The British Wheel of Yoga

	Regional AGM 2007

	EASTERN REGION ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Needingworth, St Ives, Cambs. 6 October 2007
	The meeting opened at 1.10pm

	Chairman: Ian Burgess, Acting Regional Officer
	In attendance: Phil Ansty, Michael Beaven, Caroline Bradley, John Cain, Jacquelyn Cooper, Kari Knight, Beverley Nolan, David Primmett.

1	Apologies for Absence. ~ Helen Smith, Ada Shum, Gil Pendreich, Emma Escott, Sue Low, Chrissie Clarke, Carole Ledger.

2	InfiMinutes of 2006 Meeting. Approved, proposed by John Cain, seconded Jean Burgess.

3	Matters Arising: It was requested that in future the papers for the meeting should be circulated a few days beforehand to allow members to read them thoroughly. It was agreed that this would be done primarily via email and that the application form for tickets next year should allow for members to provide an email address for this purpose or SAE for mailing hard copy. Proposed Margaret Woodley, seconded Derek Lucas

4	Committee Reports: The following reports were received and adopted.

5	Regional Officer's Report: The main item for discussion in the report was the possibility of a joint festival with London region. Firstly, our attempts to arrange our own festival had failed through lack of support and secondly, London festival is held in Hertfordshire in our region. There has been no response from London so far.

6	Regional Treasurer's Report: This was noted. Derek Lucas asked how much of the annual subscription came to the region. The answer is currently £2.20 per member. DP noted that originally this was supposed to fund the magazine but has fallen far below the actual cost of producing and mailing the magazine. In fact, new members are financially a drain on the region.

7	Regional Training Officer Report: This was noted. There was some discussion about the continuing shortage of First Aid IST places and could we find another trainer other than Colin Fordham who is fully booked. Cambs is scheduling a course with another trainer but teaching members may need to access non-BWY courses run by local authorities.

8	Regional Editor's Report:This was noted. There was a query as to whether advertisers and contributors should contact the Editor or Central Office (answer: the Editor) and this generated some discussion as to the limited resources and role of Central Office. Apart from membership queries, regional officers should be the first point of contact. Derek Lucas asked it to be minuted that, “despite this rule, Central Office and in particular Pierre Bibby had taken decisions that affected him personally”

9	Regional Website Administrator's Report: The report was noted and J Cain particularly emphasised the interest from people using the website in specialised classes which seem to be in short supply or possibly just not advertised on the website. There were suggestions from the floor that the website should be promoted (Google Adwords was suggested) and J Cain will look into it.

	County Representatives' Reports
	Bedfordshire: Jacquelyn Cooper reported that the main effort in Beds is developing a community spirit amongst members and encouraging members to contribute by helping in the organisation of events.
	Cambridgeshire: Beverely Nolan thanked her helpers who had supported not only the RAGM but also the two successful summer schools and other events in the county.
	East Essex: Report noted
	West Essex: Report noted. Ian Burgess is standing down as County Rep. and is replaced by Emma Escott.
	Herts: Phil Ansty reported that he is looking for a new deputy and thanked Sue Low for her invaluable support especially with computer and admin. work. Phil is also standing down shortly and will be looking for a new County Rep. He noted that membership was falling, thought to be due to people joining to do foundation courses and then not renewing.
	Suffolk: Enid Feinson has stood down due to work commitments. Kari Knight thanked Enid for her hard work and has now taken over as County Rep. She is receiving a gratifying amount of feedback from county members about what they want and asked members to keep it coming.
	Norfolk: Mike Beaven thanked Liz Bosworth for her work organising the IST programme for the last 4 years. She will be replaced by Barbara Ives. Mike Beaven also noted that Miki Marks is moving out of the region and thanked her for her support over many years.

10	Election of officers
	The existing officers (Treasurer~ David Primett, Training Office~ Gill Pendreich, Website administrator~ John Cain, County Reps for Beds~ Carole Ledger, Cambs~ Beverely Nolan, East Essex~ Sophie Massey, Herts~ Phil Ansty, Norfolk~ Mike Beaven) were voted in by show of hands. Caroline Bradely was appointed Editor, Emma Escott was appointed County Rep of West Essex, Kari Knight was appointed County Rep Suffolk all by show of hands. Ian Burgess was appointed Regional Officer by show of hands, none against, no abstentions.

11	Ian Burgess thanked Helen Smith for her work as Regional Officer which she gave up in order to become chairman of the BWY, in which role we all wish her success.

12	Any other business
	It was noted that the Register of Exercise Professionals had been contacting its members, which include many BWY members, about CPD (continuing professional development) training. This does not apply to BWY members because our IST arrangement provides adequate CPD. It is suggested that REP members log their IST activities in the REP logbooks just in case. It was also reported that there seems to be a shortage of specialist teachers for children which is allowing less qualified people to obtain contracts to teach yoga in schools. Thanks were given to DP, BN and helpers for arranging a successful AGM.

13	Regional AGM 2008 This will be held in Suffolk in October, details to be found in future editions of YogaEast and the Website .

14	Finally a presentation was made to Ian Burgess to recognise his contribution to the region as County Rep for 14 years, which must be a record.

	There being no further business, the meeting was concluded at 2.45pm.