AGM 2018 ???
We had no AGM in 2017. It is probably too late now for an AGM in 2018 Are we gong to have one in 2019?
There is no news of any sort filtering through from any of the club officers. We need to have an AGM in order to get what looks like a state of complacency sorted out and not waste all the hard work that the late Tony Baskill put into this club.
It is possible to communicate with the entire globe in seconds in this twenty first century so surely someone among the club offiicers could let the rest of us know just what is or isnt happening. Can we have some committment please?.
Suggest just setting a 1 hour conference call and see if you can get a quorum for a online AGM meeting, then minute the discussion and any actions. Job done.
It does need whoever is the Chair and Committee to communicate.
neither of you have the red flag that indicates that you are members, if I'm wrong my apologies
Member since 2009 and logged in. Would seem that the site does not recognise this as there is no flag and no access to members area. I did ask why (as subs are always up to date) but never received a response. Doesnt alter the reason for my first posting of this thread.
Thank you for your response Nick123. You and one other have responded to the subject matter of my original post, the third queried my membership status. Bit pointless really when you consider the importance of the post content.
There are questions that MUST be answered. There is a legal situation that has to be rectified. The GWOA is a limited company as well as a club and there is a legal requirement for a limited company to present audited accounts to be signed off at an AGM. To the simple minded AGM means Annual General Meeting.
There has been no AGM or accounts signed off for two years. WHY???
The club chairnan resigned. WHY were the membership not told and an AGM arranged to elect a successor???
There is, I am told, a club secretary. WHO, what, where and what if anything are you diong???
What, if any, club officers and area reps are there???
Are any remaining club officers aware that there are penalties for not maintaing a regular AGM for a limited company and that they may be liable for those penalties.
This situation is an insult to the memory of Tony Baskill. WHY HAS IT BEEN ALLOWED TO HAPPEN???
I haven't responded before although I have been keeping track.
It would be good to hear from whoever are the committe nowadays as to what their plans for the club are going forward. I know there was a lot of talk a while ago about upgrading the website whch was going to be very expensive but, as far as I'm aware, nothing has happened since.
I can't remember what the estimate of the cost was but it was a lot. Quite a few thousand pounds.
It is a really useful source of knowledge and I, for one, would miss it if it weren't here but maybe there aren't enough members to warrant upgrading. My understanding was that if we didn't upgrade then the people in India who make it all work would simply allow it to grind to a halt - although obviously that hasn't happened yet.
Maybe there's a cheaper way of keeping the site running and keeping all the technical information and historical threads that give solutions to common problems available. Or maybe we should just allow it to carry on as it is, which actually doen't seem that bad to me. I have no idea what the cost is of keeping things as they are.
Or maybe the site should simply cease to exist and the funds in the club's account be shared amongst the paid up members?? As far as I recall from the last AGM that I attended there was quite a tidy sum.
Well
I rarely contribute to this site as my technical knowledge is limited but I have and do enjoy the wealth of info available
I've been a paid up member for quite a few years now and my vote would be to continue as is should the costs for a revamp of the site be prohibitive.
looks like my red flag is missing as well
If I have managed to get this contraption to work correctly there should be a pdf file at the end of this post. The file is information from Companies House regarding current officers of the GWOA Ltd.
If the same applies to the club side of the GWOA then there is one poor soul left holding the fort and the rest have gone awol.
Bearing in mind the limited response to my original post I think my next request will likely fall on deaf ears. It is going to be down to the remaining membership of this club to keep it alive. That means committment including the will to make it work and the will for new club officers and a WORKING committee. To take on the role of chairman or secretary need someone with the contacts, the financial position and the time to do the jobs justice. I am prepared to do what I can as I do have time but 58 years of driving trucks on long haul journeys has left me without the necessary contacts and without sufficient funds to do justice to either of the most important jobs.
If this club dies then so will the websie and all the knowledge and information therein will de deleted and lost for ever. If I am wasting my time trying to keep GWOA alive I would be obliged if enough of you would tell me as I can devote my energies to something that WILL work.
Well done fraj. Simple check.
History of GWOA shows Rupert van Hullen has taken on the sole lead of the company over the past 3 years.
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/05883923/filing-history
There is about 9.5k of member fees/assets in the company. Company address moved to Rupert as he became the sole Director, just 1 month ago, so some things are active (just not this website side of things).
You cant help those that dont want to be helped, but good to offer.Lets hope there are some plans afoot from Rupert?
The continuation of the website is only part of the work that needs to be done. I first joined GWOA in the late 90`s and left when my first G was sold in the early 2000`s. I rejoined again in 2009. I still have fond memories of the first AGM that I attended at Fontwell Park area in Sussex. Having been a member of one make motorcycle clubs and a one make car club I had got used to the cliqueiness of such clubs and was very pleasantly surprised that I found none of that with those present at that meeting. There will be some who will remember that meeting and how very friendly it all was. This is what we need to get back to.
It may well be that this kind of ideal will not work any more after so much negativity over the last few years. We still have to try and if necessary to compramise a little and get this club off the ground again. It must have been very disheartenning for Rupert to be left at the controls whist everyone else bailed out.
There is a significant amount of money in the GWOA account. Certainly enough to sort out the website and to keep the club going. All it needs is the will of the membersip and a bit of get up and go.
So come on the rest of you, wake up and do something---------------- before it`s too late!!!!!!
No red flag indicates you aren't a member, but mine was slow being restored so I accept your comments
Does anyone know if GWOA is affiliated or have good relations with any of the less specific car clubs (for example The Mercedes Benz Club)? Maybe they, or another such club, would be interested in having an area set aside for G Wagens at one of their summer events.
The MBC has it's annual concours on June 15 next year at Milton Keynes.
It would be a great way of showcasing perhaps MB most iconic model and a perfect way to encourage many of our members to attend and meet up.
Any thoughts/ideas?
I would have thought it was obvious that NOBODY is attending to the website any more than they are the club, so it is unlikely there will be a red flag for some of us any time soon. Way back in this post thread I said that my membership is paid up to date. It is done by standing order. If other members have only negatives to post, better not to post anything.
Even if I were not a member at least I am trying to do something about keeping this club alive. Right at the present time I am not getting very much support. There seems to be little problem regarding response on other topics. I can only assume that this topic lacks support because means actually having to do something costructive.
To those few who have voiced support please note that the last paragraph does not apply to you. I am not in a position to know if GWOA is affiliated to any other clubs. The idea of having a stand at another Mercedes club would be a starting point. Calling an extraordinary AGM would be another way to go, although this should have been done the moment the chairman resigned. Since this did not happen I can only guess that the secretary resigned as well.
GWOA needs to stay alive in whatever form it can. Please.
The information, knowledge and expertise available here only gets more valuable with time - especially to owners like me with older cars, lots of enthusiasm but no relevant skills. (and oh so often taken for a ride by "specialists"!)
Becoming part of another club in some way to preserve what GWOA has (including identity) seems a good way to go.
If GWOA has money, it can buy-in to that club, covering costs of transfer of information, website expansion, forum space and so on.
We can also add numbers to that club's events with something (Gs, Unimog, P4, Pinzgauer etc) that they may or may not have represented otherwise.
I can give time but only when I have it - random work means I am unpredictable and travel a fair bit though.
There was a similar thread to this a few months ago and many good ideas were put forward.
The ideas are there but action is what's needed, of course.
To our one Director: I live near you and can meet at pretty short notice.
To everyone: That meeting can be just coffee for two, coffee and cake for a few, an AGM, a gathering somewhere interesting or a full-blown party/event. Whatever, let's do something.
Equally happy if that something is to tell me to back off as it's all in hand... :-)
Thanks Old English, great to have some positive support. It does appear that there are not many who share our enthusiasm for keeping the club going though. I have had positive support from less than half a dozen yet many others will happily post on other topics. If this club dies there will no other topics for them to post on. Sometimes folks just don`t see the wood for the trees.
I hope you are both OK FRAJ?
Think i was at the same point a few years back with this thread...
I could see what was coming... and it's arrived.... but worse than i thought possible!
Rupert as far as i am aware has not really been involved in the GWOA day to day, when he showed up at the last AGM i attended in i think 2015 at Gaydon, even the then Chairman didn't know who he was when he was sat in front of him?
The top tier of the GWOA never seemed to embrace the current tech age and have now been left behind with regards the forum, dear old Tony was the only "old school" person that did, but even he was just one man!
As for the club and meets its the same as always, people put masses of time and effort in and even of the small few that commit only a tiny handful stand up and be counted... like yourselves the same few everytime.
It wears!!!
Just the same as any community, it needs input from all members... and there are many ways to input without it being financial
Experience, knowledge, passion, enthusiasm... even just a thank you..... but 99% dont... so it dies...
Perhaps join a different community like the vast majority of the ex members on the above thread did... it thrives!
PS I am not a GWOA commitee member and have not been since 2015 when i had enough and moved my time and effort else where :0(
Gav
Hi Gav,
Many thanks for your response. I know I may be hitting my head against a brick wall ............ and it will be nice when I stop..... but I have to try.
I am only guessing here, but my guess is that Rupert Van Hullen is a GWOA Ltd. officer more for his legal expertise than as a club member. I would think that he is in the unenviable position of having been "left holding the baby" so to speak.
As it is now getting close to the silly season I will wait untill after Christmas and write to Rupert and ask if he would call a extraordinary general meeting with the view to electing WORKING club officers and a WORKING committee. OR. Failing that to come to a decision concerning winding up the GWOA altogether. Including what to do with the remaining club funds. They are reasonably substantial.
I read the entire content of your link Gav, There seemed to be a whole lot more people supporting the club then than there are at this time. I do not for one moment think that £25 is what is keeping them silent. I know folks like something for nothing but if you run a G Wagen you won`t get much for nothing.
I have sent you a personal message Gav as there are things I wanted to convey to you that I did not want in the public domain as they are of a personal nature.
Just renewed my membership and hope to hear more about activities in 2019.
You are brave George, and maybe proof that the red member banner works?
I want GWOA to continue, adapt, re-generate. But I am reluctant to pay each year if there is not even an attempt to open up to members and respond. Rupert needs to invite a new committee, who are hands on and will be active in change, and use some of the accumulated subscriptions to support and boost the club. I'd hate to think they might just be siphoned away - the constitution shouldn't allow that.
best Hello to all those who are on this thread. I have been a member since the mid nineties and to be fair not really contributed to any of the GWOA events. I have enjoyed the exchange of knowledge and advice available on the forum but little else. For some years there was a good magazine and newsletter very well produced by enthusiastic members with great stories and news of events here and abroad. Sadly after a while the energy wanes quite naturally and everything goes into decline. This decline was probably not helped by some discord amongst a few rogue members. However the current situation is not satisfactory. The limited company is a legal entity and must abide by company law or apply for disallution from Companies House. Whoever is the registered Chairman and Company Secretary are liable to hold Annual General meetings of the company and to approve audited accounts. This must be done as a matter of urgency.
I have two Gs, both 460 models and am a member of a self styled Southern 460 group who hold lunch meetings and usually a short Euro tour every year. On occasion we have met with the French Mercedes 4X4 Club which is very strong and well organised.
I think some of the GWOA membership troubles are that the membership is very widespread across the UK and elsewhere so any sort of group meetings are difficult to arrange. (There have been valiant attempts in the past to get people together).
The legal responsibilities of the GWOA need to be urgently addressed and thereafter the way forward can be planned.
If I can be be of any help in this process then if time permits count me in. I have no idea what a conference call might be. We are 40 miles from central London and have no internet other than our own satellite dish, so it’s pretty poor!
Best regards. Rowland Kenny
Hi Rowland.
I'm not too far from you (I'm in East Sussex) so if you have another one of those Southern get togethers let me know and I'll come along.
In fact, post details up on here and I'm sure there are other members who would be interested.
Has everyone here seen the note in the Members Area, under Organisational Items?
Lays out who's who pretty well.
OE68
So heres the thing. I wanted to see the 'Org Chart' mentioned by OldEnglish and since it was in the Members area I decided to re-join (like I said, its not so much the money as knowing that it actually supports the 'owners association').
First point is proof that the red flag is automatically re-stored. That will stop some gripes on here about that.
Disappointed though that paying my annual membership has been backdated to when my previous expired in May 2018, so I just paid for <6 months it seems. I have emailed about that seeming unfair to me. Lets see.
But I still cannot see what OE68 is talking about. All the contacts under 'Committee' seem to be old and out of date.
However, the fact that the website has seen posts and updates on other pages means that someone is managing the site, and recently too. They just choose not to respond to the Forum messages? Lets see - hopefully this club/association is not going to be run in the shadows.
Keep the chat coming. I hope to get my G back this weekend. Its been a long wait.
Hi Gav,
Many thanks for your response. I know I may be hitting my head against a brick wall ............ and it will be nice when I stop..... but I have to try.
I am only guessing here, but my guess is that Rupert Van Hullen is a GWOA Ltd. officer more for his legal expertise than as a club member. I would think that he is in the unenviable position of having been "left holding the baby" so to speak.
As it is now getting close to the silly season I will wait untill after Christmas and write to Rupert and ask if he would call a extraordinary general meeting with the view to electing WORKING club officers and a WORKING committee. OR. Failing that to come to a decision concerning winding up the GWOA altogether. Including what to do with the remaining club funds. They are reasonably substantial.
I read the entire content of your link Gav, There seemed to be a whole lot more people supporting the club then than there are at this time. I do not for one moment think that £25 is what is keeping them silent. I know folks like something for nothing but if you run a G Wagen you won`t get much for nothing.
I have sent you a personal message Gav as there are things I wanted to convey to you that I did not want in the public domain as they are of a personal nature.
Got your PM and have belatedly responded... didn't seem to get a notification of it landing, it also send that mine hadn't sent but hopefully it has!
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Thanks for your response jdring. Unfortunately I spent 58 years driving trucks and about 5 minutes driving a computer. I would not know how to do a conefrence call.
The lack of communication from club officers is the main thing that is lacking. We have a chairman, or did have, a secretary so I believe and a committee. The only response I have had is from both the western area reps, north and south. From all others nothing, zero, zilch sweet "Fanny Adams". Not good enough.