2014 Annual General Meeting
The AGM will be held in the Memorial Hall, Chalfont St. Giles on Wednesday 27th November 2013 at 8:00pm
Anyone associated with the Show or, for that matter, any of the upwards of five thousand visitors who have attended it in any of the last four or five years, knows it has become hugely successful. One of the by-products of this success is that the 'traditional' procedures formerly employed to share its annual surplus funds with local good causes cannot any longer cope with the demands placed upon them.
To that end, and following extensive discussion of the manner in which those funds have been distributed in the past, the Executive Committee will at its AGM propose a simpler, and we believe much fairer, method of enabling local charities and other good causes to apply for funding.
It will also solve a major problem with the "old" award-by-vote method by giving the Committee a proper opportunity to consider each application on its own merits, and time to make fair and informed decisions based upon the information provided. We therefore propose that:
- 1. The total sum available for distribution - i.e., that amount remaining after all other expenses, payments and contingencies have been accounted for - will be announced by the Committee at its Annual General Meeting on Wednesday, November 27th, or as soon as possible thereafter.
- 2. That sum - for this exercise only we will use the figure £6000 - will then be divided
into four equal parts, each allocated for distribution as follows:
a) £1500 in the period December 1 to February 28
b) £1500 in the period March 1 to May 31
c) £1500 in the period June 1 to August 31
d) £1500 in the period September 1 to November 30
An alternative, to accommodate the expected heavier demand for pre-Christmas donations, would be to have only two tranches - £3000 to be distributed between December and May, and £3000 from June to the end of October. - 3. If then applications for funding in any tranche exceeded the amount allocated, the unsuccessful application(s) could be "rolled over" into a following period. This way, applicants seeking funds for Christmas could (if necessary) be given priority, while by the same token, requests for less-urgent projects could be transferred to a later slot. And if, in any period, no requests for funding were received, that tranche would simply be added to the one following.
- 4. The Executive Committee believes these changes will not only result in a simpler (and fairer) procedure but also ensure that no one applicant can monopolise it. Equally important, it will enable the Committee to give each application for funding the judicious consideration it deserves. To ensure impartiality and transparency, we hope to enlist a volunteer, preferably one not connected with the show or any fund applicants, willing to join the funds allocation committee.
You are invited to send any comments or suggestions you wish to make to the Show President,
Fred Nolan, Highfield, Gorelands Lane, HP8 4HQ.
E-mail: Frederick@fredericknolan.com.
