Posted by martin on June 07, 1998 at 07:13:38:
In Reply to: Re: Ullapool AGM - Why the silence? posted by Bill Janes on June 06, 1998 at 22:16:53:
A very fair summary by Bill Janes. I sympathise with the Secretary's need to have a non-TARS life, though I still reckon that the special circumstances that have made the last few months so difficult and exhausting for the board, also dictated a need to let the wider membership know what happened at the AGM.
As a member attending my first, but I hope by no means my last, AGM, I would just add that I met a whole bunch of people there, with whom I discovered common interests (over and above the obvious), I thoroughly enjoyed the various presentations (and hope that as many as possible will be published in Mixed Moss). The hotel (recommended by Jenny, to whom many thanks altogether for her work) was as nice a "country inn" as one could hope for. I took a walk along the shore one morning soon after dawn, in the hope of seeing otter. It was windy, and occasionally wet, but the air on the west coast of Scotland has a special cleanness that makes the driving damp unimportant.
We saw deer aplenty, and buzzard, on the Red Herring exhibition, not to mentioned red-throated diver nesting on floating islands. These had been placed because of the divers unfortunate habit of nesting within the range of highest and lowest water levels, so that they tend naturally to being either left to high and dry, or being flooded out. The floating nests are a perfect solution for them. Dick's spirit lives on this part of Scotland!
The high point of the Pterodactyl exhibition must be Malcolm's brief sighting of a Greta Northern. But most of us were too slow, and it dived, not to be resighted. Lots of groups of seals, though, on the rocks, as well as birdlife, all very ably presented over the tannoy by the captain.
I must confess that I found the AGM less edifying than Bill's very accurate account suggests. It has clearly been an exhausting time for everybody, and Malcolm himself had warned us that the board had not been able to devote the time to some matters that they would have liked. I'm pretty unhappy about several aspects of Leading Lights, and all the board members with whom I discussed the matter showed willingness to listen. I'm sure it's something to which they'll be giving attention this year. I'd like to see it discussed on TARBOARD, which is an excellent "tool" for allowing those of us more distant from the centre to feel part of things.
So, thanks for breaking the silence, Bill. I'm sorry if my earlier note was less than tactful.