The minutes of the Annual General Meeting held at the School on Friday 2 October, 2015
Members present: A. Snelling (in the chair), S. Caveney, D. Palmer, B. Gilbert, K. Shea, P. Taylor, M. Pack, C. Laming
Apologies for absence: N. Hancock, T. Akehurst, D. Jarrett, G. Barnes, P. Lusted
Minutes and matters arising: The minutes of the meeting held on Friday 3 October, 2014, were agreed and signed as a correct record.
The secretary was asked to re-confirm to the school that the Association would offer a £50 annual school prize, to be awarded in the field of information technology studies. He was also asked to suggest to the head teacher that the Association might be prepared to offer a £1,000 annual bursary to a Y13 leaver, subject to the head teacher’s agreement.
There was a general concern that the traditional strong links between the Association and School are not what they once were and that the Association was working in somewhat of a vacuum due to the lack of interaction with the school.
It was suggested that the head teacher or his deputy be asked to provide a school report that could be read out at next year’s annual dinner and that next year’s AGM could take place at the school during a working school day in order to encourage attendance by the head or his deputy. In this way the Association could be kept abreast of school developments.
There were no other matters arising.
The 2015 officers and committee were elected as follows:
President: J. Hopkins
Vice-President: P. Lusted
Hon. Secretary: C. Laming
Hon. Treasurer: M. Pack
Membership secretary: K. Shea
Dinner Secretary: C. Laming
Website representative: D. Palmer
Website advertising: K. Shea
OBA governor: A. Wilson
Football rep: K. Shea
Hockey rep: D. Palmer
Committee: N. Hancock, P. Taylor, S. Caveney, T. Akehurst, G. Barnes, M. Stewart, D. Jarrett, B. Gilbert, A Snelling
Accounts examiner: P. Taylor
The election of officers and committee en bloc was unanimously approved, having been proposed by S. Caveney and seconded by P. Taylor.
Constitutional changes: None
Correspondence: None.
Treasurer’s report: There has been very modest financial activity in the last 12 months and the one aspect requiring some explanation is the ' Donations to BGS '.
During the financial period ending 31/7/14 we gave £8,500 to the School including £2,500 to assist with the purchase of a laser cutter. Although the accounts for last year reflected this donation (including the closing bank balance of £2,575), the cheque was never presented as the acquisition of the equipment was shelved. The true position was therefore that donations to the School totalled £6,000, our deficit for the year was £2,342 and our closing bank balance was £5,075.
This year's figures show the writing back of the £2,500, which has the effect of inflating the surplus to £4,484 rather than the more accurate reality of £1,984. We are now seeing our surplus/deficit each year determined fairly much by the difference between subscriptions/donations to the School.
On the subject of subscriptions, this year shows a further annual fall of £245 (24 members). Only 4 years ago (y/e 31/7/11) the income from this source was £4,094.
The loss on the dinner was reduced due to paying last year's speaker £100 for expenses, while the only postage/printing costs now relate to the printing of the Digest by the School
Membership report: We have 392 (last year 408) ‘paid up’ members this year. This total includes 2 honorary members and 7 life members exempt from paying a subscription, on the other hand it also includes 1 honorary member and 13 other life members who choose to pay a subscription.
On top of that we have 21 (18) members who paid £200.00 subscriptions last year but have not paid so far this year. 17 of those members pay by standing order and, as observed in last year’s membership report, this is not a good sign as the cancellation of a standing order is a predetermined act rather than an oversight so it means that the standing order has been cancelled for a reason.
I will issue reminders over the next few weeks to those that haven’t renewed. I did that last year and a few members did renew, so it is an exercise that is worth doing.
The table below shows the actual amount paid by all members so far. You will see that a few members pay more than the current subscription of £10, whilst others continue to pay a lesser amount reflecting previous subscription rates. Some payments are made in advance but I have only included the proportion of those advance payments attributable to this current year.
| OBA subscriptions received 1/6/15 - 31/5/16 | ||
| Number of members | Amount paid £:p | Total of subscriptions received (£:p) |
| 9 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| 1 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| 4 | 1.50 | 6.00 |
| 49 | 5.00 | 245.00 |
| 2 | 6.50 | 13.00 |
| 314 | 10.00 | 3140.00 |
| 1 | 11.50 | 11.50 |
| 6 | 15.00 | 90.00 |
| 7 | 20.00 | 140.00 |
| Total No = 392 | ||
| Grand total = | 3646.50 | |
So this year we have received £3,646.50 against last year’s reported £3691.50. This year’s total includes two mysterious £10 subscriptions from one member who does not appear on my records.
We continue to receive subscriptions for 6 (7) members who have died and I should write to the families concerned to ensure that this is not an oversight on their part.
Sadly since the last AGM we have been made aware of the deaths of Roy Brunsden (52 – 58) and Ken Sears who left the school in 1945.
Two new members have joined the Association and they are Lee Richards (85-90) and Paul Dawkins (64-70).
The membership total is 16 fewer than at the last AGM although the income has not suffered greatly but hopefully the reminders may bolster that income.
Further progress has been made with capturing email addresses and we now have 226 (212) addresses on the database for the 392 members.
Keith Shea was warmly thanked for his work as membership secretary, particularly for the way in which he has completely reorganised the administration of the Association’s membership records since taking charge.
AGM and Committee Meeting date: Friday 7 October, 2016 at 3.00 pm (subject to confirmation by the head teacher)
Annual dinner: Saturday 5 March, 2016
There being no further business the meeting closed at 8.14 pm.