent to the National Trust Visitor Centre on Langdon Cliffs appeared to have run into problems and it was agreed that approaches to DDC for siting the statue on Granville Gardens on the plinth where the Coal Miner statue had previously stood would be made.
The funding issues that Andy & Pam had encountered were extremely disappointing but it was resolved that the Heritage Lottery Fund application would not be revisited at this stage, but that we would concentrate on the Arts Council application for the funding of the statue itself. Other sources of funding would be approached, as well as the Project's own fund raising efforts over the summer months.
Publicity was going well; the Chairman had been in contact with Phil West, the website administrator, and had agreed that the Project would supply Phil with more material for the website. The Chairman himself was drawing up a technical section for the website which would be available soon. A proposal that biographies of Committee members be published on the website was rejected. The 2013 leaflet would be passed on to more outlets over the summer months including The Shuttleworth Collection in Bedfordshire and Flambards Theme Park in Cornwall, both of which the Chairman had recently visited. Press coverage in the Dover Mercury and Dover Express had been good and the Secretary noted that relationships with both these newspapers remained good. The proposed Music Competition had foundered due to lack of response; the Chairman would try to get the competition up and running again, and Karine said she would speak to contacts of her own.
Our presence at events and presentations was noted and future events & presentations had been identified. A note of thanks was made to Early Birds Flying Club in the Netherlands for their assistance in 2012, and a special word of thanks made to Jaap Mesdag for his support.
Representations for the proposed naming of a school or road within the future Whitfield development had been made but no response had been forthcoming.
The Chairman thanked all for their efforts on behalf of the Project over the past year, including Karine and Oceanne for their enthusiasm, Andy and Pam for the hard work in putting together the Heritage Lottery Fund application, and all other members for their support and enthusiasm. Karine and Oceanne had put in a lot of work in selling badges, visiting the Mayor of Equihen in France and in organising a sponsored walk for Project funds, and for all this they were especially thanked.
The Chairman closed by saying that enthusiasm for the Project remains and that we need to overcome the funding difficulties of 2012 by finding other ways to raise the money, and by thanking everyone once again.
Treasurer's Report
Brian reported that the Project's finances were not good. Cash at Bank was £691.50 as @ 31st December 2012 but that monies owed to the Chairman (£420.13) and Secretary (£1734.67) took the nett figure to a negative balance of £1463.30.
The Chairman noted that money paid out of his own pocket for the purchase of the scale model Bleriot XI was not wanted back, and that he had donated the plane to the Project for permanent exhibition at Dover Transport Museum. Brian said that this figure would be adjusted in the 2103 accounts.
Forthcoming Events
Four forthcoming events had been confirmed for the summer months of 2013. Firstly, Oceanne was doing a sponsored walk from the site of Whitfield Aerodrome to the Bleriot Memorial in May. The Project would be represented at Whitfield Community Gala Day on June 8th and Manston Air Show on June 22nd, although Andy & Michelle Cooper and Brian Rowland would all be away on holiday for the latter event. Andy was organising a quiz night to be held in early July.
There was likely to be further opportunities for fund raising events over the coming year.
Any Other Business
There was no other business and the meeting closed at 19.00hrs with no date fixed for the next meeting.
