Rather than wait for a whole year for these to appear before the 2002 AGM, Pacemaker is publishing slightly abridged minutes of this year's meeting.

The minutes of the 2000 AGM were accepted as an accurate record by the 26 members attending the AGM and there were no matters arising.

The Secretary outlined the main activities of the year, noting that :

The previous season had got off to a flying start with two Try-O events (Whippendell Woods - Tony Grainger/Harry Goldingay and Verulamium - Jane Breed/Eric Brown), a Colour-coded event (Cassiobury Estate - Susie Hall/Pauline Goddard) and the Ashridge Badge event (Harry Goldingay, Hedley Calderbank and Alistair Lovegrove.) The Committee acknowledged the effort put into the mapping of Ashridge by Susan Marsden and Joan Miley. Although from February the Foot and Mouth outbreak led to the cancellation of virtually all orienteering events, a successful series of Street-O events [St Albans (David Saunders), Welwyn Garden City (Roger Moulding ), Harrow (Harry Goldingay ), North Watford (Eric Brown ), and Harpenden (John Currie)] culminated in a score event in Verulamium (Harry Goldingay/Eric Brown) as the grass returned.

Planning and organising for the National Event at Burnham and Egypt has continued through the year. The Committee has supported a request from the South East Junior Squad to organise a short race at Whippendell on the Saturday prior to the 2002 National Event as part of the Future Champions Cup. BOF has asked that the HHOC National Event 2002 should also contribute to the Masters Cup. Initial difficulties with English Nature and the identification of Burnham Beeches as an SSSI have now been resolved.

HHOC will provide a series of local events, using both new and existing areas, taking place on Saturdays starting in September. Helen Errington will co-ordinate the new series with Pauline Goddard "meeting and greeting" and generally assisting potential new members on the day.

Four of the maps produced through Millennium funding (Verulamium; Phasells Wood; Rothamstead; Chipperfield; Balls Park) have been delivered and the "end of award" letter received. Pauline Goddard and Susie Hall co-ordinated the publicity aspects for the new areas. Michael Currie was congratulated for the quality of the HHOC website, happyherts.org.uk.

Duncan Archer had organised a training event on Mardley Heath. The Committee agreed to fund to a level of £50 both Andrew Cummings on a First Aid course and Duncan Archer on a Coaching course. Kevin Parkes, Gerry Elliott and Harry Goldingay attended a Planners Course at Sherrardspark Wood and Susie Hall the Controllers Course.

The LOK/HHOC/CHIG consortium will administer the use of the SI Electronic punching equipment, setting up its own bank account to keep everything simple. The intricacies of charging policy have been agreed and the Committee acknowledged the efforts of David Saunders, Harry Goldingay and Jon Marsden.

The Treasurers Report noted that:

The successful events during the year and the club expenses being kept below budget had balanced the amount in the accounts allowed for equipment depreciation. As the depreciation of Club equipment is calculated over a four year period, it makes some of the Club costs seem rather high. Tony Miley asked if there was scope to increase the period to reflect the durability of much of the equipment.

Although income from subscriptions has decreased as HH has fewer members than last year, it has more than met club running costs. In view of this the Committee agreed that there would be no increase in subscriptions for 2001/02.

Tony Grainger noted that one way of reading the accounts might suggest that there was in excess of £11,000 in the bank, surely greater than needed for running costs and contingencies. It was explained that almost £5,000 of the quoted figure represented the Millennium grant money, already committed but not yet spent for mapping, printing and publicity. The remaining £6,000 represents HHOC working "cushion" and has remained virtually at the same level for some years. Others noted that for major events a considerable sum of money (£9,800 for a recent National Event) has to be laid out before the returns balance the outgoings. The "value" of maps in the balance sheet may be misleading as although marked as a significant asset they have no intrinsic value unless used. After some discussion it was agreed that the new Committee would consider ways in which some of the money might be invested in the running of the Club. The Treasurer proposed a vote of thanks to John Warburton for his continued support with the club accounts and the Report was accepted unanimously.

The Secretary noted that for several years the minimum requirement for 25 members had only just been met on the evening and, with the continuing slight decline in membership, this was likely to cause future difficulties. After discussion the proposal that clause 7e of the HHOC constitution would be amended to :"A quorum at the AGM and at any Club meeting shall be 20 members" was passed unanimously.

Three Working Group members were retiring having completed their 3 years tenure: Susie Hall (Publicity) Gerry Elliott (Fixtures) and Robin Barris (Club Captain). The Committee expressed thanks for their efforts during their tenure as Committee members. Three members (Jacob Sharpe, Helen Errington and Val Challacombe respectively) volunteered to stand for the positions. They were proposed en masse by Tony Grainger, seconded by Pauline Goddard and carried unanimously. For the remaining posts the existing officers were happy to continue. The Chairman expressed the Committee's thanks to Susan Marsden for her continuing indefatigable work as Membership Secretary, to David Saunders for maintaining the traditionally high standards of Pacemaker and to John Currie for his work with the Schools League.

The Farmer Trophy, awarded to the member considered to have improved the most over the year, was held over to the Annual Dinner as there had been little orienteering on which to make a judgement. The Harding Trophy, awarded to the member considered to have given the most outstanding contribution to the club, went to Michael Currie for his well received work on the Happy Herts website, happyherts.org.uk.

The Secretary reminded the meeting that the HHOC Annual Dinner will be held on Friday November 23 at Little Hay Golf Complex, Box Lane, Hemel Hempstead where the principal speaker will be the BOF Environment Officer, Doug Kennedy.

The meeting closed at 9pm.

[Thanks to Eric Brown for providing these abridged minutes]