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      It was noted once again that some members are failing to sign in when they attend these meetings. Signing in is important for both insurance purposes and club membership continuation.

The treasurer reported that funds are in a good state, both the charity and club funds.

Rallies:-   The chairman stated that the club would not be attending the Brighton rally at Possingworth this year, but we were still looking for a rally to attend as a club with mini-bus provided in the usual way.

Members might be interested in the following Rotary Club rally, although it was thought that the distance was too great for club  attendance.

The future of FID.

                     Information from Central Searchers suggests that they are continuing to look into taking over the FID organisation, including the provision of insurance and will have things sorted before the end of the year.

                      Our FLO Katie Hinds was in attendance at the meeting although finds were few. Katie will next be at out September meeting ( Wednesday 10th September 2014. )

                        The club was asked to do a search for a lost wristwatch and one of our members arranged a visit to do a search, but the watch was found by the owner ( eyes only ) prior to the search. However, the owner of the watch was grateful for the offer to search and sent a £20 donation the the Rosemary Foundation. Our thanks to the member who was prepared to do the search.

       Christmas may seem a long way off, but we do need to book early for our Christmas Dinner, so please think about whether you will be attending, where you would like the event to be held etc. and let the club know by the August meeting, - either at the meeting or by emailing me.  Thanks.

     Next meeting will be on the 13th August 2014.

Chairman's opening remarks:-

Once again members are reminded that all must sign in when attending the meetings. Both the club attendance sheet and the RNA club book must be signed.

The Brighton rally this year will be at Possingworth and will be held on the 7th of September.  The rally will be in the same area as for the 2011 rally and the same facilities provided. See the Notice Board of this website for details. The club has been promised tickets at the pre-booked rate of £13-50. The club may be running a minibus if sufficient interest is shown by members, although we are still looking for other rallies to attend this year. There is the possibility of a rally in Wiltshire, although final details have yet to be sorted.

   Between now and the next meeting there is just one Sunday without a dig. Farms are available for the remaining three Sundays, - see the digs list on the Members Only page as usual.

Please note, - Our FLO Katie Hinds plans to be at the July meeting, so bring along all those finds for identification/recording. 

A club member expressed his thanks for the £50 donation to the Rocky Rollers charity event and reported that about £1000 in total had been raised.

The raffle held at each meeting continues to bring in a good income for the club. Please note that members are expected to purchase at least one ticket as their contributions to club funds. And, - did you know that there will be two free raffle tickets available at the July meeting  to the first three members who email me with their name and  membership number with the subject 'Raffle Tickets'. Just send your email to me and claim your tickets from me at the July meeting.

All members, - please leave the meeting room tidy when you depart, i.e.  all unused raffle tickets removed, all glasses returned to the bar and please do not leave any rubbish. Thank you for your cooperation.

Next meeting will be on the 9th July 2014 at the usual venue.

Members were reminded that our FLO's next visit would be at the July meeting.

Members should note that some of the farm maps have been amended and members should,  before their next visit to any of the farms, check the maps on this web site to be sure of which fields are available

At this time of year few farms are available for detecting. The only one available between now and the next meeting would be on the 8th of June.

There have been complaint from the farms that holes dug by detectorists are not being filled. The following note has been placed on the dig list for this month and members should read and take note. It is, after all, just common sense and courtesy so ignorance of the rules is no excuse. 

 Please note:-   The club has received complaints from farms that holes are being left with no attempt being made to fill them. By joining the club, members agree to obey the club rules. Rule 7 states that 'Members must abide by the Site Rules and the Country Code as specified in the booklet supplied to all members.'

 Rule 7 of the 'Site rules' contained in the booklet states, - 'Holes must be filled in and firmed down and smoothed over at all times. This is again in every member's interest as sites may be lost if this procedure is not followed in a conscientious manner.'

 The 'Country Code' as included in the booklet states, - 'Do not leave a mess behind you when you have finished digging. It is very simple to extract a coin or other small object from the ground without making a large hole. Replace the turf or soil cleanly.'

 In addition, the FID 'code of conduct', part 5, says -  ' Fill all holes, even on ploughed land or beaches. Never leave a mess or damage grass, a sharp trowel will cut a neat plug and once replaced and firmed in, the find spot will be almost invisible.'

 It could not be clearer. By accepting membership of the club you have agreed to fill in any holes you dig and, as far as possible, return the soil to its former state, leaving as little trace of you activities as possible. If  this is not done we may lose the land on which we have the privilege and permission to search.

 The club presented a cheque for £50 to one of our members as a donation to the chosen charities for which the 'Rocky Rollers' were doing a sponsored mobility scooter run.

The treasurer reported that club funds were in a healthy state and the charity fund will hopefully provide a second donation of £500 to the Rosemary Foundation this year.

    The Chairman reported that on Saturday the 5th of April 2014, five members of the club committee attended the Rosemary Foundation Easter Craft Fayre at East Meon village hall and presented a cheque for £500 as a donation to the Foundation. Photos of the presentation have been sent to the Foundation  and hopefully one may be published in the Foundation newsletter. The Foundation was, once again, reminded that if they could make land available to the club, then it would be a further source of income to them by way of donations from the club.

      As most farms have seeded their fields and the lambing season is under way, there are fewer farms available for detecting. Although there is only one week with no farm on the list between now and the next meeting, next month will see a shortage of land to detect.

One member reported that there was the possibility of a rally at the end of September.

The FLO attended the meeting and was kept busy with finds.

Club monthly meeting, 12th March 2014.   This meeting was attended by 32 members and 1 guest.

New members were welcomed to the club. The chairman stated that the club now has the maximum of 50 members as permitted by the rules. No more new members would be considered until the end of 2014, and then only if some vacancies had been created. New members would then be by referral and would need to be proposed and seconded by existing members before acceptance.

A note to members, - a hand trowel has been found on one of our farms. Contact the club if you think it is yours,

The news of FID is that it will be taken over by Central Searchers. The following details are all that is known so far.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Announcement from Central Searchers, re. FID takeover.

FID ANNOUNCEMENT TO FID MEMBERS. March 2014.

      As most of you are aware Colin Hanson passed away in late January. At the time we decided to look into offering an alternative 3rd party liability insurance so there was a choice of groups to go with. Out of politeness and etiquette we contacted Colin's family, with various discussions over the past month. We have taken over FID itself with the family's blessing.

     At present the whole system is on a card file index so there is a lot of work to transfer data onto a database, so please understand we have lots to do so please have patience with us if you have outstanding payments for renewal etc. we will deal with them ASAP.

     You were informed by Elaine that you will be covered until the end of this year, which is still the case, this will give us enough time too sort things, change  all the stationary with all the new details, etc. for now we will adapt what we have.

     For this year you will not receive any bulletins, these will start again in 2015 if all goes to plan. We did not take over any finances from Colin and his family, all that is left in the account will be donated to cancer research as requested by Colin, so we are starting completely from scratch financing things ourselves. 

    We will be having a dedicated phone line installed the number is yet to be issued, you can get us on mobile number 07944 464822 or email fid.cs@virginmedia.com. This is so that it separates it from our home life and Central Searchers.  

At Elaine's request do not contact her any more regarding FID all enquiries to us. 

CSFID

27, Webb Road

RAUNDS

Wellingborough

Northants

NN9 6HH 

Kind regards Richard and Gill Evans.

 _________________________________________________________________________________________________

Once again members are reminded that they must sign in when attending the monthly meeting. Both the Solent MDC club sheet and the RNA club book must be signed.

Our club charity funds are in a healthy state and it is proposed that we make a donation to the Rosemary Foundation at their Easter Craft Fair at East Meon on Saturday 5th of April 2014.

One of our members would like some information on the effectiveness of the long narrow   ( foot ? ) search coils that are available  - for example. :-The Tesoro CleanSweep Search Coil - This Tesoro Coil measures 18 inches long, 3.6 inches wide (with scuff) and weighs in at 1.8 pounds. The CleanSweep's sensitivity is consistent from toe to heel and is designed to cover a large area quickly. Depth figures range between a 4" coil and a 7" coil. comes complete with lower rod and coil cover

Anyone with knowledge/experience of this type of coil, please pass it on the members. 

      The raffle continues to provide income for the club. The annual membership fee and the raffle income are the only source of funds for  the club. All other income, for example, the dig fees, are put in the charity account. While on the subject of the raffle, don't forget to bring in those unwanted items to donate as prizes. Old detecting magazines are welcome, especially as we have new members, some of whom have only just started on this interesting hobby of metal detecting.  

   There were an unusual number of interesting finds this month. The remainder the meeting was devoted to discussion of these finds. Members are reminded that Katie Hinds, our FLO, will be at the April meeting.

    It has been pointed out that the Guestbook/Forum pages of our website are not used by members so I will attempt to make these more  comprehensive and user friendly, and look forward to your contributions.

The following letter has been received by our FID members.

  The FID insurance will be valid until the end of the year, but after that we will need to obtain alternative insurance for our individual metal detecting activities. One way would be for members to join NCMD. This would keep us in line with the club rules. The club will advise when the situation with FID becomes clear.

    Our own insurance to cover Public Liability for all other club activities is now in place and cover commenced on the 31st January of this year. members were invited to inspect the documentation for this insurance.

     Information on the 18th Rotary Spring Metal Detecting Rally were presented. This can be seen on our Notice Board web page.

    Members were informed about a useful website, - www.gridreferencefinder.com

   Please note, our FLO will next visit the club at our April meeting.

The Annual General Meeting:-

No apologies for absence were received.

Chairman's report,- The chairman welcomed the new members. Some of the main events of 2013 were, A new FLO ( Katie Hinds ) started with us at the beginning of the year, the Brighton Club rally at Scallow bridge,-  a talk by Hampshire constabulary on 'Crime in the countryside', with special reference to ,'Nighthawking', and the Christmas dinner at the Staunton Arms Harvester. There were two charity donation made this year, £100 to the Royal Naval Association Club and £500 to the Rosemary Foundation.   The committee have re-written the club rules, with special reference to,- taking on new members and obtaining public liability insurance for the club. These revised rules will be put before the membership at this AGM.

Treasurer's report. The treasurer presented the end of year balance sheet and stated that the funds were in good order, although there was some way to go before we had enough in the charity account to present another donation of £500 to the Rosemary Foundation.

Election of the committee.

The committee will now include a Vice Chairman and so will be composed of,-

     Chairman

     Vice Chairman

     Treasurer

     Secretary

     Farms Liaison member

     Committee member 6

   The existing committee were re-elected to serve during 2014, with Committee member 5 becoming Vice Chairman.

Changes to the club rules.

The new propose new club rules were presented to the membership and accepted by majority vote with no objections received. The new rules are now published on the Solentmdc.com Website.  The main changes to the rules are,-

             -  a return to the former method of recruiting new members by referral by existing members and all new members to be proposed and seconded by other existing members. Also, the area from which the club accepts members is defined as an area of radius 20 miles of Waterlooville. 

             -  the committee must arrange and maintain club insurance to cover public liability for club activities.

             -  members must attend a minimum of 4 monthly meetings, during the year, in order to qualify for their membership continuation in the following year.

                -   The information to be displayed on membership cards defined and membership cards to be dated for the year in which they are valid.

           Any Other Business

    In order to comply with club rules and to be covered by club insurance, three permanent club guests will need to be made honorary club members.

   There being no further business raised, the formal business of the AGM was concluded.

   The Finds Liaison Officer, Katie Hinds, was at the meeting to advise and record member's finds.

    At the end of the year there were 12 vacancies for membership, so 12 new members were recruited from the waiting list. Therefore the club has it's full complement of 50 members and will not be considering any more new members for 2014.

    The monthly raffle continues to bring in funds for the club and members are reminded that, apart from our membership fee for the year, this is our only source of income for the club.

    Important notice for members,-   Katie Hinds our FLO will not be at our March meeting. Her next visit will be at our April meeting.