MINUTES OF THE AGM–15th NOVEMBER 2008–EASTBOURNE

The AGM was opened at 6.30 pm by the chairman, John Amery who welcomed everyone to the meeting.

APOLOGIES
Darren Phillips, Nick Haward. Dick Penny
MINUTES FROM THE PREVIOUS MEETING AND MATTERS ARISING
The minutes from the previous meeting were circulated prior to the meeting and were proposed as a true record by Shane Russell and seconded by Bill Lindfield. There were no matters arising.
CHAIRMANS REPORT
This has been quite a traumatic year for SAMF.
Following the dramatic loss of support for the 2007 Masters when only 60 members fished we sat down and wrote to all members with a questionnaire regarding the future of SAMF.
First may I thank all who responded, some 120 of you took the effort, which was very encouraging.
The results were analysed in depth and formed the major part of the committee discussions in July. The July newsletter gave full details but briefly you wanted the following:-
Better communication. It has been agreed that we will establish a web site and also attempt to build up an e-mail address book of members for easier communication. The web development is not moving as fast as desired but we hope to be up and running shortly.
There was a 50/50 split regarding the Masters being intense/social. We have decided to look at venues which will cater for both.
72% voted in support of the challenge matches…BUT… where are you. We still struggle to make up teams.
Similarly the World Clubs. 61% in favour…not one application.
The Individual League was favoured by 84% and it is hoped that this is an event which will grow.
Catch and return was favoured by most people, but some had reservations about targeting small fish. Hence the application of size limits on Cod, Bass and Whiting this weekend. There are no Ministry limits for the other species. Personally I think we may have to consider this aspect again, it means that an 18cm flounder will be awarded points, a 34cm cod will not.
We all agreed that we would in future ask the opinions of all our members, not just those attending the AGM, on any major issues so that all could have an input.
We suffered the ignominy of coming last in the International Challenge with Belgium and Holland, something which has not happened before, but we did maintain our winning record in the Forces Challenge.
The National Sea League had to cancel its final due to finalists not supporting the event. Keith Morley had already announced he was not running the final after this year so the league is looking for a new secretary. We will be contacting all leagues in the near future but I have said that if necessary I will organise the final in 2009 so please go ahead with your local league.
Finally a brief report on Angling Unity. The 1st of January will see the start of Angling Trust an organisation made up of the merger between NFA, NFSA, ACA,NAFAC and SAA. This new body will be acknowledged by Sport England as the Governing Body for sea, course and game fishing in England. They will be responsible for running national and international competitions and investing in angling development and educational programmes. It is envisaged that ADB will join Angling Trust later in 2009. Membership of NFSA, NFA will cease and they will no longer exist. Their members will be invited to join AT.
This has happened over the last 12 months and whilst there was a lot of sceptism at first I have to say that they have got themselves organised very well. We will have to wait to see how anglers respond to their existence.

SECRETARIES REPORT
Andy said that most things he had to say would be covered by the meeting. Starting on a positive note he was pleased to see an increase in entrants to this years Masters which was up to 97 from last years sixty. He was sure that the committee decision to look for new venues would generate more interest, as the decision to go to Skegness next year was proving.
However membership was down again this year by 17 to just 230 members, and this despite having sought re-newals from past members which had generated 20 extra members.
There were real problems with lack of organisers, not just for qualifying events but also committee men. This year we have received resignations from Dick Penny, the Sussex representative and Keith Morley, the National Sea League Organiser. Replacing these two is going to be difficult and considering this AGM meeting is in Sussex there was not one local member in attendance. This federation needs new blood to generate new ideas and interest and it also needs more of the existing members to get more involved. Andy pointed out that any member can organise a Masters qualifier in conjunction with any other match and that once again we had to use two non members to make up the Forces Challenge Match Team.
Andy went on to thank the committee for their work, especially Eddie and Hugh for organising the Individual Leagues, Darren for organising the challenge matches, Nick for running the Pairs and John for all his support throughout the year. Andy also thanked members for their support and in particular those in attendance at the meeting 
TREASURERS REPORT
Copies of the report had been circulated prior to the meeting and were accepted as a true record. There were no questions about the accounts. The following is the treasurers summary:
After several years of reporting losses I am pleased to say that the accounts show we have just about broken even this year with a reduction of £228.42 in SAMFs worth.
Last year I said that I was going to write out to all past members to try and increase membership and as a result 20 ex members re-joined, which just about covered the extra printing and postage costs. Unfortunately we still suffered a reduction in membership with 17 fewer members than last year. The sending out of the questionnaires and circulation of the results also increased our printing and postage costs.
We have had to take some severe steps as a result of falling income, namely a big reduction in the amount of sponsorship we give to the various competitions. 
I am also altering a loophole whereby we give new members who join to fish the Masters their membership for the following year as well. It has been noticed that some members have not been re-joining in January and waiting until the Masters thus getting the following year free. This will now only apply to brand new members.
We still need to be careful about our expenditure but I do not think an increase in subscriptions is necessary next year.
ELECTION OF OFFICERS
The following people were elected:
Chairman John Amery
Vice Chairman – Dick Penny had previously indicated he would be standing down. It was Proposed by Andy Steele that Eddie Painter take the position, seconded by Hugh Rathbone, Eddie was duly elected
NB. At the prize presentation on Sunday evening Dick Penny was presented with a framed angling print, signed by artist Mick Graham, a regular to the Irish Pairs. Dick was thanked for all the effort he has put in for SAMF over the years
Secretary Andy Steele
Treasurer Mary Steele
AREA REPRESENTATIVES
South West Scotland – None
North West – Bill Lindfield
North Wales – Shane Russell
Anglia – Ian Bowell
Sussex – None
Hants & Challenge Match organiser – Darren Phillips
Kent – Mark Rogers
Essex – Ian Reynolds
South West – Hugh Rathbone
Individual League Organisers – Eddie Painter & Hugh Rathbone
South Wales – Joe Arch
Humberside – Rob Neale
DAIWA PAIRS
A website has recently been produced dedicated to the Daiwa Irish Pairs. This is an excellent piece of work by Darren Smith and Nick Haward has said that anything members needed to know about past and future events can be downloaded from www.irishpairs.co.uk
INDIVIDUAL LEAGUE 
Eddie reported that fishing had generally been poor at Eastbourne. 33 anglers fished this year’s competition and the winner was Dave Read from Stowmarket. Next years event was planned for Blackpool on 16/17 October. Eddie is looking for organisers to help him expand the event.
NATIONAL SEA LEAGUES
John reported that there had been problems due to lack of support for this year’s finals due to be held at Blackpool, which were subsequently cancelled. Also Keith Morley had told the SAMF Committee that he was stepping down after these finals so the Sea League is looking for a new organiser. John has told the league organisers that SAMF would run this years finals if no organiser is found therefore they could go ahead and run leagues in confidence of a final being held.
CHALLENGE MATCHES
Report received from Darren Phillips
SAMF v Belgium v Holland
This year’s challenge match against the Belgian and Dutch federations took place on
3~ 5 October. The event was hosted by Belgium and as usual the headquarters
were at Wenduine, The matches were originally scheduled to be held at Knokke and
Wenduine. However, due to adverse weather conditions resulting in storm force winds on the
beaches the first event was held in Zebrugge harbour on the Friday evening and the second
in daylight at Knokke
Zebrugge Harbour proved to be a tackle graveyard, especially in the first 20 or so
pegs, although there was plenty fish to be caught it was difficult to get fish up and over the
ledge using UK style rods and reels. Both the Belgians and Dutch chose to target smaller
Poor Cod, Pout and Whiting by using small hooks, mostly size 8 to 6 with correspondingly
small baits. Coupled with long rods and high retrieve fixed spools they were able wind fish in
quickly over the already tackle strewn ledge. Even then the opposition still lost gear although
their losses were not as significant as ours. To further compound the problem, most of us
used larger hooks and baits on size 2 and 4 hooks which resulted in generally larger but
fewer fish, these larger fish were even harder to get up over the ledge. It was interesting to
note that in many cases 14 or 15 of our fish were worth 25 to 30 of theirs but larger fish are
worth little when left on the sea bed. The problems with retrieval and subsequent tackle
losses in the first zones saw SAMF punished severely finishing in third place with Belgium
in second and Holland victorious after day 1
Day 2 saw us back on the open beach in what looked like perfect conditions. The
wind direction had changed and was now off the left shoulder, the sea was increasingly
calming and the water well coloured. Despite the conditions the fishing did not live up to
expectations with 8 fish being the most caught by any one angler. A few Codling appeared in
the early stages of the event with Bass, Sole and Whiting putting in an appearance later on
Despite an overall day win for SAMF team member Steve Durrant along with some other
credible performance from the SAMF team we again finished third this time behind Holland
with the Belgians performed exceptionally well on their home beaches and overtook Holland
to win the event
Once again the Belgians proved excellent hosts and organisers. This was to be our
worst result ever with 6 of our team in the bottom 7 in the individual table. Tough lessons
have been learnt and the opposition is improving at a great rate. The decision to move from
teams of 20 to 15 has been a great leveller and both the Dutch and Belgian teams had many
anglers with full international experience. Next years event wilt take place in the autumn and
will be hosted by Holland. Both of the proposed venues will hold a lot of fish with catches of
up to 70 fish per angler But and it is a big BUT, both venues have a steep ledge allegedly
worse than that of Zebrugge Harbour. We have been told that shorter UK rods will be
unsuitable and multipliers a definite no go. Anyone interested in applying for next years event
and helping avenge our defeat should contact either the Secretary or myself.
SAMF v Combined Armed Forces v Fire Service v Police Service
The event was hosted by the Combined Armed Forces and contested on the Kent
beaches of Deal and Hythe on 3-4 November. The first match was held in darkness at Deal
followed by a daylight event on Hythe’s Princes Parade.
The fishing at Deal took place in blustery conditions and despite heavy rain at the
start proved to be dry The fishing was extremely good along most of the venue with Whiting,
Codling, Pout and Dogfish making up the majority of the catches. In the main most were
caught no more than 60 yards out This was to be a closely contested day with SAMF
emerging victorious by an 8 point margin followed CAF, Police and Fire Service. Only 38
points separated 1~ to4th places.
Day 2 saw us start fishing on a bright sunny day in increasingly clearing water.
During the first 3 hours very few fish were caught, with just the odd Gurnard. Bass and Sole
putting in an appearance. However, as dusk approached the casting skills of the SAMF team
came to the fore as Whiting began to be found in increasing numbers, leading to a last minute
dash in the final hour. SAMF won the day with 57 points, I believe this to be our best ever
day win dropping only 12 points from the 45 point maximum achievable score
After the final count up SAMF retained their 100% record in this event with CAF
finishing as runners up, followed by the Police and Fire Services. The CAF were excellent
hosts and many commented on the quality of the presentation meal and the surroundings in
which the event took place.
General
Once again forming teams for these events has proved to be difficult You are all
reminded that these competitions are open by application to all SAMF members.
including those in Scotland, Ireland and Wales and are a great stepping stone and
learning experience for those who have aspirations of an international career. If you
would like further information regarding these events do not hesitate to contact me.
NIGEL ROBINSON
Ian Bowell had run the latest match in conjunction with one of his opens and £ 40 was raised for the fund. We are looking for someone to organise an event for this year, details can be obtained from the secretary.
WORLD CLUBS CHAMPIONSHIPS
John reported that no SAMF team had been entered in 2008 because of lack of applicants. It is hoped that more people will be interested in the event in 2009 when it will be fished in the Baltic, hosted by Germany. The matches will be fished at night, mid-November, and target species will be cod and whiting. Chris Clark stated that the fishing would be very much like our own winter fishing.
PEOPLE WISHING TO BE CONSIDERED FOR SELECTION SHOULD CONTACT JOHN AMERY 01995 61211, john@sa-mf.com , by the end of January.
FINALS 2009 – SKEGNESS
George Smith gave a report. He is still trying to find a headquarters which could accommodate all the competitors altogether in one location. Fishing will be onto clean sand for whiting and codling, and going into darkness.
ALF 
ALF has been dormant over the last 12 months. Funds in the account total £ 12234
PROPOSALS/RULE CHANGES
No proposals or rule changes had been received.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Dick Able challenged George Smiths proposals for the Masters in Skegness being fished into darkness, given SAMF’s commitment to try and make the event more ‘sociable’.
Johns reply was that if the event had to go into darkness to enable better catches to be made then that is what would happen, however consideration would be given to making sure the event did not go on too late. 

MEETING FINISHED AT 7.30 p.m