Dear Members
For those of you who did not attend in person, the outcome of the Special General Meeting held on Thursday 11 July 2013 was, in short, that a motion was proposed and passed by a majority of those present to the effect that the SGM be adjourned sine die in order to enable the Committee and the President to try to resolve their differences, including by way of a thorough revision of the current Constitution that would, inter alia, clarify the role of the President; arrangements for his or her appointment; term of office, etc. It was also resolved that the proposed vote would be abandoned, and that those already submitted would not be counted.
Although many different views were expressed in a lively and stimulating discussion, it seems the majority of those present did not wish to have to choose between the Committee and the President, and requested instead that the possibility of a compromise be explored further. I am aware that this view is shared by some members who sent me their comments and views by email.
In these circumstances we are now considering how best to move matters forward. This is unlikely to be straightforward; will take time and will certainly not be resolved before the AGM.
I would like once again to thank all members who attended the meeting and the very many (c. 360) members who provided their comments and views by email or other means: as the Committee has stressed previously, we consider it extremely important to give all members the opportunity to have their say on these important issues, and we regret that it was not eventually possible for members’ votes to be recorded on this occasion.
Emmanuelle Waters, who deserves our thanks for conducting the count diligently and meticulously, estimates that on her unaudited count, the ratio of votes in favour of the Committee (Option 1) to those against (Option 2) was approximately 9:1, with a small number of abstentions.
I am very sorry that Andrea Buchanan has decided to resign from the Committee, for reasons which she has communicated separately. I personally regret this greatly, as do all my fellow Committee members. She will leave a huge gap that we will not easily fill.
All the very best
Richard Miles
Chairman
