SUMMARY OF HUST AGM ON 17TH NOVEMBER 2024
The HUST AGM was held in the Main Hall of the Richmond Place Club and had a good attendance.
Club Chairman’s Presentation
Ahead of the main meeting, Chris Ammonds, HFC Chairman, ran through some slides on Club financial performance.
HUST Chairman’s Address
Richard Tomkins summarised some highlights of the past 12 months.
- Edgar Street was again confirmed as an Asset of Community Value by the County council in March 2024. This runs for 5 years and was a timely reminder given the redevelopment of the Blackfriars Street End.
- The Fan Led Review of Football has resulted in a Football Governance Bill proposing a Football Regulator for the top 5 divisions. National League North and South are outside this scope, but we need to be prepared.
- HUST 50/50 Match Day Draw and Golden Goal raised profits of £28,767 paid into the Club. It’s all treated as donations and is VAT free.
- We hold supplementary funds and are looking to support infrastructure projects that will benefit the fans.
- Richard thanked our HUST Nominated Directors, reminding the meeting that Joanie Roberts had also been elected to the National League Board, representing National League North clubs.
- He also thanked the HUST Board and other members who do stalwart work for us outside the HUST Board. All told, another significant year’s work.
HUST Board 2024-25
This will comprise: Justin Ratcliffe, Gerry Harrison, Richard Tomkins, Tony Taylor, Mike Langford, Joanie Roberts and Matthew Rowe. Independent secretaries are Sarah Hudd (Membership) and Nick Frith (Governance).
HUST Accounts
- Tony Taylor presented some slides on the Accounts in addition to the full Accounts Pack. An operating surplus of £37,807 was achieved. The accounts were approved.
- The meeting resolved to conduct an Independent Inspection of next year’s accounts, as opposed to a full audit. This is customary for smaller institutes and saves a lot of money on fees.
- The meeting resolved to permit the HUST Board to allocate surplus funds as it deems fit. There was a discussion on allocation if there was a future HFC share issue.
Adoption of FSA Model Rules for a Supporters’ Trust 2022
Members resolved to adopt the ‘new FSA rules’ by the required margin. (For 191 Against 2 Abstain 39). This brings us up to date, as previously we’ve been running on the old Supporters’ Direct rules. It’s a like for like adoption.
Hereford FC Name Change
After presentations and debate, members resolved by the required margin to direct the HUST Board to call an HFC General Meeting to consider changing the name of the football team to Hereford United. (For 171 Against 41 Abstain 18)
Hereford FC Name Change Funds
Members resolved that HUST should act as custodian of ‘Name Change Funds’. (For 184 Against 23 Abstain 22)
HUST Chairman thanked attendees and proxy voters. The meeting was then closed.