Sandel Street, London

Peter read the minutes of the last AGM. They were proposed and accepted as an accurate record of what had taken place at the last AGM.

President’s Report: Ron Holder welcomed all BBRC members to the 2004 AGM and was pleased to see new and old members, together with some who had rejoined recently.

Ron thanked all the Members of the Committee for all their hard work throughout the year and how he appreciated their efforts. The club was still very much an active organisation. He was pleased at the range of gifts given for the raffle and encouraged everyone to buy raffle tickets and he looked forward to the raffle after lunch.

The annual subscription was debated and a proposal to keep it at £7.00 per annum was unanimously agreed.

Peter explained that he had been unable to contribute as much to the club as he would have liked to over the last year and that he felt able to take over the wreins once more. He thanked Phyll and Martin for helping breach the gap when he was unable to help with his duties. He was hoping to develop the website more in the future to simplify the joining of new and the rejoining of old members.

Peter reported that there are still new members joining and to date there were 129 paid up members, with a total roll of 347.

A number of photographs of RAF Cardington were sold. One member donated a genuine 1941 RAF shirt to be sold to raise funds for the club. Peter will arrange to auction this in the near future and report back with the outcome. A porcelain statue of a WAFF was shown to the members and great interest was shown in this classic example of WWII memorabilia. Members were given the name of the manufacturer who was making a limited edition for sale.

Martin Postranecky emphasised that in order to have a newsletter we needed more and more informative articles, photographs and / or stories of people’s time in Balloon Command.

Every member had a story to tell and if members would only get them jotted down and pass them on to Martin then it would make interesting reading for all. Why not get your grandchildren to write it down for you as they would enjoy seeing it in print in the newsletter?

Also he added that if anyone has some good photographs, the club could afford the extra expense to re-produce them to a decent quality. The magazine was an expensive one to produce as costs for producing such a publication had increased over the years. Ron Holder emphasised the need to ensure members put their story down on paper to act as a permanent history of Balloon Command. Martin talked about the fact that a small number of barrage balloon wartime films were now available on VHS video format from the Imperial War Museum at a reasonable. He had one ready to show the members over lunch.

Marion Haill explained about the film on training of Balloon Operators that she and Martin had go0ne to see at the Imperial War Museum. There was a video to be shown over and after lunch that Martin had acquired from the Imperial War Museum, which was sure to bring some interesting memories back to the club members. Members were asked if they had enjoyed this year’s lunch and all agreed that it was a very well presented menu with excellent service. This year’s meal had been subsidised by a lottery grant. Ron Holder thanked her on behalf of the members for her hard work in organising and planning the reunion, this vote of thanks was met with a unanimous approval by the membership.

The Club Officers present stood down and explained that they were all prepared to stand again this year. A vote was taken and the officers for 2003-2004 were unanimously elected as above.

Discussion took place over the various items that are on sale and the availability of items such as pin badges of the BBRC.

It was explained that the constitution as such needed to be written in a more formal manner and style than in the past. The AGM was an excellent opportunity for the members to approve the draft constitution that Martin had circulated with the Newsletter. Such a constitution would allow us to approach organisations such as the lottery for more funding in the future. The constitution was proposed by Martin Postranecky, seconded by Phyll Wood, and was adopted unanimously.

It was explained to the members that we had had a letter from Commodore GH Edwardes OBE RN who was Project Manager for the above Anniversary Commemoration. He was asking the club to nominate World War 2 Veterans to be allocated tickets to attend three separate events.

1. Service in Westminster Abbey on 10^th July. This was for 3 nominated members and one in reserve.

2. Horse Guards Parade Event on 10^th July. This was for 8 nominated members and three in reserve.

3. Lunch at Buckingham Palace on 10^th July. This was for 3 nominated members and one in reserve.

Phyll requested that all those who were interested should put their names down as the final figures had to be with the MOD by 30^th October.

Next Meeting will be on Wednesday 21st September 2005

at a venue to be announced.