AGM

WELLS EVENING SOCIETY
MINUTES OF THE FOURTH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Held on Thursday 4th March 2010 at 7.30 pm in Wells Town Hall

1.      The Chairman, Mrs Philippa Collings, welcomed members to the Society’s fourth Annual General Meeting.

2.      Apologies received:  Mrs Marie Andrews, Mrs Barbara Dickinson, Mrs Marian Shaw, Mrs Diana Wheeler, Mrs Jill Frith, Mrs Joy Morgan, Mr Alan Cooper and a number of other members.

3.      The Chairman called for comments on the Minutes of the third AGM held on Thursday 5th March 2009. There being none, the Minutes were accepted as a true and accurate record, having been proposed by Mr Ted Cutfield and seconded by Miss Mary Cryer.

4.      The Chairman presented her Report for 2009 which is attached.

5.      The Treasurer and Membership Secretary presented his Reports, both of which are attached. He called for questions on the Accounts. There were no questions, and acceptance of the Accounts was proposed by Mr Peter Trafford and seconded by Mr Ray Bennett.

6.      Mr Ray Bourke was re-appointed in his role as Honorary Certifier, having been proposed by Mr Steve Lee and seconded by Mr Chris Hann.

7.      Elections

Mrs Philippa Collings thanked Mrs Juliet Keeling, who is stepping down from the committee, for her valuable contribution. She then read out the list of those willing to stand for re-election and proposed by the committee: 

Mrs Philippa Collings               Chairman & Programme Secretary
Mrs Jane Lee                              Vice Chairman
Mr Steve Lee                              Hon Treasurer & Membership Secretary
Mr Chris Hann                           Hon (Acting) Secretary
Mr Gordon Mills                        Operations Manager
Mrs Margaret Jackson              Minutes Secretary

Two new members were also standing for election to the committee:

Mrs Rosalind Bufton               Proposed by Mr Steve Lee    Seconded by Mr Gordon Mills

Mrs Sally Howett                     Proposed by Mrs Philippa Collings    Seconded by Mrs Jane Lee

The whole committee was then elected en bloc by a unanimous show of hands from the floor. Mrs Philippa Collings invited members to come and observe a committee meeting where new ideas were always welcome. She also suggested that members who had heard interesting lectures should pass on that information as input for the 2011/2012 programme soon to be planned. 

8.   The year ahead
The January lecture on Scythian Gold which was cancelled due to snow has been re-scheduled for Thursday 15th April 2010. On Thursday 1st April Liz Lane will be talking about composers. At that meeting members will receive their invitation to join for the next season. Members unable to attend will receive their invitation by post.

9.  Any other business
The Chairman had no other business but Miss Sara Whitehouse, former Chairman, proposed a well deserved vote of thanks for all the work done through the year by Mrs Philippa Collings. Members applauded warmly.

The meeting closed at 7.50 pm.

Margaret Jackson
4th March 2010

ANNUAL REPORTS – 2009
CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

We continue to flourish as a lively society.  We have over 200 members and although we are happy to welcome occasional visitors it is very important to the Society that we have our core membership which each year continues to give us a secure financial backing.

I hope that you agree that we had some excellent speakers during 2009, who between them covered a wide spectrum of subjects.  During the early part of the year we had talks on the Silk Road, The Great East India Company, Scottish Arts and Craft and, Art and Architecture and Music at the Court of James First. 

In May we offered an extra lecture - as an experiment we introduced a challenging presentation on cybernetics and robots by our own Operations Manager Gordon Mills.

This last Autumn we had three lectures on:  The Artwork and Stories behind Peculiar Pub Names; Gods, Greek Myths in Ancient Art and Christmas in Leipzig.... this last being given by our local Musician and Harpsichord maker, Colin Booth. 

Our 2009 visits programme involved a splendid long weekend in Cornwall last March, organised by Anne Mills.  We stayed in Falmouth and visited some lovely houses and gardens that I for one hardly knew existed.  Then in July, we had a day trip to Beaulieu, organised by John Barkle. This proved that even if we choose to go to a place that is well known it can prove a fascinating and enjoyable visit.

Over the year the website was greatly improved with many new features.  The website has many uses, both for our members and for prospective lecturers.  For members we hope that it has become a useful source of reference.  The programme of forthcoming lectures is there as a reminder of the subjects and dates and we now have a write-up about every talk since the society began, together with reports on past visits and days away; Almost everything on the site is illustrated with photographs.  Amongst other things, we are developing a page which incorporates associated arts activities in our area.  Do have a look!  Especial thanks to Steve who has masterminded all this.

I want to conclude with a tribute to those without whom our society could not function – the committee and our helpers.   My fellow committee members all give tireless effort in helping to ensure that the society runs as smoothly as possible. 

You have been given a copy of the 2009 accounts, all this done by Steve Lee, our Treasurer who also has the demanding role of Membership Secretary. Steve has added pertinent notes which clearly explain our position as to both finance and membership. We all know that we would grind to a halt without the technical expertise of our Operations Manager Gordon Mills, who purchases, arranges and runs our very complex equipment.   About Steve and Gordon, Margaret Jackson our minute’s secretary has often to record my saying that they are Brilliant. In turn I might add that she herself is pretty brilliant as she efficiently records our enjoyable and often lively committee meetings. 

Also on the committee we have Chris Hann who has been with the Society since the very beginning and keeps on us his sage - and invaluable - eye of experience.

Jane Lee is not only Vice Chairman but also our energetic and effective publicity officer, and Juliet Keeling has done sterling work on our behalf all year. 

But we also have a number of very loyal and helpful supporters - all essential in their different ways and often working behind the scenes....... John Barkle, Graham Brown, Ros Bufton, Elaine Hann, Maureen Lucas, Anne Mitchell, Anne Mills, Terry Pierce, Pat Williams and, (our first chairman) Sara Whitehouse.  And not forgetting Mary Cryer, who writes up each lecture so cogently – so that this report can appear in the Wells Journal and on our website.  Thank you on behalf of the Society for all that you all do for all of us. 

Philippa Collings
HONORARY TREASURER'S REPORT

Once again I can report that the Society's finances for the year ended 31st December 2009, for which I am submitting the accounts for your approval, are in a very healthy condition. 

There has been a definite shift in the income stream with less coming from annual subscriptions, down from £6,578 in 2008 to £6,186, but this was nearly made up for by an increase in visitor income, from £228 to £569. The other significant change to the income was a reduction in wine sales and a significant drop in interest from the money held in the charity account – due to the global economic recession and the consequent reduction in interest rates. Overall the income was down by just over £450 but was still in excess of £7,000.

There were some key changes to the expenses with the major items, at a little over £2,000, being the purchase of new equipment, a laptop computer and a digital projector, to bring our technical presentation facilities fully up to date. Another key expense was the cost, at £650, of re-designing the website so that we can fully promote the activities of the society. There is a new item in the list of expenses – Consumable Items – which at close to £400 is a fairly significant amount and this is used to cover items such as cables, ancillary electrical and electronic equipment etc. that cannot be considered as capital items. These extra expenses meant that the excess of income over expenditure for the year was only £470, down from £1,680 in 2008; but the society is still in a strong position with Members' Funds increasing to £11,150, up from £10,725 at the end of 2008. 

Steve Lee
MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY'S  REPORT

The maximum number of people that can be seated in the Wells Town Hall is 240 so initially the limit on the membership for the Wells Evening Society was set at an upper level of 260 on the premise that there would always be some absentees from each lecture. 

In fact the membership level for 2009 was well below this level being 216 at the beginning of January and only increasing to 225 by the end of the 2008/09 season in late April. The new 2009/10 seasons lectures started in October and by the end of December 2009 the membership had reached 205, slightly down on the previous year. 

Therefore it is quite clear that there is no restriction on people applying for membership as we can easily accommodate another 25 – 40 members. So please promote the Wells Evening Society to your friends and acquaintances as we need to keep the membership level well above 200 in order to ensure a satisfactory income stream for the future of the society. 

For the fifth year running the subscription will remain at £30 for a programme of seven lectures, running from October 2010 to the end of April 2011. Renewal letters will be handed out at the lecture on the 1st April and it would be appreciated if those members keen to renew would do so at the second April lecture, on the 15th, as that will save everyone postage as I can hand over the membership cards in person. 

For the 26 people who arranged to pay by Standing Order there is nothing to do as the money will automatically be transferred from your accounts. Once the money appears in the WES account I will send out membership cards.

Steve Lee

Registered Charity no:  1124321.