Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on Thursday, 15 February 2018
The meeting was opened and chaired by Thelma Jeeves, the Group Leader.
Apologies: Gwerfyl Gardner, Joyce Hillsdon, June Greaves, Denis Horobin and Rhona Horobin.
The Minutes of the previous AGM: copies had been distributed beforehand by e-mail and have been available on the History webpage since February 2017. Thelma Jeeves read out a synopsis of the previous Minutes at the meeting. A motion to accept the Minutes was proposed by Gavin Davies, seconded by Steve Monaghan and approved by the attendees.
Accounts: Hywel Davies, the Treasurer, distributed copies of the accounts at the meeting; these showed a deficit over the past year of £277.27, with the main expenditure being on hall rental and the payment of external speakers. The closing balance was £984.09. As this was equivalent to about 1.5 year’s expenditure, Hywel recommended that the subscription fee was maintained at the current low rate. This was proposed by Thelma Jeeves, seconded by Valerie Monaghan and approved by the meeting.
Hywel reminded the attendees that the annual subscription was now due. He also indicated that he was willing to continue as Treasurer for another year.
Group Leader’s Report: A wide variety of topics had been covered over the past year, with 2 in-house speakers, 7 guest speakers, a day trip to Newport (to visit the Transporter Bridge and the Ship) and another to Stanway House (with its high fountain, operated specially for our party). In November, 3 members (Valerie Monaghan, Gavin Davies and Gwerfyl Gardner) gave short talks; this is a good way for members to ease themselves into giving presentations to the group. Other topics explored were “The William Canteloupe Murder 1375”, “The Digital Reconstruction of a Medieval Castle” and “What the Postman Saw”. As well as volunteers to give short talks, there is always a need for members to give a full length presentation on a historical subject that interests them.
Thanks go to Steve Monaghan for helping to organise the programme and Hywel Davies for his rôle as Treasurer.
There are currently over 70 members of the group.
Finally, Thelma noted that she was stepping down as Group Leader after 3 years in the post (how time flies!), thanking the membership for their support. It now remained for the group to find a new leader, as it would be unable to continue without one. Her final words were: “Surprise yourself and volunteer – I did!”
Election of new Group Leader: in the absence of any volunteers from the floor, Steve Monaghan offered to take over the rôle. For want of a better candidate, this was approved by the membership.
Any Other Business: Trips to visit Llantwit Major church (the site of the first Welsh University) and also Llancarfan Church (with its medieval wall paintings) were suggested by attendees and there appeared to be a reasonable amount of interest. Steve Monaghan proposed a coach trip to visit Stradey Castle, near Llanelli, in July, with lunch to be taken in the vicinity before an afternoon guided tour of the house. Again, there appeared to be sufficient interest to merit further investigation. Methyr Dyfan church near Barry was also mentioned.
There was no other business and the meeting was brought to a close.
The AGM was followed by a “Show and Tell” session, with contributions from Gavin Davies (Edmund Blunden and A P Herbert, with recitations of two poems, based on their WWI experiences, from each of them); new member Norma Roberts (this was the story of ravaged Japan post WWII and its economic revival, based on a small jug, marked “Made in occupied Japan” on its base – fortunately, the jug survived being passed round by the audience!); and Steve Monaghan (“Tampering with a Protestant” being a tale of the Liverpool Workhouse and the problems associated with allowing Catholics out to attend Mass on Sundays). Finally Thelma Jeeves gave the final chapter of her January presentation on the topic ‘How the Irish Potato Famine and Emigration affected Cardiff in the mid 19th Century’.
At the end of the meeting, Thelma Jeeves was thanked for her efforts in running the group over the last 3 years.
Steve Monaghan (acting as Secretary)