The Speaker Secretary, Mr Stephen Morley, was in the chair, owing to the Chairman, Mrs Janet Pooley, being indisposed.
Apologies were received from Victoria Wakefield, Sally Pimand Magda Pitkin.
AGENDA
1. Welcome address.
Stephen Morley briefly welcomed the members and thanked them for coming. He reported that the Chairman, Janet Pooley, was sorry to be unable to attend but that her health was improving and she hoped to be out and about again soonand explained that he would take the chair for this AGM.
2. To approve the Minutes of the 2023 AGM.
Pauline Ward proposed that the Minutes should be approvedand Anne Ward seconded. As the Minutes had previously been distributed to all Members, they were not read out and were unanimously accepted.
3. To receive the Chairman’s Report.
Stephen Morley read out the Chairman’s Report that had previously been distributed to Members. He drew attention to the fact that we need more members for the Society to continue to be sustainable if we don’t want to increase the Annual Subscription and asked Members to encourage their friends and neighbours to join.
He mentioned the sad passing of two of our past members, Jeanne Perry and Ann Bravery and reminded Members that a Memorial Service would be held for Ann Bravery at St John’s Church, Alresford on Thursday 22 February beginning at 12 pm and that attendees were asked to wear colourful clothes.
4. Adoption of the Financial Statement and Examined Balance Sheet to 31 December 2023.
The Treasurer, Steven Johnson, presented the Financial Statement, copies of which had been distributed to Members.It was unanimously approved. Vivienne Isemann, proposed new Treasurer, pointed out that losses had been sustained and the Society will have to find ways to address this issue.
5. To Elect Officers and Committee.
No nominations had been received for vacant posts. Steven Johnson stood down as Treasurer but will remain on the Committee and Vivienne Isemann was nominated in his place.Marion Morley proposed that all current nominations should be adopted and Clare Read seconded this. The proposals were passed unanimously.
6. To Appoint Honorary Examiner of Accounts.
Mr Keith Brundish had expressed his willingness to take on this role for another year. His appointment was proposed by Roger Whiffen and seconded by Stephen Morley and was unopposed.
7. Presentation of Flower of the Month Award.
Acting Chairman, Stephen Morley, remarked on the popularity of this competition and explained how the result was reached. He said that it had been very close this year but the cup was awarded to Shireen Coghlan.
8. AOB.
Ted Winfield warned that the Society cannot sustain its current level of losses in the long term and that some solution would have to be found to address the issue. He suggested that we could calculate the cost per speaker per session and only employ those who where not too expensive or we could add a surcharge for particularly expensive but interesting speakers.Stephen Morley asked for more ideas and Vivienne Isemann reiterated the call for new members.
Re the proposal to change the name of the Society to Alresford Garden Club, the Committee had decided that this would be far too difficult to be worthwhile as bank accounts and registration with various societies would have to be altered.
Ted Winfield urged Members to visit the Society’s websiteand to send a message to him to advertise an event.
9. Votes of Thanks.
Stephen Morley thanked the Committee for their hard work and all the Members for their support during the year.
This concluded the formal part of the evening. It was followed by a very interesting talk by Stephen Morley about Wildlife on the Watercress Line after which Members shared a buffet supper.