The President, Susan Renshaw, welcomed 17 members & 1 guest, Jackie Smart, to the Business meeting prior to the AGM.
Apologies: Ann Johnson & Jackie Lambert.
Matters Arising:
The Minutes of October 2015 meeting were read by Assistant Secretary, Pam Cowey, agreed & signed.
- The menu for the Christmas meal at BettyAnn’s Tea Parlour at Brougham Hall on Tueasday 1st December was circulated for members to make their choices for two or three courses. Sixteen members indicated they will attend; Secretary (Gwen Hadrill) will contact the two members unable to be at the meeting tonight then send all the information to Kim at BettyAnns. We arranged to meet there at 1215pm.
- Eight members, forming two teams, travelled to Hackthorpe in dreadful driving conditions (thick fog) on Monday 2nd November for the Federation Quiz. Both teams ended up with exactly the same score & were placed joint fifth. A most enjoyable evening, with a good supper provided by The Castle Inn staff.
- At the Committee meeting last week it was thought that we ought to give the Air Ambulance collection a miss in 2016, as amounts collected had dwindled each year, & to perhaps have a collection for TWAM, on 27th April 2016, if members agreed. This was unanimously agreed & Gwen will book the village hall.
- Pat Bevan made an appeal to members to get their biographies, or memorabilia of events for the Centenary Scrapbook to her by the December meeting as it had to be completed & sent to Federation by the end of January.
- The current annual total of our collection for ACWW is £79.22p, we are still aiming to raise £100 by the end of this year. It was proposed that next month we pay £1 for a strip of raffle tickets & the proceeds should all go towards our ACWW total. This was agreed.
- The theme for the Northern Show in Appleby on 12 March 2016 is ‘Children’s Literature’; Susan read out the schedule, entry forms are available from Gwen, the closing date for entry is 27th February.
- We have received an invitation from St Peter’s Church asking if we would like to provide someone to read a lesson at the Christmas Eve service. Danusia Pennington volunteered, Church will be informed.
- Members had attended or participated in the following events:-
- Maud Holder, Pat, Susan & Danusia went to the Group Meeting at Bolton WI on 19th October
- Pat attended two craft days & learnt how to do glass fusion & beading
- Gwen, Ann Johnson (Annie) & Pam attended the Annual Council meeting in Kendal Town Hall during the day on Tuesday 20th Gwen gave a verbal report about the day
- Susan undertook a course at Denman College on Restoration Theatre & Shakespeare
- Pat completed the Federation Countryside Quiz sheet; she was one of the 8 entries with all the answers correct, unfortunately she was not drawn as the prize winner.
All events were informative & very enjoyable.
- WI News was reviewed.
The competition for a ‘wrapped bottle’ was won by joint winners Dorothy Hayton, & Rachel Forrest.
The raffle was won by Carol Smith
There being no other Business the Annual Meeting followed.
- Susan opened the AGM by asking for member’s agreement to no change in the by-laws, namely
- Every member to continue to receive a copy of WI News paid from funds
- Visitor charge, £3.00
- Gift of thanks to examiner of accounts, £25
- Charge for raffle tickets, 50p a ticket
- When a guest speaker asks for a donation this should be £25, or £30 if warranted
These items were agreed by show of hands.
- The Treasurer, Anne Hulse, presented audited copies of the financial statement for the year, she explained various figures & answered questions. The year end balances are:-
Cash at Bank £1,079.24
Cash in Hand £40.00
Total £1,119.24
The balance is £76.99 less than last year. The accounts were unanimously adopted by members & signed by the President. The examiner of the accounts for next year was agreed as Elizabeth Parkin.
- The Secretary’s Annual Report on a pleasant & busy Centenary of the WI Year was read by the Secretary, Gwen Hadrill, it was agreed & signed by the President.
- The President then expressed her thanks to the outgoing Committee & especially to Dorothy Hayton, the Supper Hostess who was standing down after many years on the Committee. She thanked the Secretary, Gwen Hadrill & the Treasurer, Anne Hulse for their unstinting support, Carol Smith for organising the fundraising trip to York & other outings, Helen Horn for her work in compiling the Programme, Pat Bevan for managing the raffle & writing & submitting reports to the newspaper, Rachel Forrest for looking after the competition & attendance numbers & finally Pam Cowey for acting as Assistant Secretary & stepping in as required with all & various tasks. She expressed appreciation for the help given by the hostesses & providers of raffle prizes & to everyone, for supporting our group during a busy year. She presented the cup for the competition winner to Dorothy Hayton & the second place plate to Susan Walker. She reminded us that each member can only put one entry into each monthly competition.
- All Committee members, bar Dorothy, had agreed to serve for the coming year. Susan Renshaw agreed to stand as President for another year & was unanimously re-elected unopposed. Pat Bevan circulated the list of hostesses & who would be responsible for donating a raffle prize each month in 2016 so members could check that the dates allocated were suitable for them. A printed Programme card would be distributed at the December meeting.
The Committee then provided & served supper of quiche, jacket potatoes, chilli, cheese & coleslaw with a choice of wine followed by lime cheesecake, trifle, cream meringues, mince pies & tea or coffee. A very pleasant hour of chat, food & drink was thoroughly appreciated & enjoyed by everyone.
The meeting closed at 10pm.