MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

HARLESTON CHORAL SOCIETY
MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Held on Monday 9th October 2023
at 7.30pm in The Church on London Road, Harleston

Stella welcomed Justin, Karen and choir members and declared the meeting open

  1. Apologies for absence
    Apologies were received from Joanna Barfield, Lesley Hiller, Lynda Austin,
    Linda Barden, Rachel Beswick, Felicity Todd, Christine Vincent, Jan Clarke,
    Philip Hall, Pat Holton, Tracy Jeffries, Susan Chambers, Crissy Smith,
    Sharon Pringsheim, Brenda Crockford and Linda Bradley.
  2. Minutes of the last AGM (held on Monday 17 th October 2022)
    On the proposal of Jo Curry, seconded by John Awty, the minutes were
    approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.
  3. Report by Music Director
    Justin delivered his report (see attached). This was proposed by Julia
    Awty and seconded by Caroline Rodbourne.
  4. Report by Chair
    Stella delivered her report (see attached). This was proposed by John
    Awty and seconded by Peter Hearn.
  5. Report by Treasurer
    Malcolm delivered his report (see attached) This was proposed by Tony
    Pringsheim and seconded by Ivan Tammas.
    He had also brought along copies of the annual accounts for choir
    members that wanted them and these will be filed with his report.
  6. Appointment of Auditor
    Malcolm explained that, although our choir was too small to officially
    need an auditor, Robin had been with us since 2000 and he would very
    much like to keep him. On the proposal of Julia Awty, seconded by John
    Awty, Mr Robin Farrar was appointed as Auditor for the year.
  7. Change to subscription fees
    Malcolm had explained in his report (see above), that the wording in the
    Agenda for this item was inaccurate, inferring that a decision had already
    been made by the committee. It should have read that this was a proposal
    only and needed to be put to the vote by the choir members.
    Malcolm reiterated points that he had made in his report outlining the
    major increase in costs and proposed that we raise the fees to £45 per

term. They were last raised from £35 to £40 in 2018. Points discussed
were:
 Whether or not fees could be raised to £50. Malcolm pointed out
that this would be a 25% rise and may be too much for some
people.
 Whether there should be a basic rate of £45 with people paying
extra if they wanted to.
 Stella reminded members that they should come to the committee
if they were struggling with fees, and arrangements could be made
for easier payment terms.
 It was asked if there was a cap on the amount soloists are paid and
Stella explained that contracts are negotiated very carefully for
each concert and, with their expenses, the soloists already make
very little for each performance.
 Whether or not a better rate for the rent of the church could be
negotiated, as the rise was so high. Stella agreed to speak to
someone from the church regarding this.
 Malcolm pointed out that the cost of borrowing music is
continually rising.
As a result, an increase in fees to £45 per term, with the option of paying
extra for those who wished to do so, was proposed by Peter Hearn and
seconded by Virginia Skoyles. It was put to the vote of the members and
agreed on unanimously.

  1. Election of Committee members for the year 2023/24
    Joanna Barfield, Stella Brownsea and John Formston were all due for re-
    election this year and have all agreed to stand again. This was proposed
    by Ruth Cawcutt and seconded by Tom Crisp.
    There were no nominations for new members. Stella encouraged people
    to think about joining, saying we have a very welcoming and proactive
    committee.
    Date of next AGM: Autumn term 2024