I thought it helpful to give you a brief summary of the outcome of the EGM as well as my personal view of the meeting.
Guy Prest chaired the meeting with all but one member of the BE Board present. There were approximately 130 members present, out of the 107 signatories who called for the meeting, 4 were in attendance. The members in attendance voted and in addition there were a number of proxy votes cast on behalf of those who were unable to attend.
Two motions of no confidence were put forward, one in the Chairman and the other in the Chief Executive.
The results were as follows:
Motion of no confidence in the Chairman:
For: 102
Against: 161
Motion of no confidence in the CEO:
For: 148
Against: 155
Therefore, neither motion was passed.
There were a number of items raised which would have been more suited to an AGM; the IT project, Osborne House, Commercial and Marketing Strategy, the under 18 Chair to name but a few. In the event none of these were discussed at any great length and certainly not to any degree as the Chairman directed that there would be an opportunity to raise these points at the AGM on the 4th November 2018.
However, it is evident that there are some deep concerns within the membership on a wide variety of issues. At times it is felt that the BE Board are not listening and addressing these concerns. The key points of communication, transparency and engagement are all areas that were raised. When summing up the Chair promised that this would improve and I believe this was generally a positive outcome from the meeting.
t was noted that going forward the AGM is the correct sounding board for members to raise questions and get answers, so I urge as many of you as possible to attend the AGM. We re being encouraged to send any questions to Wendy McGowan company.secretary@britisheventing.com in advance of the meeting.
As a separate issue I would just like to reinforce the point that the EHOA is here to represent you on a wide range of issues and on a number of different boards in the sport. In particular I would like to remind you that Mark Corbett represents the EHOA on the BE Sports Committee, this sits a number of times a year, so if there are an points or issues you wish to raise during the year then please contact Mark rawlinsfarm@me.com direct who will raise your points with the committee.
Cathy Butler
Chairman