CHAIRMAN'S REPORT

Firstly, a big thank you to all those of you who voted at the AGM and for your overwhelming support for the Board of Directors and the proposals put to you at this meeting. Special thanks to Howard & Debbie Davies for organising the venue and also for organising the Annual Dance, which was a great success. A big thank you to Kevin Holden and Trevor Stevens, who both retired from their respective positions at the AGM, for all the sterling work they have both put in over their many years association with the ACWS. I wish you both a relaxed and enjoyable retirement. That means a big welcome to Val Holt to the position of Communications Director and to Bill Brown to the position of Commanding Officer Confederate Forces. Please help them out in their new positions as they find their feet and stamp their own mark on the jobs.

As I stated in my AGM Chairman's Report, I am genuinely more optimistic about the number of events which we will have in 2008. We already have six confirmed events with others still under negotiations, plus a few possible regimentals as well. I am sure the dearth of events in 2007 and the appalling weather had a lot to do with the reduced number of members. I am hopeful that we can now start to build back numbers to match the number and quality of events for 2008. So please encourage all those you know who did not rejoin in 2007 to rejoin for 2008 and pass on the event dates to them. You will always find an up-to-date list of events on the ACWS Web Site to which I would recommend you direct lapsed members and friends to view the Events Calendar.

On the Web front, I have set up a new Web Forum with greater functionality, features, and controls than the existing one. The old one at EZBoard had an annual subscription charge, but the new one is completely free (with no adverts either). You can find it at http://acws.freeforums.org.

A big apology to everyone regarding the non-appearance of the annual ACWS photographic competition for 2007. This is purely and simply due to not having enough spare time to manage the competition. However, if you have not already entered you have until March 1st 2008 to send your entries in. All photographs entered must be taken by current members and be from the 2007 events that ACWS attended. Please send them via e-mail to webmaster@acws.co.uk or snail mail to ACWS Photo Competition, P O Box 52, Brighouse, West Yorkshire HD6 1JQ. The winner will be announced at the first Event of the 2008 Season and on this web site. (We reserve the right to use all submitted photographs in ACWS Ltd promotional material).

I hope you are all (like I am) looking forward to next season and thinking about the improvements that we can all make to our impressions.

Until we meet again, Keep Your Powder Dry

Mike Bussey
Chairman & Webmaster, ACWS Ltd