35th AGM on Thursday 5th May 2022

13 members of MNTV (Adrian, Ally, Charlie, Chris, Daniel, Denise, Hazel, Jean, Jenny, Neil, Sue B, Sue D and Tricia) attended this year's AGM.  It was conducted over Zoom - a first for MNTV.  The meeting began at 8pm and ended at 9:10pm and covered the usual business:

- Apologies for absence

- Minutes of the 2021 eAGM and matters arising

- Chairman's Report for the year ended 31 March 2022

- Treasurer's Report for the year ended 31 March 2022

- Election of the 2022/23 Committee (Adrian, Ally, Daniel, Denise, Sue and Tricia)

- AOB

AOB was mainly a discussion about whether the group wanted any weekends away in 2023 given numbers for weekend trips have been low in recent years and the cost might well increase because the NT  is charging for more and more basecamps.

After the AGM, Claire Disley (Area Ranger & Volunteer Manager, Lyme Park) gave us a very informative talk about the ranger team at Lyme, the work (often seasonal) they do and the big projects that are in the pipeline:

- There is a new General Manager at Lyme (Kellie Scott)

- The Ranger team is settling after the upheaval of covid and the NT Reset programme and comprises Chris, Claire, Alex, Flo and Izzy plus two evening rangers

- The regular seasonal jobs the ranger team undertake include deer feeding, woodland management, rhodybashing, moth/butterfly/bat surveys, drystone walling, fencing and constructing "leaky" dams

- This year Lyme are introducing "spring changes" that include the requirement that dogs are kept on leads on 80% of the land.  Loose dogs can kill lambs and ground nesting birds.  So far this year no lambs have been lost to dog attacks

- Certain rangers run certain projects, e.g. Alex Bond (ex-MNTV) is overseeing the felling of parts of a pine plantation and replanting with mixed broad-leaved species

- Big projects in the pipeline are car park overhaul/relocation and flooding mitigation

Clearly there's a lot of work for MNTV to help with and Claire is happy for us to ask to do particular jobs.  We are next at Lyme on 5 May then 4 September.

Daniel Black

MNTV Chairman