Archive for September 2007

AGM Minutes 2007

September 2007

MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING HELD ON 26 SEPTEMBER 2007 at Spaxton Village Hall at 7.30 p.m.

Present: Mrs L Kelly (Chairman), Mrs J Swash (Vice Chairman), Maj. D H S White (Treasurer), Mrs M ter Braak (Secretary), and 10 members
1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE: Lady Gass, Mr D Briggs, Mr E G and Lady Sarah Wright,  Mr. S. Atkinson, Mr. B. Toomey, Mr C Tilley, Mr & Mrs R Hardy, Mrs P Taylor-Young, Mrs J Warmington, Mr & Mrs M Treharne, Mrs A Wilmott, Mr J. Edney, Mr A Hughes.

2. MINUTES OF MEETING HELD ON 27 SEPTEMBER 2006: the Minutes were accepted as a correct record and signed by the Vice Chairman.

3. MATTERS ARISING: Mr Worthy stated that Charity Commission laws required all Committee members to attend AGMs and questioned why all committee members had not attended the 2006 AGM and why they were all not present at this AGM.  It was agreed that the Secretary would investigate with the Charities Commission as to whether this was in fact a requirement.

He also queried the availability of the Constitution to all members.  It was pointed out that all FOQ members had received a copy of the Constitution with the Autumn 2002 newsletter.  In addition, a copy of the Constitution was now on the FOQ website.  However, it was agreed to discuss at the next Committee meeting whether it would be a good idea to automatically send a copy of the Constitution to all new members.

Planning applications - Mr Worthy asked the Chairman what action the Committee had taken regarding the various planning applications he had drawn to their attention during the last year.  The Chairman asked him to provide details of these applications to the Secretary who would then advise him as to what action had been taken.

4. CHAIRMAN’S REPORT: the Chairman advised the meeting that Friends of Quantock has been invited to join the Joint Advisory Committee (JAC) for the Quantocks.  Natural England, the main funding body of the Quantocks AONB, wished to broaden representation on the JAC, and FoQ was invited to join the Committee.  Though representatives of FoQ have always attended the JAC meetings, and have been able to voice their concerns as a member of the public, we will now have an ‘official’ voice, and have a vote on matters that do not have financial implications for the councils that make up the AONB.

The new Friends of Quantock website was also mentioned, where members can find a list of forthcoming talks and other events, selected items from our newsletter, and a photo-gallery.  If any member has favourite photographs of the Quantocks that they would like to include in the photo gallery, they should get in touch with the Secretary, Mrs. Mary ter Braak, who manages the website.

Two of our longest serving Committee members, Lt. Cdr. Maurice Ingram and Mrs. Audrey Mead, have sadly decided to retire.  We are very sorry to lose these dedicated Committee members and we thank them for all they have done for FoQ over the years.  Also retiring from the Committee is Mrs Judy Treharne, who has organised our winter talks for many years.  Once again, many thanks to Judy for all the hard work she has put in over the years.

Some potential new committee members will be attending meetings in the near future, with a view to eventually being co-opted on to the Committee and nominated next year.

5. HONORARY TREASURER’S REPORT: Major Denys White presented the accounts which were printed on the back of the Notice of Annual General Meeting.  He pointed out that, under “Review of Development” in the Trustees Report, income is shown as £3,018 and Direct Charitable Expenditure as £4,529.  On the Balance Sheet, however, they are shown as £5,402 and £6,913 respectively - i.e. £2,384 more in each case.  This is because we contributed £681 towards the Quantocks AONB Voluntary Wardens’ clothing, which enabled the remainder of the cost to be covered by a grant of £2,384 which had to go through our accounts.  The total sum, therefore, that we actually spent on Projects and Grants in 2006 was £4,331 compared with £3,585 in 2005.

6. ELECTION OF OFFICERS AND COMMITTEE:

Lady Gass has kindly agreed to serve again as President.

Mrs Laetitia Kelly was elected Chairman (nominated by Mrs D Bradley and seconded by Major D White). 

Mrs J Swash was elected Vice Chairman (nominated by Mrs L Kelly and seconded by Mrs D Bradley).

Major D White was elected Treasurer (nominated by Mrs J Swash and seconded by Mrs D Bradley).

Mrs M ter Braak was elected Secretary (nominated by Mrs L Kelly and seconded by Major D White).
 
The remainder of the Committee were re-elected (nominated by Mrs L Kelly and seconded by Mrs J Swash).
7. ANY OTHER BUSINESS: in reply to questions from Mr Worthy, Major White advised as follows -

Deer management on the Quantocks - although there has been a slight decrease in deer numbers, the Deer Management Committee is under pressure from Natural England to reduce the number of deer because of damage to the oaks.

Elms - Natural England were going to send FOQ 8 elms to plant this year but this has been delayed until next year due to problems at their nursery.

Adder Survey - this is still on hold.  Work that was done so far is considered satisfactory.

The meeting was declared closed at 8.15 p.m.

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