Can I first thank the Committee for arranging last night’s EGM. I’m sure it was a challenging evening fielding some difficult and sometimes unfair questions and you have my respect for handling them calmly and without bias. Although it may have felt we went around in circles, for me it was definitely a worthwhile exercise and I feel clearly highlighted the challenges of starting a new club. I had begun the evening feeling that a new club was a positive way forward, however after all the facts had been presented and discussed, it was clear to me that having two parallel clubs was not a viable or workable option for many of the reasons discussed on the evening. Had last night’s meeting not taken place then I feel I could have made an ill-informed decision, so for me the EGM was essential for the wellbeing and future of our club.
What was clear was that those who wanted a new club had no intention of putting themselves forward to manage it or sit on a Committe and I felt that it was simply assumed that the current VMCC Committee would run both.
There also appeared to be an inference that this new club was the idea of Rupert rather than club members which I felt was grossly unfair.
There was also a lot of negativity in the air but this made appreciate the positives of our current club format. A proactive and experienced Committee, a strong membership, financially healthy and an active events calendar. All of these would be diluted or disappear if the club split.
In summary, I would not want to jeopardise the club for the sake of my £40 membership not contributing to IOM activities and instead think we should concentrate on all the positives and advantages of what the VMCC IOM Sect has to offer.
Thank you for your time and commitment to our club.
Regards, Gareth Davies