NOTICE OF AGM AND COMMITTEE’S NOMINATIONS
Members are hereby notified that the Annual General Meeting will take place on
Tuesday 22nd November at 1800hrs at the AYC Event Centre.
Club’s Financial Accounts – When available from the auditor, members will be notified via email.
A provisional AGM agenda has been prepared and members have until ten days prior to the AGM to submit items for resolution at the AGM. The provisional agenda appears below. Circulation of this Agenda serves as a Notice of the date and time of the AGM in accordance with By-Law 26.
AGENDA FOR THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
- Adoption of the minutes of the last Annual General Meeting
- Reports of the Flag Officers
- Reports of the Committees elected by the membership
- Consideration and approval of the Club’s annual accounts
- Report of the Nomination Committee
- Nominations from the floor
- Election of the Board of Directors
- Appointment of Auditor
- Any Other Business
All 2022 and 2023 Annual Members and Life Full Voting and Life Honorary are entitled to vote. Life Overseas Members are entitled to observe.
View and Download – Proxy Voting Form Here
Special thanks to Richard Fear, Chairman of the Nominating Committee for his time and effort into producing the following report.
Nominating Committee Report
Nominating rules as per Byelaw 18.
- Submitted by the Nominating Committee not less than thirty (30) days before the AGM or;
- Submit to the Club Secretary in writing and signed by two (2) Full voting Members and the nominee any time up to forty-eight (48) hours before the Annual General Meeting or;
c. From the floor at the Annual General Meeting except that if the Member nominated is not present he or she should have previously signed a paper to the effect that he is willing to stand if he is nominated.
Dear AYC members.
Please see attached the nominations for the AYC Board of Officers and Directors for the forthcoming AGM. I would like to bring your attention to the following points:
All current officers and directors have indicated to me that they are willing to serve another year in post although some have expressed a desire to step down in the near future, including all of our Flag Officers. None of the current directors have any aspirations to become a Flag Officer.
Only two nominations were received from the membership.
Those members with whom we have had the opportunity to speak with in the past few weeks have expressed concerns at the length of time that some of the current officers and directors have served on the board, and a desire to re-energise the board with new, and ideally younger, blood.
There are two current vacant positions on the board, Treasurer, and Fleet Captain.
With that context the committee is pleased to nominate three new members to the board:
Treasurer – David Simpson.
David has recently moved to Antigua having previously spent time here supporting both the National Sailing Academy and the AYC with the Optimists championships. He is a retired Royal Air Force Officer with a good grounding in commerce and business. He is aware of the challenges facing the yacht club and is very willing to take on the role of Treasurer. His application for membership of the club is in process and so, with the Commodore’s blessing, we are asking the membership to make an exception to the bylaws that would normally require a membership period of 12 months before being nominated to the board.
Fleet Captain – Ciaran Browne.
Ciaran initially approached the committee to volunteer as Assistant Fleet Captain for 12 months to learn the ropes but has agreed to take on the position now on the understanding that he will be supported by Richard Archer, our previous Fleet Captain, and also Ashley Rhodes and Clare Cupples who are currently undertaking the role. He has a long racing pedigree in Ireland and his children are engaged in the AYC dinghy programme. He has good ideas on how to engage some of our younger members in the running of the club. To help him into the role the committee have requested that the board consider separating the racing/sailing part of this role from responsibilities for the AYC dock which is often a source of angst.
House and Grounds – Brad Esty.
Many of you will know Brad from his previous time on the board or through his estate agency business in Antigua. His is moving back onto the island and has offered his services to the club. He has a wealth of knowledge of the history to many of the issues that the club is currently facing and brings with him excellent commercial and legal acumen that will be an asset to the board. In consultation with our Commodore the committee feel that Brad would be best suited to the role of House and Grounds.
In part, due to health issues, Steve Spanis has agreed with the Nominating Committee to step down from the board and allow Brad Esty to stand unopposed. The committee would like to acknowledge and thank Steve for his many years of dedicated service to the AYC. He will continue to be involved with the club and we wish him well for the future.
Full list of nominations:
| Flag Officers: | In Post | Years on Board | Nomination |
| Commodore | Franklyn Braithwaite | 10 | Franklyn Braithwaite |
| Vice Commodore | Clare Cupples | 9 | Clare Cupples |
| Rear Commodore | Ashley Rhodes | 8 | Ashley Rhodes |
| Directors: | |||
| Club Secretary | Gillian Gobinet | 4 | Gillian Gobinet |
| Treasurer | Vacant | Nil | David Simpson |
| House and Grounds | Steven Spanis | 8 | Brad Esty |
| Social | Clarence Pilgrim | 1 | Clarence Pilgrim |
| At Large | Jonathan Layfield | 5 | Jonathan Layfield |
| Captains: | |||
| Fleet | Vacant | Nil | Ciaran Browne |
| Power Boat | Steven Carson | 7 | Steven Carson |
| Dinghy | Loraine Mitchell-Gaillard | 1 | Loraine Mitchell-Gaillard |
| Classics | Alexis Howard | 2 | Alexis Howard |
Richard Fear – Chairman Nominating Committee