MINUTES of TADS Annual General Meeting, held on 27 March 2007 at the Wheatpieces Community Centre, Tewkesbury. The meeting opened at 8.05 pm.
Present : Jane Hughes, Oonagh Hughes, Richard Hughes, Pam Jell, Martin Oakes, Hannah Moore, Kate Matthews, Geoff Matthews, Sarah Warrington, Liza Otter, Philip Davis, Stephanie Kettell, Anthony Guy, Alberto Hormeňo, Joseph Harper, Geoff Guy (Vice-Chairman), John Williams (Treasurer), Brenda Read-Brown (acting Secretary).
Apologies: Mike Babb (Chairman), Paula Fancini-Hooper, John Elliott, Mary Clark, Laura Giles, Pat Davis, Jimmy and Isobel Caldwell .
Minutes The Minutes of the last meeting were read, approved and signed.
Matters arising
Richard has spoken to the Roses’ management about the theatre hire fee; the fee charged to TADS is still cheaper than the hire fee paid by any other organisation, and there is no possibility of a reduction. Mike Babb had said the same. It was suggested, however, that perhaps the Roses could do more for TADS in return, although what this might be was not clear.
It was pointed out that the loss made by Educating Rita was not solely due to the Boys Brigade hut hire cost; we didn’t sell enough tickets to cover the costs.
The possibility of funding from Nat West must be remembered for future productions; the only reason why Nat West did not provide funding for Educating Rita was that the play contained language of which they did not approve.
Treasurer's report (attached)
The Treasurer’s report is attached to these minutes. This has not been a bad year; we made a loss of only £74.19p. Christmas Carol more or less broke even (the final position is not yet clear), as did Don’t Give It Another Thought. Membership subscriptions pay for insurance, the website, and GDA membership.
Overall, approximately £938 is in the Building Society and available for use. John is still trying to recover the money held in the Factory account (possibly several hundred pounds), and bring it back into TADS main account, given that there seems little chance of the Factory restarting.
(Note: there was a query about the decision made regarding the Factory money. The acting Secretary has since checked minutes of past meetings and can confirm that it was agreed that Factory money should be amalgamated with the normal TADS’ account.)
Action:
JW to check that insurance has been paid.
JW to continue attempts to recover Factory money.
6. Chairman’s report (attached)
The Chairman, Mike Babb, is in hospital, but before he was admitted he prepared a report, which was read by the Vice-Chairman, Geoff Guy. A vote of thanks to Mike was proposed by Philip Davis, seconded by Brenda Read-Brown, and passed unanimously.
7. Election of Officers
Mike Babb had resigned from his post as Chairman; Geoff Guy resigned as Vice-Chairman; Brenda Read-Brown was only acting as Secretary. Geoff thanked Brenda for stepping in as secretary after Pat Davis left.
The following nominations had been made:
Oonagh Hughes as Chairman
Hannah Moore as Vice-Chairperson
Laura Giles as Secretary
John Williams as Treasurer.
In each case only one nomination had been received, and so all those nominated were appointed.
Brenda Read-Brown proposed a vote of thanks to Geoff Guy, which was seconded by Liza Otter and passed unanimously.
Oonagh Hughes took over as Chairman for the remainder of the meeting.
8. Any other business
Richard Hughes asked whether Paula Fancini-Hooper has left TADS finally or will be returning; it appears that she has moved to Upton-on-Severn and will be acting with TADS again. He also asked how many people can, or would be willing to, sing, bearing in mind his intention to produce a play with music. Several people responded that they would be interested, and his suggestion met with general approval.
Brenda Read-Brown read a short version of her director’s report (attached) for Don’t Give It Another Thought . She showed the cup won at the Cheltenham One-Act Play Festival for best original play. DGIAT received other nominations: Paula Fancini-Hooper for best actress; Richard Hughes, Hannah Moore and Joe Harper for best supporting rôle.
Oonagh Hughes asked that everyone present should bring a friend and ideas to the next TADS meeting, arranged for 8 pm on April 17th, in the Morecambe Room at the Roses.. The aim for this meeting would be to look at next year as a year for getting back on track. We could perhaps look at different venues, such as the barn at Stoke Orchard; and at presenting more popular plays, or school examination set texts. Geoff Guy pointed out, for new members, that we have no committee meetings as such – all members are welcome at TADS meetings.
Philip Davis commented that ordinary business takes up most of the time at meetings, and that perhaps a special ideas meeting should be arranged, but Brenda pointed out that there had been no quorate meetings for some time, and there were no current productions, so that in effect there was no outstanding TADS business at present. The treasurer’s report would be the only normal business for the next meeting.
Oonagh agreed to look after sponsorship business.
Hannah Moore mentioned the Tewkesbury Festival, due to take place at the end of May. She will find whether any suitable venues are available for Sunday 27th May; if there are, we will present DGIAT. It was agreed that we should go ahead and present DGIAT in the Gloucestershire one-act play festival. Richard will book the Morecambe room for some rehearsals, and Brenda will book one evening in the Boys Brigade hut for a rehearsal the week before the festival, on 30th or 31st May.
9. Next meeting
The next meeting was provisionally arranged for 17th April, 8 p.m., in the Morecambe Room at the Roses.
10. Next AGM
The date for the next AGM is to be arranged later.
The meeting closed at 9.15 p.m.
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Oonagh Hughes (Chairman)