AGM 2005

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on Thursday, 21 April 2005 in the Tewkesbury Methodist Church Hall, The Cross, Tewkesbury

Present – The President, John Dixon together with about 35 members and guests.

The President, gave a warm welcome to those attending, and especially the judges of the Bob Woodard Research Award, John Loosley and David Evans.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE were received from Norah Day, Derek Round, Alan and Wendy Snarey and Harry Workman.

MINUTES. The minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the Society held on 22 April 2004, (copies of which were circulated) were approved and signed as a correct record.

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT. John Dixon had acted as both Chairman and President for the past year and gave his report. He began by welcoming John Loosley, Chairman of the Gloucestershire Local History Committee and David Evans, who would be announcing the winner of the Bob Woodard Research Award later in the meeting.

The President referred to the recent Golden Weddings of Cliff Burd and his wife Pat, and also to Bill Rennison and his wife Ruth. Cliff Burd was congratulated on his recently published book, “Tewkesbury Revisited”.

Congratulations were extended to Martin Holt, whose article in the 2004 Bulletin “Irresponsible Faddists” had received an award from the British Association for Local History, and also to Anthea Jones who had been short listed for the Brian Jerrard Award for her article on Tewkesbury Mills.

The President then referred to the Secretary, Wendy Snarey , who was at present on holiday in Australia but had nevertheless prepared all the paperwork for the AGM. It was a matter of sincere regret that she had reached the end of her three year term as Secretary, and had decided not to seek an extension.

The President mentioned each of the Committee members and gave details of the work undertaken on behalf of the Society. The Society was very fortunate in having such a talented group of people who were prepared to give freely of their time and expertise for the Society. It was hoped that new candidates for membership of the Committee would be forthcoming, to replace those who decided that they could no longer serve. The Society was in need of volunteers to undertake the following roles:-

The President mentioned the ways in which some members were supporting the Borough Museum. The President also expressed concern that recent reports had suggested that the Borough Council might be contemplating the sale of the Museum in Barton Street.

Thanks were given to non-committee members who assisted in the efficient running of the Society.

The Society’s website had been visited on 2653 occasions in the past year, an increase of 1202 over visits in the previous year. There was much information gleaned from users of the website throughout the world. The Society’s newsletter was circulated to many members via email. The President gave particular thanks to Wendy Snarey for her continuing help in maintaining the website. A new computer had been installed to support the Society database in Tewkesbury Library, and it was hoped that this would enable the addition of pictures to the database.

The 2005 Bulletin had been published and contained a wide collection of articles, contributed not only by regular writers, but also from new contributors. Thanks were due to the editorial team for their many hours of work to produce such a fine publication. The cover had been redesigned by Sam Eedle, making the Bulletin a more attractive document at the point of sale.

The THS Publications, “Memories of Tewkesbury” by Harry Workman, and “Dodo Defiled” by John Dixon and Toby Clempson had both sold well and all costs had been covered. It was hoped that funding would become available from the Heritage Lottery Fund to assist the publication of a tribute to the men of Tewkesbury who lost their lives in the Second World War. Funding was also being sought from the Lottery for the purchase of a Power Point Projector.

The President concluded his report by commending the achievements of the Society in the past year, but with a plea for more members to offer themselves for election to the Committee, thus enabling further progress in the aims of the Society.

TREASURER’S REPORT

The Treasurer presented his report on the Society’s finances for the past year. The Society was in a sound state as shown by the Accounts Statement which had been circulated. His motion that the accounts be accepted was duly seconded and accepted.

The Treasurer suggested to the meeting that rather than increase the membership subscription, the entrance fee for meetings be increased from £1 members and £1.50 for visitors, to £1.50 members and £2.50 visitors.

He also moved the addition of a new class of membership for non-local and overseas members. If adopted the membership fees would be as follows:-

ELECTION OF COMMITTEE

The following members were nominated and duly elected to form the Committee of the Society for the forthcoming year.

The President reminded the meeting of the need for some new Committee members to bring in new ideas and spread the burden of Society organisation.

APPOINTMENT OF AUDITOR

Mr. Hallett, having indicated his willingness to be re-appointed, was thanked for his services and unanimously elected.

HONORARY MEMBERSHIP

The President reported that the Committee had given consideration to their power to nominate members for Honorary membership of the Society, in recognition of outstanding service to the Society or Local History. The Committee wished to nominate that this honour be given to Cliff Burd. Mr. Burd had published several books on Tewkesbury’s past, and had been chairman of the Trustees of Tewkesbury Museum for many years. He had been a founder member of the Society and had been a regular contributor to the Society’s Bulletins.

On being put to the meeting the suggestion of the Committee was endorsed with acclamation.

BOB WOODARD AWARD

The President welcomed John Loosley, Chairman of the Gloucestershire Local History Committee and invited him to announce the winner of the award for the best article published in the 2004 Society Bulletin.

Mr Loosley said that it was always difficult to make the judge’s decision because of the very high standards achieved by contributors,. After much deliberation, the judge’s had chosen the article by Sam Eedle, entitled “The Abbey Boys in the Terriers”. Mr Loosley presented the Trophy and Medallion to Mr Eedle

[1] In 2004-5, the Society met the costs of the publication of 2 Bulletins (13 & 14) & Publication 3.

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THS

Tewkesbury Historical Society

TREASURER’S REPORT

ELECTION OF COMMITTEE

APPOINTMENT OF AUDITOR

HONORARY MEMBERSHIP

BOB WOODARD AWARD