Notice & Agenda of Annual General Meeting on November 16 2018
As previously over the last few years we are sending you the papers for the AGM in the form of a members’ newsletter. Though we request that you bring the documents with you, there will be a few hard copies available on the evening. The screening of A SHORT FILM ABOUT LOVE should start at about 20:00.
Abingdon College and District Film Society – Annual General Meeting
To be held at 19:30 on 16 November 2017 in Abingdon Health and Wellbeing Centre.
- Minutes of the last Annual General Meeting (10-11-16), (see below).
- Matters arising.
- Officers’ Report and Accounts (see below)
- Matters arising from, and adoption of, officers’ reports and accounts.
- Election of Officers, “other executive officers” and between 5 and 7 other members of the General Committee, and
- Appointment of Independent Examiner of Accounts.
- AOB
Minutes of the Annual General Meeting
held at 7.30 pm. at Abingdon Health and Wellbeing Centre, Audlett Drive, on Thursday 10 November 2016.
Present: 42 members
Apologies for absence: Jeffrey Karoly (Treasurer)
- Minutes of the previous AGM (held 5/11/15) which had been previously circulated to members were accepted as a true record. (Proposed Steve Fisher, Seconded John Killick and agreed nem con.
- Matters arising: None
- Officers’ Reports:
The reports had been circulated prior to the meeting and copies of the accounts (to 31 July 2016) were issued at the meeting. In the absence of the Treasurer the Secretary agreed to provide an answer to a question from Geoff Bailey regarding the items listed on the accounts as “Miscellaneous”. The accounts had been inspected and sanctioned, conditionally, by the Society’s Independent Examiner of Accounts, to whom thanks were extended. The condition, as in the previous year, related to the claiming of Gift Aid on member’s subscriptions which the examiner considered to be outside the scope of Gift Aid. The Secretary was able to comment that the Treasurer was waiting for HMRC to respond following correspondence on the matter. The accounts showed our financial position to be satisfactory taking in to account income, including grants and expenditure.It was proposed by G Bailey and seconded by G Legge that the Officer’s Reports and Accounts as qualified by the Independent Examiner be accepted. Agreed nem con. - Matters Arising None
- Election of Officers and Committee Members:
All the outgoing Committee Members had confirmed they are willing to stand for re-election except Geoff Bailey. Tim Haywood had agreed to put his name forward and was proposed by M Bloom and seconded by B Reeves. There were no other nominations. It was pointed out by Martin Johnson that there was no need to vote on this as there are still vacancies on the committee.
The Committee for 2016-17 was therefore:Executive Officers Chair Martin Johnson Treasurer Jeffrey Karoly Secretary Dave Thomas Membership Secretary Barry Reeves Program Co-ordinator Noeleen Farrell Other Committee Members Mike Bloom Tim Haywood Andy Norton Executive Officers Chair Martin Johnson - Independent Examiner of Accounts. Steve Lawrence was willing to undertake this again and he was reappointed nem con.
- AOB Jo Adams said that she would be very willing to help with publicity and other matters but did not wish to be on the Committee
The meeting closed at 7.55 pm
Officers’ Report to the 2017 AGM
Summary of the main activities
We held 14 Committee Meetings to manage the Society’s business in accordance with Charity Commission guidance, and select the next season’s films. These included the AGM on 10 November 2016 and the Member’s Meeting on 18 May 2017.
We showed a main programme of 22 films including 3 which were introduced by specialist speakers, Jennifer Howarth, Dr Anne Miller and Prof Ian Christie, with discussions post-screening. We again showed our traditional Silent classic in St Nicolas’ Church, this year For Heaven’s Sake starring Harold Lloyd, with piano accompaniment by Andrew Youdell. We showed 7 short films and Moonlight, the “Best Motion Picture OSCAR” winner in 2017 as an extra film screening in April. In addition to the main programme we screened Power in Our Hands in support of the British Deaf Association charity.
Audience numbers ranged from 26 to 75 with an average of 45, the maximum audience was significantly greater than last year (at our joint event with the Twin Towns Society), the average was the same as the previous season.
Summary of the main achievements of the Society during the year
The main season commenced on 6 October with 45 Years and ended on 24 March with Gemma Bovery but we had a rare opportunity to screen the current OSCAR winner courtesy of Cinema for All
We again supplied our audiences with reaction slips to record their ratings and comments on the films. The highest scoring feature at 97% was For Heaven’s Sake, our silent film screened at St Nicolas Church. The lowest was 52 Tuesdays which scored 55%. Of the short films A Brief History of Princess X was the most popular. Average audience satisfaction for the feature films was the same as last year (77%). Full programme and details of reaction slips (scoring) for each film, are posted on our website http://abfilms.org.uk
As usual, we commenced work on preparing our annual programme of 22 films for the next season (2017/18) in January of 2017. We invited members to a meeting to review the selection process in May and finalised the programme in July when all bookings were confirmed, and the brochure text and images prepared for printing. Copies of the brochure were sent out in early September 2017 to existing members, past members and potential new members who had expressed an interest with a letter inviting them to become members for the 2017/18 season.
We continued our membership of Cinema For All. We did not seek any special grants this year.
Membership at the end of the season was again 54 versus the same as the previous season. It remains the committee’s objective to attract more new recruits, so that we can continue to show films at attractive subscription rates.
(Note – The Treasurer’s Report is presented as a spreadsheet to be issued at the meeting).
PS Reminder: AUDIENCE REACTIONS and COMMENTS are posted on the website generally within seven days of a film’s screening. To see them, go to http://abfilms.org.uk , enter the film title in the search box and scroll down or just use one of the screening menus. We thought it worth mentioning this now, because the various special events this month do not really allow Martin to report your reactions. In any case, especially when there are a large number of comments, he can only give a selection in the limited time available before the screening starts.