Secretary's Report to the AGM. Rushwick, 2000
This is the end of my first year as CRC Secretary. Not having been involved with the running of the Club (or indeed any club) before has enabled me to approach this job "from the outside" as it were. Overall, I feel that it has been quite a positive one for the Club, with a successful appearance at Birmingham and a start made on the future direction of the Club. I am keenly aware that this has onlybeen possible due to the past hard work put in by members, especially by my predecessor, Pete Guy, to whom we owe special thanks.
An early task was a Committee meeting to decide what to do about two important issues from the 1999 AGM. The Club's appearance at PhotoAction 99 and future changes to the CRC itself. Area Co-ordinators have the details.
The Birmingham National Exhibition Centre was the venue for Photo Action 99. The Club put on a good display, showing both prints and transparencies along with details of all the good things that the CRC has to offer. We made arrangements for anyone interested to join the Club "on the spot", and gained five new members on the stand, with a further two joining later. Many Camera and Photo clubs held stands but the majority looked like Print Exhibitions, we were one of the few different ones and attracted a lot of interest. The details have been published both in the CRC News and on the CRC web site. Thanks again to all those who helped make this such an enjoyable event. Sadly, Jessops - the main sponsors - have decided that there will not be a Photo Action 2000.
The second undertaking concerns the future of the Club itself. A suggestion made at the 1999 AGM and later agreed by the
Committee was that all members should be asked their views on how - or if - the Club should evolve to reflect the changes in our
hobby. This has been done by sending a questionnaire to all members on Bill Reid's list. To encourage a good response the Committee decided that replies should be post paid - at least for UK members. Out of 149 questionnaires sent out I have had 76 replies. I don't doubt that the design - such as it was - of the questionnaire itself left something to be desired, but I expected a better response. Does this mean that half the Membership don't care what we do? Surely not. Those who did reply had clearly thought about their Club and what they wanted from it.
Thanks, too, to those who took the trouble to write with specific questions and suggestions - a couple have already been taken up. I will get replies out eventually. Nearly all our overseas members replied - special thanks to them. I will freely admit that my views have changed as a result of reading the replies. (I have, too - all of them). This is very much a "work in progress" and it will take some time to bring order to the replies. Even a very quick analysis won't fit on this sheet, Committee Members have a summary. The replies will help ensure that the Club continues to serve it's members in the unique way established over nearly thirty years.
John Pearle.A summary of the Secretary's Fund follows. The Hon. Treasurer has details of all transactions.
Summary Income ExpenditureFrom Central fund £250
Transferred from CRC Chemicals £0.56
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Total income £250.56
Photo Action 99. £210.97
Questionnaire. £57.80
Misc. postage. £7.04
Special item £30.10
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Total expenditure £305.91
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Balance- £55.35
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John Pearle. February 29th. 2000.