Altrincham History Society
Annual General Meeting
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ALTRINCHAM HISTORY SOCIETY ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Tuesday 8 May 2007
Minutes of the meeting held at the Altrincham Methodist Church. The agenda, together with the Chairman’s report, the Secretary’s report & the minutes of the previous AGM had been circulated to Members & these & the Treasurer’s Accounts for 2006/7 were made available at the meeting, which was chaired by Ron Higginbottom. 30 Members were present.
1. Apologies Apologies were received from Tony Cookson, Jill Groves, Colin & Sue Graham, Doug Rendell, Margaret Head, Mary Eastwood and Pat Smith.
3. Matters arising None.
2. Minutes of 23 May 2006 Acceptance of the minutes proposed by Robert Fysh, seconded by Bob Jones and agreed.
4. Chairman’s Report Not long after the last AGM the committee suffered the loss of Pat Higginbottom, a member of long standing, and wife of our Vice-President, Ron Higginbottom. It was some time after that sad event that Ron was able to join in society matters again and we are grateful for his continued loyalty. He kindly made a donation to the society in Pat's name and with that we have been able to purchase and preserve a rare archive which we hope eventually will be on loan to Manchester Central Library or Chester Record Office who do not have a copy. We stayed in the Methodist Church this year because the refurbished town hall had no blackout and also couldn't contain our numbers. We created an exhibition for the reopening of the town hall about the history of Altrincham and the 'Historic Market Quarter' and Trafford Council thought it appropriate to display at various libraries over the next weeks, at Sale, Hale and Altrincham. The visits this year have been arranged by Roger Thwaite. One was a follow-up to a lecture on Warburton by our President, Dr Mike Nevell when Ivan Hradil took us to Warburton and explained the role of dendrochronology in dating the timbers of the old church and then took us round the village, which though full of black-and-white houses is largely 19th century, there never was an old village there. Another visit, to the reconstructed Staircase House in Stockport showed us what a 15th century tradesman's house was like. The lectures arranged by David Miller have included a wide range of topics from Mike Shaw's fascinating information about calendars to Glen Atkinson's 50 miles of underground canals at Worsley, Mark Olly's gruesome stone heads and Philip Morgan's crazed Green Knight! Thanks to David for the interesting range of subjects. Hazel Pryor led us round tanners' pits and stonemasons in Timperley, a good precursor to the grand Christmas buffet created by Judith and her ladies followed by some games. We thank them and other volunteers for our tea each evening. We owe a great debt to David and our Hon. Treasurer. Roy Griffiths for enabling us to become a registered charity - a great deal of work was involved - and to yourselves for supporting their efforts. As a result Roy will be able to use Gift Aid to increase the value of your membership contributions. We are grateful to Roy for his work as Treasurer and to our auditor John Shepherd. I thank the other members of the committee; we were delighted to welcome back Colin Graham. Jill Groves' first Newsletter was very welcome. David has taken us into the arrangements for Health and Safety, and he has had to take all apparatus to have certificates of worthiness for their job. We also have a first-aid kit at the ready. (Don Bayliss)
5. Secretary's Report Meetings for 2006/7 have continued at Altrincham Methodist Church. Investigation of the Town Hall as a possible venue has concluded that it is not suitable. Free ads. each month in the Messenger are helping attendance and membership which is 116 this year. Talks have been varied and well attended with up to 65 members and visitors present. Catering for the Christmas buffet was in-house again. Health & Safety guidelines have been drawn up. The dates of the 2007/8 meetings and a list of potential speakers have been agreed by the committee, meetings to continue on Tuesdays at the Methodist Church. The dates for 2007/8 are: September 11, October 9, November 6, December 4, January 15, February 12, March 11, April 8, May 20. A few speakers have been booked. The Christmas meeting will be a buffet and quizzes without a speaker, and the May meeting will be the AGM and a round-up of the society’s projects. The society is now registered as a charity. The website has had 14,000 visitors since October 2002 and continues as a useful way for the public to contact us (via www.altynet.com). We have re-insured for Public Liability for 2007 via the British Association for Local History. (David Miller)
6. Treasurer’s Report In summary the accounts showed a balance at 31 March 2007 of £1309.31, income £1295.45, payments £1120.13 showing a surplus of £175.32 against last year’s deficit of £331. This had been achieved by an increase of £1 in the membership fee to £8 and reduced expenditure on speakers. In 2007/8 we will be able to reclaim tax on some members subscriptions via Gift Aid. We have 116 members currently. (Roy Griffiths)
7. Election of Officers for 2007/8 There had been no nominations for officer posts and the existing officers were prepared to continue. Proposed by David Eastwood, seconded by Hazel Pryor and agreed by members.
8. Election of Committee for 2007/8 Roger Thwaite and Robert Fysh have stepped down – many thanks for their past work. Don Bayliss nominated Colin Graham, seconded by Roy Griffiths and agreed. The remaining members were prepared to continue. The committee therefore consists of Dr. Mike Nevell (President), Ron Higginbottom (Vice-President), Dr. Don Bayliss (Chairman), Hilda Bayliss (Vice-Chair), David Miller (Secretary), Roy Griffiths (Treasurer), Colin Graham, Jill Groves, Chris Hill and Hazel Pryor.
9. Any Other Business Appreciation was minuted for all Officers and for our Auditor, John Shepherd. The chairman proposed a vote of thanks to Don & Hilda for their lead of the society in 2006/7. The Chairman declared the meeting closed and handed over to Chairman Don Bayliss. The next meeting will be May 20 2008.