The Chairman's report for the East of London FHS Annual General Meeting is reproduced here to provide more information to prospective members about the aims, goals, and accomplishments of the East of London Family History Society and for current members who might find it convenient for reference.

CHAIRMAN'S REPORT TO THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
22nd JANUARY 2000

Ladies and Gentlemen ­ It gives me very great pleasure to present to you this my third annual report. It is now three years since I took on the role, and I am sure that many of you are aware now, that it is to be my final report to you as your Chairman.

I find the role now has for me become, quite tiring and time consuming, for me to continue to do the position the justice that it deserves. Therefore I believe the time is now right for a new Chairman to direct the Society forward, into this the New Millennium. And so after four years as vice-chairman and three years as your Chairman, I believe that now, is the right time for me to step-down.

I do however look forward in assisting your new Chairman to take up the reins of office.

MEMBERSHIP - I am again pleased to report that membership has again increased during the past year, with the membership standing at year end (Sept.99) 3564 which is an increase of approximately 12% over the previous year (3171).  (For your information our current membership as of CA 85 is now 3354).

I am sure that you would wish to join the Executive Committee in thanking Jacqui Crompton our Membership Secretary, and Pauline & Debbie Earry her erstwhile assistants for all their hard work on your behalf.

I would also remind you that our membership year ends on 31st August each year, and would ask that all members renew their subscriptions promptly to prevent any break in membership. Late payments are the most likely cause of you not receiving your magazine on time, and it is indeed the root cause of many administration problems. Members who have not renewed within 6 months will be removed from the Database in accordance with the Constitution and the Data Protection Act.

COCKNEY ANCESTOR - I am pleased to report that this year our magazine, which is edited by Joan Renton, won a further award in the Federations of FHS Elizabeth Simpson Award. I am pleased to be able to tell you that our Society won 2nd place, against very stiff competition. With the award for 1st & 3rd places going to magazines, which I understand are professionally produced on behalf of the societies concerned. So our editor can count this as a superb achievement, especially as this is the 4th award made by the Federation to our Society, that our editor has won in as many years.

Joan has asked me to thank all those who have submitted articles and photographs over the last year, which has contributed much to the success of the magazine, so please keep them coming in for future editions. When who knows, you may help Joan, to win first place yet!

It is with regret to have to inform you that Joan, who has been our editor now for four years, has decided that she will only continue with the work for a further year. So the hunt is on now for a new editor to take over in 2001, if you think that you could fill this role then please contact Joan for further details.

She would also like a volunteer to help her write a computer section for the magazine, so if any member with the necessary skills would like to help in this or perhaps consider taking on the role of editor yourself. Please contact her at the usual address shown in Cockney Ancestor.

I personally am very sorry that Joan will only be continuing for one more year. Because over the last four years you have raised the standard of our magazine to such a level that replacing you is going to be very difficult task indeed. Joan, thank you for all of your hard work on our behalf

PROJECTS - The work on projects at present being carried out by members this Society. Is co-ordinated by Colleen Mitchell, who acts as our overall project co-ordinator, and oversees all project work on behalf of the Society. She is assisted in this work by the four nominated Branch managers who co-ordinate the actual work of the members in the various Branch's.

This year the society has published the indexes for St.Mary Magdalene, East Ham, which was produced on fiche. Also the Poplar Registration District in book form, which includes the areas of both Poplar and Bow.

The work on the remaining projects is continuing. However, I am pleased to report that publication of the index's for St.Katharine by the Tower, is expected in the next four weeks, and those for Hackney 1851, and Stoke Newington 1841 being scheduled for completion within the next six to twelve months.

Our thanks goes to all those who give so much of their time and effort in supporting the work.

"Policy Change " At this time I have to inform you of a change to our previous publication policy, of producing all Census Indexes in A5 book form. Due to the vastly increased production costs your Executive Committee has been forced to consider more inexpensive alternatives to that of publishing our completed projects in book form.

The Executive Committee has looked at the various formats in which we publish our projects, that committee has regretfully concluded that this policy has now to change.

As an example take the recent, 1851 Poplar Registration District, which was produced in six volumes cost the Society over £6,000 to produce only in book form. Clearly these costs while not exorbitant as current printing goes, are no longer viable to us as a Society. There cannot be many Societies, which can easily cover such large costs as part of their annual budget and also continue to maintain low subscription rates.

We are therefore of necessity, exploring the possibility of publication on microfiche or for larger projects on CD-ROM. We fully understand that some members will clearly be upset by this change in policy. However, we as a committee see no alternative at this time.

Believe me, we do understand members concern, but for every member who asks us to produce in book form there are two who want fiche, for each who wants fiche, there are more that want CD's. We have considered reducing the number of books produced in each print run, but then of course lower numbers mean higher costs, it becomes a vicious circle.

I hope that this explanation, which I understand, will not be acceptable to all members. Will at least show you that your committee has the situation under review, and that you will at least now understand the problems associated with it more clearly.

I am sure that you also know that volunteers are still required to assist with the ongoing project work. So if you feel that you could give a few hours to help. Please contact your Project Branch Manager for further details, volunteers are always welcome.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Branch Managers for the hard work they put in with Colleen to support the work; they are Christine Patient (Barking & Dagenham), David Groen (Bishopsgate), Jack Jackson (Havering), Ann Quade (Newham & Redbridge).

COMPUTER GROUP - The Computer Group under its new Chairmanship of Jack Jackson, who is assisted by Derek Reynolds, Carol Brown and Maureen Watts. I am pleased to report that the group is now attracting an average of 50 members at its monthly meetings.

The group provides a varied programme of speakers and computer demonstrations for members, using the most up to date computer and video technology. So if you are interested in matters of the computer kind, or have a computer problem, then go along and have a word with them, someone I am sure will know the answer.

I would also remind members that this group meets on the first Saturday each month between 12am ­ 1pm, prior to the regular Havering Branch meeting.

Our thanks go to Jack and his team for their hard work in promoting and supporting the group.

THE BOOKSTALL - What can be said about our Bookstall Manager David Filby, which has not been said in the past, his work in this area is so well known. Each year he continues to provide the membership with a Bookstall and Mail Order Service that is second to none.

During the past year David and his team of volunteers have travelled to many venues around the country apart from providing the bookstall for our normal Branch Meetings. This year the Mail Order Service alone has taken over £15,000, the annual turnover including the Bookstall Service is now over £28,000.

We remain indebted to David and that of his team for all their hard work in continuing to provide this valuable service to members.

At this time I would also like to put forward an idea of my own, which I would commend to the Executive Committee. Which I have named the "The Filby Project". In honour of the work that David has done for the Society over a number of years and that of his late father Fred before him.

For many years now our book service has been run by David from his home in Ilford. I am sure that David would be the first to admit that sometimes he feels that he lives in a book shop, with so much of his home being taken up for that purpose. For some time now it has been apparent that if anything, was to prevent David from carrying on this work for the society then we as a society would have a massive problem on our hands, not only with book storage but with the administration of the service itself.

Therefore, it is crucial for the Society to make plans now, for the future continuity of the member's bookstall service. We must no longer rely on the good graces of David or other members to provide the society with both storage space and premises.

To this end I would like to propose that profit from the bookstall, which has hitherto been used to subsidise our low subscription rate. A rate, which I might add have not risen for over five years, be allocated towards securing more permanent premises for the bookstall. In essence to provide funds for our own bookshop and possibly a research centre.

At this time I cannot of course go into the fine details of the project, as it may be a number of years before we can put such a plan into effect. But what is curtain is that when that time comes funds must be available or the service will stop. I would therefore ask for you to support this project.

MEMBERS INTERESTS - Members will remember that this coming year, it is our intention to produce a fiche of member's interests. A service similar to that which has been provided by many other Societies have in the past. When completed this project will provide the society with a completely new, computerised register of member's interests.

I would remind all members that you must register your interests if you wish to be included on the new database. Data will not be transferred from the previous card index system.

The project, which is overseen by Eileen Pullin, our Members Interest Secretary, is now well under way with over 1400 members registering their interests, of these forms, 1200 have been inputted to date by our volunteers with only a small number of these waiting for final checking. With each form having a maximum of 8 interests, you can see the size of the task involved in inputting and checking.

During this project, we have found that a couple of minor problems have arisen by members not understanding the instructions given.

Firstly, an entry will be made for each individual surname interest being registered. e.g. one name, one county, one area, and one century or if the interest is for more than one century then there is the provision to select all.

Secondly, we are aware that e-mail addresses can change rather rapidly, as members change their Internet provider. Please ensure that we are kept informed of all changes of e-mail addresses promptly, before the closing date so that they can be amended.

If you have yet to send in your form, then it is not to late, as our closing date for this year, will be the 31st March.

I would also like to inform you that the executive committees have received a number of letters from members on this subject. The tone of which varies from those who offer constructive comment and help, which the committee does very much appreciation. To those, which I regret to say, border on the abusive, whose comments are noted and the letters filed appropriately.

Members will be aware that the object of this project was to mark our 21st anniversary year, and also of course, the new Millennium.

We are very aware of the problems some members have in gaining access to and using fiche machines. I would inform those members, that the Executive and Projects committees have noted their comments, and will be looking at various ways to assist them on the completion of the project.

To Eileen and her team of helpers, Ken Baker, Enid Thorogood, and also to Terry Roberts who now edits the MI booklet may I offer our thanks for a job very well done.

Ken Baker, who I have just mentioned, has now stepped down. He has since 1987, supported both Eileen and before her Sabina Doust in the administration of the card index system. It was felt that such an occasion, as this could not be allowed to pass without being marked. Therefore a small token of appreciation on your behalf, will be sent on to Ken for all of his hard work over those years. Thank you Ken.

COURIER SERVICE - Robert Drummond, who initially set up and has now run this service for the past six years, has decided to step down at this time.

Bob tells me that while calls on the service have not been as high this year as last. He has still processed a total of 332 (443) items, which includes 142 Birth, 90 Marriage, 70 Death certificates, 23 Wills and 7 Census returns. Because of this he was able to donate £850 to Society Funds by year end. Indeed a further donation made prior to his hand over this week brought this figure to over £1500.

This brings his total donation to society funds over the last six years, to over £3700, which I am sure you will agree is a substantial achievement by one member alone. Accordingly because of his work on your behalf, Bob will also be presented with a small token of our appreciation.

Thank you Bob, we wish you well for the future.

From now on, the task of running this service will pass to Pam Woolcombe. Members wishing to use the service can contact Pam at the address, which will be shown in the next Cockney Ancestor.

INTERNET - Our Society Home Page continues to attract attention on the Internet with over 60,000 visits since its inception in March 1996, almost 29,000 visits being made in the last year alone. You will remember that the site contains information on the Society, provides a break down of the services we offer to our members, and also gives information on Society Publications.

The site, which has now been updated, carries a wealth of information on the East of London area itself, including information on its Parishes, and Cemeteries, together with the information sources, which are available in the area.

Our Webmaster for our Home Page is Dave Jordan, one of our overseas members who lives in New Jersey in the USA, who is assisted by Dave Wild a UK member who lives in Dagenham, Essex.

Dave reports that our biggest change this year will be to our web address. As you know our present web address, which can be found on the inside back cover of "Cockney Ancestor" is quite long and convoluted. This has now changed to our new address of, [eolfhs.rootsweb.com], which I am sure members will find much more convenient. Dave has included a shortcut to the new site for members accessing the old address.

Once again our thanks go to Dave Jordan for his work in maintaining the site and making the necessary changes, and also to Dave Wild for his help in supporting the project.

AND FINALLY - I would like to send my appreciation, not only to all the members, who have supported me not only during this past year, but also throughout my Chairmanship. Also to all those members who, continue to help out behind the scenes whose contribution the society very much appreciates.

As I have already stated, I will now shortly be standing down as your Chairman. I do so with a tinge of sadness, as I have enjoyed my time in this office considerably. The work has been quite onerous at times but I am able to look back over these past three years with some pride.

From my unique position I have been able to see the progress that the Society has made, the tremendous contribution made by all the volunteer officers, which has allowed the society to progress into one in which we can all be justly proud to claim membership.

I believe that the time is now right that we should now go forward together into the new Millennium under a new chairman. It has been a great honour for me, to have been your Chairman for the past three years and for the great sense of achievement and pleasure that I have derived from carrying out the office.

Once again my thanks go to you all, it has been my privilege to have been your Chairman.

John Reynolds
Chairman ELFHS
January 2000