This meeting was held at the offices of Allens at Stockport on Saturday, 9 October 2021. Apologies were received from Dave Goodwin, Sean Murphy, Chris Excell, John Westlake, Chris Holmes, and Ian Brindley. Also present were Paul Horrocks and Richard Dawson (Allens) and Nick Metcalfe (Co. Sec).
Minutes of the previous meeting were approved without comment.
Allens explained to the meeting (having previously advised the Chair via telephone) that Martin Hilton wished to stand down from the CMIC Admin Team because of pressures of other work, and then outlined the continuity arrangements the firm proposed to put in place to ensure business-as-usual (to include new faces, Mike Sangster and Paul Wright). Committee put on record their thanks for a job well done.
‘Between meeting events’ (BME) were largely dealt with by a detailed note pre-circulated to the Committee by Nick Metcalfe. The share related issues were all noted and approved.
The recent AGM was discussed at some length – although a little disappointing in terms of member questions and challenges on the day itself, the meeting was considered a great success and a welcome relief from lockdown tribulations. Member feedback received had invariably been positive and supportive.
Upcoming investee AGMs were noted (x2), with Committee members indicating their intentions to attend both.
A hard copy of the Club’s rules, as amended following the AGM, was circulated and the Committee confirmed that they accepted the revisions as correct.
Various ‘report backs’ were received on existing investees (in particular Black Sheep, Black Eagle, and New River Retail), and recent developments at BrewDog noted.
With monies to invest, a round-the-table produced a spectrum of views, eventually settling on placing £100K into 6 existing investees.
With the grapevine suggesting a handful of breweries are about to restart their tour/visit programmes, the Committee agreed to put their thinking caps on with a view to proposing some CMIC action on this front early in 2022.