Minutes of 38th Annual General Meeting of Spring Grove Morris Men and Kingston Morris Monday 28th September 2015 At St John’s Church, Kingston upon Thames In attendance were: Colin Messer, Glenis Ward, David Seager, Alan Bull, Helena Cooper, Jane Lowe, Janet Rees, Phil Mundy, Robert Muller, John Curwood, Ian Kirkpatrick, Gerry McCann, Steve Nash, Sue Benson, Sara Ward, Laurie South, Ania Sanders. The meeting was chaired by Gerry McCann. 1. Apologies for absence: were received from Kathy Turner, Lesley Ralph, Georgina Forbes and Caroline Edgington. 2. Items for consideration in Any Other Business: a. Website and spreadsheet b. Logging and reporting of events c. Kit d. Advertising e. Change of bank account f. Promotional video. 3. Minutes of the last KM/SGMM AGM (2014): were approved and signed by Gerry McCann and David Seager. 4. Matters arising from the minutes: It was noted that Phil had been appointed Deputy Treasurer. 5. Reports and Accounts: The following reports were distributed beforehand and copies were available at the meeting: SGMM Squire’s Report – John Curwood KM Squire’s Report – Gerry McCann SGMM Bagman’s Report – Phil Mundy KM Bagman’s Report – Sue Benson Practice Coordinator’s Report – Glenis Ward SG Foreman’s Report – Colin Messer Publicity and Recruitment - Phil Mundy Treasurer’s Report – David Seagar David summarised the accounts, which are not yet finalised. Earnings from paid events were up a lot this year; the advert filming and World Cup advert made major contributions. It was suggested that we should keep back some money for SGMM’s 40th anniversary in 2017, and subsidies for other trips eg Poland. Charity donation to be discussed later in the meeting. Survey results Steve ran through a summary of the survey results. We all agreed that we should increase the number of unaccompanied Monday pub tours in the forthcoming season (2016). Glenis proposed a vote of thanks to Steve for undertaking the survey. We also thanked Phil for his useful analysis of events and attendance numbers over the last few years. Home Start (Toni’s choice) was confirmed as this year’s charity. We agreed to keep St George’s Day (which falls on a weekend in 2016) free for possible paid events. Publicity report We agreed to go ahead with new printed leaflets. Helena suggested adding QR code. Phil said the best publicity is engaging the audience at local events and giving out leaflets. He urged everyone not dancing/playing to do this. Laurie and Steve are organising a ‘sandwich board’ sign. Advertising in local papers was discussed – we agreed it was probably not worth the cost. Bear in mind that editors are always keen on good action photos. Radio Jackie is worth doing. Phil was thanked and also Helena for great work on social media. 6. Election of Officers a. SG Squire - Colin (for one year). P: Phil. S: David. b. KM Squire - Gerry to continue in post. c. SG Deputy Squire: John. P: Alan. S: Sue d. KM Deputy Squire: Robert. P: Sue. S: Gerry. e. SG Bagman: Phil to continue in post. f. KM Bagman (Sue stood down): Jane. P: Sue. S: Glenis. Lesley to continue with updates of the Google Calendar. g. KM Practice Coordinator: Glenis to continue in post. h. SG Foreman: Colin to continue in post. i. SG and KM Treasurer: David to continue in post, with Phil as Deputy. j. KM and SG Publicity: Phil to remain in post 7. Practice plan for next season Colin will lead the try-out sessions and the teaching up to the two weeks before Christmas. Proposed structure: 8.00-8.20 Basic steps, for beginners/improvers but as many as possible to join in and help. 8.20-9.20 Teaching of new dances 9.20-9.30 Notices 9.30-10.00 Run through dances from whole repertoire. We discussed learning a Border dance – opinions were mixed on this. Steve commented that this year everyone should join in and learn Morris step dances. Mixed opinions on whether we should add a new tradition eg Sherborne – but we all unanimously agreed we will happily do what the Foreman says! Glenis asked experienced dancers to join in more at practice, as this is a big help to others. 8. Any other business Websites and spreadsheet Website – 5 years old, time for a re-jig, Helena (an experienced web designer) has volunteered to author new twin websites (with corporate look) for SG and KM, using Wordpress. The new site will offer greater integration with Facebook and Twitter and our Google calendar. Change of hosting proposed: £45 p.a. for hosting that gives very wide bandwidth. All agreed and thanked Helena. Logging and reporting events Sue asked if there was any value in listing dances danced at events. Mixed response – could be useful but would we keep it up? Kit John urged we should all follow the kit guidelines more closely. We agreed to start with shirts, which should all have long sleeves (men and women). Men’s shirts should have double cuffs and cufflinks if possible; further discussion needed on detail for women’s shirts. Sue offered to keep a record of who holds kit stock (rosettes, bells, baldric material). Christmas meal Will be at Merits, date tba. Steve has invited Toni and Mary (Costas’ widow) – we all agreed wholeheartedly with this. Bank account David (treasurer) proposed that we should move our account to a bank. He explained the difficulties encountered with handling bank transfers from Commercial organisations into our Nationwide Building Society accounts using the BACS system. He suggested that it would be advisable to consider moving the Sides’ accounts to a major bank. He suggested that the NatWest bank be approached to identify the options, costs, benefits and suitability of us opening a NatWest account with cheque and online facilities. The meeting approved the proposal and instructed the treasurer to conduct initial enquiries and report back with a recommendation. Promotional video Robert proposed this, will do pitch and story board. Project to be filmed by a local film group and/or students from Croydon College. Precise planning needed and a commitment from us to whole day’s filming. Moving our financial year Holding the AGM within a few days (before or after) the financial year end always means that the financial accounts cannot be available for the meeting. Alternatives were considered, but these also had downsides. As a result, we came to no firm conclusion. Charitable donation We agreed to defer until we can close the year’s accounts. Poland tour Ania gave more details and asked for indication of interest if this was planned well ahead, for later next year. An encouraging number of people were interested so Ania will go ahead and give us more details. |
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