Chairman’s Report Spring 2025

By Steve Rowland

Dear Members

The New Year has got underway and even though we have seen a mixed bag of weather we get the occasional glimpse of what we want to look forward to.

Winding back to our AGM in November where there was uncertainty in clubs obtaining insurance due to Dennis Beeby deciding to take a well-earned retirement. It was all so easy as at the end of each year I would contact Dennis to pay the necessary and Insurance cards would follow. On contacting NFU they received the news regarding Dennis’s retirement at about the same time as many clubs.

What to do…

Well, it was discussed at the AGM but seeing that the NFU are such a reputable Insurance company and served us well we would follow this path. Both John Peters and I approached NFU and we needed to supply lots of required details and copies of previously issued legal documents.

I think as Dennis had many UK clubs under the umbrella of the policy he maintained for many years and that combined with an established policy, this reflected in the premium. Just like a new driver, we were now re-assessed for 2025; this gave us an increase in our subs. I will say that at the club New Year gas up (more about that in a bit) I was pleasantly surprised by the number of members that said it looks a good robust policy from a well-known established company providing a concise certificate. This was very pleasing to John and I after the effort to achieve it, thank you.

SEAMS Insurance

A few questions that have arisen, when comparing the wording to other clubs’ insurance, I have taken the action to go back directly to the NFU for a greater level of clarification.

We have the wording of machinery in our certificate, and I have said to NFU it does not actually say Stationary Engines, the NFU have in writing confirmed that Stationary Engines come under this.

Secondly, the question raised are members covered when running at a Non-SEAMS event, again in writing YES, and to confirm it’s the member and not the Engine who is insured.  Should the engine want to be insured, the member would need their own contents policy.