Business and more at 2026 Guild AGM
The Toyota Global Media Centre, close to Gatwick Airport, hosted the Guild’s Annual General Meeting for a second successive year on 18th June, provided over by our President and mixing the formal business required by the Guild’s Articles of Association with some informative and entertaining additions.
Several revisions to the Guild’s Rules and Articles of Association were approved by the meeting, these being that the Benevolent Fund is only accessible to Full members, Vice-Presidents are able to vote if they are also a serving Officer, that the General Secretary forms part of the Committee and is able to vote if also a Full member, that retired members are able to purchase a Year Book, on request, for a sum decided by the Committee, and the change of a reference to postal votes to electronic votes.
The officers were confirmed unchanged as President Nick Mason, Chair Simon Harris, Vice-Chair Richard Aucock, Hon Treasurer Matthew Carter and Hon Secretary Richard Netherwood.
The meeting saw existing committee members Chris Adamson, Richard Aucock, Tim Beavis, John Brooks, Andrew Charman, Trinity Francis, John Griffiths, Kevin Haggarthy, Simon Harris, Andrew Noakes and Mike Valente all re-elected, alongside returnees John Kendall and Jim McGill, and new addition to the committee Ray Massey.
All AGM photos by Jeff Bloxham unless stated
Putting the case for the Guild’s role
Welcoming members to the AGM, Chair Simon Harris wasted no time in emphasising that the Guild continues to face challenges. “Our industry – media and publishing – is under pressure. The automotive industry itself is in the middle of its most significant transition in a century. As an organisation, we feel both of those forces simultaneously.”
While looking forward to the following financial report with more optimism than he had felt for some years, Simon added that stabilisation is not the same as strength. “We need to be honest with ourselves about what comes next.
The membership remains the foundation of everything the Guild does financially, but attracting new members and retaining existing ones has become harder. Part of the reason is beyond our control, such as the loss of complimentary breakdown cover from first the AA and then from Start Rescue. “Every year, a number of members lapse, and they still cite that specific loss as their reason – I find that intensely frustrating, and I want to address it directly,” Simon said.
“The Guild is not a breakdown cover provider. It never was. And those members who were here primarily for a free recovery service – and I say this with respect, but with absolute clarity – perhaps should not have been here at all.
“We cannot build a sustainable, purposeful organisation around benefits that substitute for belief in what the Guild actually stands for. Benefits should reward membership. They should not define it.”
It has often been said that the Guild is worth what members get out of it, but also what they put into it, but Simon pitched for something more specific than a general willingness to be involved. Expressing his thanks to those who step up to fill committee positions, he emphasised that the committee is not the only way to contribute.
“There is plenty you can do right now. Mentoring a younger member costs nothing but time. The return on that investment, both for them and for the Guild’s reputation as a professional body, is considerable. If you have expertise, share it. If you have contacts, use them on the Guild’s behalf occasionally. And if you have opinions about what the Guild should be doing differently, bring them to us – rather than saving them for discussion with colleagues afterwards.”
One initiative that will make a welcome return this year is the Guild Survey. Members, alongside a number of senior journalists outside the Guild, will be asked to give their honest assessment of how automotive PR teams are performing, focusing on such aspects as responsiveness, access, quality of information and relationship management.
“The automotive landscape has changed considerably since this survey was last run,” Simon said. “There are more brands competing for coverage right now than at any point in my career, many of them relying heavily on PR agencies to support smaller, overstretched in-house teams.
“In that environment, the ability to measure performance, benchmark against peers and identify where improvements are needed has genuine commercial value. We believe there will be a strong appetite among PR teams to access that insight. This survey represents a meaningful service to the industry, and a potential revenue stream for the Guild.
“It is also a vital reminder of what the Guild is uniquely placed to do. Nobody else can aggregate the honest, informed opinions of the people who work with these teams every day. That is something only we can offer.”
Simon also mused on what the Guild is actually for, arguing that it is not a trade union but can and should be, a voice for automotive media. “At a time when the value of skilled, experienced automotive journalism is being questioned – when editorial is being produced faster and cheaper by people and platforms with no investment in getting it right – our voice matters more than it has for decades,” adding that against the backdrop of the reality of artificial intelligence and its threat to skilled journalists as publishers seek to cut costs, what the Guild does becomes even more vital.
Mentorship to younger and less experienced writers and photographers trying to find their way in an industry that offers fewer clear pathways than it once did, training and learning that gives members a genuine competitive edge are benefits with real, lasting value that cannot be easily replicated by the AI landscape.
Simon added that the Guild should also be making the case, visibly and consistently, that there is a premium for well-crafted work. “For features conceived, researched and written by human beings who understand their subject, their audience and their craft. That case is urgent. It is more urgent now than at any point in my career, and the Guild is one of the few organisations positioned to make that case credibly.”
He concluded; “The Guild has lasted as long as it has because successive generations of members decided it was worth fighting for. I believe it still is, I hope you do too.”
- Members can expect to receive invitations to partake in the Guild Survey in the late Autumn of this year.
