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Last updated 25/03/2008

Nick Beck (Chairman/BA7C), Hayden Morgan (secretary/BA7C), Eric Jones (Treasurer), Ann Jones (EA7C), Hazel Gore (advertising) Eric Miles (SA7C), Phil Baildon (Archivist + V/C), John Williams (SWA7C), Nora Williams (SWA7C), DaveWilcox (PWA7C), Bernard Cowley (DA7C), Jackie Cowley (DA7C), Graham Smith (Solent A7C), Howard Annett (A7OC (London), Lorna and Alan Martin (Magazine Distribution/VAR), Michael Aplin (Essex), Penny Aplin (Essex), Dan Cole (BA7C), Jim Blacklock (NA7C), Susan Martin (NA7C), Glen Morgan (ScA7C), Stephen Hodgson (Worthing), Joe Spalter (Films, A7OL), Robin Boyce (MA7C), Chris Chubb (2 Str Boat tail).

Ruairidh Dunford (Magazine Editor), David Cochrane (Pram Hood), Malcolm Watts (Web Master), Sandy Croall (Registrar), Den Huke (CA7C), Andy Lowe (MA7C), Arthur Davies (MA7C).

David Wilcox asked for his name to amended to Dave Wilcox not Dave Wilcock. The minutes were then upheld as a true account.

Proposed by Lorna Martin and seconded by Mike Aplin.

3.1 Mike Aplin commented how delighted he was to see the new Red Cross Directory.

3.2 Hayden Morgan informed the room that we now had third party insurance with public liability insurance via AIG. He had emailed all concerned with the 32 page document. There have been amendments to the original policy in which clubs previously covered are now named and the policy runs from February 2007 to January 2008. (Hayden has a copy should anyone wish to see it). Cost has been met by the Association this year, but this raised the question of who would foot future costs. Dave Wilcox proposed that the Association negotiated one good rate which would provide the necessary cover for all clubs. Following discussion, this proposal was seconded by Michael Aplin and carried unanimously. The Association will continue to fund this although Eric Jones pointed out that this was not why the Association was originally formed. (See more under Magazine Report)

4.1 Nick felt we should pursue the availability of spare parts, this has been discussed previously with reports that many spares are not up to original specification, and some suppliers parts are unusable. He suggested that the Association sponsors an investigation into determining the correct specifications for these parts. Phil Baildon informed the room that it would be difficult to do this, as pictures and diagrams that have since been done are, in many cases, not accurate. It was decided that accurate replication was the only solution or to take details from the original drawings or even original parts. Suppliers needed to be advised if parts are unusable and given an opportunity to correct this. It was agreed that this is an important issue which needs to be followed up. Malcolm Watts has an area on the web page individuals to report any faulty bits they may have encountered.

4.2 Finally Nick informed that room that this was his last meeting, he has been

Chairman for the past 3 years during which he has enjoyed the role, giving a brief outline of how he came to be Chairman of the Association.

5.1 Hayden thanked Nick for all his hard work and sheepishly admitted that his presentation was still in the pottery, but he would meet up with Nick and present it on behalf of the Association at a later date. Nick Beck added that a presentation of a tankard to Ruairidh Dunford had taken place but we were awaiting the engraver to complete the engraving.

5.2 Hayden also reported that the North East Club for Pre-War Austins had a new Secretary as John Ashbridge is standing down. The new Secretary is Janek Grakewski.

5.3 Hayden, following the suggestion in the last meeting of advertising Austin Sevens in other club magazines, advised the room he had received some unhelpful emails on this issue from one club. Jim Blacklock, who had initially suggested the idea, reported that he had also had some favourable responses from other clubs. He pointed out that it could be an economical way of advertising what is available in other clubs.

6.1 Eric distributed a report around the room before giving an explanation on the accounts for a three month period up to 31st March 2007. He felt that these were fairly straight forward although they show a deficit of payments over receipts of £2, 756. He went on to explain that we had made some exceptional payments within the quarter with little in the way of income being received. Expenditure included Third Party Insurance of £1,465; Red Cross Directory £1,950 and £635 for supply of new Magazine binders. He anticipated this deficit would be substantially reduced in the second quarter and would creep back into a surplus in the third quarter. It was anticipated that the 2006 Accounts presented with the January report and the current one presented to the AGM will be approved by Paul Chalk. Outstanding monies included: £27 from 2006; £242 outstanding in total; £17 from the UK and £225 from overseas members which he felt would give no rise for concern.

6.2 Eric informed the room of his and Ann’s recent move after nineteen years.

6.3 A Point was raised on email, as Eric is still not a convert! Members were requested to include both their address and club when emailing to ask or request something as unfortunately many omit to do this and cannot be responded to. Motion proposed by Phil Baildon, seconded by John Williams unanimously carried by room.

Michael Aplin congratulated Eric for a precise report “Crystal clear as always”

7.1 Ruairidh Dunford sent his apologies sending a report which Nick Beck read out to the room. His last magazine has a bumper 56 pages in it! He thanked everyone who had sent in articles and asked they continue to support the new editor.

7.2 Dave Wilcox raised the issue of the cost of the Grey Magazine. The cost to produce the magazine is 63p and cost to members £1. Concerned with loss of membership possibly due to rising costs the Pre War club were looking to save money to pass on to members. Howard Annett informed the room that issue has been discussed previously and although the cost of printers had gone down at present, Ruairidh having negotiated a very good rate some years back, there was the possibility that it could increase. A discussion ensued and it was suggested the profits from the magazine could fund insurance and the cost of the magazines should stay the same. Lorna Martin confirmed that due to new postage costs the cost of postage at present had gone down. Eric Jones responded that he has asked on many occasions for inspirational ways to spend some of the reserves. The Essex Club have two tier membership systems to assist with the cost; members could opt for membership either with or without the Association Magazine. Dave Wilcox was to suggest this to the PWA7C and report back to the Association after discussion. Phil Baildon suggested emailing the club magazine to save money as this is a cheaper option with many clubs taking advantage of this. Nick Beck proposed using the profit from the magazine to fund the insurance and to keep the price of £1 for the magazine. This was voted on and unanimously agreed.

8.1 Malcolm Watts sent apologies and a report which Nick Beck read to the room. He confirmed he was happy to continue as Webmaster and reported that the site is gradually developing with an increasing array of original data and up to date information. He had requested last meeting for a list of films held by the Association as he felt he could publish this on the web. He was pleased to hear that attempts were being made to put films onto digital media and he hoped these will be accessible to enthusiasts with perhaps short extracts available on the web. He advised the meeting that he was also open to suggestions as to what members of Association wanted to see on the website. There was a general comment from the room that Malcolm does a very good job and a thanked him for his hard work.

9.1 Sandy gave apologies and sent in a written report which Nick Beck read out to the room. Of the 300 copies printed 2 years ago approx. 40 remain unsold; his reply to enquiries of when the next issue will be available is 2010! He advised against another hard copy as there were a number of issues involved not least the spiral binding being insufficient for the numbers of entries. He advised the register can be now viewed online and the Associations’ corporate issue of information relating to the archives; register, Association Magazines etc. He reported an increase in enquiries seemingly to come from Scandinavian countries, one of which was an early Sports 2 seater. Again he stressed the importance of updating at regular intervals the cars from the various clubs, and he expressed his gratitude of diligent club secretaries in doing this mundane task. The number of new cars is running at 2 to 3 a week and he is experiencing a steady decline in the number of cars with outstanding queries. He noted that on the year 2005 Register approx, 3000 cars on the register had not been recorded with any club after year 2000! To clarify the register was started around 1970 with details of about 2,500, cars he believes details were added and added etc. with no car details being deleted to his knowledge! Given there were no deletions 3,000 of those seem to have drifted away from clubs or at least, Sandy concludes, no clubs are showing them on their lists. Finally he thanked all who helped and gave guidance, members of the committee and numerous club members and Secretaries alike who have given him help in the last year.

10.1 Hazel advised the room that adverts were going OK, She had the most money from display adverts up until Jan 2007 with £1,358.10. She reported she was finding a lot of trade advertising asking for an advert but not sending off the monies. She proposed to omit their adverts until they settled their outstanding debts.

11.1 Phil had supplied orders for posters but reported he was short of some to fullfil all inquiries. He was advised that Dave Wilcox was closing his company and had negotiated more A-Z Longbridge charts and some Chummy in the Lane Posters.

11.2 He had received correspondence from Gerrit Peters who has a 2 seater in Holland requesting Austin verification for the Dutch Authorities. Phil felt he could verify it was an Austin Seven but not sure how genuine it is or whether it is what Gerrit is claiming it to be.

11.3 Also heard from a Ralph Clarke who thinks he has a 60's racer UC 4727, Phil showed the room a picture enquiring whether anyone knew anything about it? It was suggested putting the photo into the Association Magazine with a query letter and see if anyone responded.

11.4 Joe Leete in New Zealand made an enquiry about the measurement of fuel using Willies dipsticks (I apologise if the spelling or terminology is incorrect but for some reason this caused considerable mirth within the room!), Phil felt the enquiry was somewhat ambiguous and advised him to just use the dipstick to measure the fuel level.

11.5 An enquiry about the providers of tubes for beading edge wheels came from an individual in New Zealand. Stephen Hodgson advised these could be obtained from a motorbike shop.

11.6 Phil advised the room that the Association had bought the De-Havilland book discussed in a previous meeting. Alan and Lorna Martin had brought it along advising the room how fragile it is. A CD had been made of all the pictures to avoid any future damage of the book. Lorna Martin commented that it was not quite what we were led to believe as there were only some 77 pictures of De- Havilland and not Gladys De-Haviland’s own personal album of her tour. It was suggested that there may be items that our new editor, Robin Boyce, could use in the Association Magazine.

11.7 Phil brought in over 100 handbooks and parts list to be scanned as agreed in the last meeting. Ruairidh Dunford and Malcolm Watts have volunteered to put these onto CD. Phil advised that some of the early issues are stitched and bound which has necessitated unpicking in order to facilitate photocopying. Nick Beck agreed to take them to Ruairidh and Malcolm.

Joe Spalter gave a brief history and explanation as to why is it infeasible to put old film onto to DVD - least of which was the cost. He advised the room that no one shows films in this way and that many items of footage were available from the heritage museum on DVD which was infinitely better quality if people wished to purchase. The task of putting old film into this media was both costly and infeasible. He has some film which he is undertaking to put onto digital media but informed the room it is a long term project. He proposed to take his time to do this in his retirement and so the Association needs to be patient. He reported that he only has small amount of footage to convert, advising the room it will only make a 30 minute programme with a copy for the Association and one for himself. This can then be distributed but, he stressed, this was not, at the moment, a priority.

NTR

14.1 Wayne Rushin of Midshire Spares is handing on to David Cochrane of A7 Components near Rugby sales@a7c.co.uk who had produced rear hubs @ £65, now available, the room was shown a sample.

14.2 Howard Annett reported that the half shaft supplied by Tony Leslie were too soft, retailing from £85. Howard reported that they mould themselves into the diff. It was stated that if people are making spares they need to be persuaded to produce them to the correct quality. Stephen Hodgson advised the room he had written to Tony to advise they had tested these and they were not up to standard. Phil Baildon suggested putting on website of faulty spares but Stephen considered he would await the reply from his letter before pursuing this action.

Lorna Martin informed the room there were already some amendments to the calendar in this issue. It was requested that Secretaries have dates ready for Bernard to put in on the calendar by the October meeting please.

NTR

17.1 Hayden Morgan reported that he had been in discussion with Jim Blacklock with regards to the Arrow Register. Although Martin Humphreys had agreed to be registrar he had not heard from him for a while and Jim was prepared to take it on. Brian Norfolk, an authority on this, has given information to Jim which includes a comprehensive list of current Arrows. Hayden to contact Martin Humphrey’s and Howard Annett to find out from Mac Bonar. Jim Blacklock to keep Sandy updated.

17.2 Hazel Gore reported update on Herbert Austin Office, disappointed in number of signatures on petition but issue ongoing with Birmingham Council and possibly mentioned in Parliament

17.3 Michael Aplin raised the question of the Association’s intention to list archive material and items owned, Nick Beck replied saying his understanding was that a list or index would be done as information is put on CD.

17.4 Graham Smith questioned why, despite the Association agreeing to put Glen as minute secretary in the front of the Association Magazine, it has not as yet happened. The room agreed and passed the task onto the new Editor.

17.4 Howard Annett reported that the Red Cross Directory, compiled by Bob Cross, have an extra ten percent in them from previous editions. He asked if people could please go through it and report any errors to Bob. He also informed the room that they are always looking for more names to put in so if anyone has any more information again get in touch with Bob. Binders are now also available.

17.5 Lorna reported a change in email address it is now lornaalanaustins@btopenworld.com

17.6 Hayden re-iterated that if you have Richard Hodgkins insurance then you need to be a member of a Member Club or your insurance will be effected. Jim Blacklock advised the room that in future it is possible that RH may check with clubs to see if you are a member

Last years AGM minutes were accepted as a true record. Proposed by Hayden Morgan and seconded by Lorna Martin

Chairman Bernard Cowley 

proposed by the BA7C and seconded by ScA7C. There was a membership vote carried unanimously in favour.

Treasurer Eric Jones

Secretary Hayden Morgan

Both roles of Treasure and Secretary were proposed by Howard Annett and seconded by Michael Aplin all in favour

Editor Robyn Boyce elected in previous meeting but room all in favour of appointment

All Other Positions re-elected proposed by John Williams seconded by Dave Wilcox.

Bernard was welcomed as new chairman and addressed the room.

 

Bernard Cowley, 27 Delph Road,

 Tel: 012202 887666

 Email: jackiebern@hotmail.co.uk

 

The Chairman thanked all for attending, Hayden Morgan proposed that the July meeting be cancelled due to holidays and if anything arose then a meeting could be arranged at one of the club events. Meeting brought to a close at 13.15

Copyright The Austin Seven Clubs Association 2008

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