Annual General Meeting Wednesday 16 November 2022
The Chairman, Paul Embden welcomed members to the meeting.
Apologies received from Elaine Parsons, Stephen Bywater, Elisabeth Morland, Herb Lugo and Stuart Rigg.
Minutes of last year’s AGM had been circulated – members accepted the minutes for 2021/22.
Chairman's Report
Plant stall in May raised more than £300 and I would like to take this opportunity in thanking everyone who participated in this event, helpers, suppliers and buyers.
Committee –thanks to the committee members and refreshment team for all of their work during the year.
Talks. The last year has been particularly difficult in booking speakers and getting them to commit to their booking, this was largely due to theCovid Pandemic, hence there had to be several last minute changes tothe programme. However, all evening talks were covered, concluding in a gardening quiz night in April.
This conveniently brings me on to the subject of “help needed” in several areas of our association. Our secretary Eileen Forse has kindly agreed to carry on as secretary for a further year but will no longer take on the role of organising the “Summer Outings”. This being thecase, unless assistance is forthcoming, apart from the “Snowdrop Outing” in 2023 there will be no Summer Outings next year.
Assistance would also be much welcomed by Martin Freeman in helping to organise the CNHA website, also help with organising speakers would be much appreciated. My suggestion is that anyone who would be willing toassist in any of these areas, please contact myself or Eileen.
Hardship Fund: We now have a “hardship fund” for persons who may struggle to pay the annual membership fee and I would not want any keen gardeners to be unable to attend our talks due to the very difficult economic climate.
Secretary's Report
The 2021/22 season thankfully has been a much better season than the previous 2 years. During the spring of 2021 numbers for meetings were still down as members were still being very cautious. Also Paul struggled to find speakers as many were still unhappy to travel to take meetings.
The former presidentof our association, John Grantham has sadly passed away. He had stepped down from this position about 6 years ago. He had been agreat encourager and supporter for very many years, especially around 20 years ago when the association was really struggling.
During the summer we held three days out, but unfortunately these were not very well attended, although for the third one, numbers had increased. This means that we only just covered our costs. In June we travelled tothe NEC Birmingham for the Gardener’s World Live, in July we visited the National Memorial Arboretum, Alrewas and September to RHSWisley. The weather was perfect for all 3 trips.
We held a plant sale at the front of the Church for club funds in May and helped by a lovely sunny day and lots to sell, it was a very successful morning. Many thanks to all who helped in any way. The committee are considering holding another one again next year – date to be announced.
The membership stands at 70. Numbers had dropped after covid but we have had new friends join us, so numbers are on the rise again.
I need to remind members that I would like to stand-down as secretary – I feel that I have been secretary for long enough (almost 20 years!!) – it needs someone younger and with new ideas. I am happy to offer support over the next few months to anyone willing to take on this role. Also is anyone willing to arrange our summer day’s out? I will carry on with the proposed Snowdrop trip in February but would be glad if someone would take over after that. Please sign up tonight if you could be interested in going on this half-day snowdrop trip. Venue and date still to be arranged if enough are interested.
Lastly, my thanks to all the committee for your support during these past, difficult months and to you all for coming back again to our meetings and to all the new members who have just joined us.
Treasurer's Report
Following a look at the balance sheet Linda Souch said
Thank you very much to all of you who have continued your membership or have joined this year for the first time. We have had some good meetings and some good trips, with numbers gradually building.
Your support, as friends who enjoy gardens and gardening, has helped the club finances and pulled us back from last year’s small deficit. The raised fees have helped, but also the wonderful support for the plant sale, which raised an enormous £309.20p. We have not had to draw on our reserves this year, which we keep in the Co-op community share account.
I would like to thank Mrs Janis Paxton for checking the accounts and for kindly agreeing to do this again in the future. I trust that we will be able to continue, with more support to organise our very popular coach outings and I hope 2 or 3 members working together would find this enjoyable.
Rollright GardenClub will continue to share their programme with us. The trip to Malvern Autumn Show was well supported. They plan to meet again in March 2023 with a talk about the early days of developing the gardens at Bourton House. More details later.
Receipts and Payments 2021-2022
Re-Election of Officers
The following officers are happy to stand again and were duly re-elected:
Chairman and Speaker’s secretary – Paul Embden
Deputy-chair – Paula Mitchell
ecretary- Eileen Forse
Treasurer – Linda Souch
Membership secretary – Emma Bayley.
Re-Election of Committee
All the committee are happy to stand again for re-election and were duly re-elected:
George Barrow, Terry and Kate Bartholomew, Martin Freeman, Elisabeth Morland, Elaine Parsons, Doug Paxton and Wendy Sumners.
Appointment of Auditor/ Examiner for 2022/23
Mrs Janis Paxton has agreed to examine the accounts for the coming year.
AOB
Cicely Maunderproposed, seconded by Julie Biggs that all the appointed be accepted. All agreed.
It was raised by Barbara Ambrose – how would we make it known that we have a“Hardship Fund” as mentioned in the Chairman’s report. After discussion, it was suggested that this be discussed by the committee at their next meeting, as this could be a sensitive matter. All agreed.
Date of next AGM
This will be onWednesday 15th November 2023.
There being no further business the meeting closed and continued with the usual monthly meeting and speaker.