Chairman’s Report of the 53rd Annual General Meeting together with some general comments of my own

The meeting took place on Friday 10 th July at 2.30pm at the Hilton Hotel Swindon, just before the annual rally weekend commenced. 24 members attended, including myself (Keith Dewhurst) chairing the meeting, Margaret Campbell (Finance Controller), Paul Ellis (Director), Ann Blatchford (Director), David Salter (Director) and Dave White (DW). Apologies were received from Andrew Braban, Andy West, and Peter Sheppard, who sadly could not attend due to his wife Helen’s ill health. I believe this may be the first AGM Peter has missed, representing the board of the
club. In addition, approximately 20 other members were also in attendance. No proxy votes were received. Full minutes of the meeting will be posted on the club’s website.

After the usual formalities and welcomes, the minutes of the previous year’s AGM were unanimously approved without amendment. My Director’s report, as published in the previous Sphinx was then received without any questions.

Next, Margaret Campbell gave her financial report, remarking that this was her 27th year presenting to the AGM. Here are some key highlights from her report:
Profit & Loss Account: Losses for the year had increased from £6,446 in 2024 to £7,765 in 2025. This was largely attributed to reduced sales at Stores. Membership subscriptions had remained relatively flat despite a rate increase which had been offset by the continued decline in membership numbers. Premises rent had remained unaltered, but is due to increase in 2026. Economies had been sought elsewhere but some overheads had increased year on year. Once again the club had been granted 100% council tax relief on its premises.

Balance sheet: At the end of December 2025 we had £26,000 in the bank, representing a drop of £1,700 from the previous year. The preparatory costs for the online shop have been capitalised, together with a further £5,607 of expenditure. The club’s motor vehicles (the van and forklift) are now fully written off in the accounts.

Margaret summed up by stressing the absolute necessity of increasing sales through the parts department and the new online shop to return us to profitability in 2026. There were no questions for Margaret, so we moved to the formal resolutions.

Resolution A: That the Financial Statements for the period ending 31st December 2025 be approved. This was unanimously approved on a show of hands.

Resolution B: That the number of Directors for the succeeding year be up to ten. This was unanimously approved on a show of hands.

Resolution C: Appointment of directors.

As Ann Blatchford and Paul Ellis were stepping down after many years service as directors, there was no requirement for any sitting director to be put forward in rotation for re-appointment as a director.

However, as Dave White was a co-opted during the year his appointment had to be confirmed by the AGM. This was duly proposed and seconded, and unanimously approved on a show of hands.

omment: Dave is a fairly recent member of ASOC but has a long family association with the marque and just over a year ago acquired a 346. He has been doing sterling work with board as a co-opted director in the area of policies and general input to all board activities.

A nomination for Paul Roberts, who had been working with the board for some time, to become a director having been received this was put to the AGM. This was duly proposed and seconded, and unanimously approved on a show of hands.

Comment: Paul joined the club 4 years ago and has more than one AS car. He lives relatively close to Stores and has, together with his wife, been a frequent helper there. He has also been sitting in on board meetings for some time and contributing widely to all board activities.

Angus Vinicombe having indicated he was willing to become a director was also proposed and seconded, and duly elected under Resolution C(iii).

Comment: Angus will be well known to many members, particularly those in the south of the UK. He has a wide skills base which he is willing to share with those running of the club.

Next we moved to:

Resolution D: That the Directors be empowered to explore and implement at the board’s discretion a two-tier system based on an E-Sphinx and a supplementary cost for a hard copy Sphinx, in pursuit of lowering costs.

I gave some background to this, explaining that printing the Sphinx remains our largest expense outside of the stores operation. Membership numbers continue to fall, eating up any gains from increasing the subs. The club continues to trade at a loss. Our cash reserves have halved since the move to Pentre was completed. So the status quo is not sustainable and it is necessary, not only to seek greater sales from stores, but to also to look for further savings. Some work had been done ahead of the AGM, but due to the limited resource running the club, it could not be completed. We therefore needed to AGM to endorse the board to explore this further and give the board the discretion to implement what it feels will be best for a healthy club future.

This resolution sparked a healthy debate from the floor. Several members raised very valid concerns regarding digitally excluded members, the VAT implications of electronic subscriptions, and the importance of the physical magazine for recruiting at local car shows. After confirming that this resolution is only to empower the board to investigate the best financial model and does not mean include any intention to entirely cease the printed magazine - a vote was taken. The resolution was passed with 23 votes in favour and 1 abstention.

Agenda Item 9) Any Other Business. I noted the importance of members supplying us with their email addresses so we can improve communication, particularly when rare parts return to stock that would fit their car or cars. David Welch proposed a vote of thanks for the work of all those on the board, which was endorsed by those present. There was no further business, and the formal AGM closed at 3.12pm.

Post AGM Informal Discussion

The AGM was followed by the usual informal discussion time where useful information and ideas were exchanged. I opened with a frank update on the urgent need for more volunteers, warning that a lack of administrative help is the biggest threat to the club's long-term survival. There
is no shortage of ideas of what to do to make the club better, only a shortage of those willing to do it.

Overall, we are now 8 directors, plus two assisting. Margaret Campbell who for 27 years has managed our accounts and Kevin Sheldon who has very recently joined us to help us modernise our membership system and to support Peter Sheppard whilst he must make his wife’s health and wellbeing his first priority. Running the club or any organisation is much more complicated than it was some years ago. Back in 1983 we had 12 directors. This fell to 10 for many years. And in recent times and up to now just 8. So, we remain desperate for more volunteers to share their time and skills to help their club. In simple terms there is more to do than 40 years ago, but now only 2/3rds the number of people willing to do it!

On more positive notes:

I reported that the online shop has been completely re-engineered to be easier to use, and with around 4,750 parts re-analysed, fairly priced, and listed. This is ongoing, but already nearly everything we know we have is listed in the online shop with the best description we can give it. Several hundred hours of my and Dave White’s time have gone into this.

I was also pleased to announce that a new stores manager, Craig McKenzie, will be starting on 14th July and that Rob Pinner will be staying on to give Craig a 4-week handover. Also, the club is working with Shrewsbury College to potentially take on an apprentice, on a formal apprenticeship, which we hope will be in place during August or soon after.

I also stressed the vital importance of members buying all the parts they need through stores, and not just the ones they can’t get elsewhere, as without these sales there will eventually be no availability of the impossible to get elsewhere parts.

Wim van Herwegen noted that post-Brexit import duties have made buying routine parts difficult for European members. A problem well recognised but difficult to overcome. Any practical thoughts on this would be gratefully received and I asked all overseas members to please buy from us whenever they can as without income from routine sales, the club will not be able to fund the costly remanufacture of rare, essential parts in the future.

Chris Allen suggested moving future AGMs from Friday to a Saturday afternoon or Sunday to encourage attendance from younger, working members, an idea that found support from David Potter and some of the board.

David Salter announced that next year’s National is to be held over the weekend of 9th-11th July 2027, based at Woodland Grange in Leamington Spa, with the Sunday rally to be held directly on-site in the conference centre grounds. David also expressed how impressed he was by the enormous burden carried out by a small number of volunteers, giving special thanks to retiring directors Ann Blatchford and Paul Ellis, and praising Keith Dewhurst and Dave White for their immense work on the new online stores. To conclude the session, Chris Allen proposed a vote of thanks to the entire board for all their hard work, which was wholeheartedly approved by those present.

Please forgive if I have missed out anything you said! But I hope the above gives an accurate flavour and the key points of the two meetings. Happy summer motoring to all,

Keith Dewhurst, on behalf of the board of ASOC

ASOC Stores Opening Hours Announcement

From 3rd August 2026 Stores will only be open Monday 1pm to 4pm, Tuesdays 10am to 4pm and Wednesdays 1pm to 4pm, excluding bank holidays. This change, to close stores on Thursdays and Fridays is under review and may be varied later this year.

Posted in Company News on the 27th July 2026 at 8:34am.

Tags: AGM