Event Report

Annual General Meeting Minutes

4th November, 2009
Present 35 members of the Garden Club.

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting

Apologies for absence Jill & Barry Austin, Tim & Terry Crowfoot, Chris & Bobbie Garrod, John & Hazel Martin, Roger & Maggie Howard, Bob Miles, Jackie Hibbert, David Humphrey, Ann Petheram, Norah Burrage, Lesley Lopez, Josie Dyson, Herbert Brice, Veronica Attrill, Cynthia Westbrook.

Minutes of the AGM 2008 were agreed and signed

Matters Arising – None

Treasurer’s Report

Bob Solen started by thanking Herbert Brice for the audit of the accounts. A profit of £82.50 had been made over the year. This was mainly as a result of raising the Subscription to £3. £193 had been spent of a 1/3rd share of a PA System that had been used at the last Summer Show. This had not been used to best effect, but John Martin had undertaken to take control of this for the next Show. The total monies held amounted to £7651.24 but £3600 of this were deposits against the 2010 holiday.
The report was accepted by the meeting

Website Report.

Mike Camp gave an analysis of the use of the website for 2 November 2008 to 2 November 2009

Total no. of times used 8013 up 31%
Total no. of pages viewed 12,771 up 25%
Average use per day 22 up 38%
Average no. of pages viewed per day 35 up 25%

He stated that our website was of a high quality and we were fortunate that the web site hosts (Wizbit) charged a very reasonable price for its maintenance. He said that the website belonged to every member of the Club and was only as good as it could be if kept up to date. It was most rewarding when new members were received as a result of visiting the site. (The Membership Secretary later stated that 3 of the new members had joined through the internet.) The Chairman thanked Mike for his work on the Club’s behalf.

Membership Secretary’s Report

Mavis Humphrey reported that there had been 17 new members over the year, and a further 4 were expected in the New Year. Membership stood at a total of 201.

Chairman/Secretary’s Report

It had again been a good year. The Chairman thanked the members for agreeing to the increase in the subscription and all the assistance given over the year towards fund raising, which enabled the Club to retain such a low level of subscription. The Summer Show had made a slight loss. However, this should not detract from the quality of both Shows, which was very high. Thanks were due to Denise Solman and Lesley Lopez, the Show Secretaries who did an excellent job, quietly and competently. However, the cost of staging the Shows was rising. The Committee had agreed to include a few adverts in the schedule, to offset some of the printing cost. Ian & Josie Dyson had agreed to help Denise and Lesley with this.

The social events of the Coffee Morning, BBQ and Skittles had all been well attended and a great success. 91 people attended the BBQ, a record number that grows every year.

Mention was made of the success of the Plant Sales, with thanks to all those who contributed plants. These were run by Ruth Davies and Ken Cartwright, and they were thanked for their work. Thanks was also given to Lyn Gutteridge for help with Raffles, John Owen for the Tutorials and Beryl Owen for her Welfare Secretary duties.

Rhona Summers had decided to leave the Committee. She had served for 25 years, being the Treasurer at one time. Rhona had given sterling service, always there to do what-ever was asked of her. The Club presented her with an orchid and many thanks for her service. This did mean that there was a vacancy on the Committee and a volunteer was asked for, to join.

Jill Austin would like to hand over the catering function and volunteers for this were also requested, and individual or a team.

The Chairman finished by thanking the Committee members who cover a range of duties that make the Club the success that it is.

2010 Programme

The Chairman outlined the programme for 2010.

Election of Officers

Apart from Rhona Summers, all of members of the Committee were willing to stand again and continue with their current roles. The Meeting unanimously agreed.

There was no other business and the members then enjoyed a social time with wine and nibbles.