Mid Cheshire Rail Users Association Website

Membership Information

Constitution of the Mid-Cheshire Rail Users Association:

1. The name of the association shall be the “Mid-Cheshire Rail Users Association”.

2. The aims of the association are:
(i) Improved Rail Services on the Mid-Cheshire line and to support the improvement of public transport in Greater Manchester and Cheshire;
(ii) Greater usage of services on the Mid-Cheshire Line and West Coast Main Line in Cheshire.

3. Membership shall be open to all persons and bodies in agreement with these aims.
Classes of membership shall be as follows:
(i) Individual under 21 years;
(ii) Individual 21 years and over;
(iii) Family;
(iv) Voluntary body;
(v) Corporate.

Changes in classes of membership and the rates of subscription applying may only be effected by a simple majority vote of those voting members and other member bodies present at a General Meeting of the Association.

4. The Association shall hold its Annual General Meeting between 1st May and 31st July every year at which independently examined accounts shall be presented for approval.
An Extraordinary General Meeting shall be convened within two months of receiving a notice signed by a minimum of thirty members, the membership total being taken as the total of the votes allocated under the membership rule 5. It may also be convened should a meeting of the committee decide they have good reason.
One month’s notice shall be given of the convening of all general meetings of the Association.

5. Votes at General Meetings of the Association shall be granted to those present as follows:
individuals - one vote;
families - one vote for each family member present with a maximum of two votes for that family;
voluntary bodies and corporate - one vote for each member present from the controlling committee or executive, with a maximum of two votes for that body or organisation.

6. The association shall be governed by a committee consisting of the following:
Chairman
Vice-chairman
Secretary
Treasurer
Membership secretary
Publicity officer
Minutes secretary
and up to 3 others.

Nominations for the committee with a proposer and seconder and the signed consent of the candidate who must all be current members, shall be received by the secretary not less than one week before the Annual General Meeting of the Association.

In the event of there being more than one candidate for any position, the successful candidate shall be decided by means of a secret ballot of those members present at the meeting.

The committee may co-opt members to replace any who may resign during the course of a year; and may also co-opt up to 3 additional members during any period between Annual General Meetings.

In the event that the position of chairman, secretary or treasurer remains unfilled for a continuous period of three calendar months, then a General Meeting of the Association is to be called with the purpose either filling the positions or suspending or disbanding the Association.

7. Any amendments to the constitution shall be made at a properly convened General Meeting of members, notice of the proposed amendments having been given with the notice of that meeting; as shall any decision to suspend or disband the Association and dispose of any funds that may be left, the notice of which will include reasons for seeking to wind up the Association.

Details and Documents in Connection with the 2008 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Meeting arrangements:

The 2008 Annual General Meeting of the Mid-Cheshire Rail Users Association will be held in the Tatton Room of Knutsford Civic Centre on Thursday 17th July 2008, commencing at 7.45pm. This is an important meeting in the life of the Association and it is hoped that many as possible will be able to come.

Those present at the 2007 AGM may recall that during the meeting the request was made that the agenda and previous meeting’s draft minutes should be posted on the Association's website prior to the meeting, so that those people with internet access could view the documents before the meeting. Therefore it is hoped that this section adequately responds to this suggestion and that members find it useful.

As is usual, this will be an open meeting and the general public are very welcome to attend. Please remember however that non-members should not vote if one is called.

Suitable trains in connection with this are the 19.04 arrival from the Manchester direction and the 19.37 from Chester. The Civic Centre is about 50 yards from the station in the town direction and on the same side of the road. The meeting is expected to last about an hour and a half; suitable return trains run at 21.40 to Manchester and 22.04 to Chester.

….and after the formal business MARK WILLCOX, the COMMUNITY RAIL OFFICER is to be the speaker

No excuse is made for asking Mark Willcox, the Mid-Cheshire Community Partnership Rail Officer to address the meeting this year after the formal AGM business is over. In the period since he was appointed, Mark has given much consideration to the promotion of the mid-Cheshire line. His talk will include the MCCRP Annual Report to MCRUA members and how flowers at stations can make both a contribution to the Cheshire Year of the Garden as well as enhancing the mid-Cheshire line generally.

Agenda for the 2008 Annual General Meeting:

1. Notice convening the meeting.

2. Apologies received.

3. Approval of the minutes of the 2007 AGM.

4. Matters arising from the minutes.

5. Chairman’s report.

6. Treasurer's Report

7. Adoption of Accounts for the Year to 28 February 2008.

8. Confirmation of subscription rates.

9. Other Officers Reports (Secretary, Membership Secretary, Publicity Officer)

10. Election of Officers
      10.1   Chairman
      10.2   Secretary
      10.3   Treasurer
      10.4   Vice-chairman
      10.5   Membership secretary
      10.6   Publicity officer
      10.7   Minutes secretary
      10.8   3 Committee members

11. Any Other Business

This concludes the formal business of the meeting. It will be followed by an address by Mark Willcox, Mid-Cheshire Community Rail Officer; followed by questions from the floor.

Draft Minutes of the 2007 AGM:

MID-CHESHIRE RAIL USERS ASSOCIATION
MINTUES of 2007 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING held on THURSDAY 26TH JULY 2007 in the TATTON ROOM, KNUTSFORD CIVIC CENTRE AT 7.45PM

1. Notice convening the meeting.
The meeting opened at 19.45 with the secretary reading the notice convening the meeting. There were 30 members present.

2. Apologies received.
The secretary reported he had not received any apologies

3. Approval of the minutes of the 2006 AGM.
The motion to approve these as a correct record of the meeting was proposed by Roger Parkin, seconded by John Hill and carried by the meeting without dissent.

4. Matters arising from the minutes
Andrew Macfarlane observed that Mike Honeyman was no longer vice-chairman.

5. Chairman’s report.
John Oates presented a comprehensive review of the Association’s main achievements of the previous year; summarised as follows:

• Thanks were given to whole committee had worked hard as a team to serve the Association over the last year.
• Mike Honeyman our previous vice-chairman had resigned when he emigrated to Australia. Peter Davies took over his duties.
• Comprehensive comments were made on the Network Rail’s Draft RUS for the north-west and we were successful in getting our main concerns accepted.
• A five point plan for future development of the line had been agreed with Passenger Focus.
• Alan Dale had retired from Knutsford station. It was suggested MCRUA might hold a presentation for him.
• The mid-Cheshire exhibition at the Salt Museum had been very successful.
• A successful Special train to Carlisle via the Settle and Carlisle line ran in Oct. 2006.
• The May 2007 Special to Cardiff had been delayed by an administrative error within Network Rail, compensation for which was now being negotiated.
• The October 2007 Sunday special had been regretfully cancelled because a NR possession of the Altrincham – Stockport line until 10.30 and other closures resulted in too short a time at the destination. We would try for a Saturday trip in 2008.
• Thanks were expressed to Andrew Macfarlane for all his hard work in producing the Mid Cheshire Rail Report.
• A very successful Folk Train was run to Mobberley on 25/7/07.
• Trains and replacement ‘buses were running better, though there was still much room for improvement.
• We had successfully persuaded GMPTE to strengthen the mid-Cheshire line trains during this summer’s Metrolink shutdowns.
• The Middlewich reopening campaign was still progressing under its separate committee. Middlewich might be a possible destination for a tram-train service.
• The Hartford and Winsford sub-committee remained active.
• John Hill was retiring from the committee. Thanks were expressed for all his work over the years.

6. Treasurer's Report
John Hanson reviewed the highlights of the accounts and confirmed they had been audited. He explained that the £3000 restatement in the 2006 accounts was because of money not forwarded by some sponsors of the steam train, subsequently received. Andrew Macfarlane commented that no criticism was implied of anyone in MCRUA by the non collection of this money. Roger Parkin asked about the Plumley window item. John Oates replied that the boarding covering a visually more attractive (toughed) glazed window would shortly be removed. John Legg asked the reason for the difference between the 2006 and 2007 costs of the steam day. John Oates said that originally the intention had been to create an innovation by running the morning and evening trains via Middlewich. In the event this had not been possible and the resulting day was similar to the previous year and therefore had lost its novelty value and the late change had affected the marketing of the train. John Legg asked why the deposit interest was so low. John Hanson replied average deposits were much lower than the year end figure quoted which was temporarily influenced by takings for the May special; also we used a charity account but he would look into this aspect. John Oates added we had to manage our accounts carefully as corporation tax now covered surpluses of less than £10000.

7. Adoption of Accounts for the Year to 28 February 2007.
This was proposed by John Legg, seconded by John Hulme and carried without dissent.

8. Confirmation of subscription rates.
No changes were proposed for the rates and there was therefore no vote was taken.

9. Other Officers Reports
Secretary - Thanks were given to John Allen for taking the notes of last year’s AGM minutes.

Membership Secretary – MCRUA now has over 600 members now (assuming family membership was two people). Thanks were given for the many generous donations to help MCRUA’s work which are received with the subscriptions.

Publicity Officer – Malcolm Roughley announced that the 20th anniversary of MCRUA would be marked by a special colour magazine in the A4 style of Northern’s Connections magazine to be issued in the October/November period.

10. Election of Officers
The following table details the people nominated for each of the positions. As none of the positions was contested the nominees were confirmed in their positions.

11. Any Other Business
Ian Lowe and John Ryan both expressed concern about the attendance at the Annual General Meeting and asked whether the format could be changed to make it more attractive. John Oates said this was a concern of the committee who were open to ideas.

Following an interval for refreshments, a talk was given by Mark Willcox, Mid-Cheshire Community Rail Officer which was followed by questions from the floor.

ELECTIONS to the COMMITTEE

Nominations are invited for committee officers and members. You are reminded that under Rule 6 of the constitution (see above), nominations for the committee must have a proposer and seconder and the signed consent of the candidate (all of whom naturally must be current members), must be received by the secretary not less than one week before the Annual General Meeting of the Association. This is to allow adequate time for voting papers to be prepared if a ballot is necessary. It is therefore essential that the candidate signs and returns the nomination paper in time to be received by Arthur Sancto the secretary at 8 Roxby Way, Knutsford, WA16 9AX, by 10th July 2008.

The following section shows a suitable, but not obligatory format for a nomination paper for candidates. Because the membership of MCRUA is fairly geographically spread out, the proposer and seconder may of course agree to support the candidate by any convenient means of communication.

MCRUA Annual General Meeting 2008
NOMINATION PAPER

Name of candidate:



Position nominated for:



Proposer:



Seconder:



Candidate’s signature: