Next club meeting Monday 5^th July 2004.

• The speaker will be Michael Naxton talking on ' The Story of a Lost Medal Collection '

Meetings are held at the Abbey Baptist Church. Entrance off Abbey Square.

Meeting commences at 7.00pm.

The June meeting was devoted to the AGM and the annual display competition for the Michael Broome memorial trophy. Nineteen members and two guests attended.

A brief summary of the AGM is as follows:

• Apologies - Tim, Maurice, John
• Minutes of 2002 AGM read out and approved
• Chairman's report delivered - see attached summary. A good year for the club with membership rising to 38. All scheduled speakers attended and the social events, the visit to Birmingham and the Skittles evening, were judged a resounding success by those who attended. The chairman expressed his thanks to all those who had provided invaluable assistance during has 5 years in office.
• Treasurer's report delivered - the club finances remain strong but a predicted rises in next years outgoings likely to result in an annual deficit. The use of email was suggested to reduce costs - the pros & cons were debated and the committee will take as action item.
• Next years meeting programme was formally issued and well received.
• Subscriptions - Given the Treasurer's report the Committee recommended a £1 rise in subscriptions. There was a challenge form the floor as to why an increase was necessary when the deposit account is quite large. Following much debate it was agreed to let the membership decide in a postal vote.
• Committee - Prior to the elections the Chairman expressed his concern regarding the lack of volunteers to serve on the committee. Persons elected unopposed were David, Henry, Michael and Frank. The committee agreed to find a fifth member.
• Auditor - Neil agreed (in absentia) to continue as the club auditor
• Officers - The following were elected: President - John, Vice Presidents - Maurice

Annual Display Competition.

The annual display competition attracted five entries. Once again the standard of entries was very good. The winner was Tony. The draw for a bottle of wine, open to those entering the display competition, was won by Graham.

40th Year Events

Eighteen members and partners attended the dinner, which took place at the Crown Inn, Playhatch, on Saturday 12th June. The evening was most enjoyable with a good mixture of numismatic and general chatter. The choice of venue was excellent and our thanks go to Kay & Gaye for the suggestion and details. We even had our own specially printed menu courtesy of the Crown - a very nice surprise. Michael did a sterling job in ensuring that no glass was short of content. A thoroughly enjoyable evening. Some photographs may appear in due course.

The Royal Mint trip is definitely on for the 20th August. Transport details are yet to be sorted. We are limited to a party of 18 so those wishing to go should sign the list at the July meeting. This is important since we have to provide the Mint with a list of names and addresses of the visiting party in good time. -this means no last minute additions are feasible.

Committee Meeting.

Shortly after the AGM we had a committee meeting. We discussed how to better engage/communicate with the membership, recognising that the chairman already makes announcements at each meeting. Therefore over the next year the newsletter will report committee meeting highlights. Also early next year a paper describing the workings of the committee and the roles of the officers will be published - then with improved understanding maybe finding new committee members will be a little easier than at the recent AGM.

The committee would encourage members to raise concerns or suggestions at any time for due consideration/debate.

Committee meeting June 04 - Highlights.

• Allocation of duties= (Frank Chairman), (David Treasurer), (Michael Secretary), (Henry Publicity and Library), (Tim Programme Sec). David will also look after liaison with the church and speakers. Frank will look after speakers at meetings
• Review of potential Transport arrangements and lunch stop for Royal Mint trip.
• Subscription motion for mailing to members

Club Records

Now the extra shelf has been installed the club records are in the library. As with any other library item the records should only be borrowed with the knowledge of the librarian. Club officers are reminded to periodically transfer outdated records worthy of retention from their current box files into the long term library records. To many members this may sound all very bureaucratic but the location and transfer of old paper work from one officer to another is no joke. When I took office I was not amused to receive 4 large boxes of assorted jumbled paperwork ranging from good records to complete junk in triplicate. Hopefully this system will benefit all future officers.

Future Events.

Birmingham Coin Fair at The Manor Hotel, Meriden - 8 August

The month of June is traditionally the time of the AGM.