Chairman's Report - AGM 2007
In his introduction Ian Harford reminded members that at the last AGM there had been a discussion of the state of the club and the membership. Over the last 12 months the Committee had spent a good deal of time reviewing the club's programme and developing a Building for the Future Plan.
The regular activities of the club had run smoothly, with good holidays to Flaine (January) and Verbier (March) and some interesting Friday evening talks on ski touring, Eastern Europe skiing and a summer ascent of Mt Kilimanjaro. The Club's social activities programme had been generally successful, with good attendances at the Christmas meal and the end of year event; and other summer walking and outdoor events.
The Committee had been looking at new ways of promoting the club and keeping members up to date. A new A5 newsletter format with members' reports had been adopted, and high quality promotional cards printed with a new SCoM logo, for members to distribute to anyone interested.
The main focus of the year had however been on developing a relationship with the management of the new Chill Factore ski slope at Trafford Park beside the M60, which is due to open in November 2007. This £32 million investment would produce the largest and best equipped artificial ski slope in Europe and the Committee believed that it offered very exciting opportunities for growing SCoM and recruiting new members. Details were given of the discussions held over the last five months and the complicated issues raised.
It had been hoped to have a large SCoM banner displayed prominently on the slope, but the negotiations over the costs and credit arrangements for this had broken down at the last moment, making it uneconomic for the club to proceed. Despite this the Committee was urging members to support the Chill Factore slope and was planning to hold there a Christmas meal (7th Dec), regular monthly ski socials (3rd Thursdays), Friday evening talks and day clinics. Efforts would be made to build stronger links with the Chill Factore staff and directors.
The chairman thanked the Committee for its support, paid tribute to the hard work carried out by the Secretary (Alan Brown) and Treasurer (Brian Richards) and commended the publicity team (Norma Green and Steve Wardle) for their efforts. At the end of the meeting a book token was presented to Norma Green, who was stepping down as newsletter editor, as a token of appreciation for the excellent work she had done over ten years in the post.