ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2007
Minutes of the AGM
Held at Barking Abbey School
On 20th January 2007
Apologies: None received.
John Reynolds, Chairman of Havering Branch welcomed everyone to the AGM and introduced the Chairman of the Executive Committee, Ian Whaley.
Minutes: The minutes of the last AGM were circulated to the meeting and as there were no matters arising it was proposed by Colleen Mitchell and seconded by Sylvia Andrews that they be adopted. The majority voted for this proposal with 2 abstentions.
Executive Chairman’s Report:
The Chairman gave his report to the members and this was published in the Spring 2007 Cockney Ancestor.
Treasurer’s Report
Bernard Amps stated that this was the 4th time that he given his report and that he would be applying for his Pension soon!
The accounts were in a very pleasing position and looking a lot healthier. The Committees have been frugal and kept costs down.
The online bookstall has increased sales.
£340 was raised by people sending in their old printer cartridges for recycling.
Adverts in Cockney Ancestor are helping to meet the extra cost of postage etc.
Now have new bank account started and interest received should double next year.
Other expenditure has increased – storage rent has gone up, this is now paid by Bankers order.
Website costs have been covered. The profit for this is £10,000 against £2,000 last year.
Larger stock is now carried to cover online bookstall demands.
Bernard has not shown the Banker’s Order payments which have been carried over.
Question from the Ms Martinez re item on membership refunds? Answer from Bernard – People who pay by Banker’s Order and then pay by cheque. Some Banks pay monthly by error instead of annually. Bernard deducts an admin fee when he gives the banks refunds.
Question from Alan McMaster – What is depreciation? Bernard replied that the Society buys in printers, computers etc and each year part of the cost is written off and this has to be shown on the Income and Expenditure sheet.
As no more questions were forthcoming Bernard proposed acceptance of the accounts and John Reynolds seconded this and they were accepted unanimously.
Election of Officers
Position____________Candidate____________Proposed by____________Seconded by
Chairman____________Ian Whaley___________John Reynolds__________Colleen Mitchell
Treasurer____________Bernard Amps_________Vera Bangs____________John Reynolds
Secretary____________Vera Bangs___________John Reynolds__________Colleen Mitchell
Membership Secretary___Sandra Patchett________Vera Bangs____________Bernard Amps
Projects Coordinator____Christine Patient_______Bernard Amps___________Vera Bangs
Vice Chairman_________George Smith__________Ian Whaley____________Bernard Amps
Members Interests______Eileen Pullin___________Vera Bangs____________Bernard Amps
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.
Motions Proposed to the AGM
1.The motion proposed by Newham and Redbridge at last year’s AGM about a separate Fair and AGM has now been withdrawn. It was agreed that the success of the day proves that this is working.
2.Ian Whaley proposed that the time for Motions to be brought before the AGM should be increased from 28 days to 100 days. Colleen Mitchell asked what had brought this up and Ian replied that this will allow members time to make a decision on any motions. Ms Martinez asked about announcing the motions at branch meetings before the AGM but Ian replied that less than 10% of members attend meetings. It was questioned as to whether the committee wanted it to change. John Reynolds replied that although this will make no difference to the voting on the day, the motions can be publicised in CA before the AGM.
This motion was carried by a majority vote with two abstentions.
3.Ian Whaley proposed to reinstate the original name of the Society which was set as “The East of London FHS” in the inaugural meeting. It has since become “East of London FHS”. The “The” was reinstated by a majority vote with 1 abstention.
4.Ian Whaley proposed doing away with Family Membership for two reasons. 1) It causes problems for the membership secretary every year at renewal and it is causing problems with merging the online and computer Membership Interests databases. The only benefit for Family members is that they can all attend meetings, but they still only get one CA and only have one vote per household at the AGM.
5.Harriet Lewison asked about other members of the family apart from spouses – there is an 18 year old in her family. Ian replied that other members of the family can join as an individual if they wish to have separate membership. Doreen Cooper remarked that this was hard on the individual members as they will have to pay £12 whilst couples only had to pay £12 as well. Sandra Patchett pointed out the only 1% of family members actually come to the meetings and those that don’t still only get 4 magazines a year for the same amount as individual members. Rita Marsh agreed and stated that we are not a money making organisation. John Reynolds reiterated that one household still only had one magazine per address. Diane Gardner pointed out that if more than 1 vote per household was required then they would have to join individually. Peter Ferdinando asked what the implications would be re Gift Aid. Bernard Amps replied that there would be no effect on Gift Aid. A question was asked about Institutional membership which costs £11 should this not be raised as well to £12. Beryl Rickards stated that she had been on the door at meetings and often the chauffeur that brought members would attend meetings as visitor for £1.50 – would it not be better to put up visitors’ rates?
Sandra Patchett seconded Ian’s proposal to do away with Family Membership. This was passed by majority votes with 10 against and 6 abstentions.
AOB
Roy Gibbs stated from the back of the room that he had eyesight problems and could not read the Agenda which was put on the screen. He much preferred having a written copy to read at the meeting. Vera Bangs apologised for lack of Agenda but she had been ill that week and had no time to print off copies. It was decided to put the Agenda and Minutes into the Cockney Ancestor in future.
Sylvia Law queried the use of the Filby Fund now. She did not see the need for a research centre now with the Internet etc and felt we had rather missed the boat. Ian replied that John Reynolds had set this up when he was Chairman and we had always wanted premises of our own. We have a reasonable amount of money. We approached Tower Hamlets for use of their Library and this has not been dismissed but we are still waiting for their reply. John Reynolds stated that the Filby fund did not take money from the Society subscriptions but from the bookstall and it is also used to fund our projects. The subscriptions are used to produce Cockney Ancestor.
One of the members (sorry did not catch the lady’s name) stated that she would like to say how much she appreciates the Society’s Committee’s work and would like to thank them very much.
Ian thanked everyone for attending the meeting wished them a safe journey home and declared the AGM closed for another year.
