Minutes of the 2000 AGM
MINUTES FROM THE FIFTH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETINGOF THURNHAM HALL
HELD ON SUNDAY 3 DECEMBER 2000 AT 10:30AM
AT THE CARLETON, MORECAMBE
In attendance were:- Mr Fred Fogg Managing Director
Paula Beatson Finance Director
Mr Philip Broomhead FNTC
Mr John Hughes Needham & James Solicitor
Mr John Jackson Mgt Committee Representative
Pamela Francis Mgt Committee Representative
Mr Fogg welcomed everyone who attended and introduced the people seated at the top table. He explained the system of microphones including the roving microphone which would be stewarded to speakers on the floor.
• Election of Chairman
Mr Fogg asked for nominations for Chair of the meeting, nobody was forthcoming so he nominated Mr Broomhead who was seconded by Mr Fred Evans.
Mr Broomhead introduced himself as being in charge of legal services for First National Trustee Company, and who has been a Trustee at Thurnham Hall since it's conception.
• Apologies for Absence
Apologies were received from the following:-
Paula Chappell Avril E Hodgson Mr J E Mountford
Mr & Mrs I V Vandome Rev & Mrs B Thompson Mr & Mrs Blunn
Mr & Mrs A J Evans Mr S Angel & Ms J Fox Mr & Mrs Keane
Paul Baker
• Correspondence
Mr Jackson will deal with correspondence during his report.
• Minutes of the last AGM
The Minutes of last year's AGM were accepted as a true and correct record of events.
• Matters Arising
There were no matters arising.
• Report of the Developer
Mr Fogg said that first he would like to make comment on the developments at Thurnham Hall over the past year:-
• The completion of a further 19 apartments.
• Installation of CCTV monitored from main reception.
• Lighting to the car park.
• Extension of the kitchen
• Relocation of the bar to the chapel.
• The opening of a second restaurant.
• The latest addition is the vestibule in the Great Hall to eliminate drafts and incremental weather conditions.
• New paths around most of the development.
• Tarmac to the driveway.
The 19 new apartments are a mixture of Studios, 1 and 2 beds with the ease of maintenance being instrumental in their design. All studios are of the same design and colour, as are the1 bed then likewise the 2 beds.
The Local Authority has accepted planning permission for the remaining 10 units, though not without a lot of discussion and a lot of give and take from both parties. He pointed out that a written undertaking had been given that these would be the last 10 units to be built at Thurnham. He explained there was no rush to start this phase of the development so building would not commence until the latter end of next year.
Mr Fogg said he would like to talk a little bit about the growth of the company as this time last year, we had 31 completed units and today we stand at something like 180 units. The opening of the Travel Shop, the launch of the Vacation Club, together with the acquisition of Cromer and Club Britannia has obviously brought about quite an expansion, for TLG. We are now one of the major players in the UK timeshare industry and it is our intention to be one of the leading timeshare groups in Europe .
Although a little outside the realms of Club business, he thought it worth mentioning that one of the justifications for the Vacation Club was that TLG had always wanted to give their owners both a quality of service and a quality of accommodation unrivalled by other resorts. A great deal of work is going on to bring Cromer and Club Britannia up to the standard of Thurnham Hall and any future resorts brought on board will be of the same quality. The aim is to acquire more Gold Crown Resorts in the UK . The Vacation Club is one step to widening the scope of controlling what you get as a timeshare owner.
We knew that you could always voice your opinions to us if your apartment was not up to scratch, but it was very difficult to do very much about bad service through RCI. We felt the way forward was trying to control exactly what our owners get and to make sure that when they did exchange they got value for their exchanges. To give you an indication of just how well it is working since starting in September we've had 324 requests for RCI Exchanges 219 of them got their first choice and 26 got their second choice, giving a total of 75% of people getting what they requested.
As far as reservations for internal overnight stays, short breaks or 3 night breaks we had 976 requests of which 654 got their first choice 39 got their 2 nd choice equating to a 71% success rate. Reservation income, mostly realised via unsold weeks, has totalled £76,000.
The forthcoming plans include the conversion of Dower 2 from a 2 bed to a 1 bed and all the owners have now been switched to the new stable blocks. Mr Jackson will talk in a while about the up grading of the remaining 3 apartments in the Dower Block. Due to the success of wall beds in the new block, we also intend to change all the sofa beds to wall beds.
Mr Fogg also wanted to record his personal thanks to one owner, Mr John Mills, who has done a tremendous amount of work over the last year at his own expense, and in his own time, to develop the garden areas in and around the resort.
• Report of The Management Committee
Following on from what Mr Fogg had said Mr Jackson agreed that the year 2000 had been a very busy one for Thurnham Hall, producing a lot of exciting developments. He went on to say:
There are now over 2000 owners, guests and RCI exchanges arriving at Thurnham Hall each year. This has obviously had a huge impact on the staff and in particular the cleaning and reception staff. In order to improve the efficiency of checking guests in and out of the resort we now have 3 changeover days. I know this pre-empts a decision that has to be taken later in this meeting, but this has been a tremendous success and that success is reflected in the feedback we receive from RCI.
It is a tremendous credit to all the staff that we remain in RCI's top 5% of resorts in the whole of Europe . Each month RCI provide us with feed-back from people who have stayed at the Hall this is in the form of a points score evaluation under various headings including check-in/out, hospitality, maintenance of resort and units etc. We consistently score higher than the rest of RCI's resorts throughout Europe .
Mr Fogg recently commissioned a report for the bank and in that report RCI officially commented that Thurnham Hall was “ second to none in the UK ” and that it was “ an extremely professional well run operation that is consistently the top selling single resort in the UK ”. RCI also stated that they view Thurnham Leisure Group as their “ Top Client ” and have provided the first ever on-site representative in the Thurnham Vacation Club.
Mr Jackson wanted to share some of the comments made by guests on the evaluation sheets that they are asked to complete at the end of their stay.
“The changes in the last two years have been outstanding. The resort is one of the best we have seen around the world and we are always made to feel very welcome”.
“We have been RCI members for 17 years and own three weeks. Your entire staff is the best we have had at any resort”.
“Excellent value for money, definitely the best we've seen in our 10 years of ownership and we've been all over the world with RCI. Congratulations to the Management Team”.
Mr Jackson went on to comment, I think you will agree that this is an excellent reflection of the quality of the staff and management team that Mr Fogg has put in place at Thurnham Hall; and of course to Mr Fogg himself, for the quality of the development.
Following on from this we have of course to ensure that these standards are maintained, so in line with the growth and development of the Hall there has been an increase in staff. In the year to June 1999 we had 35 full-time staff and 30 part-time staff. We now employ 49 full-time staff and 31-part-time. Whilst there has inevitably been some turnover of staff you will find the majority are still the old familiar faces who are still as welcoming and friendly as ever. The relaxed atmosphere remains the same!
The whole of the Resort is much more utilised. The bar and restaurant are busier than ever with their income having increased by 34% on last year. One thing that has had a big impact has been the Vacation Club. It appears that members booking mid-week or weekend breaks through the club tend to use the on-site facilities more than the exchange guests do. The leisure centre is well used and we currently have 112 social members. These are non-owners who pay an annual membership fee for use of the leisure centre facilities at off-peak times. They not only help utilise the facilities to their full potential, but also create an income to offset against the cost of maintaining the centre.
Mr Jackson said that whilst on the subject of maintenance, he would move to the fees. As everyone was aware there had been no increase for the last 4 years thanks to Mr Fogg's contribution. However, as we move closer to the completion of the development and sales we also move closer to the day when owners, have got to stand-alone and be self-supporting. It's also true that as we get closer we can more accurately predict what our expenditure is likely to be and therefore what level of maintenance fee will need to be set at that time. Everybody received notification of this forecast with the AGM documents and this figure is constantly being reviewed and up-dated.
Mr Jackson stated that for this year the committee again propose to leave the maintenance fees unchanged. Next year they will look at the up-dated forecast and the intention is to increase fees by 50% of the difference between current fees and the forecasted fees at that time.
Also, from next July they expect to be able to offer the opportunity to spread the cost of maintenance fees by paying in 4 monthly instalments in advance. For example, fees for 2002 could be paid by 4 instalments in July, August, September and October of 2001. The amounts payable would be based on the fees for 2001 with any increase that is subsequently set for 2002 being invoiced separately in November. The Committee will write to owners nearer the time to explain in more detail.
Then he started to talk about the sinking fund, which is for capital expenditure, and refurbishment's not covered by maintenance fees. He stated that most of the apartments in the main hall have already been refurbished at Mr Fogg's expense thereby leaving the sinking fund untouched. Mr Fogg had also undertaken to carry out further refurbishment work on the apartments in the hall as well as the Lonne and the conversion of Dower II.
The Committee recently inspected the apartments and found that Dower I, III and IV were badly in need of refurbishment. As Mr Fogg's extensive conversion of Dower II will require the closure of the whole building for the duration of the work, we propose to seize the opportunity and use the sinking fund to refurbish these apartments at the same time. We don't at this moment in time have any costing for the work involved, but hopefully it will be available very shortly, again we will write to owners with these details and to seek approval to go ahead. Once this work is completed all the apartments in the resort will either be new or recently refurbished and this should give us a good number of years grace to enable the sinking fund which currently stands at £55,434 inclusive of £1,202 interest to grow to a sizeable sum before we have to create an on-going rolling programme of refurbishment.
Mr Jackson stated that his final word on maintenance fees was please ensure you pay . Every year the Committee had the unenviable task of dealing with owners who had defaulted and the only form of redress under the terms of the constitution was to confiscate the weeks concerned. He reiterated that it is not worth losing an investment for the sake of the maintenance fee.
Mr Jackson went on to announce that the Management Committee had recently joined TATOC, The Association of Timeshare Owners Committees. This is an organisation that provides a collective voice for timeshare owners through their committees. Some of the services they provide cover lobbying of the industry and the government, both in the UK and on the continent: A forum for members to meet and learn from each other: Seminars covering a whole range of timeshare related topics and training workshops for committee members. The latter he believed could be especially useful for new committee members.
He then went on to deal with correspondence from members who were unable to attend, but had asked that their letters be read out at the meeting. However, after having read them, Mr Jackson felt the content appertained to the operation of the Vacation Club and he didn't deem that to be legitimate business of the AGM. He intended to reply to the owners to that effect and pass the letters to the relevant parties in order that the issues raised could be addressed.
Mr Jackson closed with expressing his thanks to his colleagues on the management committee for giving their time freely to represent the interests of the owners and for attending the meetings of the committee.
He also wished to reiterate Mr Fogg's comments and express the thanks of the committee to Mr John Mills for the splendid work on the grounds and gardens.
• Financial Report
Paula began by saying she would usually have received questions, queries or phone calls from owners regarding the accounts prior to the AGM and since she hadn't had any this year it left her wondering whether she'd done a really good job and no one had any queries or a really bad job and no one could understand them!!!
She said that there were a couple of points she would like to make and went on to explain that as in previous years the summary financial statements were the ones issued and that the full statutory statements were available on request.
Paula said that as previously reported, the bar and restaurant had seen an increase of 35% in income this year. She believed a noted increase in the usage of the restaurants and bars by owners, guests and social members, had arisen because of the quality of food and service now being experienced on the resort. She explained a lot of time had been spent training staff, revising menus; even reorganising table settings!! She felt all the effort had paid off and that the team had now found the right combination.
She also explained the leisure centre revenue had increased a lot but explained that last year the Leisure Centre had only been open for 3 months. She felt that after a full 12 months the income that had been generated was fabulous. The 112 social members were using the bars and restaurants as well as all the beauty treatments and she felt the leisure centre was doing really well. She commended the team themselves who kept coming up with ideas to generate profit which was great. She said “when you get that level of interest back from your staff it makes my job much easier”.
She moved on to wages and wanted to explain what was behind the increase. Obviously with the leisure centre being fully operational for a full 12 months it had impacted on the wages bill. Relocation of the bar and the addition of another restaurant necessitated an increase in both bar and restaurant staff. Additionally, due to the resort being so busy there are more night security, more reception staff and more cleaning staff. It really had been a case of ensuring that staffing levels were adequate to cope with a resort that is busier than it has ever been.
Paula said that she has a team committed to ensuring that owners and guests receive the very highest quality of service. She said they put in 100% effort every day and that whilst she can be very hard on them in a constant strive for perfection, she feels extremely proud of them for the effort they put in and takes great pleasure in reading some of the wonderful letters received from both owners and guests.
If you look at average costs per employee it was £7,300 last year and was still only £7,700 this year an increase of only 5% which equates to the annual pay rise. The profit margin had also seen a small increase from 47% to 50% and this is something she had made an effort on this year
She went on to explain the ‘developer's contribution' as this was a significant figure in the Financial Statement. This figure was the developer's contribution towards the shortfall between the running costs of the resort and the management fees received. She felt that this was the maximum it would ever be and should now start reducing. There are now more apartments generating more income. Indeed the resort is far busier than it has ever been.
She drew everyone's attention to the forecasts of expenditure when 60 apartments are operational. She explained that a lot of time and effort is spent ensuring these forecasts are as accurate as possible. It was imperative that plans are made for a time when the developer's contribution stops and all running costs have to be covered by the management fees received. She went on to say that the last thing she or Mr Fogg wanted is to get to a point where the resort could only support itself via a large increase in management fees. She explained she was constantly reviewing expenditure and looking at ways of reducing cost whilst being very aware of the importance of maintaining current standards.
• Questions from the floor
•
•
Karen Harper said that the completed paving has been very much appreciated, but wondered if the Developer could look again at the lighting between the car park and the leisure centre
Janet Stock stated that as more rooms were going to be equipped with wall beds she felt there was going to be a distinct lack of drawer space and could Mr Fogg look at providing additional drawers? She also wanted to reiterate Karen Harpers feelings on extra lighting.
Mr Fogg responded that he hoped they had made their comments known on a comment sheet before they left the resort. Neither had! He said the team try to think of as many things for the apartments as possible, but they do rely on the people coming to stay and he always welcomed constructive criticism. He said the lighting on the car park wasn't quite finished and there would be more going down to the apartments.
Anne Watson wanted to know what had happened to the outdoor children's play area.
Mr Fogg replied – “ in a word nothing ”. It had been talked about it, and leisure centre staff had been assigned to looking after children during the summer, but that was it. He said that if the owners felt there was a necessity for a children's playground on the resort then he would provide it. The biggest problem was where to put it. Mr Fogg asked for a show of hands to ask the members if they felt they needed more facilities for children. The majority said no.
Mr Fogg said he felt there was a necessity for a limited facility for children and suggested that the new committee make it a priority to investigate the issue. It was not a matter of cost, but it was a matter of where it could be safely erected; who was going to monitor and look after the children? and what age group the facilities would be intended for?
Sylvia Butler pointed out that she felt the single footpath down to the leisure centre was quite dangerous at night and at present it was covered with leaves making it slippery underfoot. Another concern was that a hairdryer in the leisure centre ladies changing room had been re-located to the bench under the hand drier, and from a safety point of view she was concerned that excess water from ladies hands was dropping into the back of the hairdryer.
Mr Fogg responded by reiterating to the owners that if they found anything wrong please make comments to reception who can pass them through the correct channels to get them sorted. There is a resident health and safety officer and regular checks are made on every electrical item in the resort.
Colin Hutchin wanted to know what the £1.00 per adult and 50p per child utility fee was for.
Paula responded that they are charged to help cover gas, electricity, and rates etc which enabled the maintenance fees to remain at their unchanged level. The figures were discussed with the Management Committee who agreed this way forward.
Colin asked if they would re-consider at the next meeting and put it on the rental of the room, not per person.
Mr Fogg asked Mr Jackson to bring it up at the next Committee meeting.
Mr Fogg pointed out that it was originally Mr Fred Evans who brought it to the management's attention that no utility fees were being charged as they are there to help subsidise the management fees. 80% of people who use the apartments are exchanges. These people are paying towards the running cost of your resort. If you are saying, as owners, you don't think you should make this contribution you need to put it to your next management committee meeting.
Gillian Graham commented that they had come on a half term mid-week break. She was concerned that there were a lot of children and adults in the swimming pool and there was no lifeguard present. There was a notice up saying children had to be accompanied by a responsible adult, but in her opinion the adults were not acting responsibly in controlling the children, as they were jumping in, splashing, and even diving in behind her. She felt that one member of staff should have been on duty even from a health and safety point of view.
Paula responded that she could only apologise for the situation and said that she was totally surprised at her comments because the leisure centre staff are all fully trained and fully aware of the health and safety rules and regulations. They know how many people are allowed in the pool before someone needs to move to poolside and she promised to investigate the situation on her return to work.
Lillian Johnston commented that although her apartment was absolutely gorgeous would it be possible to have a two-seater sofa instead of 2 big chairs. Also, on walking to the woodland view apartments as you turned the corner the spotlight blinds you.
Mr Fogg said he would pass her comments to the designer and look into the lighting problem
Frank Hilton was wondering if the RCI points system has now been dropped with the emergence of the Vacation Club.
Mr Fogg replied that he did advise not to join the RCI points system and that still remains. The Vacation Club have negotiated an excellent situation with the on-site RCI representative which, to his knowledge, is the only one in the world. Because you can view availability before you exchange, it gives the vacation club a unique advantage – no one else has this facility. He felt the RCI points system left the owners open to unscrupulous activities and he has been proven right. RCI have since dismissed their top three managers and brought in a new MD. We have our own points system in the club and, if you want to, you can trade on par with anything RCI can do and they will give us the go ahead in the New Year.
Angela Adams said that on a visit to the leisure centre she had looked at the comments book and found that there was quite a lot of comments regarding the non-availability of a cold drinks machine in the centre.
Paula responded that this was indeed in hand and a cold drinks machine would be available very shortly. We are looking for a drinks supplier to give us their coolers free and we will stock their drinks.
Angela also commented that on one occasion she was in the pool three people had taken it over because they had spread out so far and were throwing a ball to each other, could a section be segregated off for swimmers? She also pointed out that people were not taking showers before entering the pool
Paula again apologised for this occurrence, but responded that she felt the pool was too small, and the shape not conducive, to lane division.
Alf Blandford pointed out that he though the allocation of monies in the finance statement was too low for the TV Licences.
Paula responded that she was certain it would be right and that there was probably some misallocation somewhere.
Colin Oliver commented that on bar/restaurant income and costs, there was no indication of what it was costing in wages, and that when Mr Fogg goes they need to know that they are at least breaking even if not making a profit.
Paula replied that she is now in a position to know exactly what is being spent at each individual cost centre. The bar and restaurant is not making the profit it should be and she is looking at ways of improving that. The prices have deliberately been kept low, during the development phase. She explained mistakes had been made with menus etc, but she was addressing these problems. Historically, the bar and restaurant had been fully staffed when no one was using them, and consequently no income was generated, but that's not the case any more they have been really busy and the average weekly take in the restaurant over the summer months had been between £8-9,000. She also explained that the accounting systems are constantly being updated to improve the quality of management information.
Roy Waters , a new owner, said that he wanted to congratulate the Developer for the superb facilities. However, they had brought some guests with them to ‘show-off' their new purchase to find that a medieval weekend had been arranged. Because of this they had checked that they would still be able to eat in the restaurant, and were told it was no problem. On turning up at the restaurant this was not the case and it had left them feeling very embarrassed in front of their guests, and feeling that they did not wish to return to Thurnham Hall
Paula said she was devastated that he felt like that and could only apologise for the situation they had found themselves in. She pointed out that in all honesty the medieval weekend had not been as successful as had hoped. It had been thought it would generate more income but unfortunately it had not been very well attended. She explained that although this is a rare occurrence, when it happens to you it becomes personal and she could only reiterate her sincere apologies.
Mr Fogg said that the situation did give him the opportunity to ask the owners how they felt about organising ‘theme weekends'and events throughout the year. Was it something they wanted? A show of hands was requested, only 2 supported which left a resounding NO to the ‘theme weekends' and other such events.
Barry Field asked that for owners paying £251 each what sort of increase is the maximum they would have year on year, is it about 10%?
Paula replied no, the increase should rise with inflation at about 2-3%.
David & Janet Teal wondered if there was still plans to build tennis courts.
Mr Fogg replied there had been talk of building tennis courts. Again, it really was a matter of space, they are reasonable to construct at about £35-40,000 for two courts and maybe over the next 18 months they would be built.
Colin Hutchin asked what the leisure members at the pool paid per month?
Paula replied that it was £25.00 per month single, £45.00 per couple which gave them access Monday to Friday 9.00am – 7.00pm.
Mr Broomhead interjected and said that this would be the last question.
Bernie Fisher said she would just like to say Thurnham Hall is a beautiful old place and it should be cherished. She was dismayed to find both adults and children with their feet up on settees and tables; young kids running riot and she felt it was time the staff drew the reigns in on this kind of behaviour.
Mr Fogg agreed and said that although it may prove difficult for some of the younger staff on duty, he felt that the more senior staff present should be able to ask the guests to behave accordingly.
Mr Broomhead closed the question session and thanked everybody for their contribution.
• Election of Management Committee Representative
Mr Broomhead asked for a vote of thanks for Pam Francis, the retiring member of the management committee before asking both Pam, who had put herself up for re-election, and Mr Fogg Evans, the other candidate, if they would like to say a few words.
Pam said she had enjoyed her two years on the committee and said she would look forward to the challenge of continuing to providing a service to the owners of Thurnham Hall to get the very best for them. She hoped she would be re-elected to continue the work she had started.
Mr Fogg said over the last 12 months he hadn't been at the Hall as much as he had hoped, but that particular crisis was now over. All he wanted to say was “ vote for who you think is best, that's down to you ”.
Mr Broomhead asked for votes on the new committee member and a change of resolution to the constitution.
It was agreed a show of hands would be adequate and the nominees opted to remain in the room. Mr Broomhead pointed out that it was one vote per week owned.
At the end of the vote Mr Broomhead welcomed Pam Francis back to the Committee
The next vote was to permit a 3 rd changeover date to facilitate the administration, check-in and RCI. The changeover date was agreed on a show of hands.
• Any other Business
There was no other business to be discussed.
• Date of Next Meeting
• The next AGM will be held on Sunday 2 nd December 2001 with the venue yet to be announced. Mr Broomhead did comment that it would probably be The Carlton because Paula thought it was cheap!
Mr Broomhead asked if there were any more questions
George Yoxall , of Cheshire
As the first owner who joined the Vacation Club, what does the current number stand at?
Mr Fogg said that every new owner from January this year automatically become a member of the Vacation Club. The team had given presentations to 600 people 510 of which have joined and we are about a third of the way through the membership.
Mr Fogg was asked if there would be more resorts coming soon.
He again replied that although he felt a period of consolidation was required he was looking at resorts in Scotland and Cornwall . Both entail lots of money and it depends on whether it really is the right time to make a move. We've gone from 39 apartments to 188 and from 60 or so employees to getting on for 600 full and part-time and it's taken its toll. He said that whilst the sales have gone tremendously well this year, an increase of 30% on last year and looking at maybe 50-60% increase next year. It's all about sales, and producing a product which is considered to be right and that product may be 5 Gold Crown resorts in the UK . He didn't want to be specific but did say that after the New Year there could be another new resort.
If people didn't want to be members of the Vacation Club would they still be allowed to get midweeks, weekends etc or is it going to be a monopoly.
Mr Fogg said there would not be a monopoly it's exactly the same as it was before in actual fact it's slightly better. Most of the weekends had one change over date 80-85% of our visitors were American or Australian and they tend to leave a day early. There was always an outlet for the members to take a Friday night. We have 3 changeover dates now so hopefully there will be more space available, but it will be late availability. There should be no problems with mid-week breaks at all. You have exactly the same opportunity as the Vacation Club.
George Yoxall of Cheshire wanted to say
As an owner of 10 years I've been through the rough times and the bad times that these new owners will no very little about. From 1996 onwards I have to say Congratulations to Mr Fogg and his full staff who are the key to Thurnham Hall.
Mr Fogg thanked George for his kind comments
Mr Broomhead thanked everyone for attending and closed the meeting.