Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on Thursday, 16 February 2017
The meeting was opened and chaired by Thelma Jeeves, the Group Leader.
Apologies: Derek Day, Margaret Day, Glenda Evans, Dafydd Evans and Hugh Davies.
The Minutes of the previous AGM: copies had also been distributed beforehand and it was suggested that these were taken as read. This was proposed by Gavin Davies, seconded jointly by Dennis Horobin and John Andrew, and agreed by a unanimous vote of the membership.
Accounts: Terry Dunsworth, the Treasurer, presented the accounts, which showed a deficit over the year of £225.51, with a closing balance of £1261.36.
Because of the still healthy balance, Terry recommended maintaining the subscription fee at the low rate of £5.00.
This was proposed by Ken Walls, seconded by Charles Sanders and agreed by a unanimous vote of the membership.
Terry reminded the meeting attendees that the annual subscription was now due.
Group Leader’s Report
A wide range of topics had been covered by our in-house speakers, ranging from how names are not necessarily a good guide to content, the history of American winemaking, a talk and tour of Cowbridge Museum, the forgotten Arctic explorer John Rae, the Battle of the Somme and Michael Collins of the IRA. There had been three guest speakers: Brian Davies (Industrial South Wales Art), Professor Madeleine Grey (Medieval Wall Paintings in Llancarfan Church) and Phil Cox (the Newport Ship). In June, three members gave short talks in place of the usual longer presentation.
In September 2016, there had been a visit to the “Prince of Wales” Inn at Kenfig.
The Group now has 67 members.
Election of Group Organisers: Thelma Jeeves was willing to continue in the rôle of Group Leader for one more year only (by which time she would have been in the position for 3 years). Steve Monaghan agreed to continue as assistant to the Group Leader. Terry Dunsworth had already announced at the 2016 AGM that he would stand down in 2017, but he announced that he would provide help to the new incumbent. Eventually, Hywel Davies agreed to become the new Treasurer, with the proviso that he would be unable to attend every meeting because of commitments. Thelma and Terry were thanked for their efforts for the group.
Any Other Business: on a sad note, it was announced that Ann Roberts, a regular attendee of History Group meetings, had passed away in December 2016.
Steve Monaghan proposed a coach trip in August 2017 to Newport to visit the Transporter Bridge and the Newport Ship, with lunch to be taken in between the two visits. This would be in lieu of the August meeting, but would not take place on the usual meeting date. As there was a reasonable amount of interest, the matter would be pursued and details of date and cost presented to the group at a future History meeting.
The November 2017 date is still vacant: an in-house speaker (or speakers) is needed, so please contact the Group Leader if you can help.
Thelma noted that organising the annual schedule of speakers was the hardest part of the Group Leader’s position; suggestions as to possible future speakers were always welcome.
There was no other business and the meeting was brought to a close.
The AGM was followed by a “Show and Tell” session, with interesting contributions from John Andrew (a 1910 Kodak folding pocket camera, which had belonged to his grandfather), Gavin Davies (the story of Rhoda Willis aka Leslie James, a “baby farmer” hanged in 1907 for the murder of one of her charges), Valerie Monaghan (a 1953 Coronation mug, which led to a 20 question quiz on 1953 and an interesting aside from Lyndon Richards), Ken Walls (the story of how the Aegean Sea got its name, via Crete and the Minotaur) and Thelma Jeeves (an account of how expressions have changed their meanings since the 1950s, when sugar was “white gold”, not the road to obesity!).
Steve Monaghan (acting as Secretary)