51/07

Committee

Action

Membership of the Committee.

The Constitution says that the Committee elects its officers. John Dixon had omitted on the agenda that not only were members electing for the Committee but a Treasurer and Chairman was needed.

Cliff Burd proposed that the Society continued with a rotating Chairman and this was agreed.

Janet Martin was elected as Secretary.

The members agreed that John Dixon would continue as Treasurer unless another member wanted to take it on.

Paul Kerr was co-opted to the Committee and it was hoped that he would work alongside John Dixon and if he wanted to be the Treasurer in the future, he could be elected to this role.

Sue Norman was co-opted to the Committee and it was planned that she would assist with marketing the bulletins in the future.

52/07

Rotating CHAIRMAN’S REPORT: John Dixon

Website.

John Dixon reported that he was thrilled with the website and asked Janet Martin to thank Derek Benson on behalf of the Committee.

Janet Martin

Woodard Award.

Bob Woodard was a pioneer in the use of computers in historical research. The Committee discussed the rules governing the Woodard Award and a problem, which had arisen this year. The current rules state that an award cannot be issued if an article is published over two or more publications. This was an omission. It was agreed that a series of short articles produced should be judged as a whole. Sometimes one article led on to another and in addition it was not always possible to print a long article in one Bulletin.

John Dixon proposed that if an article is completed over 2 or 3 or more Bulletins, it was to be considered in its entirety for the Woodard Award.

It was agreed that any article is to be considered either as a whole or in part and an instruction would be sent to Woodard judges accordingly.

Janet Martin

On 19^th May 2007, a group of Australian expats led by Bob Sayers, will be meeting at 2.00 p.m. in the YMCA. All Committee Members were welcome to attend as the ex-pats wished to talk to Members about the history of Tewkesbury.

All Committee Members

A reunion of ex pupils of Tewkesbury Girls High School has been arranged on 24^th June 2007. There will be a book to buy to commemorate the day. Sue Norman will represent the Tewkesbury Historical Society at the event.

Sue Norman

It was agreed that David Willavoys would organise an exhibition for the County History Day at St. Thomas Riches School in Gloucester. The event will be held on the first Saturday in October. The display will be discussed at the next meeting in September 2007.

David Willavoys

53/07

Publications Report

The cost of producing Bulletins had almost crippled the Society in the past because so many had to be produced in one go.The feasibility of producing the Bulletins in the PDF format has been investigated and it was agreed that this was the way forward. The PDF file can be saved to a computer and can be used as the medium for communicating with our printers. The printers will print as many as required and they can deal with small number runs. The drawback was that you could not produce such a long publication.

It was agreed that a smaller publication would be produced and if this led to a choice having to be made between a member’s article and a non-member’s article, a member’s article should have priority. If this were the case, John Dixon would negotiate with the writers concerned to reduce their articles. A variety of articles would be looked for in each Bulletin.

John Dixon will write to all potential writers and ask them for their finished articles so that a shortened Bulletin via PDF could be produced for 1^st September 2007. One hundred shortened Bulletins will be published in the first instance. Further copies will be printed on demand. Fleet Graphics think it a good time to print.

It was agreed that Sue would take over the marketing of the Bulletins. The Bulletins sell very well at Alison’s, but they will not sell the populist publications. W.H. Smiths are very keen to sell them and the Stationery Store has sold a lot. They are also available at the Tewkesbury Tourist Information Centre and at Society meetings.

It was agreed to drop the price of Bulletins 5-13 to £1.00 to members and £2.00 to non-members. It was hoped that people would fill up their collections and the Society could reduce the stocks down to 30 per Bulletin. Bulletins 1-4 are finished now.

John Dixon

John Dixon

54/07

John explained this new venture which was an attempt to produce a booklet proving the historical context for current issues in the town. HBD1 was the Crescent and HBD2 was Spring Gardens. There is also a CD Rom concerning the Hop Pole. These publications were wholly financed by the author but marketed via THS.

Tewkesbury Historical Society Publications

John Dixon explained to new members that if a thematic history is produced by the Tewkesbury Historical Society e.g. Doddo, the society pays half of the costs and the author pays the other half. When the publication is sold the proceeds go to the Society first and then the author. The chance of the Society losing money was slim.

Tony Skelsey is currently writing a book about the history of the Tewkesbury Cemetery. The Tewkesbury Historical Society currently has every grave date on the Woodard database from 1858 to 1967. Tony’s book will be important because there will be reference in his book to the grave.

It was agreed that if Tony wanted this to be a Society publication it had to be more marketable and re-edited. Currently, it was too academic and not populist.

If Tony Skelsey does ask the Society to publish the book, it was agreed that John Dixon, Cliff Burd and David Willavoys would decide whether it was up to the Society’s style and standard.

John Dixon, Cliff Burd, David Willavoys

The members discussed other articles in the pipeline. David Willavoys said that he was writing a book about the history of Tewkesbury Hospital. This was a private venture between him and Dr. Andrew Crowther and it was well advanced. David Willavoys has a grant towards it and the proceeds will go to Tewkesbury Hospital. He would be happy if the Society could help market the publication.

Cliff Burd is waiting for the Tewkesbury Cricket Club to come forward. Two other articles in the pipeline are "Tewkesbury Memories" based on photographs and another one on "Tewkesbury Pubs and Restaurants".

John Dixon is considering an article on the history of swimming in the town, as Tewkesbury had the Bird Bath and the Public Baths; an article to celebrate Bill Shakespeare for the world record in water speed in 1970 (he died in 1971) and another on Dick Seaman. Dick Seaman worked for Formula One and he would have been the world champion but he was killed. He was famous in the 1930s as a racing driver for Mercedes Benz. (his car is, allegedly, buried at Bredon School). However, he was tarred with the brush of being a Nazi because they had sponsored him. These articles were coming together well and Barbara Cromwell had a lot of photos of Bill Shakespeare which he could use.

David Willavoys

Cliff Burd

John Dixon

55/07

The audited accounts were appended for the committee member’s study and comments. The Members were happy with the Accounts.

It was agreed that the Meeting Fees and Subscriptions would remain the same. Individual members pay £5.00 per annum, £8.00 per annum family membership where two members live at the same address and £10.00 per annum for expats. Expats receive a Bulletin, as they cannot attend the meetings. There are currently 5 ex pat members. It was agreed that they would be offered a Bulletin or a disk in future.

Sue Norman asked whether the cost of the Methodist Hall had increased. John Dixon advised that it was still £16.00. He said that he had received a letter asking the Society to keep to the booked time as some were abusing this (not the Tewkesbury Historical Society).

The problems with the PA system were discussed. John Dixon was concerned about this at the next society meeting, when Harry, Barry and Graham would be talking about their Tewkesbury memories. It was agreed that either a hand held microphone or one in the centre was needed. David Willavoys was to talk to the Property Inspector the following weekend about the microphones.

The meeting analysis was appended and members agreed that this was very useful. It demonstrated that people were very interested in events about Tewkesbury. An analysis would be kept for all meetings.

It was agreed that the Treasurer should account for the depreciation of the PowerPoint equipment in the accounts, so that funds were available to purchase a new one when required.

David Willavoys

56/07

Secretary’s Report:

June Flude sent her apologises for not producing the minutes of the AGM but she had trouble getting the information off the PowerPoint presentation. John Dixon said that he had a very nice card from June Flude. June did appreciate the presentation she thought it was brilliant.

57/07

Membership Secretary’s Report:

Ken Flude proposed that the membership year runs from 1^st September each year in line with the programme of events. The current year ran from April each year.

Ken Flude handed out a draft renewal form and asked for comments from members. The form asks for date they apply, telephone number, email address, address and class of membership. There is a paragraph on data protection. It can be printed from the website and posted back to Ken Flude with a cheque or, alternatively, a member could register on the internet and pay using PayPal. The latter would be especially suitable for ex-pats. On receipt of the membership form, Ken Flude will send a welcome note, either electronically or by post. It was agreed that every member would complete a form because it was the only way to keep the records up to date. The information is put on a spreadsheet and is used to keep the register of attendees up to date.

The bottom half of the form would be sent to the Treasurer for him to record the amount of money paid into the Society.

Derek Benson would be asked to adapt the form for PayPal.

Janet Martin

58/07

Programme Report:

Audrey Pound circulated the Tewkesbury Historical Society programme for 2007/2008 and asked for members to host the various meetings. The hosts were agreed as follows:

• 20^th September 2007 – Mr. Roger Butwell – Tewkesbury & its Inhabitants 1960/70 on cine. (updated on DVD)(Host - Sue Norman)

• 18^th October 2007 – Dr David Evans – "Zulu Wars" (Host - David Willavoys)

• 22^nd November 2007 – Mrs. Christine Seal – "Occupations in Village Communities around Bredon Hill" (Host - Janet Martin)

• 24^th January 2008 – Social Evening (Secretary to co-ordinate)

• 14^th February 2008 – Members Research Evening (President)

• 13^th March 2008 – Professor Neil A Wynn – "Welcome to Britain" : Black GIs in the South West during World War Two (Host - John Dixon)

• 24^th April 2008 A.G.M. – we need to discuss follow up activity in September

• 22^nd May 2008 – Mr. Ian Pope – "Railways and Industrial History" (Host - Paul Kerr)

Each host will ensure that each guest speaker has a map, details of parking and details of where to go. The host must contact their speaker two months before the meeting and obtain a biography from him/her, confirm equipment required and most importantly write and thank them afterwards.

59/07

Oral History Report:

Bill Treen has been working with David Wathen, who was brought up in one of the Cottages in Church Street. Bill has too much material and will have to edit it.

60/07

Contemporary Archive Report:

Cliff Burd reported that he had been taking photographs of all the buildings in Tewkesbury with scaffolding around them. There were 12 buildings in total. He had visited the Hat Shop before building works had started and he had taken photos of the interior. His aim was to take photos of the interior of all buildings before the work started. He had also taken photos of houses in Nelson Street before they had been rebuilt and restored and another house in Chance Street.

Cliff reported that the Museum was carrying on:

it had money in the budget and a business plan. The Tourist Information Centre would be moving into the Hat Shop when it was completed in August 2007.

Cliff Burd

61/07

Heritage Report:

Cliff Burd had a meeting on 2^nd May 2007 with the scriptwriter, who was also a Director and a producer from the organisation carrying out the interpretation of the Hat Shop. They had explained that they were going to make a film about Bartholomew Reed and his will, using an actor speaking in the local dialect. The film would also be about his life. It is their intention to produce a timeline from early on to the present day. They are going to write the script and send it to the Tewkesbury Historical Society for comments. It is very important that the script is accurate. They will want to meet with Cliff Burd again and he is waiting to hear from them.

The Hat Shop is not going to take the place of the Museum or the John Moore Museum. It is going to be linking the Baptist Chapel, the Abbey and the buildings in the town as well as the Museums and an Education Centre for school children and adults.

The new Education and Training Officer at the Hat Shop, Rebecca (Becky) Davies, started on 8^th May 2007. John Dixon will contact her and ask to have a short meeting with Committee Members.

Cliff Burd

John Dixon

62/07

Research Co-ordinator:

John Dixon reported that research was carrying on and the database was continually being up dated.

John Dixon

63/07

Date and Venue of the Next Meeting

Thursday, 6^th September 2007 at 7.00 p.m. at Ken Fludes home at Beresford Lodge, Pamington, Tewkesbury, GL20 8LS.

64/07

Any Other Business

Cliff Burd suggested getting School 6^th Formers interested in local history, by showing them what we have in Tewkesbury. John Dixon agreed to talk to the Sixth Form at Tewkesbury School.

Cliff Burd had organised a series of walks on 25^th, 26^th and 27^th May around the Alleys of Tewkesbury, with refreshments at the Museum. Participants would be asked to make a donation.

John Dixon thanked Jan Nattrass for hosting the evening, which closed at 8.53 p.m.

Cliff Burd/John Dixon

Cliff Burd

John Dixon