8th April 2023. This week saw the 2023 Annual General Meeting of the National Coastwatch Institution take place at the Union Jack Club in London with representatives from all 59 stations attending either in person or online.

After opening the meeting, General Secretary Phil Styles introduced NCI Chairman Clive Pouncey who welcomed everyone before giving an overview of of the year to date. This was followed by a short video produced by the cadets from NCI St Donats Bay. At this point National Treasurer Graeme Gordon took over and presented a detailed summary of accounts for the previous year and proposed that the annual capitation figure tor the coming year remain set at £27 per head. This was accepted by the meeting by a unanimous show of hands.

A resolution proposed by NCI Teignmouth was voted on and accepted by 56 votes to 6, before the meeting was addressed by NCI  patron Sir Christopher Coville who spoke of his pride in the work NCI does in the community. This was followed by the announcement of the appointment of new Trustees. As three Trustees were stepping down and there were two candidates for appointment, no vote was required and Helen Simpson and Gail Rendle wee duty appointed. Trustee Stephen Hand was also re-appointed to post.

The meeting then moved on to the annual Alan Richards Award. Four stations were nominated and Terri Richards was proud to present the award to NCI Worms Head for their outstanding efforts. At this point Clive Pouncey called Tim Colquhoun, Ian Whalley and Jonathan Rothwell to the stage as they were stepping down as Trustees. After a short speech, all three were presented with a tankard to mark their combined 21+ years as Trustees.

National Insurance Officer Paul Bennet then addressed the meeting to explain the benefits of a centralised National Insurance Policy, The AGM  was declared closed and broke for lunch. After lunch, Graeme Gordon gave a further presentation, this time focussing on the current financial situation, followed by a briefing on the Water Safety campaign delivered by Stephen Hand and Lesley Suddes. The afternoon session concluded with an open forum question and answer session before the meeting ended.

This is only a brief outline of the days activities and more details will be available from the minutes, which will be published shortly.