St Mellion Time Owners Association
Minutes of the 29th Annual Meeting held on Friday 7th May 2021 By Zoom
Present
Committee Members
Andy Martin (AM) Chairman John Boardman (JBo) Secretary
Joyce Bloom (JBl) Paul Oliphant (PO) Colin Rayson (CR)
John Dalglish (JD) (Co-Opted) Sarah Yardley (SY) (Co-Opted)
St Mellion Staff.
Hanna Garraghan, Finance Manager (HG) and
Emma Leslie, Reception Manager (EL)
Time Owners Participating.
Robert Atkins, Dr Ian Baker, Hilary Bekir, Vernon Crittenden, Linda Dingle, John Foster,
Neil Hollister ,Enid Jenken, Michael Luntley, Graham Martin, Mary Martin, Susan Overal,
John Poundsford and Alan Welch.
Opening Remarks
The Chairman welcomed all participants to the Association’s first Annual Meeting to be held by Zoom and set out the guidelines for conducting the meeting.
Apologies for Absence
Michael and Virginia Wright,
Minutes of the 28th Annual Meeting -12 November 2019
These were agreed and subsequently signed by the Secretary (Chairman of the Meeting).
Chairman’s Report
Good Afternoon.
Little did I know at the last Annual Meeting in November 2019, that the world would completely change. Zoom meetings would become the norm and lockdown a way of life.
Covid 19 challenged our way of life however with the vaccine now nearly covering 50% of the UK population there is light at the end of the tunnel with St Mellion lodges reopening from 12th April.
Firstly, my thanks to John Boardman, our previous Chairman, for his stewardship and support as secretary for my first year as Chairman.
To remind everyone, the Committee’s principle responsibility is to represent the views of current Owners at St Mellion so it has been a very busy year with you communicating through our website www.smtoa.co.uk (Please register if you haven’t already for the latest news).
We have been very proactive on your behalf and at every committee meeting requesting resolution to the following outstanding financial issues with Crown Golf.
- Reconciliation of the Deed of Variation monies
- Access and report on fee arrears
- Justifying administration costs attributed to St Mellion Property Management Ltd
We also took the decision to double the Committee meetings during the pandemic so that Timeshare owner’s views are constantly put forward. This did prove difficult with three senior management changes during 2020 and the fight against covid.
I am pleased to say we are in a much better place for the following reasons: –
- On 1st July 2020, St Mellion Estate separated from Crown Golf and the central control of Pine Ridge so St Mellion has complete control of its own destiny.
- The new senior management team under Howard Jones, the Managing Director of St Mellion has overall responsibility for everything that involves the St Mellion property and development. He reports directly to the Australian parent company and is not involved with the Crown Golf operation.
Iain Wylie is the new Head of Destination, responsible for all aspects of day-to-day operations and involved in the development of the property. He has effectively replaced Mark Webster who resigned in September 2020.
The new Finance Manager is Hanna Garraghan, recently recruited. Your Committee is delighted that St Mellion now has full autonomy over its own finances, rather than relying on the systems and people at Crown Golf head office. She faces a huge task in bringing together the accounting and reporting of the business so that it provides regular reliable financial information.
- All the timeshare owners’ leases have been transferred to St Mellion and a review of completeness and accuracy of the database was well underway. There remain c 350-400 Timeshare weeks under ownership and if you have any outstanding issues regarding your lease, please contact Iain Wylie i.wylie@st-mellion.co.uk
Impact of Latest Lockdown.
This is a difficult topic for Owners and St Mellion. Owners may have “lost” weeks or not be able to have weeks in the same season or have weeks without full restaurant/bar facilities. St Mellion only have 80 spare weeks in the Timeshare lodges.
Approx. 50 “lost” weeks from 2020 need to be resolved. St Mellion are not willing or in a position to grant refunds or other compensation. A case-by-case approach was agreed, although the Time Owners Committee members remain very concerned about the timeliness of communication from St Mellion. Iain and Hanna agreed to communicate their plan for dealing with this issue very soon.
Property Development.
The planning application Phase 1 passed in the early part of 2020 was going to be radically amended and most of the changes were in line with the Committee’s thinking and objections to the original scheme. However due to Covid, there was a complete re-think, and this approved development was shelved.
A new retirement village was proposed instead, at the entrance to St Mellion, however this was rejected by Cornwall CC on 2nd March 2021.
Following the rejection, plans are to be revised and resubmitted to Crown Golf’s owners in Australia. Given the impact of the lock downs, it is likely that future investment will be delayed and /or scaled back.
Committee Changes
As Chairman I would like to thank all the hard work of your committee during these challenging times and especially Paul Oliphant who is leaving at the Annual Meeting after 5 years of giving valuable input and always asking the right questions.
Joyce Bloom and Colin Rayson have also been doing sterling work on your behalf and agreed to continue serving on the committee with the passion for St Mellion they both bring.
I am pleased to say that John Dalglish and Sarah Yardley are formally elected to the committee at the Annual Meeting after being co-opted during the year. JD will take over the role of secretary with John Boardman promising to stay on another year to ensure a smooth transition.
Finally, I can confidently say this has been a year like no other and I hope that we can put lockdowns behind us. I hope we can start enjoying St Mellion as we have all loved over a number of years and the new team make our stays as special as they have been in the past.
Wishing you and your families all the best and look forward to seeing you again when we can do face to face meetings.
Statutory Accounts
The Statutory Account for St Mellion Property Management Limited had been lodged with Companies House on the very last day for compliance with the legal requirements and been circulated ( in draft form ) for the meeting. Various questions had been raised about the Accounts. HG responded that she could not answer some of the questions because
They related to accounts held by Crown Golf , were put together before her arrival last October and audited without consultation with staff at St Mellion.
HG’s responses are in Italics
Questions 1.Which part of the business has the money received from owners surrendering weeks been allocated to. St Mellion Operations, Crown Golf or St Mellion Property Management Limited. When the D of V option was agreed one third of the money generated was agreed to be allocated to St Mellion Property Management Limited. Did this happen this time?
HG replied that funds received from these surrenders in April 2021 would be available for expenditure on the Timeshare Lodges.
2. Why were the gross sales only 42% of 2019 figures?
HG has referred this question to the Crown Golf Directors who prepared the accounts.
3. How can St Mellion Property be allowed to make a loss? Stephen Towers and Dan Fulcher were the responsible directors for the whole of the accounting year.
HG has referred this question to the Crown Golf Directors who prepared the accounts.
4. When do St Mellion expect to have the accounts for 2020/2021 which finished at the end of March available? We have been told that St Mellion is a stand-alone business. Is that the case or does Crown Golf head office still have some control over the information required to complete the 2021 accounts.
(All asked by Colin Rayson)
HG expects that 2002/21 Accounts will be ready for the audit that will take place in the Autumn this year, although she still has some historic figures to check from before her joining date in October 2020.
5. Why are the Statutory Accounts sent to Owners in DRAFT form as at 30 March 2021- the last day before the extended filing deadline with Companies House?
HG said that this was necessary to circulated the figures before the Accounts were formally signed off by Howard Jones and Iain Wylie.
6. Why were Administrative Expenses allowed to fall less slowly than Turnover during the 12 months before the pandemic 68% in 2019 to 89% for 2020.?
HG has referred this question to the Crown Golf Directors who prepared the accounts.
7. In prior years there have been Fixed Assets on the Balance Sheet and Depreciation charged to the Accounts. Was none of the expenditure capitalised in 2020 ?
Does this explain the loss ? What are the tax implications? Have all previous assets been written off- for example new kitchen equipment.
HG thought that all assets had been fully depreciated. No further action.
(All asked by John Boardman)
Resort General Manager’s Report
Although a report was available, it was not presented because of the resignation of Howard Jones and Iain Wylie at the end of April.
Lodge Ownership
EL reported that c70 of the 372 Lodge Owners had chosen to opt for the exit option offered last month. She also reported that c 2/3 of Owners had paid their invoices. No late payment fees have been added if Owners had not been correctly invoiced or were in discussion with EL who has a huge workload, including dealing with Owners’ “lost weeks” from the second lock down.
Election of Committee
Paul Oliphant stood down from the Committee and AM thanked him for his hard work and commended his ability to question St Mellion management on the key topics at meetings.
AM introduced JD and SY, who were formally elected to the Committee having been co-opted since the last Annual Meeting,
JD is to take over as Secretary from JBo with effect from today. Colin Rayson and Joyce Bloom will continue as members. AM again appealed for Owners to volunteer to join the Committee.
Owner’s Questions
JBo asked the following questions on behalf of Owners.
What are the mid term plans for the Timeshare business – Neil Hollister.
HG responded that the property plan and refurbishment work on the Lodges would need to be reviewed in the light of the impact of the pandemic and the departure of two of the senior management team.
JBo asked about the future of the bowling green and tennis courts, which both need money to be spent on them. The peace and quiet enjoyed Lodges 8,9 and 10 should not be impacted by any change of use- Enid Jenken and Roger Bloom.
HG acknowledged that this was an important issue and careful consideration would be given to any plans for that area. Currently funding was constrained by the impact of the pandemic.
JBo asked about bbq’s , especially as they had been withdrawn but appeared to be advertised as a facility on St Mellion’s web site for the turret lodges.
HG confirmed that bbq’s would be available upon request and that recent letters to Owners ahead of their visit did not had stated that they were not available. The decision to make them available had been made that morning. Future letters will make this system clear to Owners.
What is Steve Moss’s role now?
HG replied that Steve Moss will be involved in some of the day-to -day operations of the Lodges, but his principal role is within the St Mellion operation on facilities management.
JBO asked if the TimeOwners Monday golf competition and evening social event would be reinstated once restrictions were lifted.
HG confirmed they would be.
JBo asked on behalf of Mr Rothwell why he had not received his invoice and had not received any response to e mail or phone messages.
EL promised to investigate and respond.
Any Other Business
AM invited TimeOwners participating to ask further questions.
Michael Luntley has recently acquired a week. He has been trying to contact St Mellion to clarify his rights and responsibilities under the Lease.
EL agreed to meet with him during his week at St Mellion in June.
Vernon Crittenden asked whether the bbq’s were gas or charcoal burning.
HG thought the bbq’s were charcoal and St Mellion does sell it.
Graham Martin asked why St Mellion did not issue receipts for payment of Invoices.
HG said the accounting system did not generate them but that they would be issued on request.
JD asked for a clarification of the roles of senior management in the light of the resignations.
HG thought that replacements were probably being recruited for the same management structure and that at least one new manager would be in place in early July.
AM thanked all the participants for their contribution and wished them and St Mellion well.
The Meeting closed at 3.20 p.m.