It was good to see everyone
The Burford Golf club has become a 'home from home' for the Oxfordshire Region and its AGMs. The venue gave us lots of space for people to chat, watch the rolling slide show of our 2024/25 programme, have the AGM and enjoy the food.
The AGM Was A Positive Experience All Round
AGMs can be a tiresome necessity, but also an opportunity to look positively at the year gone by and celebrate what has been achieved.
The evening commenced with a rolling slide show of our 2024/25 programme. Doing that justice alone took over 100 images, raising a mix of smiles, laughs and the occassional embarrased groan !
Our Chairman, Steve, and Treasurer, Chris, then delivered the required report on the year. This showed sound financial management, our assets worked harder still and Membership plus Mailing Lists showing very positive levels of engagement. Over 60% of the Region Mailing List have engaged with the Region.
Upcoming highlights of our 2025/26 programme were discussed and positively welcomed.
One part of the Agenda was to select the 2025 Region Charity. This was unanimously agreed to be Oxfordshire Wildlife Rescue, recognising that vehicles cause the majority of the injuries to British wildlife. During 2024/25, the Oxfordshire Region has raised £877.50 for Alzheimer's UK and for Crohn's & Colitis UK.
And The Nick Morse Enthusiast Of The Year Award Went To...
A very well deserving Martin Crawley.
Another Region Stalwart was Runner Up, Adrian Bollon.
Both show massive loyalty and commitment to the Region so these were well deserved results.
Another 'winner' was Andy North who was presented with a special, extra, award to recognise the many many things and similar deep commitment he shows to the Region.
A Key Subject Each AGM is Region Subscriptions
It had become clear recently that different perspectives had been held about the nature of our Region Subscriptions - i.e. mandatory or optional.
An explanation of the background to our need for Subscriptions was delivered by the Chairman and Treasurer, after which there was a very healthy debate of the pros and cons of different strategies.
Ultimately, it was agreed to continue our existing practices but with a clear mandate to the Region Committee to consider carefully what events might deserve a subsidy and just how much.
As a result our Region Subscription was set once more at £20 and since then these have begun to roll in, giving good confidence for our operations in 2025/26.
So that Made It Time To Eat & Drink....
The Burford Golf Club's Bar always does good business on a JEC Oxfordshire Region AGM Night and so it did this year.
The Club also puts on an excellent buffet, free to attendees, that was enjoyed (and completely consumed) by those present.
But the 'piece de la resistance' was our celebratory cake. We had cut one at the Region's launch back in 2018 so it was fitting to repeat the exercise. Adrian Bollon's friend made it for us and did an excellent job - even costing the Region less than the cake in 2018 had cost !
There was absolutely no doubt about both what it was depicting and what it said. There was even some debate amongst the Members as to who was going to have the wheels, the lights, the windscreen and the wings. Anyone wanting tail lights was going to be out of luck.
It made a great conclusion to a happy evening. One almost wants to find an excuse for another one, but we'll wait until 2026...
