ESKDALE AND DISTRICT LOCAL HISTORY SOCIETY

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of Eskdale and District Local History Society held on Monday 31 st October 2005 at 7.30 pm in Eskdale Village Hall, Eskdale.

Present: Alan Bell, Len Watson, Jenifer Leech, David Monk, Mary Hall, Dawn Ferreira, Andrea Monk, John Wedley, Dave King, Alan Vicars, Anne Vicars, Susan Wedley, Paul Pharaoh, Frank Whittle, Stella Cookman, Peter Van Zeller, Anne Cooper, Janet Woodhead, Alan Swindale, Howard Loughlin, Roger Putman, Keith Woolley

The Chairman proposed the following amendment to the agenda - Item 5, Membership Fee to be discussed after Item 6, Election of Officers; this was agreed.

1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies for absence were received from Malcolm and Kay Staveley, David and Dianne Earley and John and Phebe Tyson.

2. MINUTES OF PREVIOUS AGM (25.10.04) AND MATTERS ARISING

The minutes of the previous were accepted as a true record with the following minor amendments: - Jennifer Leech to read Jenifer Leech; Peter Van Zellar to read Peter Van Zeller.

There were no matters arising from the minutes.

3. CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

Mary Fair Project - The main activity of the year has undoubtedly been getting the Mary Fair Project underway. The project has taken up a lot of time of the project committee which consists of the main committee plus Alan Vicars and Dawn Ferreira, but it is now well underway and all the hurdles put in our way have been successfully negotiated. It is anticipated that the project will be a major, but very interesting and instructive part of society life throughout 2006 and 2007. It is currently programmed to be completed by early 2008. Thanks go to Mary Hall for initiating the project and for the enormous amount of work she has invested in ensuring it gets off the ground. The Mary Fair Project has provided the impetus for the society to establish and start developing its own Web Site. This has been done almost entirely by Mary’s daughter Janet to whom we must pass on our immense thanks. The site features items relating to the Mary Fair Project, general society activities and the interests of individual members. Altogether it is a very welcome development for the society. Also as a result of the project the society has joined the Council for British Archaeology (CBA) primarily so that we could take advantage of cheap insurance that they make available. Every 2 months the society receives the CBA’s magazine which is very interesting. Members are welcome to borrow copies of this.

Monthly Meetings – We have again had a full programme with several very interesting subjects and good speakers. We have also had our usual 2 members’ evenings, including that at the last AGM, and 3 summer events (2 walks and a visit to Duddon Furnace). The quality of these activities is something we wish to maintain but as the Treasurer’s Report will show this comes at a cost which at the moment we can barely meet. This is something we will consider later. I think this is the first year that we have had tea, coffee and biscuits; I hope that this is a tradition in the making. The refreshments are provided through the efforts of some of our members, particularly Dawn Ferreira, Mary Hall and Jenifer Leech who have done most of the organisation but there are others who have helped and I would very much like to thank them all for adding a new, pleasant dimension to our meetings.

Finally, I would like to thank all the committee members who have worked so hard this year. I hope it is not invidious of me to pick out 3, our secretary, treasurer and archivist, Anne Vicars, Frank Whittle and Janet Woodhead who have spent a lot of time and effort on the society’s behalf and are also doubling up in the same posts for the Mary Fair Project Committee.

One final thank you, again to Mary Hall, as every project committee meeting throughout the year has been held at her house, which is not only a far more pleasant place to meet than this hall, but it has also saved us hall rent.

The Chairman’s report was accepted.

4. TREASURER’S REPORT

The Treasurer presented the society’s statement of accounts for 2004/05, which had been circulated prior to the meeting with the agenda. He stressed that for clarity he had only shown income and expense for the society’s normal activities on this statement and had not included any Mary Fair Project monies, although approximately £10,000 of project funds is in the same bank account, but is strictly earmarked for Mary Fair Project expenses. When asked if it would be better to separate these funds by using separate accounts the Treasurer agreed, but explained that he had tried to open a second account for the Mary Fair Project but had not been allowed to do this by the bank.

It was apparent from the statement of accounts that the activities of 2004/05 have resulted in a deficit of income over expenditure; this was due mainly to the cost and number of guest speakers.

Roger Putnam suggested that in future a summary of the Mary Fair Project account should be included in order for the members to see the whole picture. The Treasurer said that he had brought a copy of the Mary Fair Project accounts for anyone who wished to look at them.

The financial statement for 2004/05 was accepted.

5. ELECTION OF OFFICERS AND COMMITTEE

i) Chairman – Howard Loughlin declared that he would not be standing for re-election as Chairman but agreed to stay in the Chair until the end of the AGM. He asked for nominations for this post. Mary Hall nominated John Wedley, this was carried unanimously and John Wedley was duly elected as Chairman.

ii) Treasurer – Frank Whittle was nominated to continue in the post of Treasurer, this was carried and Frank Whittle was duly elected as Treasurer.

iii) Secretary – Anne Vicars was nominated to continue in the post of Secretary, this was carried and Anne Vicars was duly elected as Secretary.

iv) Committee Members – The following were elected onto the committee: - Mary Hall, Janet Woodhead, Dave King and Alan Vicars.

6. MEMBERSHIP FEE

The Chairman asked the members present if they were happy with the timetable for events that the society currently runs, i.e. an average of 5 meetings per year with guest speakers, 2 members’ evenings and 3 summer events (usually walks). It was agreed that this should be maintained. With this and the current financial situation in mind the Chairman suggested that consideration should be given to raising the membership subscription.

After lengthy debate the following proposals were put forward for consideration: -

Individual membership to be increased to £10 (with the possibility of a different fee for joint membership)
Individual membership to be increased to £7 with an extra £1 paid for each meeting attended

It was agreed, 12 for, 6 against, that individual membership be increased to £10. The decision to set a different rate for joint membership and a possible increase in visitor fee was deferred to the committee for discussion at the next committee meeting.

7. ANY OTHER BUSINESS

There was no other business raised.

The meeting closed at 9.15 pm.