As usual, the meeting started by considering the minutes of the previous year’s meeting and any matters arising from them.

It was announced that, in response to environmental and other concerns raised by hostellers, bed packs will no longer be wrapped in plastic by the end of the year. This won’t be without problems, but at least hostels won’t have a mountain of clingfilm to dispose of every weekend.

The business of this year’s meeting started with a report from Richard Cockcroft on the work of the Council Nominations Panel. This body, in its first year of operation, is responsible for selecting people for election to the Board of Trustees. The Panel is tasked with selecting twice as many candidates as there are posts, with the final selection taking place through a vote at the AGM (of which more later). Judging by the set of candidates they picked this year, they’re doing a pretty good job.

Next up, YHA Vice-Chairman Barbara Smith presented a review of 2009/10 tied in with this year’s Annual Review. This document, like previous years’, has been published on the YHA web site – so I’ll leave you to read it there. As part of the presentation she showed the Community Spirit video I’ve already reported on. Little films like this commonly form part of AGM presentations, I’m glad they’ve started to show them to a wider audience.

It was the the turn of Alan Bourne, the YHA’s Treasurer, to take us through the accounts. As might be expected, in a year when we’re closing eight hostels, the situation isn’t exactly rosy, but it’s not desperate either. Improvements in efficiency have seen the annual surplus reach the same level as it was in 2000 (allowing for inflation). It’s not enough though – it needs to be half as much again for real financial security.

As usual with Alan’s presentations, a host of detail was presented in such a way that financial laymen like yours truly could understand it. I wish it could be more widely circulated, though matters of commercial confidentiality would make it difficult to do so fully.

Last of the officers to speak to the meeting was Chairman Chris Darmon, who gave a typically barnstorming presentation entitled Taking the Past into the Future. Looking back over 80 years Chris talked about how we can carry the YHA ethos forward, adapting for modern times whilst remaining true to our principles.

Talking about the current wave of hostel closures, he had good news for the small hostels beloved of many hostelling groups. Places like Idwal Cottage were described as “the jewel in YHA’s crown” and are to be ringfenced from closure. “Nobody else could have a Bretton.” Chris said “The problem’s not Bretton or Black Sail, but the crummy hostels that are not going to make the journey with us!” There may be as many as 30 of those places closing in the next 5 years.

Looking to the future, he mentioned research that said that young people are looking for similar standards to that they receive in student accommodation. To mark out what that means in the 21st century, he showed us this film:

Squaring that sort of facility with the “simple accommodation” ethos is going to be quite a challenge!

With the presentations part over with, the meeting embarked on a rather technical bit of business – approving a new set of standing orders. As a result of decisions made at last year’s meeting, rather considerable changes had been made to the way in which AGMs are conducted and these need to be reflected in the rules. Concerns were raised over the wording of some sections, but the new orders were approved on the understanding that refinements would be made in the future.

After lunch, we reconvened to hear from two guest speakers. First was Andy Eccleston who gave some feedback on the Get Involved trial programme of forums, rallies and volunteering events. The experiment seems to have had mixed results, with some new people attracted, but not in the numbers (or age groups) hoped for. It’s going to have lasting results in Wales though, as noted in the accompanying paper:

Although Wales Council does not wish to continue with the experiment, we would not wish to return to the previous system. we will therefore be changing our programme for Council Meeting days. In future there will be a short formal session in the morning and a more relaxed discussion period in the afternoon. We will attempt to find interesting topics for the afternoon Forum sessions in an attempt to attract new members to meetings.

Following Andy, it was the turn of Ken Kilkenny – President of An Òige, the Irish hostelling association. Ken shared with us his own experience of leading a painful and controversial hostel closure programme – a feat that even led to his being lambasted in Private Eye for some weeks. However the closures funded two new hostels, and Ken remains convinced that An Òige is stronger as a result.

It was now time for delegates to flex their voting cards. First it was the turn of the three officers of the Association. Chris Darmon and Alan Bourne, Chairman and Treasurer respectively, were re-elected unopposed, but there was a three-way fight for the post of Vice Chairman. The three candidates: David Huber, Karl Shepherdson and Barbara Smith each gave a short speech and answered questions from the floor. The decision was then made via a secret ballot.

I’m very pleased to say that Karl was the winner by an overwhelming majority. It’s good to see someone with a proven commitment to communicating with ordinary members right at the top table of YHA. Let’s hope he can help deliver long overdue improvements in that area.

Next it was the turn of those hoping to join YHA’s Board of Trustees. A total of twelve candidates were standing to fill just four posts, and it was difficult to choose from such a strong field. After more speeches, questions and ballotting the following people were selected:

• Steven Boyd
• Lindsey Fairbrother
• Helen Maurice-Jones
• Pauline Scott

A nice blend of “old hands” Helen and Pauline with “new brooms” Steven and Lindsey. Lindsey is a prominent member of Potteries Group, and whilst I don’t suggest this will influence her unduly in her new role, it can’t hurt to have someone from a groups background on the board. Hopefully those would-be Trustees who were unsuccessful will remain involved with the YHA in some way – it would be a shame to lose their undeniable talents.

Finally, after approving Nick Hardwick and Paul Shearman as members of the Council Nominations Panel, it was time to debate the motions presented to the conference. Only one was voted for, and overwhelmingly carried:

This meeting asks that YHA provide a network of rural youth hostels

What, if anything, this means in practical terms remains to be seen.

All in all an interesting and enlightening meeting. The YHA staff, both at the hostel and in the meeting, did an excellent job of keeping things running smoothly and should be commended. For another view of the meeting, you can read the YHA press release about it.

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• YHA National AGM 2008
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The meeting will start at 12:00 on 14th February. What could be a more romantic Valentine’s Day activity than picking over the finer points of YHA’s Board of Trustees composition?

PS: If anybody attending this meeting (or any other of the Get Involved events for that matter) would like to write an account of it for this website, I’d be happy to publish it.

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Not everybody will get everything they want – me included. That is life I suppose. A few years ago I might have screamed and stamped my feet if I did not get my way, but this time it is different in that this is what YHA needs and not what I personally want. I am going to try and be less me, me, me.

Well, I’m glad Karl is on top of his anger management technique, but that’s not the whole story.

Until recently, Karl was a member of the Governance Implementation Group, a sub-committee of the Board charged with formulating the new structure. Clearly, he’s been well-placed to get his point of view across, although its apparently not always gone his way. To be fair, the Governance Review has involved a lot of consultation at Regional Council level and even, initially, with the wider membership.

It’s a lot easier to accept decisions not going your way if you feel your opinion has been listened to, even if ultimately it hasn’t been heeded. You did your best, said your piece, and take your losses on the chin.

The reason why members sometimes “scream and stamp their feet” at YHA is that they feel excluded from the policy-making process. Important decisions are made behind closed doors, by management or by the Board. Members aren’t consulted beforehand, and often aren’t even told about it afterwards (the removal of limited means discounts being a classic example).

Of course, it’s not possible (or desirable) to consult everybody on every day-to-day decision, but YHA could do a much better job of communicating the choices that it’s made and the reasons for its decisions. If YHA could better engage with its membership, it might begin to look upon them as a useful resource rather than (as it sometimes seems) a whining inconvenience.

Screaming and stamping is a natural reaction if you feel you’re being ignored.

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YHA supporters in Wales gathered together in Broad Haven at the weekend to celebrate a new programme to encourage more people, including young people, to get involved in the charity’s work…

Visit the YHA website to read the full report.

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Ranging between Autumn 2008 and Summer 2009, and in locations all around Wales, these events are open both to members living in Wales and those with an interest in Welsh hostelling. Would-be attendees are asked to notify Matlock in advance (there’s a registration form available for the purpose) so they know how many people to expect.

Details of the events can be found on a (typically well-hidden) page of the YHA Site, as well as the events listings of this site. The events scheduled so far are:

If your group is based in or around Wales (or just likes going there), why not make one of these the basis of a group event?

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Last year Chris Bolton resigned as National Chairman, a year early, being replaced by his then Vice-Chairman, Chris Darmon. This was followed only three months later by a similar early resignation of Roger Clarke, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) the head of the paid staff. He has been replaced by an Interim-CEO, Caroline White. I know it happens, but Roger’s resignation was very quickly followed by three or more of his senior management team leaving YHA, which to me seems suspicious?

For the first time in about eight years, we returned this year to a meeting with two overnights based at a youth hostel, Friday evening to Sunday afternoon, rather than a cost cutting one overnight meeting from 1 o’clock Saturday to 1 o’clock Sunday at a university hall of residence! We had ample time this year on the Friday night to meet fellow delegates plus the new CEO and the National Chairman over a glass of wine from YHA. Not last year but for two or three years previously the Local Groups organised their own sherry reception on the Saturday night for any members of Local Groups present. Prior to that it was the Chairman’s Sherry Reception for Trustees and invited guests only!

On the Saturday morning there was a series of informal Power Point lectures. These started with a talk by Vice-President Hedley Alcock on his reminiscences of how and why YHA England and Wales started in the 1930s up to the present day. This was followed by more up to date talks on YHA’s Do It For Real and Learn For Real. It was the first time I have ever seen direct evidence of what Do It For Real and Learn for Real actually are, and yes, YHA are still helping young people of limited means, our methods have changed, since Hedley’s days, but our principles are still the same! As proof of this, in the lecture on Learn For Real by Alistair Boyd the Manager of YHA Castleton, a photo of his was shown, taken only last year, of a group of young kids standing at the edge of a field staring at a herd of young heifers staring back them. One lad was said to have asked. “What are they, sheep or cows? Are they dangerous? Do they bite?” We’ve all joked about it, as if it was something of the past; even today, there are still kids who have never seen a cow! Castleton YHA has recently acquired new buildings in order to expand their Learn For Real programme, we were also informed that they intend to set-up a brewery in the hostel, as a teaching aid!

On the other hand, the next morning in the Financial Report given by Alan Bourne the National Treasurer, we were informed that the extra income from food and beverage (beer and wine) sales, over and above the income from overnights, had stalled two years after its instigation – I’ll leave you to make up your own minds on that one!

Our Saturday afternoon session started with a talk called Every Child Matters: what this means to YHA, given by the Rt. Hon. John Mann MP, Chair of the All-Party Youth Hostelling Group. Every Child Matters is Government policy and John told how he thought YHA could help through programmes like Learn For Real and Do It For Real; linking these in with the Beijing and the London 2012 Olympics implying that YHA should encourage sporting activities by using hostels as bases for particular sports. His suggested approach was to form partnerships with sporting groups; if a suitable plan could be presented that would help with this Government policy, grants he said, were available. However, he is also a hiker that goes hostelling with his own family and he gave us his opinion as a Family YHA Member – it wasn’t all flattery! He highlighted the loss of hostels in the Yorkshire Dales and the gaps in the hostel network in general, i.e. he took a poke at YHA’s recent hostel closure programmes. He said hostel drying rooms should be a major selling point for YHA – how many of these have we seen converted into miniature laundrettes, just for washing hostel bed linen! Or, used just used as warden’s storerooms and cluttered with their rubbish! John certainly did not pull his punches when he spoke, many of his audience, volunteers and staff members alike, were given something to think about!

From 3:30 that afternoon the formal AGM commenced. After the usual red tape – Apologies for Absence, Appointment of Scrutineers, etc. the minutes of the previous meeting held at the Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester on the 8 September 2007 were accepted, I thought, with surprisingly light correction or matters arising. We ended that afternoon’s session with a discussion and acceptance of the YHA Annual Review 2008.

Then it was back to the hostel for a clean-up, and to don our suits for the Conference Dinner. Whether they succeeded, I don’t know, but at that dinner, I thought, there was an obvious effort to overcome the ‘them and us’ atmosphere of previous years between staff and volunteers. A presentation being made to Dianne Nightingale for 40 years as the volunteer leader of the Postellers, a hostelling group she set up for under privileged 11 to 17 year olds in London. Later, two YHA Trustees Helen-Maurice Jones and Lindsey Porter were given the chance to launch their new book ‘The Spirit of YHA’ a pictorial history of the very early days of hostelling in England and Wales before YHA England and Wales existed. The proceeds of which, for sale at £20 a copy, will all go into the Small Hostels Fund for renovation of YHA Rowen. These sorts of things I was used to seeing at National Council but this year there were also presentations made to YHA staff members associated with volunteers at YHA National Office and for those that had organised the AGM itself, which I cannot remember seeing before.

Next Morning the session started with, as I said earlier, the presentation of the Financial Results 2007/08, the main point to me was that YHA had made a small Operating Surplus, £0.2 million surplus whereas in 2006/07 they had a £0.3 million Operating Deficit. Of course, there is a lot more to it than that, copies of YHA’s Annual Report 2007/08 are available that summarise the finances.

The next part of the morning session was to re-elect National Officers, Trustees, Vice-presidents and the President. The majority of which were direct reappointments, except for the election of the Rt. Hon. Patrick McLoughlin MP as one of the ten Vice-presidents. This was done to maintain the political balance, since the TV celebrity John Craven had stood down as President and the Rt. Hon. Richard Caborn MP was elected into that position.

This left the remainder of the session to discuss three motions; however, as these involved some confidential matters I cannot discuss them here.

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Much of the morning was given over to Dr Andrew Purkis (left), who gave a presentation on the ongoing governance review. In his latest report he had confessed his lack of knowledge about YHA groups, so delegates did their best to bring him up to speed in the ensuing question and answer session. What impression it may make on the outcome of the review we will have to see when his proposals are published in the coming months.

Next, Paul Madge stood up to announce the winners of this year’s President’s Awards. Certificates and cheques were presented by YHA Treasurer Alan Bourne, who was also chairing the meeting.

The next item was a brief discussion of the Coalport meeting, and the list of action points that was subsequently issued. A few queries were raised about these, and staff members undertook to seek clarification/action where applicable.

The organisation of next year’s conference was discussed next. As noted above, this years turn-out had been disappointing and there was some discord about the balance of power between YHA staff and the groups themselves in determining the agenda and other details.

Next year it will be different. Volunteers are being sought from the groups to organise the whole thing, but they will need to attract 30 groups to the event if they are to get much support from the YHA. The initial members of this organising group are:

• John Annett
• Chris Hunt
• Paul Madge
• Alan Summers

Further volunteers would be welcome. I hope this website will play a major part in making next year’s effort into an event that all groups will want to attend.

Now the most contentious part of the meeting began. John Annett had raised four motions for the agenda which are summarised below (I will try to get the full text of them from John):

This meeting very much regrets the unwillingness to allow the election of a ‘Coordinating Committee’ to be placed on the agenda of the National Local Groups Conference 2007 and to engage in a harmonious discussion to agree its terms of reference.

After some discussion, this motion was heavily defeated.

This meeting welcomes the apology expressed by the Board of Trustees in the minutes of its meeting held on 23 September 2006 [ ... but ... ] very much regrets the dictatorial approach that has ensued, on certain issues eg licensing, Group Card

This motion too was heavily defeated.

This meeting is disappointed that the commitment given to the November meeting of Local Groups to review the new hostel booking conditions for Hostelling and Local Groups appears not to have been fulfilled conscientiously

It was pointed out that the staff undertook only to review their policy, not necessarily to change it. Nonetheless this motion was passed 12 votes to 8. Groups with particular points to make about the way the new booking conditions will affect them are invited to get in touch with affiliatedgroups@yha.org.uk by 5th April (no pressure then).

This meeting is very grateful for the support of the National AGM in defeating the attempt to delete all reference to Hostelling and Local Groups from the YHA’s Governance Documents.

However, we are concerned that this has not halted the process and that there is a plan to tamper with the benefits to be gained from a harmonious relationship between YHA and Hostelling and Local Groups.

This final motion was also defeated.

Lastly, five delegates were elected to attend the YHA AGM on behalf of affiliated groups. The five lucky people are:

• Chris Corney (Sale)
• John Fleming (Kendal)
• Chris Hunt (Leicester)
• Alan Summers (Leicester)
• Paul Wright (Ipswich)

At that the conference closed, with a fairly rapid rush to get out of the building before the cleaners arrived. All-in-all it proved to be a more positive and constructive session than many delegates (myself included) feared it would be. Lets hope we can do even better next year.

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To all YHA Local Groups

URGENT MESSAGE

I would be grateful if you could forward a message urgently to your delegates who are attending the National Local Groups Conference on 17th March at Matlock.

You may be aware that delegates at the November meeting formed an informal Local Groups coordinating committee on the Friday night because we were prevented from doing so formally at the meeting on Saturday.

The committee proceeded to organise this coming Local Groups Conference but we were subsequently stopped by National Office staff who said that they were going to organise it. This is a direct contradiction to what we were told at the meeting and what was subsequently put in writing.

In addition, I have asked that an item is placed on the agenda that allows us to comment on matters of our own choosing. This would normally be “Open Forum”. Again, my request has been denied. Instead it has been suggested that we vent any concerns during Andrew Purkis’ session on the Governance Review. I do not feel that this is appropriate.

There has again been a refusal to allow us to formally elect a Coordinating Committee for Local Groups at this conference. I was initially asked to circulate Local Groups to ascertain their views on the terms of reference of such a committee. It seems that the response that you have taken the time to send me will be wasted.

In desperation, I wrote to the National Chairman and Chief Executive by way of a formal complaint about the dictatorial attitude of the member of staff. I have just received a reply which does not address all the points but does give a ray of hope for an informal committee.

I know that several Local Groups have concerns over affiliation, license, booking conditions and insurance etc and have unsuccessfully tried to make representation. I was invited to correspond with the YHA’s solicitors on the matter of a license to satisfy myself that the it is the only option but it seems that the reply has been interfered with because it is still not forthcoming. I would like to ensure that we are given a fair opportunity to conclude these matters at the Conference in open and honest dialogue instead of being forced into submission. I would therefore like to invite those delegates who are present to get together to discuss our options at Matlock youth hostel after dinner on Friday evening (16th March). I would guess this to be at about 8pm.

I look forward to meeting up again

John Annett

6th March 2007

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Of particular interest to visitors of this site will be his attitude to YHA Groups. What’s perhaps surprising is that he doesn’t appear to have one:

I do not feel sufficiently well informed to venture a view at this stage on how such reforms would affect the current position in YHA governance of Affiliated Groups (including former Local Groups). Would they feel able to express their views and needs via revitalised regional arrangements as proposed above? Or would there remain good grounds for separate representation at the AGM, and distinct gatherings of affiliated groups? I shall welcome further consultation and views.

Affiliated groups currently elect five representatives to the Association’s AGM (formerly known as National Council). Dr Purkis proposes quite a shake-up to this body, but again he’s ambivalent to the role groups might play:

For the reasons explained [...] above, I need more consultation and advice before recommending the keeping or removal of separate representation for what are now Affiliated Groups (including former Local and Hostelling Groups) as part of this mixed economy. This reflects my inadequate knowledge, not any judgement of the Groups in question. For the time being, I shall assume that any separate representation of them would replace some of the places assigned to the other categories.

So, he’s asking for further consultation from groups, it’s up to us to provide it. There’s going to be a meeting in London to discuss the process, as well as sessions at Regional Councils. He’s also hopefully going to attend the Groups’ Conference. However, I think written submissions will have the greatest impact.

The full document is available from the YHA site, as is a covering letter and the second edition of Andrew’s so-called blog. Submissions should be sent to governancereview@yha.org.uk or can be posted to Matlock. Once there, they’ll be treated in confidence and not shown to anybody else.

That seems a shame to me. One of the features of a debate is that all points of view are aired in public, giving one the chance to hear what’s being said on every side to the topic in question. With this in mind, I shall be publishing my own submission on this site, and will be happy to publish anybody else’s who wishes me to do so. Alternatively, use the forum or the comments section below to share your views.

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