AGM Minutes

Annual General Meeting, Saturday 24 October 2015

Meeting Commenced: 12.30hrs

Members in attendance: 27

In the chair: Peter Nightingale

1. Apologies for absence:

Roger Dunn, Nigel Lilleywhite, Pat Barber, Anneka Burgess, David Lear MBE, Stuart Little, Colin Fuller, Ian Forbes.

2. Minutes of AGM held 14^th October 2014

There being no matters arising, adoption of minutes proposed by Geoff Fairfax

Seconded by Peter Foss                 Adopted nem con.

3. Treasurer’s report

The Chairman announced that the accounts are in good order to the sum of £6,049.99 as of the 7^th September statement. The Treasurer had resigned. There is a member who is looking at taking the role.

Adoption of the accounts cannot be proposed until such times the accounts are published.

The appointment of an auditor is a pressing issue. Members are requested to advise if they can persuade a suitably qualified friend/colleague to undertake the auditing to avoid expenditure from Society funds.

4.  Chairman’s report

The Lord Mayors Show 2014; The Chairman was very pleased with the turnout and thanked all the members of the society who took part. Thank you to the members who have given their support over the past year.

Attendance: The Chairman was disappointed with the attendance at practices. The committee have decided that next year, 2016 there will be one practice, one rehearsal / AGM and the Lord Mayors Show if we are asked to take part.  This should give all individual and corps members the chance to attend all practices. There for individual and corps practices have got to make sure the music is of a high standard when attending Society practices.

Lord Mayors Show 2015. We hope the weather will be good to us this year. This year’s corps will 90 strong.

Administration points arising for LMS:

Assembly will be at the Rotunda in Smithfield at 09.00hrs and members were reminded that no music is to be played downstairs.

Form up from front to rear will be as follows:

• Side Drums
• Percussion
• Bell Lyres
• Flutes
• Supporters/water carriers in second to last rank
• Flutes to form rear rank.

Actions on dropping out:

1. If you drop out on the first part of the parade please make your way to the feeding station at the Law Courts.

2. If you drop out on the return march please return to the Rotunda at Smithfield.

5. Cutler’s Sword

The Chairman congratulated the winner of the Cutler’s Sword who was Cpl Lewis of 4 Rifles. The competition format was changed this year. The competitors were first inspected in their ceremonial orders of dress, by the Colonel Infantry and Command Regimental Sergeant Major.

The board then read and scored the reports and citations that were sent from the competitor’s regiments. Then the individuals were interviewed by the panel and then they each had to play their regimental quick and slow march. The Senior Drum Major Army and the Society Chairman scored this. A better format for those taking part.

6. Richard Holmes Award

The Chairman announced that this year’s winners had been chosen by the Chairman and committee. The winners are Chesham All Girls Band. They had contributed much to the society and to their own Corps, as well as the drumming world in general. There will be a profile in the next Drummers Call.

7. Practice Venue

The Chairman thanked the cadets for the use of the centre as a practice venue and they would be receiving a donation from the society.

8. Drummers Call

The Chairman appealed once again for individual, groups and corps for articles and photo’s for Drummer’s Call.

9. Web Page

We need notification of practices and gigs by member corps so as not to place practice when they cannot attend. Member organisations to provide their forecasts of events direct to the Chairman to allow co-ordination of dates.

The Chairman reminded Members that the Facebook page was also available for discussing relevant or interesting subjects.

Volunteers were sought to assist Jon Emerson in administrating the web page. Any volunteers should contact the Secretary.

10. New Members

New members were Mr T and Mrs C Boniface who were welcomed to the AGM.

11. Election of Officers

With the exception of the Secretary the existing committee had all indicated their willingness to stand again.

Chairman: Peter Nightingale

Treasurer: Post vacant (Discussions underway with potential volunteer)

Secretary: Warren Alexander-Pye

Training and Development: Maj Mike Hall

Senior Drum Major: Geoff Fairfax

Music and Training: Peter Foss

Editor “Drummers Call”: Peter Hart

The one nominee in the Election of Officers for 2015/16 was Warren Alexander-Pye to be elected to the post of Secretary.

Proposed by Tim Smith

Seconded by   Z Byrne                             Adopted nem con

The Chairman thanked Christine for her outstanding term as the Secretary.

Thank you to the committee for their work during the year.

12. Appointment of Auditors The committee will expedite this without delay.

13. Matters Arising:
    1. It was with great sadness that the Society was notified of the passing of Mrs Phyllis Collis of the City of London Drums. The family have invited members to attend her funeral – please contact Christine Fairfax for details. The Society will send a condolence card to the family and make a donation to Cancer Research.

2. The new Secretary notified members of the intent to undertake a membership survey in the coming months to obtain valuable feedback from members on how they would like the Society to proceed in future, particularly with reference to our forthcoming 40^th anniversary in 2017.

3. The new Society Music Books are now in use. Electronic versions are available to members via the Secretary.

4. It was proposed that a music meeting be held to coincide with the Major General’s Review of the Queen’s Birthday Parade on 28^th May 2016. Expressions of interest to be sent to the Secretary.

There being no further business the meeting closed at 12.55 Hrs.

Meeting commenced 1230 hrs

Members in attendance : 41.  In the chair: P. Nightingale

1. Apologies for absence

Peter Hart, Nigel Lilleywhite,Steve Sellwood, Richard Powell,Roger Dunn,Ralph Savage, Ian Forbes, Anneka Burgess, Andrew Clark,Margaret dean, Brian Winchester

2. Minutes of AGM held 26 October 2013

There being no matters arising, adoption of minutes proposed by P. Foss, seconded by T. Smith.   Adopted nem con.

3. Treasurer’s report

The Chairman announced that the accounts are in good order.  The Treasurer had resigned, so the Society is looking for a new Treasurer and also an Auditor.

Adoption of the accounts was proposed by G Fairfax, seconded by Z Byrne.  Adopted nem con.

G Fairfax suggested a vote of thanks to James Goatcher for carrying out the role of Treasurer since 2009: proposed R. Cole, seconded A Bransby. Carried nem con.

4. Chairman’s report

Lord Mayor’s Show 2013; The Chairman began by thanking all the members of the Society who had provided support over the past year.  He went on to congratulate those who had participated in the LMS 2013.

Lord Mayor’s Show 2014;  He was looking forward to seeing the Bell Lyres take part again this year.  He hoped that the weather would be better for the 2014 Show than it had been in 2013.  The Corps for 2014 would be around 85.

Cutlers’ Sword; The Chairman congratulated the winner of the Cutler’s Sword: L/Cpl J Jones of the Yorkshire Regiment, and explained that he had been part of the selection Panel.  He reminded the meeting that the applicants were judged on musical and military matters.  He further explained that the format would be changing for 2015.

Richard Holmes Award; The Chairman announced that the winner of the award this year was Geoff Fairfax, who had contributed much to the Society, and to his own Corps, as well as the drumming world in general.  There would be a profile in the next drummers Call.

Practice venue; The chairman thanked Maj. Gary Jupp and the cadets of the 131 Army Cadet Detachment (2RTR) for the use of the centre as a practice venue, and the Cadets would be receiving a donation of £200 each year from the Society.

Attendance; The Chairman expressed concern that attendance at Music Meetings had dropped off over the past few years.  He appealed to member Corps to notify their engagements so that the liklihood of clashes could be minimised.   Meeting dates for next year have been provisionally booked.

There was some discussion at this stage about the format of meetings: Jo Millward (Chesham) said it was important to support youngsters, but support had been promised in the past and then did not materialise (she mentioned in particular buglers who had turned up hoping for some instruction).  There were problems with drummers not all playing the same thing – Jo offered to do some drumming tuition.  Peter Foss said that all the music had been sent out to members, but it was possible that the recipients could not read music.  The Chairman said that the meetings for next year would include instruction and practice on separate instruments.

Drummers Call; The Chairman appealed once again to Groups and Corps of Drums for articles and photographs: he knew there was much going on from reports on various websites. Tim Smith mentioned the site “Marching band UK” and suggested the Society announced itself there.

New members; Individuals: Mr anthony Plews, Mr R F Crookshank, Ms Lorraine Flett

Web pages; The site is doing well; the chairman asked for advance notification of forthcoming events so that those who might be interested were aware of what was happening in their area.

Election of Officers; With the exception of the treasurer, the existing Committee had all indicated their willingness to stand again:

Chairman: Peter Nightingale

Treasurer

Secretary: Christine Fairfax

Training and development: Maj Mike Hall

Senior Parade Drum Major: Geoff Fairfax

Music and training : Peter Foss

Editor, Drummers Call: Peter Hart

There being no other nominees, election of the Committee for 2014/2015 was proposed by Pat Barber and seconded by Tim Smith.  Adopted nem con.

The Chairman conveyed his thanks to the Committee for all their help this year.

Appointment of Auditors; The Committee will expedite this without delay.

Additional matters notified by members; The Chairman raised the possibility of a Corps to go to Ypres in 2018.  Pat Barber suggested contacting the Western Front Association.

Neil Byrne enquired whether there was a list of member Corps which could be used for contacts

Side Drummers should “ghost” if unsure of the music

Richard Cole said he and his sister were prepared to replace the society music folders.

There being no further business, the meeting concluded at 1315 hrs.

Meeting commenced 1230 hrs

In the Chair: Peter Nightingale

Members in attendance : 33

1.Apologies for absence : Roy Barnes, Barry Knight, Simon Thomas

2. Minutes of AGM held 28 October 2012 : there being no matters arising, adoption of minutes proposed by Richard Cole, seconded Margaret  Dean. Adopted nem con

3. Treasurer’s Report : James Goatcher explained that there was a healthy surplus in the Society’s funds, due largely to the savings made in the distribution costs for Drummers Call.  The Society had received a donation of £53 from Richard Cole following a boot fair.  Adoption of the Treasurer’s Report was proposed by Geoff Fairfax, seconded by Angus Bransby.  The report was adopted nem con.

4.  Chairman’s Report :

i) Peter Nightingale announced that the new President of the Society was Dan Snow, military historian and television presenter.  He had accepted the role on much the same terms as his predecessor Prof. Richard Holmes, ie that he would be unlikely to be able to attend events owing to an already busy schedule, but would serve as a figurehead for the Society and provide support where possible.

ii) Practice venue : the Chairman thanked Major Garry Jupp and the cadets of 131 Army Cadet Detachment (2RTR) for the use of the Centre as a

practice venue.  The Society would be making a £200 donation to the cadets each year .

iii) Attendance : the Chairman expressed concern that attendance at meetings had dropped off over the last year : this was in part due to the dates selrected for the practices.  He appealed to member Corps to let him know of events in their timetable so that clashes would be avoided as far as possible.  He was hoping to have as many practices as possible during the period Spring to LMS.

iv) Lord Mayors Show : the Chairman congratulated those who had participated in the 2012 LMS.  He was looking forward to seeing the Bell Lyres taking part for the first time this year.  He reminded the meeting that the Drummers Handbook now included Bell Lyres.  He would be putting the playlist on the website immediately.

v)The Cutlers Sword: congratulations to the winner  L/Sgt Carson of the 1^st Bn Irish Guards.  The Chairman had been part of the Selection Panel.

vi)Drummers Call: the Chairman appealed to groupd and Corps of Drums for articles and photographs – he knew there was a lot going on as he had seen event reports on the various websites

vii)Web pages: this was doing very well, but the Chairman would like to have advance details of forthcoming events to inform those who might be interested in attending.

viii)The Richard Holmes Award: this year the reipient of the award is Alexander (Sandy) Williamson, of the 10^th Leicester (1^st Syston) Scout and Guide Band.  There will be an article on Sandy in the next Drummers Call.

ix))New members: several corporate members had joined the Society since the last AGM : RBL Farnborough Corps of Drums, Clywd and Gwynedd ACF, 948 Sqn (Haverfordwest and City of St Davids) ATC.  Individual members were Tim Seppings and Iian Pattinson.

5. Election of Officers : the existing Committeehad all indicated their willingness to stand again.

Chairman: Peter Nightingale

Treasurer: James Goatcher

Secretary : Christine Fairfax

Training and Development : Mike Hall

Senior Parade Drum Major : Geoff Fairfax

Music and Training: Peter Foss

Editor, Drummers Call: Peter Hart

There being no other nominees, the re-election of the entire Committee  for the 2013/2014 year was proposed by John Smithers, seconded by Robert Bannister and adopted nem con.

6. Appointment  of Auditors :Clifford Chandler was proposed by Angus Bransby and seconded by Geoff Fairfax.  Adopted nem con.

7. Additional matters submitted by members:

Society Muster – The Chairman undertook to put an article on the webpage.  He emphasized that willing volunteers would be required.  Garry Jupp said it would be possible to book a venue through the Training Estate.

Oversdeas tour – The Chairman reminded the meeting that a return to Boston would be extremely expensive now. He suggested the Menin Gate as a more manageable alternative. Again, he stressed that a volunteers would need to come forward to put such a trip together.  Peter Thomas mentioned the forthcoming Hastings anniversary.

There being no further business, the meeting concluded at 1255 hrs.