British Association of Barbershop Singers ( BABS )

British Association of Barbershop Singers ( BABS )

AUTUMN MEMBERS MEETING

10th September 2011

MINUTES

Present:

Derek Parmenter (DP), Chairman, Alan Goldsmith (AG) Music Services Director, Laurie Whittle(LW), Marketing Director, Colin Bennett (CB), Vice Chairman & acting Administration Director and Company Secretary, Richard May (RM), Membership Services Director, Dyrck Lamble (DL) Special Events Director

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

Members from the following affiliated clubs:- Bolton, Bournemouth, BQC Chorus, Bristol, Byfield, Chelmsford, Chess Valley, Cornwall & South Devon, Coventry, Don Amos, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Garden Isle, Guildford, Leeds & Bradford, Leicester, Lincoln, Milton Keynes, North Surrey, Norwich, Nottingham, Plymouth, Reading, Taunton, Telford.

1.  Apologies. Apologies were received from: George Skelly, Tees Valley, Denis O'Donovan, Harpenden, John Ellis, West Midlands, Mick Robertson, Wigan, Paul Clay, Peterborough, Bob Stott, Milton Keynes, Douglas Powell, Windsor, Members from Hereford and Newcastle and Tony Chapman, Harmony Lincs.

The Chairman welcomed all those present to the meeting

The Chairman then invited Dick Knight to conduct “ The Old Songs”

Chairman (DP) invited Colin Bennett, (CB) Company Secretary, to outline the rules concerning the conduct of the meeting. CB outlined the rules on voting and confirmed that he had received 8 Proxy votes. All of these had agreed to the Chairman casting their vote and two had indicated they would vote against resolution 1, item six on the agenda.

2. To approve the minutes of the Autumn Members meeting of Saturday 11 September 2010.

2.1 It was proposed by North Surrey and seconded by Edinburgh that the minutes be accepted as a true record. All agreed.

3. Matters arising from the minutes.

3.2There were no matters raised.

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

4.1 Derek Parmenter (DP) opened his report by saying how well the Convention at Llandudno had been received by those attending and congratulated both his home chorus of Bolton for winning the Chorus competition and Crossfire quartet for their gold medal performance.

Our guests from the USA were the International Quartet Champions Crossroads, who were very well received. DP thanked Alan Bithell and his convention team for all the tremendous amount of work they put in to making convention such a fantastic event.

4.1.1 DP also reported on his visit to the International Convention held at Kansas City. He congratulated The Great Western Chorus of Bristol and the two BABS quartets 2009 winners Evolution and the 2010 winners Steel on their excellent performances and for representing the Association in a very professional manner. DP praised the fantastic work of the Bristol Chorus in both raising funds and raising awareness in the months prior to leaving for Kansas. Following over 20 performances and around a dozen social events the chorus had managed to raise some £50.000 towards the cost of representing the Association in the International contest.

4.1.2 DP referred to the meeting of the World Harmony Council which he attended with Colin Bennett whilst in Kansas City. Here it was agreed that each affiliate would receive a grant of $1,000 however, this has yet to be received.

4.1.3 In addition to attending the WHC meeting DP also attended the Barbershop Harmony Society Board meeting. Here he presented Ed Watson with an Honorary Membership of BABS on his retirement as CEO of the Society. The society are advertising for a replacement for Ed Watson but have appointed an interim CEO in the mean time. Other new appointees to the Society Board included Gary Plaag who has the role of affiliate liaison officer. Gary will be attending the BABS quartet prelims in November. During the Society Board meeting the success of the BABS recruitment efforts were recognised as an outstanding achievement, although no similar exercise is being planned in the USA.

4.1.4 DP thanked the members of BABS Executive Board for their hard work during the past six months. As always they had been extremely busy and although there were four planned meeting dates they had in fact had seven full days of meetings. In addition there were meetings with other bodies such as Barbershop in Harmony and Making Music. Contact has also been made with the British Association of Choral Directors and more formal links are planned for the future.

4.1.5 Following the independent review of BABS education the executive has agreed a strategy for the Growth and development of the Association. The plan is to have three main aims namely, Growing our Skills, Growing our Numbers and Growing our Reputation. DP then showed a slide to indicate how these three aims would be applied to choruses, quartets and individual members. DP advised those present that copies of the slides were available for collection later.

4.1.6 DP asked for any questions on his report.

* Ron Billard Guildford asked “ as there are so many aims what are the executives priority? DP replied that as the presentation had started with improving our skills that was the first priority. Improved skills would lead to improved number and improved reputation.

* John Logan Norwich commented on going for growth and his clubs recent efforts on recruitment.

* Wilf Pattison Coventry commented on the presentation and confirmed that he held a list of coaches who were prepared to work with clubs.

* Peter Collis Milton Keynes commented on the age profile within the Association and the need to concentrate on retention.

* Richard Aspray Bristol asked how BABS worked with the other Barbershop UK organisations. DP replied that Barbershop in Harmony is made up from representatives from LABBS & Sweet Ads as well as BABS. Also both BABS and LABBS judges work together of joint seminars as well as judging at each other’s competition.

* The Chairman of the Bristol Chorus Richard Aspray asked that the club’s gratitude for the support they had received from BABS membership during their fund raising be minuted.

4.2 Directors Reports Membership Services.

4.2.1 Richard May (RM) Director of Membership Services reported on the work he has undertaken since the AGM last March and in particular the work being done with Laurie Whittle on the web site www.singbarbershop.com. This site is still a work in progress but RM urged members to visit the site for information on clubs, quartets and the BABS structure..

4.2.2 Turning to membership numbers RM showed a slide that indicated the growth in membership from a low point of 1766 in 1997 to the present figure of 2170 full members. RM said he had set himself a goal of 2300 and would work with all clubs in achieving this.

4.2.3 Although most recruitment had come from running Learn to Sing (LTS) courses members should not forget all the old ways such as open nights or bring a singer. All new recruits were potential recruiters themselves. Last year we had 247 new recruits so this is an opportunity to bring along 247 friends.

4.2.4 RM referred to his slide showing that our aim should be to recruit from three areas, Settled Adults, Younger Singers and Musicians. 16 clubs are running LTS courses or planning a course at the moment. Each club gets a grant from BABS as well as 1,000 free leaflets with any additional leaflets charged at just £15 per thousand. An example of the assistance clubs can get from BABS RM outlined the LTS course run by Norwich where 30,000 leaflets were produced and distributed via post code to areas advised by the BABS profiling system.

4.2.5 A number of new clubs are being formed around the country and RM was particularly hopeful of a new club in Penrith joining the Association shortly.

4.2.6 Having attracted new members the next task is to retain them and in this respect BABS does a lot to make them feel welcome. Each new member receives a welcome pack that includes a welcome letter from the chairman, as well as a BABS member’s badge. In addition at their first anniversary they receive a letter of encouragement.

4.2.7 RM illustrated a number of ways to nurture new members into their clubs. These included making them feel welcome right from day one, allocate another member to be their buddy, give them a job to do to make them feel worthy. Giving them a job, even as simple as taking the register will make them feel wanted and encourage them to come along every week to make sure the jobs done. Make sure when they join they know the clubs aims and the commitment to achieve those aims.

4.2.8 RM emphasised the need to be aware of the existing members and encourage them to be part of the new member’s experience. Any new member going to Convention or Harmony College for the first time should be allocated a convention buddy.

4.2.9 RM finished his report by thanking Laurie Whittle for all his assistance and particularly Stuart Lines the Membership Secretary for his prompt replies to the many questions thrown his way.

4.2.10 RM invited questions on his report.

* PeterCollis, Milton Keynes asked how the Post Codes were selected? LW explained that a national agency had been used to provide a profile of the best Post Codes to be used based on the criteria supplied by BABS.

* John Logan, Norwich confirmed that using an outside agent to deliver the leaflets was not particularly cheap but it did save a lot of footwork for the members. The 30.000 leaflets dropped in selected areas cost around £700.

* David Todd North Surrey asked which is the best time of year to run a LTS course? RM said there was not time that suited all clubs but usually clubs aimed for the start of term either September or January. Wilf Pattison said they run a course in mid June which was most successful.

* Ron Billard said that at Harmony College Directors asked “ How do you get rid of poor singers” ? RM said you should always tell them what to expect when joining your club. Most clubs ask them to take an audition which, if done properly, sorts out the poor singers.

* Wilf Pattison Coventry said he had been mandated by his club to congratulate BABS on the superb work being done for the one day LTS course in October. There followed a round of applause from Members present.

4.3 Music Services Report.

4.3.1 Alan Goldsmith (AG) reported on Convention 2011 and thought that from the feedback from members this had again been a great success. It was successful financially, there were some quality performances but the biggest success was that most people enjoyed themselves.

Thirty-three choruses took part and for the first time in a number of years six songs were penalised. In the quartet competition Crossfire were worthy winners with a score of 76.4% but it was a little disappointing that no other quartet scored more that 69.4% with six quartets all within 3% of each other.

4.3.2 The 33rd Harmony College was another success with over 300 attendees. This year there were two guest educators Steve Armstrong and Gary Plaag. AG’s slide showed a quote from Gary Plaag following the college “I had a great time at HC. It was a fantastic learning experience for the students, faculty and me, in particular”.

4.3.3 This year the College introduced some changes with one day options, a directing stream and an advanced chorus who learned an additional song to sing on the Saturday show. There was also an intermediate course for arrangers. AG then highlighted some further quotes from satisfied students which were “ 1, It’s always fun but this year exceeded all previous ones”

2 It is getting more and more difficult as the years go by to beat the previous year’s enjoyment but for me personally this year was something special”

3 If only all education were as well-planned and well-delivered as Harmony College! Very good value for money.” AG confirmed that the final quote was from a teacher who was new to barbershop.

4.3.4 Although the 33rd H.C. had been a success there was no room for complacency and planning for the 34th HC would start in November.

4.3.5 The next presentation slide showed a row of empty chairs with a slogan “ Judge for Yourself” AG pointed out that there was a need to recruit more judges and there would be an opportunity to sit immediately behind the judges at quartet prelims to test ones skill and to experience what the judges see and hear. Obviously there would be limited seating so any interested person should make contact as soon as possible. Any BABS member could put their name forward including any ladies.

4.3.6 Turning to the subject of Quartet Prelims AG said he was wowed by the figure of 55 quartets putting their names forward for this year’s prelims. This figure included 15 seniors and 3 collegiate quartets, this from a figure of 115 registered quartets within BABS.

4.3.7 Having run two successful Directors Academies plans were well under way for the next one on February 4th & 5th 2012. This year would again be split over two days with all new chorus directors invited to the Saturday and all front line directors coming to the Sunday. Again Joe Cerutti will be the main instructor.

4.3.8 As outlined by the Chairman, BABS has undertaken an Educational Review as part of the plans for “ Growing Our Skills” AG outlined the three areas under his Directorate where he needed to appoint people to assist in carrying through the project. He had therefore placed advertisements in Harmony Express for three leaders, Chorus Director Programme Leader, Quartet Programme Leader and Educational Material Project Leader.