VIEWFINDERS OF ROMSEY CAMERA CLUB

Minutes of Annual General Meeting held 7 July 2009 at Jubilee Hall, Timsbury

                The Chairman, Jack Whitemore opened the meeting at 7.30pm (40 members present)

1.             APOLOGIES :       Peter and Sheila Read, Dianne Sanchez-Bisson, Jean Russell, Basil Hopkins, Pam Watson, Betty and Tony Rackham, Linda Rudd and Sue Ricketts.

2.             MINUTES OF 2007 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING (1 July 2008)
After 2 small amendments to correct (Item 11 – change to 2008-09 and Item 12 : Subjects for Les Fredericks Trophies suggested by Committee Members ) these were approved (proposed : Stan Stubbs and seconded by Alan Hancock) and signed as a true record.

3.             MATTERS ARISING FROM MINUTES  :  No Matters Arising

• CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

                The Chairman opened his report by thanking Stan Stubbs for standing in for him at last year’s AGM.

                In commenting on the rapid increase in membership last autumn, he attributed this to the excellent exhibitions of members’ work, both at The Romsey Water Festival and at Stockbridge, together with a group coming from Pat Ball’s Anton U3A classes joining the Club. All seemed to have integrated well into the Club and to be enjoying their photography.

                In extending his thanks to everyone who had contributed to the running of the Club he made reference to Andrew Kirby, the Treasurer, Margaret Kirby for the excellent publicity, Terry Jamieson as External Competition Secretary, Jill Koernich and Martin Brown for their handling of the internal competitions. He appreciated the task Pat Ball had in putting together the excellent varied programme we had during the past year. Next year’s programme has been put together by Liz. He made special mention of 2 committee members who were retiring – Steve Williams, who had been the club’s secretary, apart from a short break as Programme Secretary for 2 years since 1991 and Alan Hancock, a member for over 20 years, who had held various committee posts, including that of Chairman for 3 years from 1998 to 2001.

                He mentioned the newcomers who had attended his Beginners’ classes and acknowledged the further help they had received – some on a one to one basis from Pat Ball, Terry Jamieson and George Marsh enabling them to participate more fully in the club scene.

                He praised John Walter & Terry Jamieson for the extremely efficiently installed sound system in the hall.  He also    mentioned the additional display boards that had been acquired from various sources, which with the multi-use adaptions made to them by John & Terry will mean the heavy Romsey Open display boards will no longer be needed.

                He finally thanked everyone who had supported him during his time as Chairman, although it had been a busy one, for continuing to make this one of the friendliest club in the area.

• AUDIO-VISUAL GROUP

                Steve Williams reported that the Viewfinders Audio Visual Group continues to meet on a fairly regular basis at member’s houses to discuss and demonstrate various techniques and new software for producing sequences. The group still has 6 regular members and has given presentations during the 2008-09 winter season to the Ordnance Survey Traveller’s Club, Salisbury Camera Club and Hythe Evening Townswomen’s Guild. Thanks must be given to Arthur Budden and Norman Pease for coordinating the sequences for the presentations and use of their equipment.

                As more members of the Camera Club are getting more acquainted with Digital A/V, it is hoped to widen the scope within the club, possibly with extra tuition for those interested using the committee room. An evening of A/V basic instruction and sequences by members with judging has already taken place in June by Norman Pease and John May prior to the A/V competition the club has entered next season.

• DIGITAL IMAGING GROUPS

Pat Ball reported that the first digital group still meets every last Thurs of the month. There are now 8 members with only 4 in the club. During the meetings which have become more of a social group, members swap experiences and have discussions on new equipment and show audio visual sequences at member’s houses although mostly at the same venue where there is a large High Definition television Screen to view the sequences on.

Jack said that the other Dig Group had declined somewhat but mostly aimed at new members especially during the winter when most of the meetings have been held. The group has more or less merged with the basic digital courses for new members who have gained a lot of experience from each other. There were 18 beginners and George Marsh and Pat Ball have given one to one tuition in some cases.

• TREASURERS REPORT

Andrew  Kirby reported on the Income and Expenditure Account for the Financial Year ending 30th April 2009 which has  been audited, signed by the auditor and copies circulated to members. The auditor had recommended some changes to the recording of income and expenditure for future accounts, which are being implemented.

He thanked all those who helped with raffles and refreshments which raised more than last year. Thanks also to those who facilitated rental receipts for display boards and the digital projector.

Profits for the fundraising evenings were £394, £104 more than last year’s £290.

Hall rental rates were the same as last year, although the total cost also reflects use of the hall. Hall rental will probably rise in July 2010, but the amount and timing are undecided and may be affected by community charge and utility cost increases.

Insurance premiums were covered by the budget.

Increased membership this year has meant increased SPF subscriptions.

The digital projector has an ongoing commitment for insurance (£105 for this year). The projector has a reserve established to enable bulb replacements and it is anticipated that a computer within the digital projector unit will be upgraded during the summer, at a cost of £750-00.

After hall rental, the second highest expenditure is on lecturers and judges, which is forecast to rise by up to £150 in the forthcoming year, depending on fuel costs.

Checking members who actually attended in 2008-09 reveals 76 subscribing members actually attending out of 77 subscribing members and a total membership of 83 including honorary members. Average subscriptions (including part year and concessions) are £36, total £2448, which if we gained no new members, would result in a forecast shortfall of £84.

On the basis of this year’s performance, he considered that there is no need to increase subscriptions, because we are likely to recruit some new members and have sufficient funds to cover any shortfall.

Providing a cash float to manage refreshments, with a cash balance going to the Treasurer every 3 months, has considerably reduced the extent of the cash accounting and simplified the auditing.

He concluded by thanking Liz Whitemore for year end accounts / forecasting assistance, and Helen Brown for carrying out the audit. Thanks were also given to Sharon, Linda and Jean for administering the refreshments and raffles.

The Accounts were then approved by the membership

8.             SUBSCRIPTIONS FOR 2009-10

As mentioned in the Treasurer’s report, Andrew had not recommended an increase in the subscriptions for 2009-10

It was then proposed by Terry Jamieson and seconded by Brian Lovelock that the Subscriptions for 2009-10 will be the same as for 2008-09.
After being put to the vote the proposal was carried  unanimously.

Therefore the subscriptions for 2009-010 will remain at :

Individual Members……………………………£40
Married Couples………………………………. £37 each
Over 65…………………………………………. £5 concession on the above rates

9.             RULE CHANGES

                The committee had proposed to discontinue with slides in Trophy Competitions with immediate effect.
                There were also proposed changes mainly in the wording to the existing rules.
                Both these proposals had been circulated to the membership with the usual 3 weeks notice as per constitution.

                Apart from a few minor further changes to wording it was proposed by Colin Carey and seconded by Pat Ball that
                the above proposals be accepted

                After being put to the vote the both the above proposals were unanimously accepted..

10.          ELECTION OF OFFICERS FOR 2009-2010
               
The officers and committee for 2008-2009 were elected as follows :

The post of assistant to Jill Koernich for Trophy Competitions will be decided at or before the next committee meeting

11.          ELECTION OF AUDITOR

Liz Whitemore was elected as Auditor

12.          SPF DELEGATES FOR 2009-2010

Jack and Liz Whitemore volunteered to be the SPF Delegates for 2009-10

13          SUBJECTS FOR LES FREDERICKS TROPHIES FOR 2009-10

A list of subjects had been sent by Committee members to Jack Whitemore prior to the AGM for voting on at this meeting. The list of subjects was -   Building Interiors, City Life, Decay, Elements (Earth, Wind & Fire), People Working, Portraits, Shape and Form, Shoreline, Speed, Sport, Still Life, Stormy Weather, Industrial Landscapes and Red.

The subjects “People Working” and “Stormy Weather” carried the most votes.

The subjects for the Les Fredericks Trophy 2009-10 will be :
PRINTS :  PEOPLE WORKING          DIGITAL PROJECTED IMAGES  :  STORMY WEATHER

14.         ANY OTHER BUSINESS

• Liz Whitemore said that it had been suggested that the period of any officer on the committee be limited to say 3 years and not less than 2 as it takes a year to get into the job. This would allow a rolling committee of new members and existing ones and new ideas.

        The members thought this was a good suggestion and food for thought for the new committee.

• Pat Ball at this point gave a vote of thanks to Jack Whitemore for doing such a splendid job as Chairman for the the last 2 years and had always been able to handle issues down the straight and narrow. The members echoed these thanks with a round of applause.

• Martin Brown said that 21 members will be exhibiting at the forthcoming Stockbridge Exhibition and will be restricted to one board only. The posters are now ready and he thanked Stan Stubbs for his image of a butterfly used in the poster. We will need volunteers to set up and take down the Exhibition.

• Before the meeting closed Terry as the new Chairman made the following points to the membership :

• The committee need ideas from you, the members, that you would like to see in the club and at club evenings and if   there are any problems to see any of the committee members.
• He mentioned photo opportunities. This weekend the Beggar’s Fair is taking place in Romsey and on the

        Sat (July 11th) both Terry and George will be displaying prints using a club display stand near the Magistrates Courts.
(c)    He intends to work as hard as possible to keep the friendliness of the club and improve members’ camera skills and presentations etc.

•  He would like to see the website improved and updated with new images from members, the existing ones having been there since the website was started. He appealed to members to submit new images to Peter.

(e)  He will work to improve the club’s image within the community – Chris Hammond had been doing the organising of the OAP shows up to now but now Pat Ball will be taking over this task and appealed to members to volunteer to add their name to Pat’s list to do one or more shows.
(f)   Finally he closed by saying he is looking forward to working with all of you and the new committee.
   
               
                Before the meeting closed, the winners of the Print and Dig Image of the Year trophies were announced. The Print of The Year Trophy was shared between Terry Jamieson and George Marsh as both had received the same number of points, even on countback.  The Dig Image of the Year went to Roy Lambeth

                There being no further business except to congratulate Terry Jamieson on being elected Chairman, the meeting closed at 9.15pm.

                                                                                                                                                                                Steve Williams (Secretary)

This page last updated, 21 July, 2009.