British Association of Barbershop Singers

British Association of Barbershop Singers

MEMBERS MEETING

AUTUMN 2010

MINUTES

Present:

Chairman, Alan Goldsmith (AG), Vice Chairman Derek Parmenter (DP), Bill Harvey (BH) Music Services Director, Laurie Whittle(LW), Marketing Director, Colin Bennett (CB), Administration Director and Company Secretary, Mick Kett (MK), Membership Development Director, Paul Williams(PW), Director of Finance

Also in attendance: Chas Owen Minute Taker. Stuart Lines, Membership Secretary.

Members from the following affiliated clubs:- Bolton, Bristol, Chelmsford, Chess Valley, Coventry, Don Amos, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Leeds & Bradford, Leicester, Lincoln, Milton Keynes, North Surrey, Nottingham, Peterborough, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Reading, Southampton, Telford, Windsor.

1. Apologies. The Following clubs sent apologies:- Aberdeen, BQC Chorus, Crawley, Garden Isle, Kingsbridge, Potton, Sheffield, Sussex, West Midlands, Worthing. Apologies were also received from Bob Stott, Milton Keynes, and Richard Marriot Harmony Lincs.

The Chairman welcomed all those present to the meeting and was pleased to see a number of observers

The Chairman then invited Bill Harvey to conduct “The Old Songs”

1.aFollowing the changes to Mems & Arts earlier this year, the Chairman (AG) invited Colin Bennett, (CB) Company Secretary, to outline the rules concerning the conduct of the meeting. Colin explained that members present were no longer called Council Members but were now defined in the Mems & Arts as BABS Members and that all other members of the Association were BABS Club Members. This explained why today’s meetingwas titled “Autumn Members Meeting” and why they had been asked to sign the form that outlined their new responsibilities. Colin went on to explain the new voting procedure which now allowed proxy voting and confirmed that he had received 17 proxy votes. Thirteen of these had indicated they wished the Chairman to vote on their behalf and three had indicated named members to vote for them.

Referring to observers, CB confirmed that they could not vote on any issue and would only be allowed to contribute to any discussions with the Chairman’s consent.

2. To approve the minutes of the Annual General Meeting of Saturday 28th March 2010 .

2.1 Wilf Pattison noted that a request he had made (asking the directors to examine the impact on choruses of multiple dual members, especially in competition) had not been minuted. It was for this reason that he had requested discussion on item 10 on today’s agenda.

The Chairman (AG) apologised for the omission from the minutes and confirmed that discussions on the subject had taken place at subsequent Executive meetings.

2.1The minutes were approved, subject to the above amendment, and signed by the Chairman.

3. Matters arising from the minutes.

3.2There were no matters raised.

4.To receive Chairman’s update and Directors reports.

4.1 AG congratulated the Convention team on putting on another superb convention at Harrogate, still the favourite venue, and also congratulated “Great Western” and “Steel” on their winning performances. The visiting quartet “Storm Front” were excellent entertainers and were much appreciated, not only by BABS members but also by American Judges as shown by their results at International.

4..1.1 Referring to International at Philadelphia AG was very pleased and proud of the outstanding performances of both Cotton Town Chorus and the three quartets, Evolution, Monkey Magic and Steel. To See Cotton Town placed 9th in singing with an “A” level performance and witness all three quartets, within just 6 points per judge away from the top 20 quartets, made it a very special event. AG thanked the competitors for their commitment but also wanted to thank the numerous BABS supporters who made the trip to Philadelphia to cheer them on.

4.1.2 In addition to the competitions AG represented BABS at a meeting of affiliates and at the World Harmony Council. At the affiliates meeting there was some concern expressed that the Society had drafted changes to the affiliation agreements without prior consultation. These changes were not agreeable to BABS and as such the new affiliation agreement for 2010 had not been amended with the exception that affiliation fees had been set at $5 per member.

4.1.3 At the World Harmony Council meeting it was agreed to divide the profits from the World Harmony Jamboree Dinner equally between all affiliates. This year this amounted to $1.000 but a decision was made to withhold the payment to the Irish Association pending further communications.

4.1.4 Turning to the changes to the Mem’s & Arts, AG confirmed that there were changes to the membership rules and as a charity we had to be an inclusive organisation. For many years we had allowed female members but only as Chorus Directors. The new membership rules allowed for female members, however, the contest rules still applied and no females are allowed to SING at competitions.

4.1.5 In view of the changes to personnel within the Executive Board it was considered appropriate timing to review the areas of responsibility. Subsequently it has been decided that the following changes will take place with immediate effect.

Harmony Store will move from Music Services to Finance.

Youth Chorus will move from Vice Chairman to Music Services

Youth Development will move from Vice Chairman to Membership Development

Membership Secretary will revert back to Administration

Technical Manager will report to Special Events Director.

4.1.6 AG reminded members that an outside agent had been asked to conduct an internal review of BABS education. It had been hoped that that this report would be completed by March 2010 but unfortunately this had been delayed and the report was only recently to hand. AG stated that the Executive had not had time to study the report but a full report of the findings and any resultant recommendations would be made to the AGM in March 2011.

4.1.7 The Board continue to promote BABS to the outside musical world and he was pleased to report that these efforts are bearing fruit. BABS are now recognised as a centre of excellence in training thanks to the work done with “Making Music” and the LTS courses. As a result BABS was invited to take part in the planning of the National fund raising event “123 Sing” to be held on October 1st,2nd, and 3rd. AG urged all clubs to engage themselves in this event in some way.

4.1.8 Following his report AG asked if there were any questions.

Q1 Peterborough Member asked if Ladies could now sing with choruses. AG replied that they could sing at club level if the club agreed but they could not sing with a chorus in a BABS Contest

Q2 Plymouth Member asked does the education Review cover chorus directors. AG replied that Directors were part of the review, although he could not comment further at this stage.

Q3 Peterborough Member asked what BABS gets from the affiliation agreement with the Society. AG covered the publications and coaching offered and the agreement that BABS competing Choruses and Quartets could enter the International Competitions.

4.2 Vice Chairman’s Report.

4.2.1 NBYC. Derek Parmenter (DP) reported on his meetings with the Youth Chorus (NBYC) and confirmed that the chorus would no longer be a separate BABS club as from December 31st 2010. From this date the chorus would be managed directly by the Executive Board under the responsibility of the Director of Musical Services. Agreement had been reached on a budget for 2011 together with a schedule of activities which would promote both the NBYC and BABS to other outside musical bodies. In addition it is proposed to hold regional events to attract young singers into the chorus.

4.2.2 DP apologised for not spending more time on the youth development strategy mainly due to his work as a temporary Special Events Director. Although a discussion paper on youth strategy had been produced this had not been acted on at present. The responsibility for Youth Development has now been re-allocated to the Membership Development Director who will be able to devote more time to this matter.

4.2.3 Barbershop in Harmony. DP confirmed that he had taken over as the BABS representative in discussions with Barbershop in Harmony. Although there had not been as much collaboration in the past 6 months arrangements were in hand to hold a “Fundraising Workshop” in September and an Arrangers Workshop in December.

4.3 Director Music Services.

4.3.1 Bill Harvey (BH)introduced his report by saying it was both an introduction and a farewell message. As members were aware BH had decided to stand down from the Executive Committee after 8 years working for the Board.

4.3.2 BH confirmed that the next Quartet Prelims would be held on November 21st at the Birmingham Conservatoire. This year the chorus draw for 2011 convention would be held in public at the prelims event. There were some changes to the contest rules for quartets and the Past Gold Medal winners would not now be allowed to re-compete.

4.3.3 In addition to the BABS competitions there will be a new “British Open Barbershop Quartet Championships” competition which will be open to international entries. This decision had been taken to allow European Barbershoppers to take part in BABS conventions.

4.3.4 Also at the Quartet Prelims there will be a competition for SeniorQuartets. As well as the seniors competition which is held at prelims there will also be ayouth quartet contest, the winner of which can qualify to go to International and compete in the BHS collegiate contest.

4.3.5 BH confirmed that the next midwinter Convention is being held in Las Vegas at the end of January 2011 and unfortunately we do not have a representative.

4.3.6 BH referred to the guild of judges who, under the chairmanship of John Palmer, continue to give the association stellar service, not only with judging and ranking competitions – but with very valuable coaching and evaluations throughout the year. BH said there was a shortage of new recruits for judges and he urged Members to consider putting forward the names of any suitable club member who might consider becoming a judge.

4.3.7 As a result of the feedback after the successful Directors Symposium held in January 2010 it has been decided to hold a Director Training day on 8th January 2011.The venue for this will be the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Birmingham City Centre. The educator for the day will be Joe Cerutti who is the director of the Alexandria Harmonisers and SAI’s Pride of Baltimore. Joe is the chairman of the BHS directors steering group and is also head of Directors College in the States. He is a very talented teacher and BH is pleased to have secured his services. A letter has been sent out advising directors of this event and more detailed information will be sent shortly. BH urged members to go back to theirchoruses and make sure that their CD has the day in his diary

4.3.8 BH referred to Harmony Store which is a superb resource for our members supplying musical needs everything from sheet music to pitch pipes. BHthanked Mike Lofthouse for all the work he does. BH hoped that this next year will gradually see the moving of some of the functions of the store onto the internet.

4.3.9 A little used resource is the Coaching Register which is held by Wilf Pattison. BH thanked Wilf for his work in collating this information and the way he manages to supply needs to choruses and quartets. It is pleasing to see more people using this service and long may it continue. Wilf interjected from the floor saying “thanks for the praise but not enough clubs used the register”.

4.3.10 International Convention 2011 is being held in Kansas City from 3rd to 10th July. In the chorus competition BABS will be represented by Great Western Chorus of Bristol who we hope will makea big Impression. Our champion quartet Steel will be competing as will Evolution In addition the collegiate competition winners will be eligible should they score the qualifying mark.

4.3.11 Harmony College was again held at Nottingham University. BH thanked Ken Hume and his team for another superb week-end. The college chorus this year underwent change and led by Dale Kyneston and his team produced a very high class performance on the Saturday night show. The guest American Educator this year was Cindy Hanson a truly amazing lady, who worked hard with the quartets and college chorus before delivering her keynote speech.

4.3.12 BH asked for questions on his report.

Q1 Coventry Member asked if the rules regarding past gold medallists competing had been changed. BH confirmed that any competing quartet could not have more than two members of a previous gold medal quartet within the foursome.

Comments:- Members from Bristol, Peterborough and Chelmsford all congratulated the organisers on a super Harmony College.

The Member from Peterborough thanked BH for all his work for the Association.

4.4 Harmony Foundation & Administration.

4.4.1 Director of Administration Colin Bennett (CB) opened his report by saying he would cover both Harmony Foundation and the Administration activities. CB referred to the various forms of funding that the Foundation receives including Gift Aid, Bequests, Donations, and two new innovations of Planned Giving and Easy Fundraising.

4.4.2 CB showed a slide giving the amount received from Gift Aid over the past 7 years and encouraged Members to make sure that all new recruits were requested to sign the gift aid form when joining.

4.4.3 Outlining the new Planned Giving programme CB stated that this was the way most national charities collected funding. Donations could be made monthly, quarterly, 6 monthly or annually. Donations could be nominated to specific funds for Youth or the general fund.

4.4.4 Introducing the second new initiative CB said that this was the painless way of giving as there was no cost to Members or BABS. All Members needed to do was use the web site easyfundraising.com when purchasing items on line from major stores. Further details will be published in Harmony Express.

4.4.5 The number of Harmony Foundation Grants vary each year but an average of £20.000 are awarded. In the year to-date 32 individuals had been awarded grants.

4.4.6 Applications for grants to the USA Harmony College and Directors Collage in 2011, should be made before the 31st December 2010.

4.4.7 Departmental Update. CB confirmed that work with Making Music on Learn to Sing courses for SATB choirs was still progressing with a new course planned for late October. This collaboration with Making Music was most beneficial to BABS not only from a financial viewpoint but it also increased the recognition, reputation and status of BABS.

4.4.8 In view of the success of running Learn to Sing Courses it is proposed to run a National Learn to Sing Course on either 15th or16th October2011. The plan would be to encourage every BABS club to run a course on the same day which would enable greater publicity. CB asked for a show of hands from Members in support of the plan. Members gave unanimous support for the project.

4.4.9 CB Thanked the members of his department for their hard work and mentioned that there would be a couple of vacancies from January next year for Quartet Registrar and Harmony Foundation Manager. CB also mentioned that a Communications Manager had been appointed to look at both internal and external communications – more information to follow.

4.4.10 CB asked if there were any questions on his reports.

Q1 The Portsmouth Member asked if the various methods of contributing could be sent to clubs to allow face to face promotion. CB agreed to arrange this.

Q2 The Bournemouth Member asked if the National LTS course was over two days. CB replied that the plan was to hold a National One Day event on either Sat 15th or Sun 16th October.

Q3 The Telford Member commented that BABS should make sure that the educators were of good quality.

Q4 The Reading Member commented that in his experience using LTS in Harmony would be more productive in recruiting members. CB noted his comments and said that this would be taken into account when more detailed plans were being considered.

At this point Member broke for lunch with the singing of “My Wild Irish Rose” led by Laurence Prestage.

Following Lunch the Chairman asked Tony Chapman to conduct “Sweet & Lovely”

4.5 Director Special Events.

4.5.1 Derek Parmenter ( DP) reported on Convention 2010 which he considered a great success. The visiting quartet “Storm Front” had been well received and continued doing well by winning the International Convention in Philadelphia. The number of delegates was the highest for a number of years at over 2600 with 37 choruses and 16 quartets competing. All three entertaining shows plus a number of fringe events were well attended. As always Harrogate was much appreciated by BABS club members. DP also wanted to record his thanks to the staff at the Harrogate Centre for their help in making the event run so smoothly.