RMetS Annual General Meeting 2024

This year’s AGM was held on 22 May, in the lovely, if rather austere setting of HMS Belfast, docked near London Bridge in London.

In summary the meeting celebrated a number of important anniversaries: the 30th anniversary of the Met Apps journal and Chartered Meteorologist (CMet) both launched in 1994 and the 10th anniversary of the Registered Meteorologist (RMet) scheme, along with the ACCSYS online CPD tool, both of which commenced in 2014. The meeting was well attended in this unique, naval environment and emphasised the importance of The Royal Meteorological Society (RMetS) in the key role it plays in supporting the science and profession of meteorology, both to amateurs with a key interest in the subject and those with a more direct professional connection.

The meeting reinforced the affection its members have for the integrity of this charitable Society, with a relatively small but dedicated team led by Liz Bentley its Chief Executive, supported by its acting President, Dave Griggs. The following short extracts of the key highlights will hopefully give a flavour of what was said, to those members who could not attend this important annual event.

Dave Giggs opened the AGM with the usual process items like elections to Council which were unopposed by members, followed by amendments to the charity’s byelaws by Liz Bentley the CE. More details are provided in the resources on the AGM event page on the society website.

Liz then gave a roundup of the highlights she and her team, (including many volunteers on specific issues) had achieved during the year. Such as:

• On communications there had been 180 media interviews throughout the year
• Total membership reached a new high of 3249 with a retention rate of 91%
• There are 1,100 users of the ACCSYS CPD tool
• The Society celebrated 150 years of its prestigious Quarterly Journal. 
• Much activity on resources for teachers on MetLink, outreach type events, conferences, work on Climate Change through COP and development of a new 6-year Strategic Plan.

Liz handed over to the Treasurer Paul Hardaker whose main headline was the Society was in a strong financial position with a total income of £1.34 million, up 6% on last year although costs were also up 4%. He emphasised the need to diversify from the main income sources of publishing journals and membership fees and initiatives along those lines were showing promise. The AGM part of the meeting then closed and the Treasurer’s report was adopted.

There then followed a presentation by the first Editor of Met Apps, Bob Riddaway, to celebrate 30 years since the launch of this important journal and he was joined on stage by the current co-Editor Christina Charlton-Perez, who emphasised how the journal (although Bob did not like the name Journal) had grown over the years with much wider international recognition and input from authors. However, the scope had changed little in that time although Met Apps now had 31 Associate Editors and 128 submissions to it in the past year. 

Next up was an important session on accreditation which marked 30 years since the introduction of Chartered Meteorologist (CMet) in 1994, followed by the launch of the Registered Meteorologist (RMet) 10 years ago. It was emphasised how accreditation or certification was only carried out by the UK and American Societies and how it had gained great international reputation, as at its core it uses WMO standards for competencies. It is also seen as a major support for career progression in the science of meteorology and its applications.

This was followed by an interesting panel discussion chaired by Becky Venton who was joined by three other CMets to discuss how important the award was and that the message should be sent out that anyone with the right competences ‘can do it’, perhaps with encouraging support from mentors and others on how to navigate the process.

The last part of the meeting was on the various Society Awards for a variety of people that had made a valuable contribution in advancing our understanding of weather and climate and its various applications. This was longer than usual as it included both the 2022 and 2023 award winners as the Society was not able to present the awards in person in 2023. Further details about the award winners can be found on the society’s webpages.

The meeting then closed and we were all invited to a drinks reception onboard HMS Belfast, which provided an opportunity to catch up with old friends and make some new acquaintances for a good enjoyable chat.

Source: rmets.org