ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2006 Minutes of the AGM Held at Barking Abbey School On 21st January 2006 Apologies: Meryl Catty and Jan Hart sent their apologies. Minutes: The minutes of the last AGM were circulated to the meeting and accepted. Chairman s Report: The Chairman gave his report to the members and this will be published in full in the next Cockney Ancestor. Highlights are: The Chairman began by welcoming one of our Vice Presidents, David Webb to the AGM. He then thanked Sylvia Law and her committee for organising this side of the day. Well done Sylvia. Thanks also to George Smith and his helpers for organising the Family History Fair.He appealed for more helpers at both Exec and branch level. He thanked the Editorial committee for doing such a good job in producing Cockney Ancestor. Membership This is down to just under 3,200 but renewals are still coming in. Mary Greene resigned last year as membership secretary and Joan King, who took over from her, has also resigned this year because of illness, but we do have someone to take over for 2006. There have been a number of problems with standing orders and members were asked to check that they have not been charged monthly instead of annually by their banks. Please contact our treasurer if you think this is the case, he will arrange for a refund less administration charges. Projects Christine Patient has taken over the role of projects co-ordinator. Anne Quade is looking for volunteers to help with Victoria Park Cemetery project. Also a member (10240) J? Fitzhenry has offered us books containing details of Wills and Administrations from 1857 to 1920 which will give us another little project to work on. We have also been given photograph negatives from another member Carol Hyde whose husband was a photographer in the area we will look at how best to use these. Members Interests Eileen Pullin runs the main database with Jan Hart running the online one. This year it is hoped to get these combined.
Branches Barking & Dagenham, Chairman George Smith Bishopsgate, Chairman David Webb Havering, Chairman John Reynolds Newham & Redbridge, Chairman Sylvia Law Computer Group Chairman Jack Jackson, Jack would like to retire as group chairman this year so see him at a meeting if you fancy taking over the role. All the branches are doing well but would like help from new members. Mick Pullin has retired as Chairman of Havering and the Exec would like to propose that he and Eileen, who have done so much for the Society over many years, be made Honorary Life members of the Society. Evelyn Davies seconded this proposal and it was voted for unanimously by the members present. Bookstall Richard Chapman thanks all those who have helped him at branches and fairs during the past year. Internet Thanks to Jan who created our very successful website 500 new members have joined on line. The online bookstall has so far earned 25,000 for the society. Finally - the Chairman finished by thanking everyone who helped the society in any way from making the tea and coffee downwards. He finished by reading a poem which will be printed in the full version of his report. Treasurer s Report Bernard Amps stated that he was very pleased to stand and give his third report as Treasurer. Last year we had to put up fees, this year we have worked hard to get costs down. Membership takings were up again. The Bookstall visited more fairs, increased sales and the online bookstall has helped bring costs down. Last year was the first time that the AGM made a small profit. Increased costs of this event ensure that it is essential to get some of this money back the AGM costs the society about 10 per head to run). Storage costs have gone down. The savings made have meant that I have been able to meet the branch budgets without cutting
back. We desperately need new volunteers for all the committees and branches. We haven t had to break into our reserves, this money has been put aside to get new premises but is not growing quickly enough and we are looking for charity to help. There were no questions from the floor and the meeting was asked to accept these accounts. Proposed by the Chairman, seconded by Anne Quade and voted in unanimously. The Chairman said that George Smith had asked Councillor Conyard to address the opening of the Fair and afterwards she mentioned that she would help all she could to find us premises. Election of Officers Position Candidate Proposed by Seconded by Chairman Ian Whaley Bernard Amps Sandra Patchett Treasurer Bernard Amps Vera Bangs Sylvia Law Secretary Vera Bangs Sylvia Law Bernard Amps Membership Secretary Sandra Patchett Vera Bangs Bernard Amps Projects Coordinator Christine Patient George Smith John Drage All the above were voted into office by a majority. Election of Auditors Bernard Amps proposed Clockhouse Accounting, Clock House, Romford for another year. Seconded by George Smith. Motion Proposed by Newham and Redbridge Branch Sandra Patchett proposed a motion on behalf the above branch which reads as follows: We, the members of the Newham and Redbridge Branch wish to table the following motion: That the AGM of the East of London Family History Society and the Family History Fair should be separated into two events, being held on different dates. We also propose that permanent venues at central locations be found for these events that will offer ease of access by car and by public transport for members. Sandra went on to explain that it had been extremely difficult finding suitable premises at a suitable price this year, one venue had let them down at the last minute and it wasn t until George Smith and Ian Whaley managed to come up with this venue that they had been able to go ahead. Ian Whaley explained that the Fair and AGM combined had been his idea initially. It was proposed and accepted by the Executive after the AGM before last, hosted by the Bishopsgate branch, had cost the Society over 1200 because venue prices in London had escalated. He then invited
comments from the floor: Roy Gibbs introducing himself as one of the Bishopsgate B******s stated that they as a branch had no guidelines from the Executive as to how much they could spend on a venue. David Groen from the same branch asked whether the host branch would be expected to host both events or would the Executive hold the Fair. The Chairman replied that the branch is responsible for organising the AGM and that George Smith had so far organised the Fair on behalf of the Executive. Roger Levoir asked how expensive holding two events would be and could the Fair cover the cost of both events. Peter Fernando stated that if the combination of the Fair and AGM was started to solve the problem of the cost of the AGM then this was not the Forum for discussing this, the Executive should decide the pros and cons. 2nd Proposal fom David Groen, Bishopsgate: He asked the Executive to discuss further this proposal at the next Committee meeting and also to canvas the branches for their views. It was also proposed by Denise Levoir that the views whole membership be canvassed via Cockney Ancestor. These motions were proposed and accepted. Other comments were: 1.Too much to pack into the time, not enough time to look at the Fair 2.No places of interest to visit (George Smith did not agree and mentioned various places nearby including Barking Abbey) 3.Members would not come all this way just to attend a Fair 4.Member 25 Sabina Doust her first visit to AGM in a long time and really enjoyed visiting the Fair. Ian Whaley asked those present who usually came to the AGM and a vast majority put their hands up. When he asked who would come only to the Fair about half a dozen members put their hands up. When he asked who had visited the Fair as well as attending the AGM today a majority again put up their hands. After much discussion it was decided to put forward David Groen s proposal which was to take the Newham and Redbridge motion back to the Executive, the branches and also to canvass the membership by publishing in Cockney Ancestor. The result would be put to the next AGM which would decide on the action which should be taken. The Executive Committee had discussed the first proposal at their last committee meeting and had decided to vote against it for the following reasons: The Fair would have the added responsibility of covering the cost of the two events. This year (2005) we more or less broke even so if the cost of the AGM and Fair was doubled the Fair would be under more pressure to provide the extra cost of another venue. A venue near London would cost at least 1000 to hire, that s at least 2,000 to find before we even start! Lack of volunteers. It is hard to find enough volunteers to man one event and would be even more
difficult to find people who are willing to attend and help at two. The burden would fall on the same shoulders that it always does. The increased costs of having two venues may mean that we will have to look at increasing membership to cover this and we, as a committee, do not think this is fair for the members who will never be able to visit the AGM and/or Family History Fair to cover this cost. George Smith stated that the Fair had been a roaring success and the Society had at least broken even with the costs of the AGM. He mentioned that to stay a success the Fair would have to be held in the same venue each year as stallholders do not like the uncertainty of moving venue each year. Denise Levoir suggested putting a voting slip in Cockney Ancestor for members to use to vote back with their views. The meeting ended and Ian thanked everyone for attending.