Louisa Miller -- Diploma SabreLiam Harrington -- Diploma Sabre

Chris Eastham -- Advanced Foil

BAF Annual General Meeting

The 2008 BAF AGM was held on Saturday, 10 January.

AGM 2009

This year's AGM was held at the Holiday Inn, Great Barr, Birmingham. After the disappointing service at the Falstaff Hotel last year, the decision was made to find a new venue for this year's event. Members' Rep Liam Harrington was given the task of doing so and I am sure I speak for all when I say that he did a very good job. I was most gratified at the number of positive comments I received about everything from the quality of the meals to the comfort of the rooms.

A major benefit of the hotel was its excellent location and it was easy and hassle-free to get to. As it is a hotel accustomed to catering for business meetings, we were provided with good facilities for the AGM and everything went smoothly in that respect. In general, it was a fairly quiet meeting.

Resignation of Andy Vincent
Sadly, Andy Vincent chose, for personal reasons, not to continue in the post of Treasurer. His contribution has been immeasurable and he will be sorely missed. There was a unanimous vote of thanks for all he has done for the Academy in the past.

The AGM elected to the committee as follows:
Vice Presidents: Mike Joseph and Tom Etchells
Secretary: Bob Merry
Assistant Sec: Dave Jerry
Members Rep: Liam Harrington
Committee Member: Jackie Redikin

Diamond Swords
The meeting was concluded with a presentation by David Austin and Andy Wilkinson on the progress of arrangements for the BAF Diamond Jubilee celebrations. More information on this will be published in future Academy News and on the website. It promises to be an event to look forward to.

Facilities and Dinner
At the conclusion of the meeting, I made it my business to make a thorough trial of the hotel's sport and spa facilities, which include an indoor swimming pool, sauna and steam room and I can highly recommend them all. The spa also offers an extensive variety of health and beauty treatments, though at least one participant was disappointed to find that these needed to be booked in advance.

In the evening, the meeting room was rearranged as a dining room and an excellent dinner was served. I feel that everyone enjoyed this greatly and appreciated the relaxed atmosphere of having our own room, rather than being in a corner of a larger restaurant. The evening was rounded off in the very comfortable bar and a larger proportion of participants than usual enjoyed the more sociable aspect of the AGM.

I cannot deny that I was disappointed with the relatively low turnout for the AGM and Dinner this year. I hope that the success of this year's arrangements will be repeated next year and lead to a greater number of our members coming to take part. Thanks once more to Liam for all his work in organising the hotel and I look forward to next year's AGM being even more of a success.

Steve Morley -- Advanced FoilJohn Worsley -- Advanced Foil