OCTOBER MINUTES - The Rose & Crown, Hartlip

A pub meeting organised by Gary, who has got the logic of a pub meeting down to a fine art. Hold it just down the road from his house. Again. Great evening!

Not the best photo ever, but it sets the scene. 16 of the remaining 19 sat down to an enjoyable dinner that came in under the £900 budget by a healthy £120. Mainly because so many members are now not chucking high value wines down their necks with gay abandon.

Yes, 16 of the REMAINING 19 members. Not 22 members, just 19 now. Since we lost Slasher soon after the last AGM for a crime not unadjacent to his new GASS nickname, we next lost The Doctor (who to be fair has been in and out of GASS on a regular basis for the past 30 years), then we lost Keith who basically can't afford membership any longer (despite paying two years subs for a Waygu steak and chips and a glass of sparkling wine only a short while back.

So here is a quick resume of the matters discussed, or to more faithfully reflect what actually happened, here is a quick resume of what CEO Henslow short-cutted all the normal protocols of GASS meetings to ram through without even the courtesy of a show of hands.

1. DO WE WANT NEW MEMBERS?: We now have 19 members. Its 11 years or more since the last new member, Owen, joined our illustrious ranks. As the years have passed and we have all got older and way more eccentric, it is probable that we will no longer be attractive to new members. What chance would they stand of appreciating the motley crew that we now represent so the decision was taken that we would not make any concerted effort to recruit new members. But if someone suitable did appear then they should come to THREE meetings before being proposed. Ideally anyone proposed needs to own their own business or be self employed, or at least pretty senior.

2. SHOULD WE INCREASE THE FEES?: As membership has dropped so has income. By £1440 a year. At the same time we increased meeting budgets by £1100. So logically we need to address the £2500 annual shortfall. Raising fees to £50 covers that in one fell swoop. But as the cash available at the end of the 2024/25 financial year actually increased slightly then we would leave things as they are and review the fees at the next AGM.

3. BUY YOUR OWN BOTTLE OF WINE: With regard to drinks at the meetings. It was pointed out that a rule that insisted no BOTTLES of wine could go on the bill did not stop someone drinking 10 GLASSES of wine instead. This somewhat juvenile argument was defeated by the fact that at this meeting 5 members where not drinking alcohol, and of the remaining 11, most were happy with beer, and in any case 10 medium glasses of wine was equal to two and a half bottles. Really??? The simple fact is that we HAD to stop some members ordering wines at £50-£60 a pop. Not only did it blow the budget it took the piss of those members not drinking and led to understandable tensions. The rule is simple. If you want to drink wine - then any wine the pub normally sells by the glass is fine. If you want better wine then just buy a bottle and pay for it. It really is not that difficult.

4. LAST YEAR WAS A GOOD MEETINGS YEAR, WELL DONE ORGANISERS: Bearing in mind we are just a group of mates, getting a bit old, and we only go out Tuesday evenings, I for one are pretty impressed with the programme from last year. In fact ignore what I said about new members, I'd join GASS for the fun and the meetings despite it being full of loons. Starting in December last year, this is what we did. All for £40 a month.........

   1. CHRISTMAS DINNER AT HUGHS

   2. PUB DINNER AT THE ROYAL CROWN

   3. BATTLE KARTS

   4. TAKE AWAY DINNER

   5. DIGGERLAND RACES

   6. THE CUBE AND LUNCHCLUB IN DOCKLANDS

   7. ZIPWIRE

   8. AXE THROWING, ARCHERY AND RIFLE SHOOTING

   9. DINNER AT THE WINDMILL, WAS SUPPOSED TO BE EAGLES.

   10. LUCKY CAT LUNCHCLUB

   11. CHAIN SAW SCULPTURES

   12. AGM IN PUERTO BANUS

5. MEETINGS THIS YEAR: The format is the same as last year. 4 PUB meetings at £900, 4 ENTERTAINMENT meetings at £1100, 3 AWAYDAYS at £1300. Surcharges allowed to suit the size and scope of the meeting. Organisers, don't be embarrassed about adding a surcharge, we'd all prefer to pay more for quality.

   1. NOV - NICK/WAYNE - ENTERTAINMENT. Olivers Rochester

   2. DEC - TONY/STUART - AWAYDAY - Xmas at The Ivy Canterbury. Christmas Jackets and Secret Santa.

   3. JAN - IAN/JOHN - PUB

   4. FEB - CHRIS/RAY - ENTERTAINMENT

   5. MAR - GRAHAM/RON - AWAYDAY

   6. APR - SOMEBODY - PUB

   7. MAY - STEVE/ANDY - ENTERTAINMENT

   8. JUN - BRIAN - AWAYDAY

   9. JUL - OWEN/HUGH - ENTETAINMENT

   10. AUG - BRIAN/LEN - PUB

   11. SEP - AGM - Montenegro, Riga, Lanzarote, Monaco, Lisbon, Berlin, Albania?

6. AGM OFFICER ELECTION: As in the previous two years a sigh of relief was sighed when OWEN agreed to another year as CHAIRMAN. His ability to cross the generations, ignore bullshit, calm Graham, organise top quality GASS lunch club events, and generally keep a lid on things is invaluable. RON very kindly agreed to keep cooking the books. Ron's ability to add up is invaluable. Most other Ron-related attributes are pretty shit. Timekeeping, organisation, ability to hold onto a passport, use of a GPS, and many more. But as GASS Chief Financial Officer he is indubitably top dog! BRIAN agreed in absentia to remain as CEO. Less siad about his abilities the better.

So on that note the meeting ended, below budget, and a good time had by all.