A quick journey within Sussex (my home county) saw me arrive at Lancing to visit the group there. A small but stalwart band of members who were holding their 34th AGM (a significant achievement). Opening the proceedings was Chairman Gordon Gray, who was stepping down from the committee after 9 years service.

After a brief welcome, I had the opportunity to talk to the group for about 10-15 minutes about my work as avanti editor - giving me the opportunity to tell them about my travels throughout the UK during 2009 and also give them a bit more insight into how the magazine is produced.

The AGM business followed my talk during which time the new committee was elected. A break in proceedings followed allowing me the chance to chat to some of the members over a very nice cup of tea before the meeting was brought to an official close by the newly elected chair.

Lancing, like many of our groups around the country, have suffered as a result of the Data Protection Act's restrictive access to details of those coming up to retirement. One of the longer serving members who had lived in Lancing for over 40 years and worked for Revenue & Customs told me that in years gone by the hall had been filled to capacity for AGMs.

Still, considering that the attendance for last year's AGM was very low due to extreme weather, it was nice to see such a good turnout for this meeting.

With a busy programme ahead for 2010 (all but one of their speaker slots is filled), I hope that the Lancing Group succeed in attracting new membership to give their loyal and hardworking group much deserved support.

Report filed by avanti Editor David Tickner
For more pictures of the meeting visit the Photo Gallery section of the website