MINUTES OF TUDOR SQUARES AGM 2019
Held on 3rd October at Highfield Community Centre
1. Welcome and Apologies
The meeting commenced at 9.0pm with Jenny Thirlwell welcoming everybody.
There were 40 members including 3 callers present.
Apologies received from 14 members.
Committee Present:
Jenny Thirlwell: Chair
Colin and Tracy Hawkins: Treasurers
Terry Thirlwell: Public Relations Officer
Elena Hadaway: Plus Representative
2. Minutes of Previous AGM held on 8th November 2018
were accepted unanimously as true record of the meeting.
3. Matters Arising
None
4. Chairperson’s Report
In summary :
a) Tudor Squares continues to be one of the largest square dance clubs in the country. However the club should not be complacent because although the numbers at the last headcount were pretty much the same as the previous year since then our Challenge section has closed so numbers for next year may well be down.
b) Regular recruitment providing a continuous stream of new dancers is essential to maintaining the success of the club.
c) 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 Ann Reardon and Grant Thorne
Summer Garden Party Simon and Susie Kelly , Brian and Pauline O’Ready
Summer Outing Jenny Thirlwell
Tudor Squares Website Terry Thirlwell
d) The Committee members were thanked for their work and support this year.
e) Thanks were given to our Callers Phil, Debbie and Becca Peel, Simon and
Trudy Fielding, Simon and Susie Kelly, Andrew Agathangelou and Michael Ginger (tapes at C)
f) A plea to dancers to help and support the club at all levels as the Committee cannot do everything
g) A look forward to future events :
Mainstream dance 21st March 2020,
Spring Social 16th May and Brian Hotchkies calling at Plus on 20th May 2020.
The Garden Party and Outing for next year are yet to be arranged – suggestions for the outing and offers to organise it please.
h) The Chair stressed the importance of the Callers providing more interesting and innovative choreography to stimulate and challenge the dancers.
5. Treasurer’s Report
TUDOR SQUARES – HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 2018 / 2019 FINANCIAL YEAR (1 Sep 2018 to 31 Aug 2019)
FUNDS HELD IN BANK £7,808 (previous year £6,913)
OVERALL INCOME £16,355 is up ( + £1,032 over previous year)
OVERALL EXPENDITURE £15,460 is down (- £839 against previous year)
INCOME LESS EXPENDITURE gives an overall surplus of £895
(previous year overall deficit of £975)
| Key Income items | Amount | Change over previous year + / – | |
| 1 | Fees
(85% of total club income) |
£13,844 | + £873 (due in main to just over 200 extra dance attendances) |
| 2 | Subs | £530 | + £15 (total fee paying membership 106 (up by 3) |
| 3 | Donations | £150 | + £110 (BAASDC contribution to Beginners costs) |
| 4 | Miscellaneous | £1,490 | + £16 |
| Key Expenditure Items | Amount | Change over previous year + / – | |
| 1 | Hall Regular | £5,440 | – £147 (due in main to fewer C dance sessions + Mainstream & beginners together at Highfield) |
| 2 | Caller Regular | £6,085 | + £530 (as expected) |
| 3 | Hall Special | £918 | – £873 (change in billing for socials where deposit only is paid in advance, not total). |
| 4 | Refresh/Caller Special | £576 | – £340 (no Paul Bristow this year) |
| 5 | Miscellaneous | £1,860 | + £24 |
SECTIONS – SURPLUS / DEFICIT
All sections made a surplus, apart from Beginners incurring a deficit of £1,063 (£871)
Mainstream had the largest surplus £1408 (£1088), followed by A £1108 (-£117), Plus £247 (£1067) & C £63 (-£-86).
(figures for previous year in brackets)
6. Sections Reports (attached)
Beginners
BEGINNERS’S REPORT TUDOR SQUARES AGM 2019
We recruited 11 enthusiastic dancers in January 2019 but we are now down to 6/7 dancers.
Debbie got them straight to work with the help of some angels without whom we couldn’t have run the class each week.
The new dancers have been out and about not only to Tudor Squares social events which they really enjoyed, but also to some local basic dances at which they were made very welcome.
A very big thank you to all for your help and support.
Daphne and Michael
Mainstream
Mainstream Report 2019
The Mainstream section has remained quite buoyant throughout the year. We always have two squares and often three , always with a few spares. We welcomed to students at the early part of the year as improvers in order to allow a new intake of students. They were well received into the group and were soon ready to graduate.
The major event of the Mainstream year was the move to the much better hall at Highfield.
This transition was achieved without a significant drop in numbers. We are enjoying two squares and with the addition of the latest student group adding a third square, still with some spares. The student group is not large enough to dance separately even though there is a room for them to do so at Highfield.
It is important to mention the students being part of the Mainstream group as this does have an effect on the standard of dancing to the full Mainstream programme. This has often been the subject of conversations between Phil Peel and myself. Calling the full Mainstream programme often leads to squares breaking down. Some time is spent practicing, walking through calls and some tips, usually the third one of the night, are deliberately more challenging but the group as a whole is happy with their own standard of dancing and our evenings are always very sociable. It is unlikely that any current members will be wanting to move up to Plus.
We have enjoyed the calling from the Peel Family, Phil, Debbie and Becky who each bring some different choreography. When Andrew has called for us it has alway proved to be an enjoyable change. It would be good if in the future Andrew and Phil could do a swap more often, maybe four times a year?
Once again i feel it is important to give special thanks to our ever dependable Alex Matthews. His quiet presence as cashier and excellent dancer is very much appreciated.
Brian
Plus
PLUS Report fro AGM 2019
Plus Garden party 2019
good support from Plus – it was good to see people who were unable to attend club nights due to ill health for some time, but came to see us and have a catch up with all.
Plus – Monday nights
Small group of students completed Plus programme last Christmas and are continuing to improve. As you know, you learn to dance from basic positions, then callers try to challenge us and call it from different position.
Workshop – July with Phil – positive feedback
September – with Andrew – 2 squares (including 3 people from other clubs)
Therefore, it was very useful to have 2 workshops, which helps us to improve with this challenge, also memorise some of the moves with which we are having difficulty – this in turn increases enjoyment from dancing.
Since more experienced dancers moved on to learn A, this left Plus group having at the best 2 squares (that is if most of us turned up). Some of the time we have only 1 square and some people sitting out – we appreciate that family and health issue prevents us from coming, but we appreciate everyone who makes the effort.
Advanced
A Section Report – Nick Bedford
Attendance is still good, but it is frustrating that the numbers often fall just short of either two squares or three squares. It is noted that it is the existing A2 dancers whose attendance is not so regular. The attendance of the Student dancers is generally very good. Only one Friday has had to be cancelled due to Bournemouth Weekend.
Nick advised that he has trialed a function of the software which splits up the paired dancers. He noted that this was good for mixing up the dancers and providing more balances squares, but the caller should be warned in advanced. This is because ‘sight calling’ requires the caller to recognise matched pairs of dancers to resolve, which can be confusing if the dancers do not start in square with their usual partner.
The potential A2 section dance this year was not viable due to other similar events around the same time and date that a caller was potentially available.
Callers’s representative
REPORT FOR the AGM of Tudor Squares on 3rd October 2019
Caller liaison Susie & Simon
First of all apologies for our absence. Simon is needed at New City Squares tonight as I don’t feel confident to manage the evening on my own so soon of my Cataract operation last Wednesday.
I hope I have been able to liase satisfactorily with the other 7 Callers of Tudor Squares. As we have several social events ‘In House’ I try to ensure some of our Callers are free to perforn at them and, if all should be available, I hope to spread the fun between us all fairly.
In the main we have two social Saturday Night dances a year plus a Summer Garden party at which we use our Staff Callers to give them the chance and pleasure to call for the whole club together.
The programs we cover on those occasions can range from the Basics through Mainstream and Plus up to Advance one and two.
The dancers we most enjoy calling for are the newer members for whom this joint evening is a whole new experience, and we hope one which makes them feel totally welcome and involved in the life of this club.
Square Dancing has limitless possiblities for learning whilst having fun. The callers aim is to gradually increase the skills of the dancers and these skills can be honed over many years of friendship and sociability. It’s a great activity. I’ve been at it since 1954 and have never been bored.
Sadly the Challenge group has had to fold due to lack of numbers and Michael Ginger should have a vote of thanks for his work on running those evenings with pre-recorded choreography. Not an easy task that requires quite different skills to those of a Caller. Thank you Michael for all your support of Tudor Squares.
I hope to see you all at the Social on November 16th.
Susie Kelly
7. Other Reports for Walk, Garden Party , Summer outing are included in the Chairperson’s report
8. Amendments to the Constitution
3 small amendments to the Constitution were proposed by the Chairperson,
All were carried unanimously, the Constitution will therefore be amended and the amended version (2019) will be put on to the Tudor Squares website. tudorsquares.org.uk
9. Election of Officers and Committee.
The following have agreed to remain on the Tudor Squares Committee.
Chairperson: Jenny Thirlwell
Treasurer: Tracy & Colin Hawkins
Secretary: Andrew Agathangelou
PRO: Terry Thirlwell
Plus Group: Elena Hadaway
A Group :Nick Bedford
Callers: Susie Kelly
At present there is no representative for Mainstream.
Mainstream do require a Rep and were given a fortnight to nominate a Rep
10. Annual Subscription and Weekly fees
No change to the annual and weekly fees were proposed. These remain as:
a) Annual Subscription £5
b) Weekly Fee £4
11. Any other Business
None
The meeting closed at 9.30pm