Twelfth Annual General Meeting of the Tottington Woodlanders held in Small Dole Village Hall at 7.30p.m. on Wednesday 12th May, 2004.

1. There were 37 people present. Apologies for absence were received from Walter Ludlow and Alan Shaw.

2. The minutes of the previous AGM on 14th May, 2003 were read, approved and signed.

3. There were no matters arising.

4. Chairman's Report - lan welcomed all present and said that he was very happy with the work done in the woods this year. He invited everyone to enjoy the woods and called for volunteers to help with the work in the woods and at events, lan thanked all the committee members for their effort and in particular Chris and Jo Burchell Collins for all their support and hard work.

5. Treasurer's Report - Brian circulated a copy of the accounts to all present before the meeting. The current balance stands at £4,725.16 and the income over expenditure stands at £457.76. Current expenditure had included the purchase of a brush cutter. Insurance for 2003 had cost £256.15 and will be slightly more for 2004. Brian had also circulated a list of the items made for sale and the sale figures for these. Charcoal has done particularly well and a further bum will be carried out soon. Brian thanked Chris and Jo Burchell Collins on behalf of all the Tottington Woodlanders for all their hard work in making jewellery etc which again had sold well. The adoption of the accounts was proposed by Chris Burchell Collins and seconded by Phil Knight

6. Winter Work Programme - Malcolm circulated his report on the winter work programme for October to March and asked for more volunteers to carry out work in the woods.

7. Events Report - Chris reported on the events which take up most of the summer months in promoting the Woodlanders. Chris said that there are many invitations issued to the Woodlanders but we are only able to attend a few because of manning shortages. Chris and Jo Burchell Collins and Brian and Chris Stone are the mainstays of this very important work and Chris asked the members present to give of perhaps only a couple of hours which would ease the pressure for these shows etc and is in fact a very enjoyable time. Chris ran through the events for 2003 and then reported that we had a successful day at the Sussex Wild Life Plant Sale on 17th April at the Henfield Hall and Chris manned the stall on his own at Stanmer Park on 25th April, again this was a successful sales day. We hope to be present at the Small Dole Horticultural Sale on 15th May, at the Green Uving Fair at Tilgate Park on 23rd May, the WSCC Wildlife Fun Day on 20th June, the Amberiey Show on 5th September and the Apple Day at West Grinstead in October .The Christmas Wassail will be on 11th December.

8. Report from County - Geraldine Fewster, our Countryside Ranger, reported on her projects - Managing the Downs Link; Notable Road Verges which are home to rare flora; Moth, Bat and Otter projects and the Support Volunteer Groups. Geraldine thanked the Tottington Woodlanders for all their work on behalf of West Sussex County Council. Again she stated that volunteers are needed and she outlined the work that has been carried out in the woods on Fridays by the Volunteer Groups. She invited everyone to the Wild Life Fun Day on 20th June at the old station at West Grinstead and also to the Walk in Tottington Woods at 8.45p.m. on 17th June. She then introduced the new Exploring West Sussex Walks leaflet and invited everyone to buy and make use of them.

9. Election of Executive Committee - All the existing committee members with the exception of Alan Shaw, Judith Goodinge and Jo Burchell Collins were prepared to stand again, lan gave grateful thanks to Alan, Judith and Jo for all their hard work on the Committee. A new Committee member was introduced - Mark Schofield - he was proposed by lan Betts and seconded by Chris Burchell Collins. The proposed Executive Committee was then put forward by Francis Gilbert and seconded by Eileen Betts. All present found in favour.

10. Appointment of Auditor - Brian Stone proposed Frank Whitehead and this was seconded by Malcolm Knight.

11. Any other Business - lan thanked all the Tottington Woodlanders for their support and made mention of the problem with dog fouling in the woods and of several botanical surveys which will be taking place for which volunteers are needed. There has been a change in the editing and printing of the Newsletter - this work is now undertaken by Peter and Daphne Turner for which we are very grateful.

12. There being no further business the meeting closed at 8.20p.m. Refreshments were followed by a talk and slide show entitled "Up the Downs and Down the River" by Keith Noble from the R.S.P.B.