MINUTES OF THE AGM HELD ON TUESDAY 19th MARCH 2019
Present: Cllr Robert Lee (President), Alun Edwards (Treasurer), Mark Morgan, Michelle Smith, John Berry BEM, Gareth Charnock, Alan Jones, Jo Walters, Cllr Mary Emment-Lewis, Margaret Minhinnick, Barbara Bridge, Peter Fenton, Sharon Edwards, Cllr Les Tallon-Morris, Cllr Tracy Hill, Bridget Hall (Minutes)
1 Opening Address
Robert welcomed members to the meeting and delivered his address to members:
“It has been my pleasure to be President of the Porthcawl Chamber of Trade this year and I have enjoyed working with the Executive Committee and individuals in the community who are committed to supporting local businesses in our town.
The Executive Committee has once again worked hard to ensure that we continue to have regular meetings, invited speakers and local events. I shall resist mentioning too many individuals, but I would like to thank Mark for all the work he has done for the Chamber as Treasurer, suffice to say my thanks also go to all those who have contributed in some way to help the Chamber of Trade this past year. I would also like to extend our thanks to the Y Centre for allowing us the use of their facilities and once again our thanks go to [Ceri Millar] for giving us the benefit of their professional Audit services. It was also a great pleasure to work closely with the Town Manager Mari Wyn and Paul Whittaker from EPM.
Sadly, we lost Cllr. Chris Smart last year. Chris was a past President of the Chamber of Trade and an active member. I know that each of us will have very fond memories of him, he will be greatly missed.
It has been my pleasure to welcome a number of new members and we appreciate the fresh enthusiasm they bring. However, we have also lost a number of members this year and it is important that we continue to bring new faces to the organisation to support the good work that the Chamber does.
We should all be proud of the success of some of our events in the past year. Our Christmas Window shop competition, the installation of Christmas Trees throughout the town and the Christmas Elf event. I would like to thank both the Town Manager and the Town Council for their invaluable contributions.
To recap on the events of this year:
AGM 2018 – The AGM was held at The Y Centre. Despite low attendance, we were still able to conduct business and form the new Committee, which come to think of it, was very much like the old Committee, with a couple of new faces!
Wine and Cheese evening – Held at the Y Centre with our invited guest speaker leader of BCBC council. It was a pleasant evening, well attended and our thanks go to Bridget for her efforts in organising the event.
Remembrance Sunday 2018 – The Remembrance Service was special this year and well attended by several members. I felt honoured to lay a wreath on behalf of the organisation in memory of those who died for us.
Elf Christmas Event – The Chamber with huge support from the Town Manager held this successful event on a difficult windy and wet winter’s day where a number of festive stalls and entertainments came to Porthcawl. Praise must be given to our events committee members for putting so much effort into the event and well done to all those who supported the event.
Christmas Windows Competition – Once again this was a very successful event with many shops participating. The Town Mayor and myself presented cheques, plaques and the 1st prize Silver Cup to Divine in John Street. Well done to all who participated and those who won prizes.
Christmas Dinner 2018 – The dinner was held at the newly opened Harbourside Bar, Jennings building, Porthcawl. The event was well attended with Past Presidents and guests enjoying the evening.
This year several new members joined, a needed boost! Sadly, however, some members have allowed their memberships to lapse. We must therefore continue to try our best to promote the Chamber, listen to members’ views and promote the good work that we do.
Whatever happens in the future, it really is necessary to ensure that we, as a Chamber of Trade, are fit for purpose. In some small way we must continue to contribute to the Town ensuring harmony between organisations.
Hopefully this year has proved to everyone there are many ways in which we can support and promote our member businesses, create new opportunities and demonstrate the benefits of having an active Chamber of Trade in our Town.
Today at this AGM I step down and past the chain of office to a new president, I wish him / her well and promise to give them all my support.
I would like to thank all those members who have helped me to carry out my role as President. Thank you.” Cllr. Robert Lee, President
2 Apologies
Apologies for absence were received from Stuart Bentley, Cllr Bob Lewis, Cllr Lorrie Desmond-Williams, Cllr David Newton-Williams and Hugh Jones.
3 To approve the minutes of the last AGM
The Minutes of the AGM 2018 were approved for accuracy.
4 Matters arising
There were no matters arising as issues had been dealt with during the course of the year.
5 To approve the End of Year Accounts
Mark circulated the end of year financial accounts. These were approved. Financial matters would henceforth be passed to Alun Edwards.
6 To appoint Auditors for the forthcoming year
Ceri Millar was re-appointed as Auditors. Robert thanked Ceri Millar for their excellent service to the Chamber, which was reiterated by Mark and Alun.
7 Membership
Bridget was pleased to report that, in the past year, 13 new and re-joining members had been enlisted, mainly as a result of visiting businesses for the Christmas tree initiative. Bridget said that a further 2 or 3 businesses were still interested whom she hoped would join.
Bridget said she would like to take this opportunity of thanking Robert for his leadership as President in the last two years and saying how much she had enjoyed working with him on different matters. Bridget hoped that the Chamber would continue to have the benefit of Robert’s valued support and expertise.
Bridget looked forward to the coming year and supporting the newly-elected President and the Executive in striving to guide the Chamber of Trade to further successful times ahead.
8 Election of Officer
Robert announced the results of the voting and said that the results had been unanimous, as follows:
President Michelle Smith
Vice President Gareth Charnock
Hon Treasurer Alun Edwards
Executive Peter Fenton
John Berry BEM
Cllr Les Tallon-Morris
Peter Fenton
Cllr Robert Lee
Mark Morgan
Robert congratulated Michelle on her election as President and Gareth as Vice-President. Also, Alun Edwards as Treasurer as well as members of the Executive.
John expressed a vote of thanks to Robert for the past two years as President, which he had carried out in an exemplary manner. John also thanked Mark for his hard work.
9 Closing Remarks
Robert thanked members for attending the AGM and handed the chain of office to Michelle.
The AGM was closed.
