2005 - 2006 ANNUAL REPORT
TO THE MEMBERSHIP
The following report was prepared by the Secretary on behalf of your Committee and was approved at the Annual General meeting on 8th April. Once again, it has been an interesting and busy year for the Committee, who have deliberated on a wide range of issues.
1…GENERAL OFFICERS
The following, elected under Rule 7 a-d (duties) have led the Committee throughout the past 12 months ~ Harry Worth (Chair) John Sheldon (Vice-Chair) Ian Williams (Secretary) Les Lovitt resigned in November 2005 and was replaced by Peter Jays as Treasurer. This position was ratified at the AGM. The Secretary took over Membership matters. Ian Williams was also re-elected for further 3 year terms and Les Lovitt was voted back onto Committee.
2…COMMITTEE MEMBERS
The following Members served the Association from April 2005-April 2006:
Clive Brooks, Ray Higginson, Alf Kitwood, Graham McRoberts, Jay O’Donnell, Alf Tupper, Dave Wallace and LACMN Bungy (J) Williams. Again, we have been well supported by our Patron, Andy Barnwell.
3…RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION STRATEGY
All Committee Members are committed to promote the ACA with a view to increasing our profile and Membership. LACMN Bungy Williams (771 Squadron) assisted by Razor Keen and Jay O’Donnell, look after all matters at RNAS Culdrose. Phil Crick at RWSF represents the Association at RNAS Yeovilton. Sam Norris, with the RAF at Odiham, helps with all matters inter-service. ACA goodwill and promotional visits continue to take place at the major Air Stations. Future social events will continue to be advertised in and around the FAA. Joining forms are available to all serving Aircrewmen within the Fleet Air Arm. At the November Committee meeting, it was decided to fully support our Air Station reps with our recruiting campaign within the FAA. These campaigns continue and results are encouraging. TACAN is now distributed to all Squadron crewrooms regardless of ACA Membership therein.
4…MEETINGS
The Committee
held their Autumn interim meeting at the ArrowMill
hotel in Alcester on November 5th. The 2006 AGM (ACA29) took place at
5…OTHER ASSOCIATIONS
We continue to
maintain strong social links with the following sister FAA organizations and
exchange correspondence and magazines; The FAAOA (Officers) FAAHA (Handlers),
FAAAA (Armourers) RNR Air Branch and the TAGA (Telegraphist Air Gunners) We
also, through Associate Member Andrew G. Linsley, support and maintain a cordial
working relationship with the RNHF. In December 2005, the Association applied
to the RBL for the right to take an active part in the
6…MEMBERSHIP
In the past year we have had 29 new members made up of 20 Full, 5 Overseas, 2 Re-joins and 2 Associates. We have also had 3 resignations this year. 1 Full member has moved overseas (Phil Rhodes) 1 Life member (Norman Anning) has also moved overseas. At the moment there are 3 Full members (Watson, Brown and Adshead) and 1 Honorary member ( Ms Peel) that are listed as missing. Happily, we have had no reported deaths. A letter will be sent to incorrect payers.
Our current Membership stands at:
FULL (Paying £15) 191
FULL (Paying £10) 81
FULL (Paying NIL) 30
LIFE 28
ASSOCIATE (£15) 11
ASSOCIATE (£10) 3
OVERSEAS 26
HONARY 19
TOTAL = 389
16.58% of this number are
serving Aircrewmen in HM Forces (RN, RM, RAF)
7…ASSOCIATION WEBSITE
During the course of the year, Alan Paterson and Alan Ashdown have continued to develop the Association website. With Internet access now widely available, it is satisfying to know that most applications for Membership come from the website via the on-line joining form. We remain committed to support and develop this resource as a key to our future communications strategy. The current annual cost to maintain our site is £102.49 (Registration is £25 every 2 years and hosting is £89.99) We have now found our way onto various Naval and other Service Association links pages.
8…FINANCIAL MATTERS
The Treasurer furnished
the 2006AGM with detailed up to date financial figures from the Association’s
accounts. He also supplied the AGM with the results and impact of the increase
in Annual Subs (effective from January ’05) The Associations accounts were
checked by 2 independent witnesses on
9…SPORTING EVENTS
Denis Woodhams continues as FO Golf, assisted by John Sheldon. The 2006 Golf Championship was held prior to the AGM at Staverton where John Sheldon was crowned ACA Champion.
10…TACAN
This is the Association’s main financial outgoing. Annual cost to produce is around £1190 and postage costs approx. £240 per annum. Edition 31 was despatched to Members in June of last year and edition 32 sent to Members at Xmas. In accordance with a decision made by the AGM some years ago, Members in arrears with their subscriptions do not receive TACAN. We are actively seeking sponsorship for the magazine to help offset costs. Due to the continued close electronic communication between the Treasure and Secretary, we now encounter very few TACAN returns. Those that we do encounter are quickly found, either by word of mouth or through the ‘lost souls’ page of the website.
11..FUTURE SOCIAL EVENTS/MEETINGS
The next
Committee weekend will take place in September or October. Next years
AGM/Social Weekend (ACA30) will held on
April 14 and 15 at
IAN WILLIAMS
ASSOCIATION SECRETARY
APRIL 2006