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Published:
April 26, 2008
Chairman
of Somerset County Council visits Burnham hovercraft's AGM
 The
Chairman of Somerset County Council visited Burnham's hovercraft
station on Friday (April 25th) to meet crewmembers and act as
the special guest at the charity's Annual General Meeting.
Alan
Gloak and sister Gill, pictured, received a tour of the BARB hovercraft
station and were also shown around the town's lifeboat and Coastguard
centres before moving on to the charity's AGM in the town council
chambers.
BARB
President Neville Jones opened the 16th annual meeting by praising
the crewmembers who had again been a "credit to Burnham."
 BARB
Chairman Mark Newman reviewed a busy year of incidents, which
had seen the organisation called to 19 incidents. He praised the
"the dedicated and enthusiastic team" around him.
"Since
the launch of BARB in 1992, the charity has attended over 200
incidents - such figures clearly illustrate what an essential
service this is," he added.
Outgoing
Operations Manager Pete Emery was given a special vote of thanks
for all his hard work over the past year and was presented with
the Heathcoat-Amory Award - an antique telescope as pictured above
- for his services to the charity. New Operations Manager Steve
Perks was elected into his position.
Treasurer
Mike Ross said the funds of the charity were in "good shape"
following a successful year although donations had fallen on the
previous year due to a substantial donation in 2006/07.
 He
thanked all those who had contributed to the group and certificates
were presented to Fran and Roy Newall of Diamond Farm, Maria Hobden
of Clevedon's Oliver's Angling shop, and Barbara Newman of Chevron
Country Music Club.
Mr
Gloak, who also visited the RNLI and Coastguard stations during
his visit to the town, said he had enjoyed his visit. "Without
the work of BARB over the years many lives would have been lost,
so it's difficult to put into simple words how we appreciate your
invaluable work," he said.
Mr
Gloak and sister Gill also visited the Burnham lifeboat station
where they were shown around by Operations Manager Ricky Holmes
Coastguard
Dave Ilsley discussed his group's role with Mr Gloak and sister
Gill.
Burnham-On-Sea
Hovercraft Web site
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