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Minutes of Annual General MeetingThe Meeting commenced at 11.30.Meeting held at the Riverside Centre, Newport, Isle of Wight on 10th May 2008 and chaired by the Chairman, Mrs Janet Griffin. Apologies received from Christine Broom, Tony Elgar and Sandie Tompkins Minutes of the A.G.M. held on 12th May 2007 Minutes of the last A.G.M. Distributed to the members present. Proposed by Carola Tarrant and seconded by Sally Watson that they should be accepted as a true record. Signed by Janet Griffin. Matters Arising None Chairman's Report 2007 has been another successful year for our Society. Despite general dire predictions that family history societies' memberships would suffer because of the availability of more and more records on the internet, our membership has increased more than ever. Last year saw the completion of the BMD Index, and our warmest thanks must go to Dina Broughton and her husband, David, for overseeing the whole project. This BMD Index is the most popular part of our Society's website, which was also set up by Dina. She has now reluctantly decided to pass on her "baby", and Geoff Allan has taken on the website. Many thanks to Dina for making the website so user friendly and easy to navigate. Alec Soars has also had to give up the position of Programme Secretary and Publicity Officer. We will miss his enthusiasm. The Resource Centre continue to be used less than we would like. We have bought a ramp to improve disabled access and have, within the last few days, organised internet access which should be up and running shortly. I hope that this will encourage more use of the Rooms. Coach trips have also had fewer numbers. With the move of the Family Records Centre records to the National Archives at Kew, I am optimistic that numbers will pick up again. Another change during the year was with the magazine. Sandie Tomkins took over from Dina as Editor. I hope members approve of the changes she has made. She has taken on a difficult job when she is not only new to the Society, but also to Family History. Secretary's Report At the time of writing this report we had 976 members although Jon Matthews, our membership secretary, is hoping that more will have renewed their membership without further reminders by the time of the AGM. Although the BMD Indexing project is complete a team of volunteers is still checking it for errors. It has been a great success in bringing many visits to the website and new members to the Society. We welcome Geoff Allan who has now taken over the major part of the IWFHS website from Dina Broughton who will continue for the moment to administer the BMD Index. Jon Matthews maintains the Members' Interests and the One Name Studies. The website is still receiving between 350 and 400 unique visits per day. The Society has been represented at 2 Family History Fairs since the last AGM. The first was the SWAG (South West Area Group) fair at Weston super Mare last June and the other was one, organised by the Cornwall & Devon Family History Societies, at Plymouth on 29th March 2008. The committee has met 9 times since the last AGM. Since agreeing to be minute secretary I have received several letters and many emails of enquiry. Because I find it difficult to answer many of the enquiries satisfactorily I still pass on those questions which I cannot answer to my colleagues. There is a display in the Hunnyhill room today which you are invited to attend. Rosemary West Treasurer's Report Treasurer's Report to the AGM 2008 These observations refer to the year ending 31st December 2007. Summary Accounts as provided by the Scrutineer, are available and the original documents may be inspected (at the back of the hall). Revenue Side Membership subscriptions again showed a healthy increase, as did our media sales. Our thanks go out again to those who made donations, totalling in excess of £1000. As mentioned last year, those activities dependant on the physical presence of members continue to decline. This applies to monthly meetings, Resource Centre use and, particularly, coach trips. However, a glimmer of hope emanates from the One Day Conference result which was up by more than 25%. Expenses Side Journal production and distribution both suffered substantial increases. Distribution costs very nearly doubled. Coach hire continued to increase as fares declined. This traditional activity of our Society needs a reappraisal. Commission paid to our on-line agents increased 45%, reflecting the growth of membership sales and media sales by that method. Conclusions The year ended with a deficit of almost £400, disappointing but not disastrous. Our reserves remain ample. As you know, the committee secured the membership's approval to increase subscriptions and have implemented modest increases. A speculative investment in broadband connectivity aims to increase the usefulness and attractiveness of the Resource Centre, while facilitating improved communication with our membership worldwide. Acceptance of the Treasurer's report was proposed by Barry Hall and seconded by Jean James. Nomination of Committee A proposal was made to elect the following members to the committee: Janet Griffin, Dina Broughton, Malcolm Tait, Jon Matthews, Roy Middlebrook, Tony Elgar, Sandie Tompkins, Louisa Campbell, Betty Dhillon and Rosemary West. The proposal was passed by the meeting. It was proposed and seconded that the committee be voted in en bloc. The proposal was passed by the meeting. Any Other Business None The meeting closed at 12.25. |