The following documents represent the minutes of the most recent AGM’s
BROMLEY ART SOCIETY
MINUTES (DRAFT)
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 5TH. MARCH 2021
MINUTES OF LAST AGM ( 6th. March 2020)
-
These were approved by the meeting
-
There were no matters arising
CHAIRMAN’S REPORT:
FIRST FRIDAYS
After last year’s AGM there were no First Friday meetings until August because of the coronavirus epidemic. Meetings started again on-line and were led by members of the society. This will continue for the next few months. We have not booked external demonstrators but hope to be able to return to live events later in the year. December’s meeting was a fiendish Quiz.
ART MATTERS
Demonstrations on zoom encouraged members to participate and so we established Art Matters to enable informal meetings on-line. Some of these have a theme.
Tonight’s meeting will end with our first on-line exhibition and competition. These on-line events have been enjoyed by those who took part. It would have been nice to see more people at some – if only to prevent committee members from winning the prizes!
FINANCE
Ripley was understandably eager for BAS to continue using the premises but we made the right decision to avoid physical meetings as many of our members are in high risk groups. We have had to continue to pay rent in spite of loss of sources of income therefore we need the continued support of our members.
WEB-SITE
Our new web-site is now more useful and attractive thanks to Deborah Masters, Paul Stringfellow and Jules Pew.
COMMITTEE
The Chairman thanked the committee for their support as he has been extremely busy in his professional and personal life due to Covid. He has also been very unwell. He would like to point out that he cannot continue as chair for too long and a replacement will need to be found.
David Goodier is resigning from the committee and the post of Deputy Chair but has agreed to continue with AV support. We thank him for his long service to the society.
We recently thought that we would have to change the constitution to reflect the reduced size of the committee but Katie Day has agreed to stand for election as an ordinary member. We are very grateful to her.
The society will collapse if it is not supported by its members. We need a diversity of views and skills and just plain help with the work
If you feel you are willing to help, the committee would be delighted to ask you to watch a meeting before deciding to join. We do laugh as well as do the serious stuff!
PRESENTATION
Award of the Pat Tucker cup.
This was presented to Paul Stringfellow in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the society. He has occupied 2 major roles as Programme Organiser and Membership secretary and played a great part in the re-organisation of the web-site. We give him our most sincere thanks.
ELECTION OF OFFICERS
The following officers and committee members were proposed, seconded and confirmed:
Chair Adrian Fowle
Hon Secretary Jan Wilson
Deputy Chair (shared) Jules Pew
Hon Treasurer Jules Pew
Deputy chair (shared) Paul Stringfellow
Membership Sec. Paul Stringfellow
Newsletter Editor Paul Stringfellow
(Programme Organiser)
Exhibition Organiser Deborah Masters
Publicity Zsuzsanna Pataki
Ordinary member Katie Day
NB Webmaster is not a post recognised in our current constitution and the role is shared amongst the committee.
SECRETARY’S REPORT
Paul’s award was justly deserved. Everything that follows is thanks to his efforts.
The First Friday meetings have continued via zoom with the additional Friday meetings of Art Matters.
The Wednesday Group at Ripley has not been able to meet. It did re-open for a brief while in the summer. Because of oversubscription more sessions and venues were considered. This will remain an ambition when things return to normal. Some regular attendees keep in touch via a WhatsApp group organised by Joan Hatton.
Membership has fallen from 91 at the time of first lockdown to 62 now. We are beginning to attract new members and zoom has helped an ex-member who lives abroad to re-join.
We would like to thank those members who gave the society more than the £35 fee. Would members who have yet to renew please do so promptly. Instructions are on the web-site. Paul will soon start to phone and e-mail you to encourage your renewal.
Considering the difficulties over the past year the society has been successful; but it has meant a lot of work for the committee. Please consider joining us!
EXHIBITION ORGANISER’S REPORT
We started 2020 with plans for several exhibitions – the usual ones plus some new opportunities. Perhaps luckily, lockdown started on the day of our Ripley handing-in so we were able to stop in time. We would like to thank those who donated their handing-in fees to the society.
Due to the pandemic we were not able to hold any exhibitions and neither were the organisations who would normally hire our screens. We have made the first loss on this activity for many years.
We will take a ‘safety first ’approach on our plans for 2021. An on-line exhibition or two is certain. Beckenham Place Park are hoping to hold their exhibition in August.
The major achievement of the year was the development of a Gallery functionality on the web-site. This is now bearing fruit with the Ring Out the Old, Ring in the New competition and mini galleries from the recent Friday night meetings. Our next activity is to re-establish the member’s gallery and we hope to send out an e-mail on this shortly. Hopefully everyone will take part and we are hoping we can support those who may feel less confident in using IT.
TREASURERS REPORT
-
Presentation of the accounts. (These had been available on-line for the preceding weeks. Tonight they were shown on zoom.)
This year has seen a large fall in income but expense has also fallen. The fall is due to reduced membership fees, lack of screen hire and Wednesday group fees. There is sufficient money in the bank account though we must bear in mind the future replacement of screens and AV equipment.
Jules thought we had done well considering the situation. Donations will be reflected in next year’s accounts.
-
The accounts were approved.
AOB
There was none.