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est. 1992

website est. 1996

• AGM A reminder the January meeting is our AGM. Currently all the current organisers are standing for re-election. However, if you wish to become involved, please step forward. We have a long-term vacancy (Group Secretary), currently covered by our Recorder, Andy Hirst and Lyn Facer, our Membership Secretary has indicated she would like to step down at the end of 2023. We are always looking for help towards the running of the group, and not necessarily in an official role, more ad-hoc help is also welcome, so any time you can offer to the group would be greatly appreciated.

• Subscriptions January is also the month when subscriptions are due. Following an organisers meeting last Wednesday and despite rising costs, (mostly speakers fees), it was decided to keep subscriptions and on the door charges at the same level for 2023. However, attendances at indoor meetings have dwindled recently, which is a shame because we have had some first-rate speakers recently. Make the most of your annual subscription and come along to the Loyal Trooper. As well as top notch speakers you can have a drink. The upstairs meeting room is warm and comfortable and makes an ideal venue. It also means with more attendees we can offset the speaker's costs which have increased sharply in recent years.

• Indoor Meetings Speaking of which, following a few hiccups recently with the Loyal Trooper booking system (or lack thereof), it was decided to change our indoor meetings to the LAST TUESDAY, instead of the LAST WEDNESDAY. We've held our indoor meetings on the last Wednesday since our inception 30 years ago, however conflicts with the newly created pool team, who drink far more beer than us, have been given priority of the room. Alternative venues were looked into, but it's financially beneficial to the group, and to stretch our income further, it was fiscally and simpler to change our meeting day. SO, FROM OUR JANUARY MEETING ONWARDS, INDOOR MEETINGS WILL BE HELD ON THE LAST TUESDAY OF THE MONTH. We hope we don't lose any members who cannot make Tuesdays, but conversely, we hope to gain a few attendees who previously couldn't make Wednesdays. Our Speakers Organisers will be contacting all the speakers and rebooking them for the last Tuesday slots. If you are a guest speaker, already booked for 2023, Janet & Michael will be contacting you shortly to rebook. Please note however our 2 monthly Organisers meetings will still be held on the Wednesday before the indoor meeting.

• Membership We are always open to new members. As highlighted above, we have noticed a dip in attendances at indoor meetings, and we are acutely aware we have an ageing membership. New blood is always welcome. To this end we have car stickers available to group members, to help promote the group when you are driving around. To get yours contact our Recorder. We did have 500 leaflets printed, but since we changed the day of our indoor meetings to Tuesdays, these are now obsolete. We will probably have amended leaflets printed in the near future. Our costs are set- speakers fees, insurance, running costs etc... Therefore it would be great to spread these costs amongst a greater membership, thus making members subscriptions go further. If you have a local friend or neighbour who has even a slight interest in birds or the local environment, why not bring them along to the next meeting.

• 1992 to 2022- 30 Years of SK58 Birders 2023 is our 30th year. We've no firm plans yet to celebrate, but at our November meeting (30 years almost to the day), those who attended were treated to cakes and buns, courtesy of Janet Gray & Lyn Facer. Thanks to both for their excellent baking- can we have these at every meeting (ed)? One thing we would like to do, maybe in the spring, is have all the past and present chairpersons gather for a 30th anniversary photo; 1992-1997-Rob Hardcastle, 1997-2002- Andy Hirst, 2003-2016- Mick Clay & 2017 - on, Paul Tennyson.

• Records As we approach a new year, can we remind everyone to submit their records ASAP, so they can be entered and reviewed. Don't forget, we have our own Access Database and Monthly Excel Recording sheet. This makes entering your records simpler as we can simply copy + paste rather than re-type. The Recording sheet is available here to download. If you wish to have copy of the database to enter your own records see our recorder.