This meeting was held at the Abel Heywood, Manchester (Hydes), on Saturday, 24 September 2022. Apologies were received from Chris Holmes, Neil Kellett, and Iain Loe. Also present were Mike Sangster (Allens) and Nick Metcalfe (Co. Sec.). Guest speaker: Hydes’ CEO.
Minutes of the previous meeting were approved without comment and Action Points (bar one) agreed as having been dealt with.
No fewer than eight new unlisted bid or buy opportunities had been received since the Committee’s previous meeting. Committee voting had been to proceed with three of these and further total investment of £10.7K had duly been made.
On admin matters, CAMRA’s suggestion that the Club takes out a ‘rolling’ ad (on an arms-length basis) in all future Beer publications was debated and agreed to. Continuing member withdrawals were noted with sadness, albeit the principal reason for doing so now being cited was ‘funds required’. A short report from the web administrators had been pre-circulated and a further, modest spend to update the site was discussed and agreed to.
Member feedback was noted and discussed.
Informed by a pre-circulated paper, the ‘membership relaxation’ issue was discussed at some length. Emerging Committee attitude inclined towards favoring a relaxation, but not unconditionally. Agreed that a full vote of all 12 Committee members would be needed here before deciding whether the matter should go forward for consideration at the 2023 AGM.
Brewery trips for 2023 noted as proving difficult to move forward due to ongoing HS / staffing restricted openings at sites, e.g., Marston’s latest announcement.
Hydes’ Managing Director presented to the Committee an informal ‘trading update’, outlining how he was currently seeing prevailing market conditions across the industry – most informative and he was thanked in the usual way.
Molson Coors’ recent decision to close the brewing museum at Burton on Trent was noted with dismay and (with the Club being shareholders) an offer to assist CAMRA in any planned campaigning on the matter would be made.
Lengthy discussion concerning the finer points of ‘Transfer of investments upon death’ and the possible creation of a second buffer to cater specifically for accruing liabilities towards deceased members’ estates – latter carried forward.
Individual Committee members reported various corporate activity across a wide range of existing investees and targets.
New investment of £100K total agreed to in four existing investees.
Given the parlous state of rail travel on Saturdays, a suggestion that next year’s Committee meetings be held on Wednesdays found favour.