The following are the decisions made at our Annual General Meeting. Since the minutes I took are rather illegible, and my memory is known to be fallible, please notify me if you spot any errors or omissions. There were 16 members in attendance and one apology for absence.
The annual membership fee remains at £5, and the cost of attending a meeting will be £2 (this is to cover the cost of the room which is currently £30 for two hours but may go up next year). The start-time of meetings will be 7 pm instead of 6:30 pm in future.
The Chair, Stephen Milton, and Secretary, George Jelliss, were reelected. Lesley Arnold-Hopkins stood down as Treasurer but becomes Deputy Chair. Duncan Cleverly becomes Treasurer as well as Social Secretary. Helene White remains formally Assistant Treasurer.
Lesley and Duncan will open a twitter account (@HastingsHumanists). Helen Mitcham will act as a Group Representative at GRAM. The decision whether the group should be an Affiliate or Partner of the BHA was postponed, and Felicity Harvest agreed to examine the BHA proposals in more detail and report back to the committee. We will continus to send Humanist Observers to the East Sussex SACRE, and lobby for more formal recognition.
So far only two meetings are definite for next year: January will feature a formal Debate between Joe Fearn and Stephen Milton on "Is a Disembodied Mind Possible?". June will be a talk from Barbara Burfoot about the Sea of Faith organisation. Enquiries for other outside speakers are in progress. Offers of talks from members (Joe Fearn on the Anthropic Principle, George Jelliss on Rewriting of History, and on Scepticism) are so far available to fit in the programme as needed.
Showing posts with label AGM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AGM. Show all posts
Friday, 11 November 2011
Thursday, 18 November 2010
Report of Our AGM
The attendance at tonight's AGM was just about quorate, made up of 5 existing members, 1 new member, and 2 prospective members. There were two apologies for absence.
The Minutes of the 2009 AGM were summarised as far as recalled by the Secretary and those who were present at the time. The Secretary's report then summarised the activities of the Group from its start in February 2009. The Treasurer then presented her report, which showed that the income from donations, entrance fees and membership subscriptions just exceeded the costs of hiring venues.
A discussion on membership agreed that the fee should remain at £5 for the coming year, and that we should continue to charge for attendance at lectures by outside speakers, at the rate of £2 for members and £2.50 for non-members. Only those who are paid-up members can vote at the AGM or become officers of the Group.
Helene White indicated her wish to step down as Treasurer, but agreed to stay on as Deputy Treasurer, while Lesley Arnold-Hopkins agreed to take on the Treasurer role. George Jelliss agreed to stay on as Secretary. These appointments were proposed and seconded, in the absence of other names being put forward. No other Committee members were appointed.
A simple formal Constitution was put forward by the Secretary and accepted by those present. A copy will be made available to all members.
Future plans for the Group were discussed. It is proposed to hold less lectures in the next year, say three from outside speakers, interspersed with discussion meetings on specific subjects. The venues will remain the Arts Forum and the Dripping Well pub for the present.
If anyone present has different recollections of the meeting and its decisions please let me know. A fuller report, including names, will be sent to paid-up members. We hope that more of our regular attendees will want to become members and support the work of the Group. Offers of talks for next year are invited. These can be formal lectures or just short introductions to stimulate discussion.
The Minutes of the 2009 AGM were summarised as far as recalled by the Secretary and those who were present at the time. The Secretary's report then summarised the activities of the Group from its start in February 2009. The Treasurer then presented her report, which showed that the income from donations, entrance fees and membership subscriptions just exceeded the costs of hiring venues.
A discussion on membership agreed that the fee should remain at £5 for the coming year, and that we should continue to charge for attendance at lectures by outside speakers, at the rate of £2 for members and £2.50 for non-members. Only those who are paid-up members can vote at the AGM or become officers of the Group.
Helene White indicated her wish to step down as Treasurer, but agreed to stay on as Deputy Treasurer, while Lesley Arnold-Hopkins agreed to take on the Treasurer role. George Jelliss agreed to stay on as Secretary. These appointments were proposed and seconded, in the absence of other names being put forward. No other Committee members were appointed.
A simple formal Constitution was put forward by the Secretary and accepted by those present. A copy will be made available to all members.
Future plans for the Group were discussed. It is proposed to hold less lectures in the next year, say three from outside speakers, interspersed with discussion meetings on specific subjects. The venues will remain the Arts Forum and the Dripping Well pub for the present.
If anyone present has different recollections of the meeting and its decisions please let me know. A fuller report, including names, will be sent to paid-up members. We hope that more of our regular attendees will want to become members and support the work of the Group. Offers of talks for next year are invited. These can be formal lectures or just short introductions to stimulate discussion.
Monday, 1 November 2010
Our Annual General Meeting
Since we have no formal constitution our AGM will basically be a discussion about the Hastings Humanists Group and how the members and supporters wish it to proceed into the next year, our third. This will be held on Thursday 18th November, 6:30 pm at the Arts Forum.
If I continue as Secretary my plan for next year is for far less formal lectures and instead to have mainly discussion meetings where we can get to know one another and exchange views. I think each meeting should have a leading topic which the proposer will introduce with a short introduction, of say ten minutes, and then discussion of the topic, followed by any other subjects that may come up.
Suggestions for topics we should discuss will be welcomed. Some that I have listed as possible are: Humanism and Science Fiction, The Rewriting of History by Religious Historians, Is Cosmology Relevant to Humanism, Is there any Truth in Conspiracy Theories, The Census (due on 27 March 2011), and several others. Any offers? Any serious omissions, or events coming up we should cover?
I understand Helene is willing to continue as our Treasurer, though she may not be at all meetings. Instead of making an entry charge we propose that there be a £5 annual membership fee (which about ten people have already paid for 2010) other donations being optional. (This is similar to the Brighton and Hove Group.) Lesley will I hope continue as Deputy Treasurer.
These roles are open to other members to put their names forward for selection. This includes the Secretary role. It may be that we should also create some other formal positions, and perhaps a formal Committee. If members have specific proposals they would like discussed at the AGM it would be helpful to have them notified in advance, but this is not essential.
Another problem may be to find a new venue. Personally I am not keen on meeting in a public house since I prefer to avoid alcohol, but on the other hand there is no room fee to be paid. Does anyone know of a better meeting place, perhaps a Cafe? Graham thinks we should start raising funds for our own building, but that seems a bit ambitious at this stage.
If I continue as Secretary my plan for next year is for far less formal lectures and instead to have mainly discussion meetings where we can get to know one another and exchange views. I think each meeting should have a leading topic which the proposer will introduce with a short introduction, of say ten minutes, and then discussion of the topic, followed by any other subjects that may come up.
Suggestions for topics we should discuss will be welcomed. Some that I have listed as possible are: Humanism and Science Fiction, The Rewriting of History by Religious Historians, Is Cosmology Relevant to Humanism, Is there any Truth in Conspiracy Theories, The Census (due on 27 March 2011), and several others. Any offers? Any serious omissions, or events coming up we should cover?
I understand Helene is willing to continue as our Treasurer, though she may not be at all meetings. Instead of making an entry charge we propose that there be a £5 annual membership fee (which about ten people have already paid for 2010) other donations being optional. (This is similar to the Brighton and Hove Group.) Lesley will I hope continue as Deputy Treasurer.
These roles are open to other members to put their names forward for selection. This includes the Secretary role. It may be that we should also create some other formal positions, and perhaps a formal Committee. If members have specific proposals they would like discussed at the AGM it would be helpful to have them notified in advance, but this is not essential.
Another problem may be to find a new venue. Personally I am not keen on meeting in a public house since I prefer to avoid alcohol, but on the other hand there is no room fee to be paid. Does anyone know of a better meeting place, perhaps a Cafe? Graham thinks we should start raising funds for our own building, but that seems a bit ambitious at this stage.
Sunday, 3 October 2010
Our October Meeting
The next meeting of Hastings Humanists on 14th October will be a social gathering at the Dripping Well public house to discuss whatever members want to bring up. There have been a lot of topics in the news. If I have the time I will produce a Newsletter for distribution. The BHA provided ten copies of their Newsletter (unfortunately they arrived just after our last meeting). These can go to whoever asks for them first.
The venue for our AGM in November has not been settled yet. I'm also thinking of changing the date to 18th November to avoid the clash with Remembrance day. I would like to see more people getting involved in the organisation of meetings. Perhaps a committee of six might be workable. We may also be able to do away with charges for meetings and instead ask for an annual subscription and voluntary donations, which is what the Brighton group does.
The venue for our AGM in November has not been settled yet. I'm also thinking of changing the date to 18th November to avoid the clash with Remembrance day. I would like to see more people getting involved in the organisation of meetings. Perhaps a committee of six might be workable. We may also be able to do away with charges for meetings and instead ask for an annual subscription and voluntary donations, which is what the Brighton group does.
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