THE ASTON WINE CLUB

Minutes of Annual General Meeting

held at Buckland Village Hall on 27th October 2000

1} Jeff Meek opened the meeting by passing on the apologies of the chairman, Peter Richards, who was unable to attend as he was in hospital. All 37 members present wished Peter a speedy recovery and hoped he would be able to join us at our next tasting. The minutes of the last AGM were circulated and unanimously accepted as a true and correct record. There were no matters arising.

2)   Chairman's Report. Jeff Meek again gave Peter Richards' apologies as he had not been able to prepare
his report prior to hospitalisation. However Jeff had spoken to Peter and they had discussed the content of
the report. Jeff reminded us that it was now 5 years since the idea of the club was first mooted and that 26
members has attended the first tasting on 6th March 1996. Membership now stood at 70 and over the last
year average attendance at our tastings was 48. Bob and Carol were to be congratulated for providing the
club with an interesting and varied selection of speakers and all in all we could look back on another
successful year. The only blemish was the failure of the Wine Fair due to lack of support and as this was
the third 'Special Event' that had failed for this reason the club would have to consider very carefully
before embarking on any similar events in future. All members of the current committee wished to thank
the club members for their support over the last 5 years and hoped the members would continue to support
the new committee to ensure the continuing success of the club.

3)   Membership Secretary's Report. Pat Williams advised that following the decision to raise the maximum
number of members to 70 membership had gone up to this figure and there was still a small waiting list of
3 people at the present. The size of the hall precludes a further increase in membership but if any members
do not take up their option to rejoin by 30th November then their places will be offered to those on the
waiting list.

4)   Treasurer's Report . Jeff Meek presented the club's Income & Expenditure Statement (see attached
copy). Notable items included the fact that the accounts showed that the value of wine consumed by the
club appeared to have fallen from last year to a figure £1,406.29. However, Waitrose had refused to
invoice the club for the wines consumed at the November 1999 tasting because 3 bottles of a rather
expensive wine had been 'off, this had 'saved' the club in the region of some £300.00 which if added to
the above figure meant that we had, once again, consumed more wine than in any previous year. As a
result of this 'windfall' the cost of subsequent evenings had been rounded down to ensure the benefit was
passed on to the membership. Nevertheless, the club's reserves had increased as at the end of the year
from £728.93. to £901.51. No questions were raised

5)   Election of Officers. The existing committee members had indicated prior to the AGM that they felt the time
was right to stand down to allow a new committee with fresh ideas to take over. In the event only three
nominations had been received, i.e. Norman Savigar, Tasting Secretary or Treasurer, and John Pinney and
Annette Gates, both Tasting Secretaries. As a result of this two current members i.e. Bob Mason and Jeff Meek
had agreed to serve again as Chairman and Secretary respectively to ensure the continuation of the club
(Norman Savigar would take over the role of Treasurer from Jeff Meek). All the above had been proposed and
seconded in writing and there were no further nominations on the night, this being so the meeting unanimously
agreed to elect them to serve for the coming year.

6)   Any Other Competent Business

There was a proposal from the floor that Peter Richards should be elected to the position of Lifetime President and this was confirmed unanimously by the meeting.

As Meg Mason and Pat Williams will no longer be looking after the catering arrangements for tastings it was suggested that perhaps this could be done on a rota basis in future, the committee will look into this.

The Chairman closed the meeting at 9.00 PM and invited members to stay on for an informal wine tasting.