Virtual AGM 2020

Thank you to every club member who voted in Fanderson’s 2020 Annual General Meeting. The results have been checked and independently verified, and are below.

There were no ineligible votes submitted and no duplicates.

Item 1 – There is only one candidate for Fanderson chairman (see www.fanderson.org.uk)

97.1% Nick Williams

2.9% I do not support any candidate

Therefore, your committee members now are:

Chairman – Nick Williams

Treasurer – Stephen Brown

Secretary – John Wilkinson

FAB co-editors – Mike Jones and Ian Fryer

Mailing Secretary – Jackie Dear

Guest Liaison – Mel Rowlands

Public Relations – Jay Mullins

Fanderson Sales – Lynn Simpson and Stephen Brown

 

Item 2 – Proposal to amend Constitution clause 10c(ii) to the following:

“Members may propose other members of at least two year’s good standing (including the incumbent Chairman and current committee members), in writing to the Secretary”

88.2% For

11.8% Against

An updated version of the club’s Constitution can be found here.


Notice of Virtual AGM, posted 13th March 2020

As per item 10c of the club’s Constitution, no one person may be Chairman continuously for more than five years. Nick Williams was elected at the Annual General Meeting on 21st March 2015, so the post is now open for election again.

You can see the Constitution under the About > Fanderson section.

Item 10c continues that at such point that the Chairman resigns (or after five years’ service, whichever is the lesser):

i – the Committee will make the resignation and application process known by the membership by all reasonable means

The nomination process was detailed in FAB 94, mailed to all club members on 13th January 2020 and new members since.

ii – Members may propose other members of at least two year’s good standing (including the incumbent Chairman), in writing to the Secretary

Only one member was proposed by 29th February 2020 for your consideration to be Fanderson chairman. One other member expressed an interest, but failed to provide any of the nomination information, as detailed in FAB 94.

iii – All members will be given the opportunity to vote (in person or by proxy) to elect a new Chairman at the next Annual General Meeting, in the manner determined by the Committee at that time

We held AGMs in 2015 and 2016: no members attended in 2015 and just one attended in 2016. Therefore, the committee agreed not to waste funds on further physical AGMs, though members are invited to contribute and vote online on issues raised at a virtual AGM.

PROPOSALS

1 Chairman election

Nick Williams

Having contributed to Fanderson’s success for over 30 years, I’m standing once again to be your club chairman.

As club secretary (between 1990 and 2007), I was instrumental in turning around the club’s finances. I replatformed the membership database (twice) to make maintenance and preparing for mailings easier. I introduced the card payment facility, and brought in elementary management information to inform the committee when making decisions.

On becoming chairman in 2007 I gave the committee a clear direction and support, with the aim of making the club more accessible:

  • With regularly updated news on our website, potential members would know that we’re thriving.
  • By publishing FAB magazine regularly, existing members would have confidence in the club.
  • By giving a new, inclusive, direction for FAB we’d see more members contribute to our club magazine.

Membership numbers (and, crucially, membership renewals) immediately increased and have stabilised.

I’ve never claimed to have an encyclopaedic recall of every Anderson fact and figure, but I don’t believe this is necessary to be chairman. As a team leader I am a good organiser and ambassador for the club. I’ve never underestimated or taken for granted the responsibility that the position demands. I’ve never been afraid to stand up and do the right thing for the club and its members – even on occasion that it’s made me unpopular with a minority.

I intend that we should keep everything that has made Fanderson one of the very best fan clubs for the last 39 years, but ensure it stays relevant for today (and tomorrow).

I’m proud to have been your chairman since 2007, and ask you to show your support by voting for me.

 

2 Amendment to the club’s Constitution

It is proposed that item 10c(ii) be amended by adding the following bold text, which would enable committee members to also stand for Chairman:

10c(ii) Members may propose other members of at least two year’s good standing (including the incumbent Chairman and current committee members), in writing to the Secretary.

 

VOTING CLOSED

Voting was open 15th-29th March 2020, and the results will be announced on the club website no later than 5th April.

  • Votes are only valid from current members of Fanderson (ie, those mailed FAB 94 or who have joined the club/renewed their membership since 13th January 2020).
  • Votes will be checked against the membership database for eligibility.
  • Eligible members will get to vote once. In the event of multiple votes, the last vote cast will be considered valid.

Alan Pattillo has died

Fanderson is saddened to learn of the death of Anderson writer and director Alan Pattillo at the age of 90.

Alan, who died on 16th January 2020, was responsible for directing classic Thunderbirds episodes such as Trapped in the Sky and Attack of the Alligators. He wrote several other epsiodes and was script editor throughout the majority  of the series. He also worked on numerous episodes of Four Feather Falls, Supercar, Fireball XL5, Stingray and Terrahawks.

He will be sorely missed.

Thunderbirds Are Go: Buried Treasure premieres this Saturday, 25th January

The latest Thunderbirds Are Go episode, Buried Treasure premieres at 8:30am this Saturday 25th January on ITV and CITV, repeated Sunday at 5:55pm on CITV or catch up afterwards on the ITV Hub.

Virgil and Gordon must rescue a trapped urban-explorer in a trash mine while Brains attempts a risky mission.

Easter Eggs: The Groundskeeper is humming the Fireball XL5 theme song, and this is reflected in episode’s music.
  

Thunderbirds Are Go: Icarus premieres this Saturday, 11th January

The latest Thunderbirds Are Go episode, Icarus premieres at 8:30am this Saturday 11th January on ITV and CITV, repeated Sunday at 5:55pm on CITV or catch up afterwards on the ITV Hub.

While the members of International Rescue attend a prestigious global airshow, a test pilot unveils an ultra-fast superjet.

Easter Egg: The ‘world air speed record’ that Icarus is attempting to break in this episode is currently held by Jeff Tracy.

Save in our Super Soundtrack Sale!

Not sure what to spend all that lovely lolly on that Santa gave you for Christmas?

Well, start a “Happy New Year!” by getting that Anderson soundtrack album you’ve always promised yourself, thanks to our Super Soundtrack Sale!

For a limited time we’ve slashed the prices of our exclusive Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons, Joe 90, Space:1999 and Doppelgänger soundtrack albums as well as our Stingray and Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons mini album sets too!

And, whilst you’re filling your basket, why not take a look at our new products:

You’ll find books, badges, patches, magazines, picture cards, posters and much, much more in our shop. All produced by Fanderson, exclusively for our club members (don’t forget to set up your online club account before you start shopping).

The Super Soundtrack Sale is just for January although, as all club merchandise is produced on a limited-edition basis, availability cannot be guaranteed until the 31st!

 

 

 

Membership auto-renewal – fix applied

A software fix was applied at the weekend which should have stopped the problem some members were experiencing, whereby they were forced to set up their club account as an automatic annually-renewing membership.

We are now working our way through all membership records to un-apply any auto-renewing, which we are doing on an individual member basis. This will take some days, and members affected will be emailed directly by PayPal to inform them when the club has suspended automatic payments. This does not affect your membership or your ability to pay for any of the club’s services or merchandise. It will simply stop our system auto-renewing your membership next year.

Please ignore any mention of “next subscription payment” on your membership order, as we continue to manage memberships manually, and will inform you when your next renewal is due.

We continue to seek a solution to another issue, whereby some members are not being given the option to simply pay by card (instead only being offered to use/open a PayPal account). As this problem is sporadic, we ask any members experiencing difficulties such as these to email us with:

  • your name
  • your location (country)
  • what you were trying to buy
  • total order amount
  • screenshots of the payment screen and any error messages that you are getting.

Thanks.

 

Sporadic issues with PayPal (updated)

It has been brought to our attention that a very small number of club members are experiencing problems paying for their Fanderson membership, merchandise or services.

Although PayPal has been our card payment processor without problem for many years, it appears that some members are no longer being given the option to simply pay by card (instead only being offered to use/open a PayPal account). Please be assured that this is not something that Fanderson has asked to be put in place.

We’ve also been advised of a separate problem whereby PayPal is suggesting that a membership has to be set up as an automatically annually-renewing transaction. Again, this is not something that Fanderson has asked to be put in place.

We are investigating both of these problems with PayPal, but it is proving difficult as they’re sporadic and don’t seem to be following any pattern (ie, location, amount being purchased etc).

Some members have found that clearing their browser history has cleared the problem.

Other members have found using a different browser works, or completing the transaction on their phone, instead of a computer.

We ask any members experiencing difficulties such as these to email us with:

  • your name
  • your location (country)
  • what you were trying to buy
  • total order amount
  • your browser (eg, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Chrome)
  • the type of computer you’re using (eg, Windows desktop, Windows laptop, Apple laptop, iPad, Android phone)
  • screenshots of the payment screen and any error messages that you are getting.

Thanks.

FAB 93 in the post – again in ‘green’ packaging

FAB 93 is now winging its way to all Fanderson members around the world – once again in compostable packaging!

Within its 60 pages FAB 93 includes:

  • an in-depth study of UFO‘s Dr Jackson, Vladek Sheybal
  • members’ views of Captain Scarlet And The Mysterons Noose Of Ice, plus an exclusive Hotspot Tower cutaway illustration, in our regular Timelash feature
  • an interview with Thunderbirds Are Go‘s concept artist Rebekah Tisch
  • the story of the commentaries for A&E’s DVD releases of Stingray, UFO and Space:1999
  • Thunderbirds Are Go season 3 episode guide, part 2
  • part five of our exclusive Thunderbird 6 photo-strip
  • news, FAB noticeboard, FAB Mail and more

We’re also catching up from last time by mailing this year’s membership gift, The Secret Service Close Up, to everyone due the book with FAB 92, as well as those due it now with FAB 93.

 

How to get FAB magazine? Join Fanderson!

FAB magazine is available exclusively to Fanderson club members – we deliver three times a year, and we do our very best to make each issue a joy to read for every fan – regardless of your favourite series!

 

The wrapper for the FAB 93 mailing is 100% compostable, as it’s made from potato and maize starch. 

Don’t throw it in your bin, but instead:

  1. put it in your home composter
  2. put it in with your garden waste, or
  3. use it to line your food waste caddy

Once your FAB’s arrived, let us know what think of the wrapper at fanderson.org.uk@outlook.com