ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2005


Minutes of the AGM
Held at the Queen Mary College, Mile End
On 22nd January 2005

Minutes: The minutes of the last AGM were circulated to the meeting.


Chairman’s Report:

The Chairman gave his report to the members and this will be published in full in the next Cockney Ancestor. Highlights are:
New venture for us to have a Family History Fair in conjunction with the AGM. This is being tried out because last year it was felt that the cost for the venue was too high - £1,000+ for only about 150+ members attending. The Executive committee felt that this was the way to go and it was hoped that the Fair would pay for the AGM.

The Chairman gave his thanks to George Smith, Christine Patient, Melissa Ford, and all the other members of the Barking and Dagenham committee and branch who worked so hard to make this day a success.

Membership our membership secretary Mary Greene has expressed a wish to stand down. We have had a volunteer, Joan King, member 8511 who will take over from Mary in September. We have 3,374 members to date.

Members’ Interests – we now have two separate databases, one online and the one that Eileen Pullen runs for us. We are looking at eventually combining these and also have plans to produce another Members’ Interests CD in the future.

Projects – Colleen Mitchell is stepping down after 10 years as our Projects co-ordinator. Our thanks go to Colleen for all her sterling work. Colleen was presented with a special edition plaque to show our appreciation.

National Burial index – Pauline Earrey and her team have donated 27,000 names to the second edition.

Bookstall – The bookstall visited many fairs over the year. Our thanks to Richard Chapman and his helpers for all their hard work. Two of his greatest helpers, Jack and Pauline Earrey (Membership no. 87)(who also helped David Filby when he ran the bookstall) retired as helpers this year and received a special edition plaque as a thank you for all their efforts.

Internet – Jan Hart is our webmaster and she does a sterling job promoting our Society to the world via the internet. Her main achievement this year has been launching our online Bookstall which takes orders for on average £1400 per month.

1.Branches
Barking & Dagenham Has increased its attendance for meetings and is doing well.
Bishopsgate Continues to work well averaging attendance of around 40 per meeting.
Newham & Redbridge this branch has been in danger of closure without a committee but thanks to George Smith, who stepped in as interim Chairman, it kept going and now a new committee has been formed with a new Chairman, Sylvia Law.
Computer Group This group holds its meetings at Upminster before the Havering meeting and is going well.
All members can visit all the branches and will be made very welcome.
2.Cockney Ancestor Editorial Team – thanks to the 5 people who put this together. Please keep the articles coming.
3.Filby Fund – Still looking for premises. Any profits made today, as well as paying for the AGM, will bring this closer.

Treasurer’s Report

Bernard Amps stated that he was very pleased to stand and give his second report as Treasurer. This year we have turned last years £10,000 deficit into a £14,000 profit.
Book Storage has been reduced by £4,000 this year.
The Bookstall visited more fairs, increased sales and the online bookstall has helped spread throughout the world what we have to offer.
Our thanks go to Mary Greene for agreeing to deal in Bankers’ Orders, although some banks stopped payments every month and we had to refund these. Everything is running smoothly now.
Gift Aid is still being looked at but the Inland Revenue need more details for the claims going back to 2000. Hopefully this will be in next year’s accounts.
We need your help and support for the journal to attract new members.
Peter Murray (No 9462) asked why two different payments of £10,000 and £25,412 were shown. Bernard answered that £10,000 was the deposit which was paid to set up the online bookstall.
A member questioned the cost of £2 to send out CA to each member. Bernard replied this was the cost of production and postage.

The meeting were asked to accept these accounts. Proposed by the Chairman, seconded by Jacqui Crompton and voted in unanimously.

The Chairman asked who had travelled the greatest distance to the AGM and this was George English who travelled from Scotland.

Election of Officers

Position____________Candidate____________Proposed by____________Seconded by
Chairman____________Ian Whaley__________Vera Bangs_____________Jacqui Crompton
Treasurer____________Bernard Amps________Ian Whaley_____________Malcolm Commander
Secretary____________Vera Bangs___________Ian Whaley____________Malcolm Commander
Membership Secretary____Mary Greene*________Vera Bangs_____________Malcolm Commander
Projects Coordinator____Christine Patient______George Smith___________Melissa Ford
Vice Chairman_________Malcolm Commander___Vera Bangs____________Bernard Amps
Bookstall Manager______Richard Chapman______Ian Whaley____________Bernard Amps

All the above were voted into office by a majority.

Election of Auditors – Bernard Amps proposed Clockhouse Accounting, Clock House, Romford for another year. Seconded by George Smith.

Any Other Business

Ian Whaley raised a motion which was put to the AGM by Ron Morris (No 4705) which asked if it was necessary to have the accounts audited. Bernard Amps replied that it is essential that the accounts are audited for the Charity Commission. The only way that we could save the fees is if a member of the Society who was qualified came forward and offered to do it free of charge. Bernard said that he would not be prepared to stand as Treasurer if the accounts were not audited. He felt that unaudited accounts were too easy to twist. Bernard suggested that we vote against this proposition. A member stated that they felt that any accounts between £15,000 - £100,000 income should be examined. He was treasurer of local church and they paid £300 to have their accounts audited.
Mary Greene why Joan King had not been voted in as Membership Secretary and was told by the Chairman it was because Joan King would be co-opted in when Mary Greene formally resigned in September.
Stephen Park stepped forward with one other proposal which was to award Honorary Life Membership to Anne Quade for her role as indexer extraordinaire for the Society and one of the longest serving members.
Projects – Anne Quade needs help with Victoria Park Cemetery Bethnal Green and appealed for volunteers to see her after the AGM.