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General Meeting at Sérézin-du-Rhône (Rhône) on 04 December 2004

The report

Minutes of the General Meeting of the Club des Cent Cols
4 December 2004, Sérézin-du-Rhône (69)

The annual General Meeting of the Club des Cent Cols was held on 4 December 2004 in the village hall of Sérézin-du-Rhône (69) under the chairmanship of Claude Bénistrand and in the presence of the elected members of the Board of Directors (B. Vieillard, Vice-Chairman, excused).

The Annual General Meeting begins at 4pm, with around a hundred members in attendance, happy to meet up for this traditional event.

Claude Bénistrand presented apologies from Dominique Lamouller, President of the French Federation (and member of the "Cent Cols") and Robert de Rudder, President of the Rhône-Alpes League (also a member of the "Cent Cols"), who were both in Quimper for the FFCT General Meeting.

Claude Bénistrand introduced the personalities who had done us the honour of attending our meeting: the Mayor of Sérézin, Mr Colin, representing CODEP 69, and Mr Gilbert Veysseyre, President of AS ARRA, who had organised the meeting.

Also presented:

• CERP members: Guy Bodoin, Jean-François Plantard, Bernard Chalchat.
• The regional delegates: Alain Gillodes, Bernard Mézaize, Régis Paraz, Michel Médina, Thierry Combelles (who came specially from Germany) and Pierre Mai (who came from Switzerland).
• Mario Labelle is a computer expert whose work on behalf of the Confrérie is well known and appreciated by all.

The agenda begins with the reading of the various reports, as distributed in info Cent Cols No. 8:

• Annual report, presented by Claude Bénistrand, Chairman.
• Activity report, presented by René Poty, General Secretary.
• Financial report, presented by Michel Mathieu, Treasurer.

Christophe Guitton, auditor, congratulates Michel Mathieu on the Confrérie's sound financial management.

A new feature this year was the use of a slide show to illustrate the various reports, making them more lively and demonstrative. Many thanks to Régis Paraz, who set up the computer and video projector.

In addition to the activity report, Bernard Pommel, member of the Board of Directors and in charge of the permanent "Cent Cols" hikes, gave a very positive report on participation in the various hikes. Over 160 people signed up for all of them, which was a very pleasant surprise. Bernard Pommel announced the launch of a seventh permanent tour: "Cent Cols en Haut-Languedoc" (devised by Pierre Gasc), with two new permanent tours in Italy promised for 2005.

Mario Labelle presented the various projects concerning the computerised services of the "Club des Cent Cols". A quick survey of the room showed that almost half the members present know about and regularly visit the Confrérie's website, and many of them have already signed up for the services reserved for them (such as access to the roll of honour, consultation of the archives, the discussion list, etc.).

The ballot papers sent by post to the secretariat were counted on 29 November by the tellers: Roger Colombo and Robert Bocqueraz. Philippe Carrez and Régis Paraz counted the last votes cast at the meeting, and the results are now announced:

Claude Bénistrand thanks all members for their renewed confidence in the management team.

Then it was time for the awards. We had the pleasure of inducting two new members: Francine and Claude Mabillot (from Ternay 69). Claude Bénistrand presented them with their diplomas, medals and magazines. Then it was Jean-Claude Prast's turn to be honoured with a medal bearing the name of his 1,000th mountain pass: the Col d'Urbeis.

The floor was given to the Mayor of Sérézin, who gave us a presentation of his commune, and then to Gilbert Veysseyre, to whom we owe the impeccable organisation of this General Meeting.

The agenda continued with a presentation of the project to hold a meeting around 15 August 2005. René Poty used a slide show to present the commune of Seix in Haut-Salat (09), which will be hosting our stay, and the Col de Catchaudégué, where the meeting will be held on 15 August. Road and mule routes will be available every day. The grand finale will be the ascent of the Port d'Aula on the Franco-Spanish border.

To round off the General Meeting, a projection of our international meeting at the Col de l'Echelle and our stay in Briançon (15 August 2004) gave everyone a chance to escape to the summits and passes above 2000m... great memories for all those taking part!

After setting a date for Sunday 05 December at Ampuis for a ride in the foothills of Mt Pilat (with five short passes as a treat), everyone was invited to a "pot de l'amitié". The AGM itself ended at 6.30pm. In the evening, a very convivial dinner brought together around fifty people in a very warm atmosphere. A pleasant way to close the 2004 season and look forward to 2005.

René POTY (S-G)

The photos