OLD MAIDSTONIAN S0CIETY ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
18:15, 23rd March 2012
MINUTES
1. Present
· Nick Ashbee
· Graham Belson (Committee; Membership Secretary; Treasurer)
· Alan Bourgein
· John Caley (Committee)
· John Clayton (Committee)
· Gardner Crawley (Committee; OM Trust)
· Peter Hay
· Anthony Hayward (Committee; President)
· Pat Jessup
· David Leeke (Committee; President- Elect)
· Malcolm MacCallum (Committee; Webmaster)
· Ron McCormick (President-Elect)
· Richard Ratcliffe (Committee Chairman)
· Peter Sampson
· Mark Tomkins (Head Master)
· Peter Weaver (Committee; Newsletter Co-Editor)
· Brian White (Committee; Secretary, Newsletter Co-Editor)
2. Apologies
· Tony Bishop (Corresponding member of the Committee)
· Roger Brown
· (The meeting began without the President, who was late as a result of travelling problems. As a result, the meeting was chaired by the Chairman of the society.)
3. Minutes of AGM 2011
· Acceptance was proposed by John Clayton and seconded by Gardner Crawley. There was unanimous agreement that they should be accepted, and they were duly signed by the Chairman.)
4. Matters arising.
· There were no matters arising.
5. President’s Report.
· When the President arrived, he offered thanks to the committee for all of the support he had received during his term of office, not least in respect of the Haydn concert.
6. Chairman’s Report.
· Thanks were offered to the members of the committee, for their help with the Annual Supper, Haydn concert, and many other issues.
· It was reported that the committee had spent a great deal of time working on the Awards Fund.
· It was stated that the new Head Master was very supportive of the society, which he wanted to see as a partner of MGS. He wants everyone, staff pupils, OMs, etc., to ‘raise the bar’ in terms of standards and fund-raising.
7. Secretary’s Report.
· Thanks were offered to Peter Weaver for all of his help with the newsletter.
· (Any other issues would arise later during the meeting.)
8. Treasurer’s Report.
· It was reported that funds were healthy in general, and that the accounts had been signed off by the auditors. (An amended copy of the audited accounts is to follow from Graham.)
· Gardner will provide some formal wording for renaming the Awards Account, so that its name will reflect the fact that this is also the Trust Account.
9. OMS News
· Donald Scott, a former member of staff, and Head of Divinity, had died recently.
10. OM Trust
· Gardner Crawley retired as a trustee by rotation, and offered himself for re-election. He was proposed by John Caley and seconded by Malcolm MacCallum. The terms of office of all trustees last for three years and are now as follows:
§ Graham Belson: retires March 2014
§ John Clayton: retires March 2015
§ Gardner Crawley: retires March 2016
§ Richard Ratcliffe: retires March 2015.
· If any other members wish to become trustees, they should apply to the secretary with a brief CV of their skills, knowledge, and experience of charitable trusts.
11. OMS Website
· Malcolm MacCallum reported that there had been some holdups, but that he now hoped to link both the .co.uk and .org.uk addresses to the website in the near future.
· Malcolm had removed the dummy Latin which had been used to test the site initially.
· Malcolm welcomed comments from members, either via the blogging facility on the website, or by e-mail.
12. Election of New Committee
· John Caley and Anthony Hayward both stood down from the committee. They were both thanked for their contributions, not least as past Presidents of the society. In particular, John was thanked for his very long service to the school, the society and the committee.
· Gardner was confirmed as the President-Elect. It was agreed that the rules might need to be amended to make it clear that the committee can nominate a President-Elect, but that the AGM confirms this decision. (This item will be shown as a standing heading on the agendas for future AGMs.)
· It was noted that Neil Turrell’s proposed term as President has been postponed, as he intends to stay in Singapore for a longer period.
13. AOB
· In accordance with Rule 12, Roger Brown gave notice for an amendment to be considered as follows.
§ Rule 6 (d) reads, ‘All Full Members and Associate Members shall be entitled to vote at the AGM, and a quorum shall be formed by ten members.’
§ To be added: ‘The meeting shall accept votes from members who have requested to do so by post (or by electronic means), providing such requests are received at least twenty-four hours prior to the commencement of proceedings.’
· It was pointed out by several people that such an arrangement would mean that members who were not in attendance would be trying to vote about issues without hearing the relevant arguments at the AGM. The meeting agreed that the matter would be considered by the committee, in conjunction with the Head Master, and that they would report back to the next AGM. (This proposal was put by Gardner Crawley, and seconded by Peter Sampson.)
14. Date of next AGM.
· As usual, this would coincide with the date of the Annual Supper. The date would be discussed at the next committee meeting, with a view to co-ordinating the date with both Easter and the university holidays.
15. Adjourn to Supper!
· The meeting closed at 18:55.