Journeying With A Purpose - AGM Report 2005 - 2006

The chairman, Ian Harford welcomed everyone to the meeting and recalled the first SCoM meeting he had attended in the early 1990s. He had been impressed by the wide range of experience and expertise of club members he had met. They were united by two things in particular - above average health and fitness and a passion for skiing, the outdoors and travel.

It was still the same in 2006 and he wanted to explore the club's journey over the last year by reporting on its range of activities, the state of its "engine room" and its planning for the future.

There had been two excellent holidays in Alpe d'Huez and Sauze d'Oulx and a range of interesting talks at the Belfry. Ski Fit at George Carnell centre and ski training at Rossendale had continued as well as several outdoor events and meals in different venues. A highlight had been the end of season event at Pat and Harry Ashworth's house, the 30th consecutive party they had organised.

The club had to be well organised and aware of the wider context and the chairman reported that the Committee had met five times during the year as well as having lots of informal meetings and discussions to get business done. This was SCoM's "engine room" and he wanted to thank all of the Committee and other members, who had planned activities, for their interest and time.

He paid particular tribute to Brian Richards for his tireless work as Treasurer and holidays organiser, to Alan Brown for all his energy in pursuing issues as Secretary and to Norma Green and Steve Wardle, "our Communications and Publicity Team", who had been so effective at getting SCoM's message out through the newsletter and the website.

He had three questions for the meeting, which related to the club's future and reluctantly he concluded that the answer at present to all three was "No":
"Are we supporting existing activities as much as we could?"
"Are we making effective use of our members' talents?"
"Do enough people in the wider world know about SCoM?"

A substantial amount of work had to be put in to organising a treasure hunt, a meal, a walk, skiing classes but out of 200 members some of these events were only attracting about 5% of the members. He asked if the club could make more use of the skills of its members so that they felt engaged and able to contribute.

With up to 70,000 of Britain's 1.2 million skiers living in the Greater Manchester area, he asked how we could attract more of them to join the club - for the very good reasons that we have much to offer to skiers, are flexible, modern and friendly and need new blood to secure our future! He concluded with a proposal - the club should aim to double its membership over the next two years - by asking every existing member to recruit a friend or contact.

Editor's note: If you have ideas of what your club should be doing, let us know. As a result of a suggestion at the AGM, we will be sending wallet size cards to all members with a space for you to fill in your own name and contact details. Make sure you pass these on and help us meet Ian's new members' target!