The forty second conference of the Otterburn Society was held in the Malvern Hills, Worcestershire, home to the Treasurer of the Otterburn Society, Dr Mark Cooper.
The glorious Malvern Hills rise up from the flatlands, offering magnificent panoramic views across the Severn Valley into some twelve English and Welsh counties.
The carefully considered agenda prepared by Treasurer Cooper was followed in a characteristically methodical and measured pace.
Malvern itself is a former spa town and the hills are fêted for their mineral waters. To the east of the Malvern hills on the banks of the River Avon lies the market town of Pershore, best known as the location of Pershore Abbey and as centre for operations of agricultural machinery manufacturer Mzuri.
On the Friday of Otterburn members were very pleased to meet with Martin Lole, CEO of Mzuri Ltd for an informal lunch.
Members thoroughly enjoyed the passion for agricultural engineering demonstrated by Mr Lole as he explained the technology behind the Pro-till range of drills that are designed and manufactured by his company. Members were also pleased to have a guided tour of the manufacturing facility.
This was worthy of any Otterburn Society presentation or Wednesday afternoon farm and factory visit.
The video above shows Mr Lole describing one of his seed drills.
Following the tour of Mzuri, members travelled to the Malvern Hills Hotel located in the heart of Malvern.
Members enjoyed an relaxing evening of refreshments at the renowned Cardinal’s Hat Pub before enjoying an Italian dinner at Benedictos Italian Restaurant.
Members retired after enjoying a nightcap back at the Malvern Hills Hotel.
On the Saturday morning of Otterburn, members travelled to the village of Great Malvern on the edge of the Malvern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, home of the Morgan Motor Company.
Members were very pleased to see that the art of carpentry thriving at the site. It is unusual to find a woodworking shop at the heart of a sports car manufacturing business.
Morgan carpenters craft the body frames for the cars form specially selected pieces of ash. In particular, members were very interested to see the technique used at Morgan to create the beautifully curved lines of the vehicle bodies.
Members were also interested to discover that the chassis of Morgan cars have never been manufactured from wood.
Whilst the majority of members felt affinity to the Plus Six, the Heraldic officer in particular felt that he would enjoy the Super 3.
Following the visit to Morgan, members returned to the Malvern Hills Hotel for the forty second annual conference of The Otterburn Society.
Members assembled in a meeting room on the Ground floor of the Malvern Hills Hotel and made themselves comfortable around a splendid square table.
Otterburn XLII
On behalf of the joint Chairmen Moore and Watson, Chairman Moore warmly welcomed members to their forty second annual conference in particular those that had travelled to be there. Chairman Moore brought the meeting to order with one knock of his gavel.
Before presentations commenced, the Chairman asked Treasurer Dr Cooper to play an old film recorded whilst members were students of agricultural engineering at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne that shows Alan Reece and the company that he had formed at that time, Soil Machine Dynamics.
Chairman Moore called for presentations in alphabetical order.
Members presentated on a variety of most interesting subjects.
Treasurer Cooper talked about the rigorous off-road testing employed by Jaguar Land Rover to produce reliable products.
Heraldic Officer Beattie talked about a particularly fascinating aspect of Northumbrian history that members found most interesting.
Secretary Featherstone updated members on the Lands End to John 0’Groats cycle run that he completed earlier in the year. This was punctuated with some material that members had enjoyed in presentations of other years.
Andy Jordan talked about the great difficulties facing farmers despite farmland values outperforming other asset classes such as gold, equities and residential property in the past 12 months.
The Director of Music Alastair Scarborough talked about the benefits of registering organisations in offshore territories and how Bermuda offers significant benefits compared to the Isle of Man if annual general meetings and other business needs to be conducted locally.
Chairman Moore talked about his eventful year as Chairman of the Otterburn Society.
Chairman Watson talked about this year’s grain yields compared to previous years and the impact this is having on profits.
Daniel F Woods talked about the very warm welcome that he receives at the Coach & Horses, Bolton by Bowland.
Mr John Beck sent his presentation video for broadcast at the conference
Presentations were very warmly received. It is interesting how common themes endure over the years.
There were a variety of means available to enable to assist in the prompt despatch of toggies, and these were greatly appreciated by members.
Following presentation, the Annual General Meeting was held.
Annual General Meeting
Apologies for Absence
Eagerly awaited were the apologies for absence, in particular a review of the reasons offered by Mr Slack for absence. Mr Slack claims that he is advising Dr. Ing h.c. F Porsche AG in the development of their new range of sports cars and it was supposedly essential that he participated in discussions in this respect held in Portimão, Portugal on the Saturday of Otterburn. Of course, it was unanimously agreed this is not an acceptable excuse and the results of Flack poll of forfeits were reviewed. Despite obvious improprieties surrounding the voting process, including proven accusations of vote rigging, the results of the poll were accepted and it was agreed the Mr Slack would forfeit “An all-expenses paid Friday evening of hospitality at o’Flacks bar Wylam including Irish and Scottish whiskies, Guinness, Wylam gold, aperitifs, dancing girls, Indian curry feast and impressive firework display. Estimated liability £1,800.”
The Wolfgang award.
Awarded for literary excellence, Karl Beatie.
The Flack Challenge Cup.
Awarded to the member who had succeeded above all others, awarded to Karl Beattie, in light of the furthest distance travelled to attend Otterburn.
Election of offices of the Society.
Jeremy Featherstone was nominated to the post of Secretary of the Society and this nomination was unanimously approved. The re-elected Secretary explained that it would be most appreciated if members were to promptly forward their contributions buy the due date.
Basil Firth was nominated and duly elected Treasurer of the Otterburn Society. Mr Firth is greatly looking forward to welcoming members to Salisbury for Otterburn XLIII.
Dr Mark Cooper stood down as Treasurer in accordance with rotation and was nominated to the office of Chairman. A ballot was held. It was with a great degree of humility that Dr Cooper acknowledged the results of the ballot and accepted the great burden bestowed upon him as he was conferred to office of Chairman of the Otterburn Society.
Their being no further business, members dressed for dinner and dined in style at the hotel.
