By kwin
August 9 2002

In the palatial - and surprisingly spacious! - surroundings of the Debenture Holders' Bar, Julian Easterbrook was this evening safely re-elected to the post Chairman of the Harlequins Supporters' Club by 19 votes to 11. At the same meeting The Professor was elected a member of the Committee.

About 35 people were present. with the attendance boosted by the excitement of an election.  We started formally enough: TMJ welcomed the attendees, the minutes and accounts were duly accepted and we heard a brief Chairman's introduction before turning the main business..

Election for Chairman

With Will unable to attend,  in his absence a committee member read out a prepared statement from him (which turned out to be none other than the manifesto published on CAW earlier this week) outlining some of his ideas.   Julian then took the floor, welcoming all the ideas expressed, and explaining the difficulties the committee had experienced before, when similar ideas had  been tried over his eight season stewardship.   However he remained committed to listening to new ideas and particularly welcomed the prospect of new members of the Committee who could be tasked with some of the proposals aired.

After a space for questions, the Chairman left the room while the ballot papers were collected. He returned to hear the result, thanking the members and pledging himself open to all the ideas and sentiments expressed from the floor.

Election for Committee Members

We then turned to the election for Committee, which surprisingly proved a tenser affair than that for Chairman. There were five candidates for three spots, with current committee members Warren Vokes,  Ray 'Mac' McCormac, and Mike James standing against wannabes Duncan Franklin and Louise Hopkins.    TMJ began by offering the two new candidates the opportunity to become co-opted members, without election, which caused a flurry of attempted questions from the floor. With several hands raised TMJ initially gave the floor to Grannygeezer, who was - somewhat controversially - prevented from raising a point of order by one of the candidates, who declared  -  from the floor -  that she was ineligible to speak, not having been a paid member at 31st July.  This 'ruling' being accepted by the Chairman.

In the event neither Duncan nor Louise were willing to be co-opted and the matter was put to the vote. Duncan, Louise, Ray and Warren had the opportunity to make statements to the floor before each member was asked to cast three votes.  After a brief count, Mac,  Warren, and Duncan were duly elected.  The Chairman immediately expressed his intention to propose that the committee co-opt the two losing candidates.

Any Other Business

The elections out of the way, we turned to Any Other Business. Some lively questions and answers, along with a great stock of old magazines, uncovered much interesting information including:  the name of our reclusive owner (Duncan Saville) as well as the plans for next seasons newsletter (it's going fortnightly) the number of car stickers in stock (lots), and what the Supporters' club is currently campaigning for (a message board in the East Stand, and a dedicated space in the new one, if and when it's built).

On the matter of the web, TMJ confirmed the importance of the Supporters' Club maintaining an active web presence, including - he requested  - a guest page on ComeAllWithin (which will of course be very welcome).

The meeting adjourned at about 9.00pm with all attendees staying behind to enjoy a pint or two of the well-kept London Pride that the Club keeps hidden below the bar for the benefit of Debenture Holders and VIPs.