The AGM was opened at  8.45 pm. by chairman, John Amery, who welcomed everyone to the meeting.

APOLOGIES

Apologies had been received from Rob Neale, Jimmy Briggs, and Dick Penny.

MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS AGM

The minutes had been circulated previously and were proposed by Eddie Painter and seconded by Hugh Rathbone that they be approved by as a true record. There were no matters arising.

CHAIRMANS REPORT

John stated that most of what he would talk about was to be discussed under various items on the agenda, but he made the point that he was concerned that our funds were decreasing .We are still promoting a wide variety of events for our members, many of them subsidised, which is where some of the money is going, so he encouraged all members to apply for these events and take advantage.

He stated that we needed to generate more publicity and try and get the web site up and running. Darren Philips had indicated he would look at this for us.

He reported that throughout the year we had worked on completing the length to weight conversion charts, and the match was being fished to these. He thanked Gerry Bell for his assistance in this project. 

SECRETARIES REPORT

Last year Andy reported that membership had fallen to its lowest figure for several years with 387, once again the worrying trend was continuing with membership down to 307. This was also resulting in the lowest ever Masters entry of 139, 10 of which had not even turned up, resulting in the value of the prize fund being down

His thinking that it was the general demise of match angling rather than a particular issue with SAMF, but he felt the crux of the problem was the lack of junior anglers.

Andy talked about the new rules, which were printed on the back of the conversion chart which he and John had worked on. These new rules were he subject of an agenda item later in the meeting.

Andy, having walked the beach that day during the competition expressed his surprise at the number of anglers who do not use a bucket of water to put their fish in. It is imperative for the welfare of fish that landed fish are immediately put in a bucket of fresh sea water, whilst still on the trace, during the anglers next cast etc. He reminded members that it was a rule and that if a complaint was made then a competitor could be disqualified for not following this rule. Being a conservation minded federation we all have a duty to ensure returned fish have a chance of survival, this also sets a good example to pleasure anglers and the general public.

He went on to thanks to Darren Phillips, Eddie Painter, Nick Haward and Keith Morley for their continued efforts in running their events, and once again a big thanks to John Amery for his continued support.

Andy finished by also thanking the membership for their positive support for the federation.

TREASURERS REPORT

The following is a report from the treasurer after declaring a worth of £8682.99p in this years accounts:

The above figures show that SAMFs worth has increased this year by £643.49p, however there are a number of reasons for this which means that we still have to keep a careful eye on the finances this year.

Last year members voted to increase subscriptions to £20, but we have 66 members less this year, reducing our income by £1320. Costs have been reduced significantly on printing and stationary, postage and telephones but the main saving this year has been a one off free year for our insurance by the Northern Federation of Sea Angling Societies. It is likely that the sponsorship of the Individual League final will be reduced to keep us in a positive situation, therefore I propose that there is no need to increase subscriptions this year.

There were no questions on the accounts.

ELECTION OF OFFICERS

The following people were elected:

John Amery – Chairman

Dick Penny – Vice Chairman

Andy Steele – Secretary

Mary Steele – Treasurer

AREA REPRESENTATIVES

South West Scotland – Jimmy Briggs

North East – Tom Parkin

North West – Bill Lindfield

North Wales – Shane Russell

Anglia – Ian Bowell

Sussex – Dick Penny

Hants & Challenge Match organiser – Darren Phillips

Kent – Mark Rogers

Essex – Dion MacFayden

South West & Individual League organiser – Eddie Painter, assisted by Hugh Rathbone.

South Wales – Joe Arch

North Wales – Shane Russell

Humberside – Rob Neale

DAIWA PAIRS

Nick Haward gave a brief report about this year’s successful event. This was an upbeat report because the pairs is bucking the downward trend in match fishing by continuing to be popular. Possibly for a number of reasons: the venue, the fact that it is a holiday and they can enjoy a weeks fishing in Ireland and the social side. The matches had continued to be run using the conversion to weight system which had appeared to go down well  Specimen hunting still being 100% catch and release was beginning to be accepted by the competitors and in fact most had expressed their satisfaction at seeing their specimens being returned alive. 

Just fewer than 140 anglers had fished the 2006 event and Darren and Alan Smith were the winners.

Next years event was being held on 30th September to 5^th October and the accommodation/HQ had already been booked. It was anticipated that the event would be popular  Nick was guaranteeing £2000 for the winners. Entries would be accepted on a first come basis

INDIVIDUAL LEAGUES

Eddie Painter reported that he was still struggling to get support for the league. 4 leagues were being fished which got 40 people into the final, which was fished at Pwlhelli and won by Alan Price.

He announced that the 2007 final would take place at Orford Ness, end April/early May. Ian Bowell would be helping Eddie to run the final. Crab would be essential for this match.

NATIONAL SEA LEAGUE

Keith Morley gave a brief report on the NSL final held at Pwllheli which had gone smoothly with a good turnout. Next years event would follow the Masters and be held at Great Yarmouth with the Waterside Village as the HQ.

Because of the recent problems about the banning of garfish at the NSL meeting it was decided the NSL would stand on its own two feet i.e. would be able to set its own agenda etc. This was acceptable to the members and this now technically puts the NSL as Associate members of the Sea Anglers Match Federation.

CHALLENGE MATCHES

Darren Phillips sent a report for the AGM:

Generally the numbers of people applying to represent SAMF remained disappointingly low. He reminded members that the events are open to all, not just those from England, and that the events were subsidized by 50%. which represented extremely good value  and a great learning experience for those anglers that aspire to represent their respective nations in the future. Wherever possible the matches are bait supplied. He requested that if anyone had any ideas on how to make the events more attractive to let him know.

He went on to give the result of the SAMF hosted challenge match at Slapton Sands in January, which SAMF won. The idea of using this venue was to identify a future venue for other events, and despite the fishing being generally poor due the exceptionally mild and calm weather (even mackerel were caught!!) the venue had great promise for future events. The next forces challenge was to be held at Great Yarmouth in January, hosted by the Police force.

The Belgium challenge was due to be held in December at Wenduine and Knokke Heist, the team already having been selected. He went on to explain that the event will see a major change in 2007 when a team from the Dutch Federation will take part. Teams could be dropped to ten anglers to make the event more competitive. SAMF was due to host the event in Kent, further information will be made available as it develops.

WORLD CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS

SAMF were again selected to represent England in the World Club Championships fished at Vieux-Boucau in the south west of France on the Atlantic coast. The team was Mark Pinder, Colin Provins, Andy Gallacher, Tony O’Grady and Malcolm Stote. Fishing was poor, with lots and lots of blanks. A bad start on day 1 when we finished down in 10^th place was a burden we could not overcome, and despite some individual good results the competition was in many respects lottery and we eventually finished in 8^th position. The championship was won by Club Benfica from Porto, Portugal.

Next years event is being hosted by Belgium, on the beaches we use for the Challenge matches, so we should know our way round if selected.

NIGEL ROBINSON MEMORIAL FUND

Ian Bowell said he would look at the possibility of running the Nigel Robinson match in East Anglia, probably within another open event.

FINAL 2007 – PROPOSALS

There had been no proposals to run the 2007 final, but by rotation it was due to be held in the North West. Andy and John said they would run the event and it was proposed to go to Pwlhelli, hopefully early in the year, April/May.

ALF

There was no change to the ALF fund as reported at the last AGM..

PROPOSALS AND RULE CHANGES

The committee had been asked to look at the rules and make recommendations to the members.

The following changes were discussed:-

1)         No limit on number of spare rods, made up and baited.                    Accepted.

2)         No additives to be used.                                                                     Accepted

3)         Minimum hook size..No 4                                                                   Rejected

4)         No feathers or lures                                                                             Accepted

Nick Haward asked us to confirm that any rule changes were still agreed through the NFSA, because in the past there had been a lot of joint work done to formulate the existing rules. John confirmed that these proposals had been sent to the NFSA but there had not been any feedback from them.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS

None

The meeting closed at 10.15 p.m.