MINUTES OF TUDOR SQUARES AGM
Held on 8 November 2018 at Nash Mills Village Hall

1. Welcome and Apologies

The meeting commenced at 9.05pm with Dave Greenwood welcoming everybody. There were 61 members present, with apologies received from 6 members.

Committee Present:

Chair o Dave Greenwood
Treasurer o Colin & Tracy Hawkins

Secretary o Andrew Agathangelou

Public Relations Officer o Terry Thirlwell
Challenge Representative  o Linda Gill
Advanced Representative o Nick Bedford
Callers’ Representative o Susie Kelly

2. Minutes of Previous AGM held on 19 October 2017
These were accepted unanimously as a true record of the meeting.

3. Matters Arising
There were no matters arising.

4. Chair Report (attached)
In summary, the salient points of the Chairman’s address are as follows:

1. TudorSquares continues to be the largest square dance club in the country. However, the club should not be complacent given that the latest headcount of 115 members is 15 less than last annual count.
2. Regular recruiting is also crucial to the success of the club ,to provide a continuous stream of new dancers into the club.
3. The club successfully ran a number of social events, with special thanks given to the following people for organising and publicising the events

Spring Walk Anne Reardon and Grant Thorne
Summer Garden Party Simon & Susie Kelly

Summer Outing Brian &  Pauline  O’Ready
Tudor Squares Website Terry Thirlwell

4. The chairman thanked past and present committee members for their work and support over the last seven years.
5. Thanks,also,were given to all the callers of the club–Phil,Debbie&BeckyPeel, Simon & Trudy Fielding, Simon & Susie Kelly, Andrew Agathangelou and Michael Ginger (recorded dances).
6. Five past or current members of the club sadly passed away this year – Mo Moran, Roger Ruess, Norman Machell, Alan Miles and John Carey.
7. The Chairman and committee were delighted with the return of Liz Machell and Pat Carey to the club for dancing, given their recent bereavement.
8. The Chairman stressed the importance of the existing dancers attending more regularly if the club is to prosper and survive, especially given the general decline in square dance clubs and dancers in the United Kingdom. The importance of the dancers improving was also stressed, given that dancing is more enjoyable when everyone succeeds and contributes to a successful club night, whereby dancers are more encouraged to attend.

9. The lack of attendance of mainstream dancers who attended the mainstreamimprovers workshop was noted, and from the Chairman’s and Committee’s perspective was very disappointing. This was a costly event and investment by the club solely for the benefit of the mainstream dancers who need to improve. However, it was mainly attended by Plus and Advanced/C1 dancers.
10. The Chairman also stressed the importance of the Callers providing more challenging and interesting choreography for the dancers, so that the dancing is more interesting and enjoyable. Providing a more enjoyable dancing experience means that dancers are more likely to attend their section regularly and support the club. This is vital if the club is to survive and prosper.

5. Treasurer’s Report (attached)

Colin and Tracy Hawkins distributed copies of the balance sheet covering the period 1 September 2017 to the 31 August 2018. The salient points are as follows:

1. Overall there was a deficit of £975. Of this, £200 was anticipated and a further £500 was the result of invoices for hall hire that should have been paid in the year 2016-2017 being invoiced in the year 2017-2018.
2. The breakdown for the various sections is set out below;
3. Income has increased by 3% £15.3k, largely as a result of the increase in the weekly fees.
4. Expenditure has increased by9.5% to circa£16.3k ,as a result of the increase in the hall hire expenditure, and an increase in caller fees.
5. The above figures indicate that there has been a significant fall in the number of members attending the plus section of the club. The Treasurer noted that there had been a fall of 400 attendances across the club, and if the attendance had been as the previous year an additional £1,600 of income would have been generated.

Acceptance of the accounts was proposed by Mick West, seconded by Paul Godley and agreed unanimously.

6. Section Reports (attached)

o Beginners’

o Mainstream

o Plus
o Advanced
o Challenge

o Callers’ representative gave a brief verbal report on the good progress being made by four dancers learning Plus.

7. Other Reports (included in Chairman’s Report)

o Walk
o Summer Garden Partyo Outing

8. Election of Officers, and 9. Election of Committee

Dave Greenwood announced that the only proposed change to the committee was Jenny Thirlwell who had been nominated as the Chairman.

It was suggested that all serving committee members be elected en bloc, including the nomination of Jenny Thirlwell as Chairman. This proposal was agreed unanimously. The following committee members were voted on en bloc, with a unanimous show of hands (no objections):

Officers:

o Chair: Jenny Thirlwell
o Secretary: Andrew Agathangelou
o Treasurer: Colin and Tracy Hawkins
o PRO & Webmaster: Terry Thirlwell

Committee:

o Mainstream Rep: Brian O’Ready

o Plus Rep:Elena Hadaway
o Advanced Rep: Nick Bedford
o Challenge Rep:Linda Gill

o Caller Rep:Susie Kelly

10. Annual Subscriptions and Weekly Fees
No change to the annual and weekly fees were proposed. These remain as:

a. Annual subscription £5

b. Weeklyfee £4

11. Any Other Business

A presentation was made to Dave Greenwood in thanks for all his years of service as theclub’s Chairman.

The meeting finished at 10.15pm.

[spiderpowa-pdf src=”https://www.tudorsquares.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/AGM-2018-Combined-report.pdf”]AGM 2018 – Combined report [spiderpowa-pdf src=”https://www.tudorsquares.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/AGM-2018-Accounts-2017-2018AugFINAL.pdf”]AGM 2018 – Accounts 2017-2018(Aug)FINAL [spiderpowa-pdf src=”https://www.tudorsquares.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/AGM-2018-Treasurers-Report-Final-1.pdf”]AGM 2018 – Treasurer’s Report Final-1 [spiderpowa-pdf src=”https://www.tudorsquares.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/AGM-2018-Chairmans-report.pdf”]AGM 2018 – Chairman’s report