For Retired Professional and Business Men
Chairman's AGM Review The Club is in good shape and I suggest we all have good cause to enjoy our membership and the company it brings. Good fellowship is exactly the reason for the Club’s existence. In recent years, promotion of the Club and your reputation for conviviality attracted a much-valued stream of applicants to become members. In response, the Committee agreed to allow membership to creep up to 70. You have endorsed this stretching of our Rules by the amendment you have just approved and I am sure the Committee will be grateful! One advantage of a larger membership has undoubtedly been the support you have given to our trips and outings, events that have contributed immeasurably to the enjoyment, with our ladies, of our membership. We have a strong Events Team under John Rolfe’s leadership. Rob Weston has been a tower of strength looking after the Team’s finances. I pay tribute to the excellent work the Team has done for us. The downside of a larger membership, just once or twice, has been the pressure put on the catering facilities here, when there were problems with the oven door or the water heater. We hope that these problems are now behind us. I am sure that we are all grateful for the way Rob has discharged his duties as Catering Officer. John Parkes will stand in Rob’s shoes for the coming year and the Committee is thereby guaranteed the continuance of his considerable experience of Club affairs. We are also very grateful to our caterers Preece and Burditt, Peter, his cook Rona and his team of waitresses. They have coped brilliantly. We look forward to a happy future in their care. Regrettably, and in spite of my good intentions a year ago, increased membership has made no meaningful impact on attendances at our Coffee Mornings. They provide a second opportunity each month to enjoy the company of other members, including those who are sometimes a little remote at the Top Table during our lunches. Maybe some of you non-attenders will begin to feel you are missing out. Believe me, you are! A club devoted to retired and ageing gentlemen is sooner or later bound to see the loss of respected friends through infirmity and death. Sadly, this last year has seen a rather high incidence of hospitalisation for serious and sometimes life-threatening conditions and four deaths. I am sure we have all been much relieved to welcome back after serious problems Frank Grant, Ron Hitchcock, Tony Owens and Tony Woodhouse, from among our Committee members, Ryland Clendon, Geoff Priseman and Rob Weston, and that stalwart of our Coffee Mornings and Christmas Lunches through many years, Jack Eames. We have all been saddened by the loss of John Birkbeck, Bill Howard, Norman Kent and Peter Marsom. Through our Welfare Secretary we try to keep in touch with those who have health problems and with the families of the deceased. It is a challenging responsibility, especially this year. Alec Paterson has unobtrusively worked hard to keep us in touch and up to date. The Committee recognises that many of you have lent support to members who have problems and have kept Alec informed. There are limitations to what the Club can and should offer by way of welfare and social support, but we do our best. I am sure you will agree that we should all take an interest in the welfare of those whom we call friends and report to our Welfare Secretary when we become aware that a member has a problem. After three years of sterling service in the Welfare role, Alec is handing over to Rob, who will have the help of Ryland. Please join me in thanking Alec most gratefully for all he has done for the Club. We have devoted some time at our Committee meetings to the Probus Ladies Luncheon Club. I remind you that support is drawn from the ladies of members of both St Albans Probus Clubs, but it is no exaggeration to say that by far the greater commitment comes from the ladies of this Club’s members. The retirement of Wendy Cruickshank was a difficult time for them, but a team of ladies formed in mid-2006 to organise their activities, with Diana Over taking the chair for no more than a year. That year will be up this summer and, at this time, no lady has come forward to take over. If the ladies value the activities of their Luncheon Club, they will have to find souls willing to carry on with their organisation. This is a challenge, which if not met, could result in the demise of the Ladies Luncheon Club. The Committee will review the situation later in the year. Of course, our ladies are very much a part of our social occasions, our trips and outings, and the Christmas Luncheon. I remind members that the success of the former contributed to our being able to hold the price for the latter at the 2005 level and to continue offering our widows a substantially reduced price. I pay tribute to John Parkes and Michael Welling, who between them guaranteed that the luncheon was a great success once again. Michael has discharged his roll as Speaker Secretary with distinction. Not only have we had a year of excellent guest speakers, including three of our own (though it is not for me say how well my talk went down!), but he has signed up a good-looking list for the greater part of the year ahead. Colin Smart, whom we will be very happy to welcome as Michael’s successor, will enjoy his relatively easy initiation! Although he is stepping down from the Committee after many years of distinguished service to the Club, Ron Verran will remain a member of the Events Team. We have at least one more of his incomparable 5-day trips to look forward to. Ron’s contribution to the Club has been inestimable, especially some five or six years ago when, without his efforts, the Club might have foundered. Please join me in thanking Ron for all that he has done for us. With an eye on the future and a vacancy arising from Ron’s retirement, it is good news that Ron Taylor has agreed to serve on the Committee, without portfolio for the time being. The two most onerous of the Club’s offices are Secretary and Treasurer. Peter Warren has continued the excellent work done first by Ron, then John Parkes to make the Club what it is today. Geoff has kept tabs on a considerable flow of transactions with humour and good nature. He will tell you that the Club is in a sound financial condition. We have and will continue to have a strong and active Committee. I do believe I can hand over to Michael’s Chairmanship a Club that is in very good shape. There has been, is now and promises to be an excellent rapport between the Committee and you, the members. I thank you for the privilege of being your Chairman and the Committee for their tolerance during another busy year. Please show your appreciation of their hard work for you in the usual way. Membership and Guests Membership currently stands at 65 which is close to the Club’s membership limit. Prospective members should contact the Secretary, Peter Warren (01727 739907 or prw02@btinternet.com ) who will be pleased to supply further details and an application form. Prospective members will also be welcome to attend lunches as guests and, if numbers allow, to take part in the programme of visits. Lunch Attendance No advance notice is required for the coffee mornings, but please may we repeat that members unable to attend any lunch meeting MUST notify John Parkes (01727 854809) or Peter Warren (01727 739907), by telephone or e-mail, by midday of the Tuesday prior to the meeting (preferably sooner!), so that the correct number of lunches can be ordered from the caterers. At times, John or Peter may be away and there could be the problem that a recorded message is not received in time. So, please do NOT leave a recorded message about your non-attendance at lunch, but ensure that you speak to a “real person” – any member of the Committee, if you have no luck with John or Peter. The names of guests, including prospective members, who wish to attend a lunch, must also be notified to John or Peter by their sponsoring member.