Aston Martin Lagonda hosts Guild’s 2019 AGM

Guild members gathered at Aston Martin Lagonda’s global HQ at Gaydon in Warwickshire for the 2019 Annual General Meeting on 9 May. In addition to the meeting itself, they were given a tour of the production facility and a fascinating design briefing by chief creative officer Marek Reichman.

Vice president Ray Hutton chaired the meeting in place of Guild president Nick Mason who is busy with his Saucerful of Secrets tour.

Members voted to update the Guild’s rules to rename the role of deputy chairman as vice chairman, to align it with the titles of the Guild’s vice presidents and to facilitate expansion of the role. Guy Loveridge was appointed as vice chairman.

The meeting also appointed two new vice presidents, Matthew Carter and Peter Burgess, and confirmed a series of committee appointments.

Aston Martin Lagonda creative director Marek Reichman gave members an interesting design briefing. Pictures by Jeff Bloxham.

Guild chairman Richard Aucock told members that in its 75th year the Guild continued to be the pre-eminent organisation for automotive editorial professionals. In a world where car makers were increasingly striving to be “premium” he suggested writers and other content creators could adopt the same aim, and that Guild membership should play a part.

Aucock also announced that a new award for early-career automotive PRs was being created in association with MIPAA, and that details of this year’s Sir William Lyons Award for young motoring writers would be revealed soon.

Honorary secretary Chris Adamson reported that there were now 509 working members in the Guild, in 18 countries, with 21 new members in the last year.

Honorary treasurer Matthew Carter told the meeting that while income was down on the previous year the Guild had generated a surplus for the seventh year in a row.

A full report on the annual general meeting will appear in the July/August edition of the Update newsletter