Back to Board Only page

TUESDAY 23 MAY 2006

Present:

Andrew Burt (chairman) Tony Beadle David Davies
Michael Edwards Julian Ghosh Tim Holt
David Hurley David Marsh Rosy Pugh
Mike Young

In attendance:
Geoff Smith (vice president) Ian Edmunds (CBQC) Jim Whyman (secretary)

1. Apologies for absence

Lord Montagu; Derek Grossmark; Jacqueline Bickerstaff; John Billard; Colin Francis; Sandy Hamilton; Peter Mead.

2. Approval of minutes of meeting of 21 March 2006

The chairman signed the minutes of the meeting of 21 March as accurate.

3. Matters Arising from previous meeting

3.3.5 Insurance
The secretary reported that the Willis insurance scheme was proving popular, although he had had some adverse comments about service levels, with slow response times and promised return calls not materialising. David Hurley commented that delays in brokerages were not uncommon, and suggested that a letter be sent to the director overseeing the scheme as he would probably be unaware of such problems. This was agreed and the secretary was asked to write accordingly. JW

3.3.8 Shows and Displays
David Davies commented that Jacqueline Bickerstaff had done sterling work at the Stafford Classic Bike show, ensuring FBHVC’s presence had been noted. He said it seemed as if attendance was down a little on previous years, but he remained certain there was value to FBHVC having a presence.

3.3.9 Power Point presentation
It was suggested that the Power Point presentation should be available on the FBHVC’s website – the secretary said he would investigate the possibilities. JW

4. Finance and Planning

A. Accounts for 2005/6; budget for 2006/7 and outline budget 2007/8
Prior to the meeting, Mike Young, Julian Ghosh, the chairman and the secretary had reviewed the budgets agreed in May 2005 against the likely results for the year. The preliminary budget for 2006/7 had been adjusted accordingly and an outline budget for 2007/8 had been created. Copies were handed to all present.

The secretary said there was a predicted surplus of between £13,000 and £15,000 on normal activity for the 2005/6 year, dropping to below £10,000 net after EU survey expenses had been taken out.

…/2

- 2 -

4. Finance and Planning (contd)

The original outline budget for 06/07 had had a target surplus of £5,000 on normal activity. The review reduced this to £3,200 in the light of the decision to allow travel expenses for attending committee meeting, despite also increasing the income target by £1,000. The only other significant adjustment was to increase the budget for the website at the expense of expenditure on postage, print & stationery as this latter had been consistently under spent. The intention was to make considerably better use of the website (which was already receiving over 80,000 hits a month) for communicating both with members and the public.

The outline budget for 2007/8 was broadly similar, and it was noted that both budgets showed an annual £1,000 increase in fees for secretarial services. The review team recommended an increase in the charges for FIVA ID cards from the present £70, discounted to £45 for members of subscriber clubs, to £80 and £55 respectively. The budgets were accepted as drafted and the increase in charges for ID cards agreed.
[agreed budgets appended].

B. Arrangements for Beaulieu; AGM and NEC show
It was agreed that FBHVC should have its usual stand at Beaulieu, and that the arrangements for the committee meeting and dinner should also be as usual, with committee members contributing towards the cost of the dinner. Members of the APPHVG and Lord Montagu would, as usual, be guests.
The secretary was asked to make the necessary arrangements. JW

It was agreed the AGM should take the usual form with a conference session in the afternoon majoring on the results of the survey. JW

After considerable discussion, it was agreed FBHVC should not take a stand at the NEC Classic Car Show this year due to the combination of a clash with the FIVA General Assembly and the cost of staging an acceptable presence. It was noted that there would probably be an opportunity for FBHVC to make a presentation on the results of the survey in conjunction with Classic and Sportscar magazine.

There was a brief general discussion about attendance at shows and raising FBHVC’s profile with ideas including a FBHVC “field day” in association with another event; attending the Historic Motor Sport show in February; and holding the AGM in conjunction with other activity. It was agreed this should be discussed further if a specific proposal was put forward. All

C. Revisions to Newsletter format
Rosy Pugh reminded the meeting that Royal Mail’s new “postage in proportion” rates would mean a 50% increase in the postage cost for the current 8 page A4 size newsletter, so it was clearly sense to move to A5, which would also give greater flexibility on page area. The opportunity had been taken to obtain quotations from printers who were able to include packing and despatch as part of their service.

A sheet showing the comparative prices had been handed round – the prices were very close, but one, the Lavenham Press, was already a trade supporter and had offered to take a full page advertisement in the newsletter at the usual rate. It was agreed further discussions should take place with Lavenham to refine the quotation with a view to them printing the August issue. Tony Beadle had produced a mock up of a potential A5 size cover design using the outer band of the FBHVC logo to frame a circular photograph. This was handed round and approved. RP; JW

D. Vision 2005-10 progress
A. Articles of Association and Organisation Rules
The previous meeting had accepted some recommendations arising from a preliminary review, but had asked the constitution review team to reconsider the proposal for an “operations team” and the requirements for representation. The result was a second paper putting forward the principle that the election cycle should be for three year periods and that the committee should nominate candidates for election to the key positions of Chairman, Deputy Chairman and Chairman of the Legislation Committee (it was noted that this was not intended to prevent other nominations). Remaining committee members would be nominated by subscriber clubs to represent one of a reduced list of six vehicle-based “constituencies”. The paper proposed specific responsibilities for the Deputy Chairman and concluded with two models, one with a board of ten, the other with the current 16.

…/3

- 3 -

4. Finance and Planning (contd)

The meeting discussed these proposals at length. Many were concerned at the imbalance of the proposed six categories while others considered them to be excessively broad. The point was made that specialist vehicle knowledge is more important for the legislation committee than it is for the board, the latter being concerned with the general management of the organisation rather than technicalities. David Hurley said that the legislation team already operated on the basis that it invited extra people with relevant knowledge or skills to attend meetings if a subject arose that was outside the usual team’s experience.

Mike Young was surprised that the second paper lacked any reference to the skills needed for the board: he felt these were more important than categories of vehicle, and it would be better to invite candidates for the job they would be expected to do.

Agreeing, Geoff Smith said he believed that the board should be no more than ten and should include more specific positions, such as director of communications and director for events. He said the new rules should place a responsibility on the board to ensure that the (appointed) legislation team comprised people with interests and knowledge spanning the full range of historic vehicles. No-one disagreed.

Summing up, the chairman said that the constitution review team would develop a further model for a board of ten with three year periods of office and with responsibility based positions. AB; JG; JBld; JW

B. Administrative Structure
Mike Young reported that a draft job description for the secretary had been prepared on the basis of the current secretary’s role, but this would need to be adjusted when the future constitution had been determined. Rosy Pugh said that job descriptions had been received from most of the committee. She and Mike had made a start on developing these into a uniform style, but felt it would be sense to await a decision on future constitution before doing much more. The chairman said that progress was being made on appointing shadows, and most key positions were now covered.

The final action under this heading was to plan for the appointment of a new secretary in 2008. The chairman said that the first step was to decide what form the future secretariat should take. Julian Ghosh said that VSCC had recognised the possible need for FBHVC to set up its own office and had authorised him to offer permanent office accommodation at their Chipping Norton HQ at a commercial rent. Those present thanked Julian and asked him to convey their appreciation to the VSCC committee.

The chairman said there were many factors to be considered: should FBHVC employ a secretary directly, or should it purchase a service as at present? Should the FBHVC address follow the secretary, or should FBHVC set up an office, perhaps at Chipping Norton, and put the secretary in it? It was agreed that a working group comprising the chairman, Julian Ghosh, Mike Young and John Billard should prepare a paper for discussion at the next meeting setting out the possibilities and analysing the benefits and disadvantages of direct employment against contract for service. AB; JG; JBld; MY

C. Exploit Heritage Aspects of Historic Vehicle Movement
The chairman said he, Geoff Smith and the secretary had accepted a lunch invitation from James Elliott, the editor of Classic and Sportscar, to consider what might be done to preserve (or at least provide recognition for) buildings that had a special significance for the transport industry. This suggestion chimed well with FBHVC’s stated intention to improve the heritage credentials of the historic vehicle movement and “heritage” would be the main issue for discussion at the next meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Historic Vehicle Group in June. There were many possibilities to discuss, not least the idea of linking Drive It Day with a national heritage day.

[There was no discussion on items D, E, F, I & J as all actions were in hand if not already completed.]
G. FIVA
The chairman said he was finding it extremely difficult to keep up with his commitments in FIVA, but he felt he had to try to do so because it was important for FBHVC to maintain representation on as many FIVA committees as possible. He said it was essential to find people who were willing to take on new responsibilities in FIVA to ensure there was a continuity of British representation, and as no one was coming forward through the committee structure, it was necessary to look elsewhere. After brief discussion, it was agreed the secretary should write to main contacts for the 50 largest clubs in the Federation explaining the problem and asking them to suggest suitable people who could be approached. JW
… /4

- 4 -

4. Finance and Planning (contd)

H. Communication and PR
The newsletter had already been discussed under item 4C. There was a brief discussion on how the services being offered on the FBHVC website might be expanded, with the secretary commenting that work was already in hand to improve the facilities for finding information, especially about clubs. Other thoughts included a forum (if the necessary monitoring could be provided) and a members’ only area where authorised people could access information that was not generally available to the public.

K. Resource, Succession and Contingency Planning
The secretary reminded the meeting that in February he had circulated a paper on Risk Management from a draft provided by Lyndon Shearman immediately after the management audit meeting. This had yet to be discussed. It was agreed that this should be on the agenda for the July meeting. JW

5. Drive It Day – the future

The Drive It Day idea had been well received throughout UK and had been widely supported by several classic vehicle magazines. Response had been dampened by poor weather in many parts, but overall the day could be judged a great success for the first effort.
The meeting considered whether future DID should stay with 23 April, or with the penultimate Sunday in April. This question had been posed on the website immediately after DID, and was being repeated in the June Newsletter. Response from the website (about 35 messages) had been unanimous in support of DID always being a Sunday. Tony Beadle was disappointed, as he had envisaged it always being 23 April, but he accepted that many would be reluctant to commute in historic vehicles, and there was a risk that encouraging heavy use of slow vehicles on a weekday could backfire on the historic vehicle movement. The date of the next Drive It Day was thus set for Sunday 22 April 2007.
Work to publicise the day and its purpose should begin as soon as practical. JW

6. Legislation

David Hurley said he had nothing to add to the minutes of the late April meeting that had been distributed in mid May. There were no questions.

7. FIVA Report

David Davies reported on a recent meeting of the FIVA Legislation Commission. Attendance had been disappointing with only 9 out of 22 invited national representatives attending. Apart from internal housekeeping matters, such as deciding to disseminate all information electronically, the meeting considered the latest position in respect of the driving licence directive (noting the difficulty for future riders of qualification to use the most powerful machines), environmental concerns and national issues.

There was no progress on how the drivers’ code might be published, or the form it might take but there was a presentation comparing the rules governing the use of historic commercial vehicles in 17 countries.

There was no decision on the definition of an historic vehicle, but there was broad agreement that a definition would include expressions such as historically correct, maintained in original condition, not in daily use, and historically important and aim to move to a threshold date of 30 years (from the present 25) within ten years. This matter was passed back to the technical commission for further progress.

The chairman said a definition was important if only because if there was none, legislators might choose to use the only one existing in EU law – and that was set at 50 years (for import duty considerations).

Tony Beadle said he was dismayed to see phrases like “historically correct”, “maintained in original condition” and “not in daily use” were being considered for part of a definition. “Historically correct” and “maintained in original condition” could be contradictory for a car modified for a particular purpose when it was nearly new, and much of the attraction of historic vehicles was tuning and improving them within their historic context. It would be dreadful if a vehicle that was “old” was denied historic status simply because someone had altered the carburation or changed wheel size or it was still in regular use.

…/5

- 5 -
8. FIVA economical survey

Geoff Smith reported on progress with the survey, and outlined the proposals for presenting the results in October. There was a brief discussion on the need for photographs and video footage for the report and associated presentation.

9. Other matters

None.

………….…………………………….. Chairman P H J Whyman, Secretary.