A milestone meeting for Probus members
East Kilbride Probus Club’s recent AGM also marked its 30th anniversary.
To celebrate the occasion, members marked the milestone with an anniversary cake and receipt of an inscribed pen.
The event was opened with a few words of welcome from club president Jim Ballantyne, followed by the roll keeper’s report. He announced that the club was “in good health and heart” with 48 members and although they had lost some to illness, seven new ones have joined.
There had been 10 meetings throughout the year – October 2022 to April 2023 – with some attendances being as much as 84 per cent and with an average of 79 per cent.
The minutes of the last AGM were read and approved (proposed by David Miller and seconded by Ray Jones).
Next the president gave his report and picked out some of the highlights of his year in office, such as the talk on the Villages of Glasgow, Bridgescape (a look at some of the bridges throughout Scotland), and lastly The Telling of Lies During Wartime.
The two outings in the year to Glasgow Vintage Vehicle Trust and the Glasgow Museum Resource Centre were well attended and the two lunch social occasions, at Christmas and spring, had gone down very well.
He paid tribute to the committee by expressing his great appreciation of their continued service and announced at this point that ties and lapel pins were now available.
Jim summed up his year, saying that with all this support, especially from the secretary Eddie Holme, his presidency had been “a doddle” and “very enjoyable”.
The treasurer gave his report and said the club was in “good fiscal heart”, however, taking ever-rising costs into account, he proposed that the annual fee should rise to £40. This was proposed by Eddie Holmes and seconded by Drew Kean.
The auditors’ report concurred with the treasurer that all was well fiscally.
As the current president stepped down it was announced that the post would be taken up by John Mitchell. John is no stranger to the position as he was first president 20 years ago for the term 2003 to 2004 and expressed his surprise at being asked again, but saw it as a privilege.
He then presented Jim Ballantyne with his past-president lapel pin and tie and in turn received the regalia of office from Jim.
Committee member Kevin Smith stepped down after his two years of service and as the rest of the committee were willing to go forward for next year, they were taken en bloc and passed by a show of hands. The post of vice-president had to be sorted out, but John thought that he might have someone in place by December of this year.
He called for an outings convenor (new post) but no one volunteered. Paul Munday was nominated as the replacement to Kevin Smith and was accepted with a show of hands.
A new auditor had to be found and this was filled by David Miller – proposed by Andy Montgomery and seconded by Ken Lawton – to replace Bill MacDonald who was stepping down. And the two auditors would be Tom Kennedy and David Miller. Allan Stevenson pointed out that he had brought a guest to the spring lunch and that he would hand over the £20 to the treasurer.
The AGM was formally closed and Kevin Smith ran a quiz while tea and anniversary cake was handed out. The meeting was closed by president Mitchell with a humorous anecdote. He added that he was looking forward to welcoming everyone back on October 4.