AGM Minutes 2020
Minutes of the Annual General Meeting on Thursday 20th Aug 2020 at 7pm (Zoom)
Present:
Jenny Woods Jenna Gray Janet Galpin
Amanda Armour Nicky Cosford
Heather Wears Sue Hilton
Shirley McArdle Edith Rambure-Lambert
Fiona Kelly Elaine Bailey
Barbara Jorgensen Sophie Finn
Stephen Oliver Mockie Harrison
Apologies: Amanda Welch
1. Welcome from President and apologies
Jenny Woods (President) opened the meeting and welcomed everyone present. This AGM was held as a Zoom online meeting due to Covid 19 restrictions.
2. Acceptance and Approval of the minutes of the previous AGM.
The Minutes of the 2019 AGM were approved by Amanda Armour and Shirley McArdle. They will be signed by Caroline Jennings and stored on file at the Centre once we reopen.
3. Chairman’s report (Amanda Armour)
“Hi everyone thanks for joining us (for this first Zoom AGM) .
I expect many of you have seen some of the refurbishments. Hopefully the artists in the downstairs hall are enjoying the larger and more accessible sink for washing their equipment. As well as a new food area, which I hope allows for more convenience and sociability.
The back loo and disabled toilet have both been upgraded. For those that haven’t seen the back loo – please go and enjoy. It is much lighter and cleaner than before.
The main hall has been repainted as well. Storage seems to be a perpetual problem, so a new shed is in situ around the side, for extra supplies.
Plus we have a new team of weekly cleaners in place, which I think have made a positive impact.
Regarding pottery, we have a wonderful new kiln alongside our previous one, both surrounded by security cages, which were necessary and seem to work well. We have recently added new shelving that will accommodate pots for bisque-firing and glazing. In turn this has created some extra space for work in progress upstairs. When we return a new practice can begin, whereby Potters will be responsible
for taking their own pots downstairs and placing them on the shelves ready for firing.
Anyway I hope you are all happy with the improvements and in time
we can go back to enjoying our activities and making the most of the Arts Centre.
Heather assures me, this upgrade has not broken the bank and in fact the finances of the Centre remain healthy. She will tell you more in her report.
Following the onset of Covid 19, I would like to thank the committee who have all been working tirelessly throughout lockdown. They have been superb at keeping in contact, sharing ideas and news, plus considering all the implications that Covid brings. Fiona our Health and Safety member has been thrown in at the deep end, dealing with constantly changing guidelines.
On top of that, the committee has had to re-assess the membership fees, hiring of the hall, contacting members, organising new groups, obviously the practicalities of returning and social distancing have been incredibly difficult and complicated to implement. So on a personal note I would like to thank you all, for your time,
dedication and patience and I’m sure the members do so as well.
Needless to say we are still working out a way forward in the current Covid situation and hopefully, Sophie Finn will be joining the committee and her expertise - specific to Covid safety - will guide us in the right direction.
At this point I would like to offer my resignation, as I think my target of completing the renovations has been accomplished. I have had enormous support from all the committee, especially Caroline our fantastic Secretary, who has been an excellent organiser and I would like to propose her as my replacement. Obviously I will continue to support the Committee and Centre in any way I can. Also may I thank Shirley and Heather for their time and dedication they have given to the Centre over the years.
Finally I would like to take this opportunity to remind all the members, we are a community and the art centre does not run itself – it takes time and effort – so please offer to help – where and when you can. Thanks for listening everyone”
4. Treasurers Report (Heather Wears)
Annual accounts were shared on Zoom for attendees to view.
“This financial statement covers the year before all the disruption of the Corona virus. However, it is the first year as your treasurer when I have to report that we spent more than our income. Our expenditure on the upgrade has been a huge success and both potters and painters will benefit.
The committee have held many discussions on how we proceed with managing the Arts Centre for the future. The closures will of course impact next year’s finances but this report is about last year’s figures.
You will see that we have kept well within our estimated expenditure of £25K for the refurbishment of the Centre. The figure of £29K includes the purchase of a new kiln which gives the potters much more security as it was decided to keep the second-hand kiln as a back-up. The potters endured years nurturing the very old unreliable previous kiln which was not efficient.
Our income and annual costs were very steady. Subscriptions and Session Fee income increased slightly. Our cleaning costs increased and electricity continues to be a big expense. The kiln is fired on cheap night saver rates which helps considerably. During the lock down we have saved on utility costs thankfully but Three Rivers rates, annual maintenance, and insurance inevitably increase year on year. In a normal year the Centre can run on an income of £12K and we have exceeded that in most years.
The period that this report covers is the last of a very stable and controlled period. We are now sailing in uncharted waters. I am very pleased that CCAC continues to be very popular and with our up-graded facilities will continue to prosper once the covid hiatus settles.
Thankfully we are in the happy position of being able to weather this storm which will hit next year’s figures.
I am hopeful that a new treasurer will come forward and I will continue to ensure a good handover. It is with a sense of achievement that I have steered the Centre’s finances for the last 9 years and we are in a sustainable position to survive whatever the future holds.”
6. Retiring officers
The committee stood down. Shirley McArdle as membership secretary, Heather Wears as treasurer, Amanda Armour as Chairman and Fiona Kelly as H&S Officer are not seeking re-election in those roles. Jenny thanked each in turn for their tremendous contributions to the committee. Heather and Shirley have given a tremendous amount to the Arts Centre having each been in their positions for 9/10 years! Amanda has steered us successfully through an excellent refurbishment and Fiona has gone from zero to hero as H&S officer in the coronavirus outbreak.
Thanks were also given to Stephen Oliver as pottery co-ordinator and Elaine Bailey as supplies officer - she has given the committee invaluable advice re. optimum products and supplies needed to reduce CV transmission.
7. Election of officers
The following member was re-elected:
Jenny Woods as President/Premises
Fiona Kelly proposed that Mrs Monica Harrison should take over the position of Treasurer of CCAC and be mandated as a signatory to the CCAC Accounts along with Mrs Heather Wears and Mrs Jenny Woods. Mrs Amanda Armour would cease to be a signatory as from this date. This motion was seconded by Caroline Jennings.
Additionally the following people and posts were all proposed and seconded en masse by Nicky Cosford and Jenna Gray
Heather Wears as Membership Secretary
Caroline Jennings as Chairman/Secretary
Sophie Finn as H&S officer
Fiona Kelly as Vice Chairman
We welcome Sophie and Mockie to the team and thank them for stepping forward. They each gave a brief description of their background.
8. Any questions arising
Although much work was done this summer towards opening in September the committee recently decided to delay the reopening for the following reasons:
Our attempt to pin down a safe set of guidelines for members to sign up to was continually thwarted as government and Watford/Threee Rivers community centre guidelines continued to change
When we thought about how test and trace would work in the event of a member catching coronavirus it appeared the committee would need to be on call which they, as volunteers, were not prepared to be
We needed group leaders to take on a lot of responsibility and felt that we were running out of time to get everyone trained up with deputies.
We had put in a huge amount of effort and were frankly worn out
We realise this had been very disappointing for many members. We also wish to get back to our art.
We are very lucky to have Sophie Finn joining the committee as our new H&S Officer as she has professional experience in the area of coronavirus H&S. We will look at the situation and our responsibilities afresh and hope we will have the Centre reopening in the near future.
9. Close of meeting
Jenny Woods thanked everyone present for attending and closed the meeting.
Copies to: Executive Committee, Group Leaders, Trustees, CCAC file copy.