Good morning,
I am writing to you to update you on what is happening regarding the AGM for 2021.
Originally, it was due to be held on the 15th December at the Perdiswell Leisure Centre at 7pm. We had booked a room to hold the meeting within, but with rising cases and concerns of poor turn out due to risks of isolations at Christmas, we have decided not to go ahead with that this year. Your safety is the priority, and risking that along with your Christmas by risking having to isolate just isn’t worth it.
Once again, we’re having an exclusively online AGM.
This will all be run on the website, and during this email I’ll explain how it’ll work, the timeline for what is happening and how you can access what is being called the ‘AGM Hub’ on the website.
We explored several options, such as Zoom and holding an AGM later in 2022, but it was decided this was not the best way to go forward. Zoom relies on all members having access to the correct technology and knowing how it works, and the free version also has a 40 minute limit on the service for a call.
Therefore, for 2021, the AGM will once again take place online. You will be able to nominate yourself to be on the election for Committee 2022, vote for your 2022 Committee and vote for other club matters. You will also be able to read the AGM 2020 minutes, the Treasurer’s report, the Chairman’s report and the results of the votes will also be made available online in the hub.
The AGM 2021 Hub
Here you’ll find everything you need. Nomination forms, reports from the chairman and treasurer, the link to place your vote, results – everything you need for the AGM.
It won’t all be visible straight away, and in the next section below you’ll read more into this.
You’ll find the hub here when it launches (16/11/2021): https://www.wmac.uk/agm/
The key dates for your diary are as follows:
November 17th – The AGM hub will already be open online, making available the 2020 minutes and the nominations to put yourselves forward to be on the election for 2022 committee.It’ll appear as a menu all of it’s own once you are logged in at the top of the website (or, on a mobile device if you press the blue menu button, at the bottom of the list). ‘AGM Discussion 2021’ forum on the club website goes live (click here to visit) for members to voice items they wish to be discussed or addressed. Anything on there will go to the 2022 committee to address.
November 17th -24th – Nominations open to put yourself onto the Committee 2022 vote. This must be done by November 24th, otherwise you will not be able to add yourself onto the election. The nominations will close at 6pm on the 24th. Chairman and Treasurer reports will go live on the 24th.
December 3rd – 10th – VOTING OPENS – You may vote for your 2021 Committee, and any other business held in the voting form. Voting will open at 9am on December 2nd, and close at 6pm on the 10th.
December 10th at around 9pm – Results will be sent out to members via email, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and the website on both the news page and the hub.
December 12th – After the fees are confirmed from the online AGM and the website is updated, renewals will open for your 2022 membership.
Any members who do not have an email address logged with us will have all of the forms and reports posted out. These must be posted back within the same timeframes as above to ensure any nominations or votes are counted. Arrangements for them to renew memberships not via the website will also be arranged.
How will the voting work?
It’ll work exactly the same as last year. You’ll click a link, select your answers, and submit. You must complete all sections with a red asterisk (*) next to them or you will not able to proceed to the next page.
Note: you will not be able to change your vote once you submit, or place a second vote so please carefully select your answers prior to submission!
As the entire membership will be voting for any nominations for the 2022 committee, for this year we do not need to worry about being proposed or seconded. The entire membership voting will cover this part of the vote by default.
What about a discussion that we usually have at an AGM, will we be able to air our point of discussion?
Discussions obviously won’t work with the meeting being online only. We have thought about this, and if anyone has ANY questions to please ask them in the AGM 2021 Discussion forum thread found in the Club Forum’s section of our website (found in the Member’s Menu when you’ve logged in). We will respond as soon as we can, and the thread will be monitored to ensure all questions are responded to. The committee for 2022 will then address anything raised.
The forum is the place to have a recorded discussion regarding the AGM 2021. Any comments in WhatsApp will need to put in the forum instead. It must be posted in the forum only if you wish for them to be addressed for the AGM. We can not easily minute what is going on in WhatsApp is the reason for this.
The link for this thread is: https://www.wmac.uk/forums/forum/agm-discussion-2021/
Please consider clicking ‘subscribe’ on the top right of the forum to be notified by email to new replies and discussion.
What do we vote for?
The items in the voting form are as follows:
- 2022 Committee Election
Asking if you have read the reports, if you agree with them and for any comments you may have - Club matters (such as fees, AOB etc)
- For this section we have implemented a new vote. We are asking you to type in the name of a club member, committee or non-committee, who you feel has gone above and beyond for their club for 2021. You will then need to type your reason for this selection. This will then be acknowledged, amongst everyone else who was also suggested, in an email to the club with the winner being especially noted.
Renewals are online
Renewing is also staying online, and will be available online indefinitely, both for your convenience and also for the future going forward to make the secretary and webmaster role a little easier.
You will now have to renew online, irrespective of whether you choose to pay via bank transfer, card, cash or cheque. It all must be done online.
This will be via the member’s online shop, found in the Member’s Menu, or from the link below:
Please note, the shop is CLOSED until December 12th.
You can pay by all methods, even though it is online only. If you are paying by:
Credit/Debit Card – there is an additional fee of 1.4% for card payments only to cover costs inflicted upon us by the service we use. Once you have paid, you do not need to do anything else.
Bank Transfer – no additional fees. Process the order online, selecting bank transfer as your payment method and confirm. Once you have confirmed, you will need to email the Membership Secretary (membership@wmac.uk) that you have processed your order online. Please confirm in your email your reference number from your email invoice from us. When you transfer the money, in the reference box in your online banking transfer page, enter your invoice number and your name.
Cash – no additional fees. Process the order online, selecting cash as your payment method and confirm. Once you have confirmed, you will need to email the Membership Secretary (membership@wmac.uk) that you have processed your order online. Please confirm in your email your reference number from your email invoice from us.
Cheque – no additional fees. Process the order online, selecting cheque as your payment method and confirm. Once you have confirmed, you will need to email the Membership Secretary (membership@wmac.uk) that you have processed your order online. Please confirm in your email your reference number from your email invoice from us, and please also write this on the BACK of your cheque.
The online store will tell you this information again, and will provide bank details if you choose bank transfer option. The online store is very secure if you wish to pay by card.
The reason we are doing this is to make use of the new website functions – after you process your order online, and payment is authorised, your online account will auto-renew and update your payment date. This saves either myself and the membership secretary going through manually doing it for all our members and deactivating members who have left. You also get to pay online with credit/debit card, and have a receipt from all of your payment methods.
If anyone struggles, please contact myself on webmaster@wmac.uk and I will process it for you online (not card payments though due to GDPR).
The stock of the online store will replenish on the 12th December, allowing you to add your renewal to your cart and purchase online.
If anyone does not have internet access, we can arrange an alternative way to renew.
That’s it…
That’s just about everything! If anyone has any issues with any of this, please email me at webmaster@wmac.uk
I can help with both the website or IT issue you may face, but also as a committee member I can help with other questions you may have regarding this. If it is more appropriate, feel free to also email or speak to the other 2021 committee members. They are:
- Dave Evans (Chairman)
- Simon Ford (Treasurer & Membership Secretary)
- Sam Booton (Club Secretary & Webmaster)
- James Ford (Club Officer)
- Clive Maulden (Club Officer)
- Jeremy Flatt (Club Officer)
- Bryan Howes (Club Officer)
