THE ARTSSOCIETYBIRMINGHAM

Annual General Meeting 2019

www.theartssocietybirmingham.org

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THE ARTS SOCIETY BIRMINGHAMMinutes of the twenty-seventh Annual General Meeting held on

Wednesday 12 September 2018 at 10.30 a.m.At the CBSO Centre, Berkley Street, Birmingham B1 2LF

The Chairman welcomed the 176 members present and introduced the officers (including theMembership Secretary still manning the desk).

1 Apologies. These had been received from: Val Allen, Robin Atkinson, Carol Austin, Rachel Banner, Juliana Berck, Margot Betts,Thelma Bowden, Caroline Brown, Harvey Brown, Felicity Burman, Louise Burn, PhillipClifton, Sarah Colles, Angela Collingwood, Gillian Cowin, Janette Cunninghame-Green,Linda Curry, John Darby, Helen Dowling, Kim Duce, Sylvia Emson, Margaret Green,Raena Green, Julie Grove, Spencer Hancock, Gillian Haynes, Diane Heaselgrave, PamelaHenson, Clive Heron, David Houston, Brenda Hyde, Bridget Jackson, Jean Johnson,Mita Johnson, Evelyn and Simon Kirby, Anne Lee, Judith and Martin Lee, VictoriaLilford, Victoria Linehan, Kathy Lowe, Barbara Loyo Mayo, Julie Manzoni, Sue Mason,Joan McNeish, Carl Meyer, Claire Mottershead, Chris and Marie Muirhead, MichaelPayne, Rosemary and Thomas Payne, Trina Pogmore, Anne and David Powell, SarahPriestman, Judith Raine, Timothy and Victoria Ryan, Bob Sankarayya, Aideen and JohnScott, Joanna Silove, Jill Smith, Susan Smith, Sarah Spencer-Smith, Deborah Stirling,Margaret and Peter Thomson, Ginny Turner, Diana Wardle, Diana Watson, LyndaWheater, Catherine and Graham White, Mary White, Anne Woolley, Michael Worley.

2 The Minutes of the twenty-sixth Annual General Meeting held on Wednesday 14 June2017 had been mailed or emailed to members prior to the meeting. There were no mattersarising and the Minutes were accepted unanimously by the members as a true record ofthe proceedings. Proposed by Sue Arnott, seconded by Marion Woodward. TheChairman signed the Minutes.

3 Treasurer’s Report. The accounts for the year to 30 June 2017 and the 9 months to 31March 2018 had been mailed or emailed to members and were published on pages 12-15of the AGM booklet. Fiona Collins was invited to present the Treasurer’s Report. TheTreasurer gave a PowerPoint presentation and made the following comments:

Report on the 2016-17 Accounts

The year 1 July 2016 to 30 June 2017 has been a year of change with the NationalAssociation of Decorative and Fine Arts Societies changing its name to the shorter nameThe Arts Society and we too became The Arts Society Birmingham. This involved anupgrade in our website and reprinting stationery costing £1839 which was £614 in 2015/6.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

The twenty-eighth Annual General Meeting of The Arts Society Birmingham will be held on

Wednesday 25th September 2019 at 10.30 a.m. at the CBSO Centre, Berkley Street, B1 2LF

to transact the following business:

AGENDA

1 Apologies

2 To receive the Minutes of the twenty-seventh Annual GeneralMeeting held on Wednesday 12th September 2018

3 To receive the Committee’s report on the activities of the 2018-2019season

4 To receive and adopt the accounts for the year ending 31st March 2019

5 To elect the Officers and Members of the Committee

6 To consider any resolutions of which notice has been given inaccordance with the rules

7 Date and place of next meeting

Di WardleSecretary

The AGM for the Arts Society was also held in Birmingham and in support some of theCommittee members attended the AGM and dinner at the Birmingham Town Hall andthe drinks gathering at the Barber Institute, University of Birmingham. This additionalexpense is shown under Committee Expenses as £295 which is part of the £920 total.

The Society has been able to expand due to the larger size of the CBSO Centre which hasmeant that we could hold the Membership fee at the same level even though the levy fromthe Arts Society has continued to increase and the hire of the CBSO Centre increases by5% year on year which forms part of the increase shown in the membership fee £5125from £4770 and the hire of the Centre increased to £5036 from £4320.

On the Balance Sheet you can see a small reduction in the Assets from £112 to negative£117 which is partly due to the £300 increase in charitable giving. There has been freshencouragement for Societies to reduce their reserves to half the yearly costs. TheCommittee has agreed a small reduction.

Report on the Accounting Nine Months 1 July 2017 to 31 March 2018

The figures for this accounting period are approximately three-quarters of the figure forthe previous year to align the Society with the new accounting period 1 April 2018 to 31March 2019. This means that the subscriptions received are the balance for this year2017/2018 for 9 months. Also, to note that adjustments for the moneys covering the 9-month accounting period have been made and figures for the period April to Junedeferred to the 2018/2019 accounts.

The Committee has agreed we need to increase the membership fee in 2019/2020 to £50,the fee having stayed at £45 for four years despite our levy to The Arts Society havingincreased during this time, as has the hire of the CBSO hall. I hope that the meeting is inagreement to this.

Finally, I would like to thank Tony Taylor for patiently examining two years of accountsfor us as a Society and in particular to Judy Raine who has helped me with producing theAccounts for you. Tony Taylor has now moved to southern climes and has asked to stepdown and I am pleased to report that Malcolm McLean is willing to become the externalexaminer for the coming year.”

Jean Pratt asked how much was usually paid in fees to the lecturers. The Treasurerreplied that the amount varied between £400 and £500.

A question was asked about the levy made by the Arts Society. The Treasurer replied that

during the past year we had paid £5,125 which was based on £12 .60 per member.

The adoption of the accounts was proposed by Mary Price, seconded by Kishor Shah andcarried unanimously.

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4 To consider Resolutions of which Notices had been given in accordance with theRules

The Chairman pointed out that the resolution regarding amendment to fees had beendealt with under the Treasurer’s Report.

Committee length of service and succession.The Chairman pointed out that it was important to ensure a thriving Committee with newideas and therefore it was felt the Committee should be refreshed on a regular basis ratherthan becoming a clique and set in its ways. The following Special Resolution had been putforward:

“To ensure The Arts Society Birmingham Committee has members with different skillsets, experience and personalities, it is proposed that individuals should serve no morethan 3-5 years (with a maximum of 7 years to allow for role diversification or roleshadowing)”.

The special resolution was proposed by Brenda Hyde and seconded by Mike Collins. Itwas carried unanimously.

5 The Committee’s Report.

The Chairman spoke to the published report highlighting various points.

If The Arts Society Birmingham was to thrive and develop it was important it had astrong and committed Committee. Our society was only one of three in the WestMidlands whose membership was stable; most societies were losing more members thanthey were gaining. She therefore wished to encourage members to come forward and beprepared to serve on the Committee. There was a vacancy for an Honorary Secretary atthe moment so members were asked to consider undertaking this position.

We had been lucky during the past three years to be using the CBSO Centre as venue forour lectures. The staff were extremely helpful and the facilities excellent and it had been ajoy to be ensconced here.

Chrissie Twigg had done a sterling job as Secretary and had agreed to take on the mantleof Chairman, if elected. The Chairman was sure the members would give her support.

A number of Committee members were retiring this year. The Chairman thanked AlisonOswald who was retiring as Membership Secretary. She had been the mainstay ofmembership activity and done tremendous work.

The society was established financially due to Fiona Collins and the Society was indebtedto her for her sound advice and supervision of the accounts.

Margo Sharp and Chris Midgley were both standing down. They had done a splendid jobin developing the Community and Young Arts programme. They had been instrumentalin providing support through the CBSO to students in the Youth Orchestra, and inaddition support for Singing Playgrounds and Singing Medicine. Support had alsocontinued to be given to Dance Track. This year a young dancer who started dancingwith Dance Track had just graduated to the Birmingham Royal Ballet and another was oncourse to do so.

The lecture programme was the core of the society. Victoria Linehan had done a brilliantjob with choosing excellent speakers. Judging by the feedback forms all speakers duringthe past year had been judged either excellent or outstanding. Even when we had beenfaced with a glitch and the non-arrival of a speaker due to illness, we had been well-prepared and able to provide an interesting arts video for the members who had turnedup.

The events team of Brenda Hyde and Judy Lee had provided a varied and enrichingprogramme for members. Judy would be standing down and her assistance would bemuch missed but Brenda would continue to design a programme of fascinating trips. Iwould like to thank her in particular for the enormous amount of effort she has put in toproduce such a diverse programme.

Thanks to the hard work of Debby Bridge and Hazel Alemany, the smartest booklet of allsixteen societies in the West Midlands had been provided to our members, as well as anexcellent AGM document. This would be printed on less expensive paper next year.

Mary Price continued to lead the Heritage Volunteer projects. She was always on thelookout for new projects. Our thanks go to all those who provide so many hours ofdedicated voluntary work.

To enable all this work to be carried out effectively we needed a strong Committee. Ifanyone was prepared to serve on the Committee, would they please get in touch with theChairman.

Adoption of the report was proposed by Jean Pratt and seconded by Debby Bridge, andagreed unanimously.

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6 Election of Officers and Members of the Committee

(i) The Chairman stated that she was due to retire and that Chrissie Twigg wasprepared to serves as Chairman, if elected.

Proposed by Stephanie Faroqui and seconded by Jen Collins and electedunanimously.

Chrissie Twigg took the podium and said that it was her first duty to thank JenCollins, the retiring Chairman, for her sterling work for the Society during the past 4years. Jen was also to be congratulated on her recent election to the WM AreaCommittee to organize training for societies. A flower tribute was then presented toJen on behalf of the Society.

(ii) Fiona Collins offered herself for re-election as Honorary Treasurer for a furtheryear. Proposed by Roger Stone, seconded by Sue Arnott and elected unanimously.

(iii) Hazel Campbell was willing to serve as Membership Secretary and had beenproposed by Alison Oswald, seconded by Chrissie Twigg and was electedunanimously.

(iv) The following members of the Committee offered themselves for re-election for afurther year:

Debby Bridge, Brenda Hyde and Victoria Linehan. It was proposed they be elected‘en block’. Proposed by Marion Woodward, seconded by Stephanie Faroqui andagreed unanimously.

(v) The following members offered themselves for election to serve on the Committee:

Sue Arnott as Community Arts Representative.Proposed by Chrissie Twigg, seconded by Fiona Collins and agreed unanimously.

Eve Kirby to help with programming.Proposed by Judy Lee, seconded by Fiona Collins and agreed unanimously.

7 Date and Place of Next Meeting

Wednesday 25 September 2019 at 10.30 a.m. at the CBSO Centre, Berkeley Street.

The Chairman declared the meeting closed at 11.05 a.m.

COMMITTEE REPORTFrom the Chairman: Chrissie Twigg

The Arts Society Birmingham is one of the largest Arts Societies in the West Midlands. It is atribute to the existing membership for its continued support, to the excellent lecturers, thehigh-quality venue and the programme of special events, that this remains the case.

A successful society requires an effective committee and with several new and enthusiasticmembers it has been a privilege to serve as Chairman. Debby Bridge as Vice-Chair, Di Wardleas Secretary and Fiona Collins as Treasurer have provided superb assistance and wise counsel.Hazel Campbell has mastered the intricacies of the Membership Secretary’s role and Fiona haskept us in good shape financially. My heartfelt thanks to all. Meetings are efficient and fun.

To prevent committees from becoming cliques or stagnant, personnel need to change, thus,in accordance with our constitution, Victoria Linehan, Programme Secretary, is steppingdown. Our thanks to Victoria for her lively contributions and an eclectic mix of lectures, ratedas “excellent” or “outstanding” by the majority who completed the feedback forms. EveKirby has been shadowing Victoria for the past year and has agreed to take over asProgramme Secretary.

Brenda Hyde, once again provided interesting events, visits and days of special interest whichhave been greatly appreciated by attendees. These extra activities are carefully considered tocater for as many members as possible and to afford opportunities for friendship as well ascultural outings. Our warmest thanks to Brenda for her energy, patience and sense of humour.

As well as Vice-Chair, Debby Bridge is also our highly organised Communications Officerresponsible for timely emails, your annual Membership Booklet and Programme and regularliaison with our website designer, Hazel Alemany.

Thanks to our members’ generosity, the Arts Society Birmingham supports variouscommunity organisations. In Sue Arnott, we have a most dedicated Community and YoungArts representative. This year the Society has supported, amongst other things, BirminghamRoyal Ballet’s Dance Track programme and two members of the CBSO Youth Orchestra.

Heritage Volunteering is a vital part of the Arts Society. Many thanks to Mary Price whocontinued to lead our volunteers and host the weekly sewing group. The final kneeler forStoneyhurst Chapel is in progress and the workmanship is stunning. This year’s NationalAGM reminded us that the Arts Society (or rather NADFAS) was set up to participate in andpromote the arts through volunteering activities and, where possible, through sponsorship ofthe arts. Indeed, the Arts Society motto is “We Inspire, We Do, We Give”. Our thanks to allour members who give so much of their time to volunteering projects, especially Liz Dancey,Judith Al-Saffar, Patricia Bircher and Gillian Walker.

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We are extremely fortunate to have the CBSO Centre as our lecture venue, despite the taxingjourney to and fro amidst the current road works. Our thanks to Niki Longhurst and her teamfor always making us welcome and for providing technical assistance for visiting speakers.

Our society maintains close links with our sister organisation, The Arts Society BirminghamEvening and with the West Midlands Area Committee of the Arts Society. Opportunely, ouroutgoing Chairman, Jen Collins, serves on the latter and has provided welcome guidance onvarious issues.

Cicero’s principle of “Otium cum Dignitate” – Leisure with Dignity - would seemparticularly apt for our society. In an age of reduced arts funding and cultural malaise oursociety embraces all who enjoy “the arts” in their manifold forms. Thank you sincerely foryour support.

LECTURES: from Victoria Linehan

The year began with a lecture by Dr Diane Davies on the Magnificent Maya and this wasfollowed by Mr Toby Faber who last year had delivered an outstanding lecture on Stradivariusviolins. This year he returned to talk about the famous Faber Company.

Dr Neill Faulkner’s lecture on Laurence of Arabia and Mr Peter Medhurst’s lecture on J.S.Bach were both accredited as Outstanding as were most of the lectures this year.

Mr Anthony Peers’ lecture on Birmingham Town Hall was followed by the Rev. Dr.Henderson on Anglo-Saxon and Norman Churches in England.

The last lecture of the season was on the Pilgrimage to St Catherine’s Monastery and was givenby Dr Helen Rufus-Ward.

We were unfortunate to have had one cancelled lecture this year – this was due to illness.Luckily the Committee is prepared for such occasions and produced an interesting hour longfilm on Renee Mackintosh.

I have now fulfilled three years as Programme Secretary. Eve Kirby will be taking over as thenext Programme Secretary.

I hope you have enjoyed the selection of lectures. May I add that the Committee is alwaysinterested in hearing of suggested topics and interesting lecturers.

VISITS AND STUDY DAYS: from Brenda Hyde

It has been another busy year of events with more members and guests participating.

Our Special Interest Day with Will Farmer, talking about Clarice Cliff was a resoundingsuccess. He certainly knows his subject and his presentation was lively and spellbinding.

Our year began with a visit to Wentworth Woodhouse, a grade 1 listed building and thelargest privately-owned dwelling in Europe, followed by a visit to the Yorkshire SculpturePark.

In October we enjoyed a Special Interest Day at Wightwick Manor and Gardens.

The Christmas Lecture, followed by a buffet, was very well attended and presented a greatopportunity for members and guests to ‘mix and mingle.’

The Oxford visit proved to be a great success with the guided walk in the morning and freetime to ‘do your own thing’ in the afternoon. Check your new Membership Book for a similarevent in Cambridge next year.

A small group of us visited BMAG after the February Lecture and were fortunate enough tosee tapestries not usually on display to the public.

We had a full coach for our visit to Weston Park where, despite the adverse weatherconditions, we were treated to an excellent power point presentation by the Head Gardenerand a most interesting and informative guided tour by the Head Curator. We were also serveda tasty two course lunch-another opportunity to ‘mix and mingle’ and the rain stopped in theafternoon so we were able to tour the Gardens!

Our final event was the visit to Stratford to see ‘The Taming of the Shrew.’

Please check your new Membership Books to find out about next year’s events. All visits andSpecial Interest Days are open to guests and booking is now open.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for supporting Visits and Special InterestDays.

YOUNG ARTS: from Sue Arnott

This year we have supported three Organisation's supporting young people in four differentactivities. The donations were made in May 2019.

CBSO youth orchestra: Two young gifted musicians to perform with the CBSO youthorchestra who would not otherwise be able to.

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Ex Cathedra: Singing Playgrounds training Primary school teachers and children withleadership skills, musical and vocal skills to lead others in singing play.

Singing Medicine to provide distraction to hospitalised seriously unwell children to improvetheir well-being.

BRB Dance Track: Over 2,200 year 1 children from north, central and east Birminghamparticipated in Dance Track workshops. Of those, 88 children were selected to continueweekly dance lessons run by BRB staff improving their concentration, communication andlistening skills.

Our contributions have enabled a large number of primary school children across Birminghamto participate in activities they would not otherwise have had the opportunity to engage with.

COMMUNICATIONS: from Debby Bridge

We have continued to develop the TASB website and my thanks go to Hazel Alemany forkeeping it so well designed and up to date. Please do check our website,www.theartssocietybirmingham.org regularly for updated information regarding visits,trips and special interests days and other events which may be of interest to our members.

You should have received the Programme Booklet for 2019-2020 and we trust all theinformation within is clearly and helpfully presented.

If you change your email address or are having difficulty receiving emails from us, please letme know.

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THE ARTS SOCIETY BIRMINGHAMBalance Sheet as at 31st March 2019

2018 2019

£ £ Accumulated Surplus £ £

14,345 Opening balance 16,177

1,832 Surplus for the year 4,730

–––––––– ––––––––16,177 Surplus at 31st March 20,907

–––––––– ––––––––________ ________

Represented By:

500 Loan to Patricia Fay Memorial Fund 500

Current Assets

2,797 Lloyds Bank 1,598

20,718 The West Bromwich Building Society 22,230

224 Stock of stamps 289

1,343 NADFAS affiliation fee in advance (Apr-Dec) 4,320

862 Sundry debtors and prepayments 1,157–––––––– –––––––

25,944 29,594––––––––– ––––––––

26,444 Total Assets 30,094

Liabilities

4,646 Membership Subs in advance (Apr - Jun) 4,669

5,621 Sundry creditors 4,518––––––––

10,267 9,187––––––––– –––––––

16,177 Net Assets 20,907––––––––– ––––––––––––––––– ––––––––

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THE ARTS SOCIETY BIRMINGHAMIncome and Expenditure for the year ended 31st March 2019

Year Ending Nine months to31 March 2019 31 March 2018

£ £ £ £Income

Subscriptions 18,652 13,939

Visitors' fees 602 308

Gift Aid reclaimed 302 305

Bank interest and credit 12 12

Surplus on events and trips 2,065 1,305

Sundry - -–––––––––– ––––––––––

21,633 15,869

Expenditure

Speakers' fees 2,595 2,142

Speakers' travel and subsistence 624 234

Hire of lecture theatre and equipment 4,310 3,175

Printing and stationery 592 591

Booklet and website 1,604 1,640

NADFAS affiliation fees 5,798 4,028

Travel and accommodation 493 -

Postage and telephone 289 280

Insurance 180 137

Church Recorders - -

Church Trails - -

Volunteers - -

Sundry expenses 200 310

Committee expenses (2 yrs) 555 17,240 - 12,537–––––––––– –––––––––– –––––––––– ––––––––––

Income Less Expenditure 4,393 3,332NADFAS affiliation fee prepayment adjusted 2,837 -

–––––––––– ––––––––––Surplus before donations 7,230 3,332

Dance Track 1,500 -

Free Fall BRB - 500

Youth Orchestra 500 -

Singing Playgrounds and Medicine - 1,000

Jewellery School Grant 500 -

Total Donations (2,500) (1,500)–––––––––– ––––––––––

Surplus for the period 4,730 1,832__________ ____________________ __________

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ELECTION OF OFFICERS AND MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE 2019-2020

ELECTION OF OFFICERS

Chairman: Chrissie Twigg offers herself for re-election

Vice Chairman: Debby Bridge offers herself for re-election

Treasurer: Fiona Collins offers herself for re-election

Secretary: Di Wardle – co-opted member, offers herself for election

Membership Secretary: Hazel Campbell offers herself for re-election

MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE

Victoria Linehan is due to retire

The following members of the Committee offer themselves for re-election:

Brenda Hyde • Sue Arnott • Eve Kirby

It is recommended that the committee members standing for re-election should be proposed,seconded and voted en bloc.

The following member is willing to serve on the Committee if elected:

Di Wardle Nominated by Chrissie TwiggSeconded by Debby Bridge

RESOLUTIONS for AGM 2019

Resolution:

The Committee proposes that the charge for guests to attend a lectureshould be raised to £8 per lecture from 1 July 2020.

Proposer: Chrissie TwiggSeconder: Di Wardle

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