The AGM was held on 30th March where it was agreed that we would make a donation of £4,500 to the National Trust West Dorset office. This is to be used on three projects: Innovative and eye catching display material for the Roving Recruiter (£1,500); Workshops with children & young people (£1,800); Golden Cap Walk leaflet additional costs or BaseCamp finishing touches (£1,200).

After a break for coffee Richard Watson, Regional Community, Learning & Volunteering Manager began his address by pointing out that in 2007 the Wessex Region had 6,500 Volunteers who did 384,000 hours of work for the Trust (approx 60 hours each). With the recession there is pressure on income and in 2009 the NT will be concentrating on increasing visitor numbers, by the selective use of TV and press advertising and continuing to improve the visitor experience.

Rob Rhodes, West Dorset Head Warden and Acting Property Manager gave a fascinating resumé of local activities during 2008. For example: there have been 119,000 visitors who have climbed to the top of the Golden Cap - more than visitors to Laycock Abbey, Dunster Castle or Montacute House; Black Venn is the largest active landslide in Europe; with the assistance of 60 volunteers it took 3 days to remove 19 tons of chalk from the Cerne Abbas Giant and 6 days to replace it - all done by hand.