AGM MINUTES

Minutes of the Viking 4×4 Club AGM

Held at The Greyhound Inn, Lutterworth on Saturday 12th November 2022

Present:

Rob Curling, Kat Smith, Julie Curling, Paul Curling, Steve King, Pip Evans, James Watts, Scott Haines, Brian Elliott, Marilyn Elliott, Richard Evans, Leanne Evans, Sam Nelson, Tommy Evans, Dave Adams, Jack Adams, Kevin Davies, Dee Fox, Jake Joannides.

Apologies:

Tomasz Jarecki, Georgie Smith, Will Baker, Colin Worsley, Andrew Witham, Anne Langley, Jake Cooper, Johnny Johnson, Tracey Johnson

Chairman’s Address:

Report on 2022: Pip reported that the year began while still unsure about where covid would take us and the events calendar was a bit thrown together. This unfortunately lead to several clashes or near misses with other big 4×4 events, so this is believed to have had an impact on competitor numbers as they were lower than usual for some events. Thanks were expressed to everyone who worked together to make sure that everything worked smoothly. We ran a full program with 2 shows attended, 6 single day challenge events (Odyssey Series), three 4×4 Experience days and the two day Valhalla Challenge. All in all, quite a successful year. Special thanks went to Brian and Marilyn Elliott for their 25 years of support for the Viking 4×4 Club and they were given a gift as a token of appreciation from the club.

Minutes of the Last AGM:

Were read and agreed.

AGM Agenda

Treasurer’s Report:

Marilyn presented the financial report. This showed that club funds remain healthy and is fairly consistent with previous years. (Details are available to club members but are not made public)

Reports – Other:

Safety Officer. Dave Adams reported that it had been a good year safety wise. There had been a few minor issues during the year, but these had been resolved quickly and amicably. Dave did express a concern that the club does not allow ‘Sheds’ to run at any of the experience days and that anyone turning up with a substandard vehicle must be turned away.

CPO Officer. No child safety concerns were raised during the year.

Scrutineering:

Self scrutineering has gone well, but there were a few times where people forgot their forms at home. It was suggested that anyone who turns up without a completed form, they should not be scrutineered until after the people who did produce a self scrutineering form. It was hoped that this might encourage people to make sure that it was done prior to attending an event in future.

Committee Positions:

As per usual, all positions become vacant at the AGM and any Viking member can stand for any committee position. Current positions are as follows:

Chairman – Paul Curling – Remained the same

Treasurer – Marilyn Elliott – Same

Secretary – Pip Evans – Same

Membership Sec – Brian Elliott – Same

Entries Sec – Colin Worsley – Same

Events C of C – Tomasz Jarecki – Same

Scrutineer – Andrew Witham – Same

Safety Rep – Dave Adams – Same

Child Protection Officer – Kat Smith

Webmaster – Scott Haines – Same

Reports – James Watts. – Richard & Leanne Evans.

Trophies – James Watts

General Committee Members:

Julie Curling, Rob Curling, Kat Smith, Jake Joannides, Paul & Tracey Johnson, Jake Cooper

Trophies:

Brian had stated that he will not be doing these for this year, but James Watts has taken this on. He intends to develop a new design which he plans to have made from stainless steel

Agenda Items:

Membership Fees To remain the same at £10

Event Jobs: Several jobs must be covered at events and Pip asked for volunteers to cover the various jobs. If someone takes on a job, they must ensure that the items they are responsible for are at each event. Johnny & Tracey managed the radios and gazebo last year, but if they could not be at an event, they made sure that the kit was given to someone else for that event. Julie Curling has done the 1st Aid course so that we have medical cover, but she stated that she won’t be able to attend every event. Hopefully, Pip and Julie can liaise to make sure that one of them is at an event to cover the 1st aid. If 1st aid can’t be covered by one of them, it was suggested that the club pay for a paramedic to cover it for us. Sam Nelson stated that he was in contact with a couple of guys who could cover this for us if needs be, but the cost was not known. Events can not run if there is no 1st aid cover, so availability will need to be discussed before the start of the 2023 season so if there is a shortfall, we will have plenty of time to arrange cover.

Event Fees:

To remain the same for single day events if any 2 day events are to be run, fees will be set at subsequent committee meetings.

Trophies:

Brian is happy to continue for this year, but has given notice that this will be the last year for him to do so. (Brian has enough trophies to cover next year’s Odyssey events)

Vehicle Specs:

No change from last year. (Portal axles and 40 inch tyres allowed for class 3. No portals and max tyre size of 37 inch for other classes)

Shows:

Richard & Leanne Evans stated that they would take the lead on running a stand at the 4×4 Expo. We will need 3 trucks on the stand to represent the 3 classes we run in our events. Richard & Leanne have a class 1 truck, so volunteers are needed to supply the other 2 trucks. No one volunteered to take the lead on the Billing show, but Johnny and Tracey will be approached to see if they would be prepared to do so again next year.

General Safety:

was good this year, with no reported injuries from any competitor. We did have one person who broke his leg on the 1st experience day at Weekley Woods, but he simply slipped on mud while spectating. Not much we could do to prevent that. 999 was called but it was deemed to be non-emergency and we were told to take the guy to KGH ourselves.

New Rules:

No rule changes have been imposed by Nora so far, so our rules for 2023 will be as per last year. The issue of disabling winches and diffs of a class 3 truck so that they can run in a lower class was discussed. Some felt that this should not be allowed at all, but this was not deemed to be a good idea. It was agreed that anyone who decides to disable a winch, must not have a rope on that winch. Anyone who plans to disable a diff, must ensure that they turn up at an event with the locker disabled at the diff and must be declared to the scrutineer so that it can be checked. Just disabling a switch is not acceptable, as it has been reported that some competitors have a second hidden switch which they can use to enable a locker.

Crash Helmet Rule:

We have had several requests that the club allows the lower spec helmet which is approved by Nora for non-speed events, as they are cheaper than the higher spec helmets. Paul Curling and Dave Adams stated that they had researched the difference between the two helmets and the only difference is that the higher spec is flame retardant but the lower spec is not. The strength of the helmet casing is identical. There was a long discussion about this which culminated in a vote. The majority vote was in favour of allowing the lower spec helmet. However, if we run any kind of speed related event, competitors will have to have the higher spec helmet, they must also have door nets, hans device and flame retardant overalls.

Any Other Business:

There should be no AOB at an AGM, but as it’s rare for Viking members to get together, so the floor was opened for other matters after the official end of the AGM.

Experience Day Events:

These went well last year, so we plan to run 3 more next year. We will hopefully be able to run at least one such event at a venue other than Weekley Woods.

Challenge Events for 2023:

Due to lower numbers than we had in previous years, it was questioned whether we should keep the current format of holding a championship of six 1-day challenge events, or should we consider doing only 2 or 3 2-day events. There was much discussion about this, but general consensus was that people prefer the single day format, so nothing will change for 2023.

Sponsors:

Steve King has done a brilliant job of getting sponsors for our events over the years, but this is getting harder as financial constraints become harder. He’s had great difficulty in dealings with Odyssey this year. They never respond to his e-mails or phone calls. It was therefore decided not to go for Odyssey as the Championship Sponsor next year, so the series will have a name change and the club’s facebook account name will have to change. It is not known if we will be able to attract a sponsor for next year, but Steve will try a few options. It is not known if we’ll be able to have each individual event sponsored. It was suggested that we should only give a prize out to the 1st placed team in each class and that 2nd and 3rd should be given wine and/chocolates from club funds, as this shouldn’t cost a great deal.

Other Events:

After some discussion, it was agreed that we should try to run the Valhalla event again next year and Dave Adams stated that he is going to try to set up the Thor’s Hammer event.

Marshal Packs:

It was suggested that we should supply some form of meal & drink for people who are prepared to marshal at events. This is always desirable, but the problem has always been – who will take on the task and ensure that packs arrive at each event. Julie Curling agreed to take on this task, but packs will ONLY go to persons who state beforehand that they intend to do so, so that we know how many to cater for. People who turn up and marshal on the day would not be supplied with anything.

Christmas Dinner:

Several people stated that it would be nice to have a Viking dinner. It was a bit late to try to jack one up before Christmas, so it was decided that we have one on January 14th. It is likely to be at The Greyhound Inn, Lutterworth as it is a bit more central for people than Stoney Cove. Pip to book the venue and Julie Curling will organise the list of names of people who want to attend. Places will only be booked on receipt of payment into same paypal account you use for entering a Viking challenge.

WhatsApp Group:

After the meeting, communication between committee members was discussed. We run committee what’s app group. Paul Curling updated the members on the whatapp. (For all persons on this group, please try to keep comments succinct and relevant)

There being no other business, the meeting ended at 21.35.