Important information about next weeks BCA AGM

Badlad

Administrator
Staff member
Dear all

Those who are interested in the BCA AGM might have noticed a number of proposals in my name and wondered just what I was up to.  Unfortunately, the explanation which accompanied these proposals was not included on the agenda.  So I offer it here,

The fact is these proposals to change the BCA constitution are not mine.  They were thoughtfully drafted by the ex BCA secretary, Matt Ewles, as part of the modernisation platform he was elected on.  Unfortunately, the awful experiences he endured in the BCA forced him (and others) to resign and his modernising proposals resigned with him. 

I felt that since modernisation is clearly desired by the membership these proposals should still go forward.  So with Matt?s permission I put them forward in my name.  I hope that as a legacy to Matt?s short lived efforts in BCA members will support them at next Sunday?s ?zoom? AGM.  There is now a number of new volunteers in place on BCA council and a better spirit of change forecast for the future.

Under the new chairman a working group has already been established to review the whole of the BCA constitution but this is likely to take some time to reach a consensus agreement and take it forward to implementation.  Just as two and a half years ago the BCA AGM established a vision and constitutional reform group, this is still to tackle reform and has anyway been superseded by the new group.  It is therefore likely to be a much longer process than imagined.

Some proposals placed before next week?s AGM have been withdrawn in favour of consideration by the new working group.  My, (Matt?s), proposals are going to remain on the agenda not least because, if they are passed, they will reduce the cumbersome constitution by 20%.  The fate of these proposals will also act as a key indicator for the new group as to how far they might go with reform ? a weathervane if you like.

To my mind there is nothing controversial in these proposals and I hope that those attending the AGM will put them through to a full membership vote.

Thank you
Tim Allen


Information on attending the AGM can be found on this thread
https://ukcaving.com/board/index.php?topic=27002.0
 

Ian Ball

Well-known member
The Agm is something I might watch on the fb livestream Im not doing something else, I won't take up a talking spot as I currently don't have anything to say.

Would it be possible to add the agm as an event on fb so I can be reminded about it, I'm not a big fb user so I'm not sure what is possible.
 

Cavematt

Well-known member
I'm really pleased Tim has chosen to push on with the proposals I originally drafted when I was BCA Secretary. Getting the BCA's constitution simplified and made more modern is really important if the organisation is to become relevant for the future of British Caving. Simplifying the working of the BCA is essential to make the life of volunteers easier.

The more lengthy proposal (about the future direction of the BCA with respect to membership and infrastructure, page 12-14 of the agenda) represented my long term vision for the organisation and what I was hoping to work towards over the coming two years. After standing down, I didn't really feel it was my place to continue to push this personally, but it is still what I believe is right. It would be interesting to hear the thoughts of others on this, and I look forward to seeing opinions expressed at the AGM.

The AGM agenda and all proposals can be found here:
https://british-caving.org.uk/wiki3/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=about:documents:general_meetings:2020_agm_agenda.pdf

I am surprised that we are less than a week from the AGM, yet no email seems to have gone out to members, despite the BCA holding email addresses for about 2/3 of its membership (all clubs, and about ~4000 individuals I think) and having campaigned hard for years to get members to give their email addresses for exactly this purpose. Hopefully this will be rectified this week. It would be a shame for people to miss the chance to participate because they didn't spot it on Facebook/UKCaving.

The BCA still has the opportunity to turn itself around and become the national body we can all be proud of. The key antagonists have now left the organisation (I guess I should include myself in that). In particular, those who were most active in blocking change and undermining anyone seeking it, are no longer involved. Therefore, some of the biggest barriers to change are now gone. The enthusiastic volunteers who remain are now free to think ambitiously, and deliver the changes the BCA needs without barriers and bureaucracy being thrown in their way.

With live-streaming of the meeting available for the first time, I'd urge as many cavers as possible to watch the event from the comfort of home (or take a speaking position if any remain), see what is going on, and to discuss the various proposals and future directions that are on the table. This is especially important as I believe online voting is going to be opened immediately after the meeting and only until the end of the month, so there will be limited time to discuss and debate these things after the meeting before voting closes. All proposals achieving support at the meeting will progress to a membership ballot.

Details about how to join are here (and have already been circulated by the BCA in a separate topic):
https://british-caving.org.uk/wiki3/doku.php?id=bca_agm_2020

Fingers crossed for a positive, forward looking and enjoyable AGM  ;)
 

Madphil

New member
Matt,

Thanks for the Heads Up (again), we are actually about to do what you request and release an email to the members, but we are having an Exec meeting tonight to finalise a few things with IT etc so that we are happy everything is in order etc.  It has been quite alot of effort from all sides (especially considering we are volenteers), but hopefully it is coming together now. We are learning a lot of lessons that we hopefully will impliment for the 2021 AGM, which organisational wise should be a less rushed affair and more slick affair.

Getting our membership notified and more involved is key, and I know you were keen to correct this process. I too understand the importance of this and we have plans in place to hopefully push this further as only having 4000 contact addresses out of a membership of over 6000 is not really good enough, so this too is work in progress.

Thanks again for the heads up

Phil
Acting BCA Chair
 
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