MINUTES of an Extraordinary General Meeting of TADS held on 21 May 2008 at The Roses Theatre. Meeting started at 7.30 pm.
1. Present:
Geoff Guy, Richard Hughes, Oonagh Hughes, Brenda Read-Brown, John Williams, Martin Oakes, Jimmy and Isobel Caldwell.
Jane Hughes as non-voting observer.
2. Apologies:
Tony Guy, Liza Otter, Mike Babb, Joe Harper, Hannah Moore, Penelope Tubbs, Amanda Thomas.
3. The EGM had been convened to discuss and decide upon the proposed change of name.
The proposal had been made at previous meetings because the word “Amateur” does not reflect the standard of our productions. The original suggestion was that the name should be changed to Tewkesbury Arts and Drama Society – this would have the added bonus of reflecting the range of artistic ability (singing, dancing, playing, writing, visual arts) within the society.
Geoff felt that the word “Society” implied that we were amateurs. Jimmy pointed out that amateur meant, strictly, that we do it out of love rather than for payment, but the word has come to have derogatory implications. The fact is also that our ticket prices are only slightly below those of many professional companies, but people are reluctant to spend so much money on amateur productions.
Several people felt unwilling to lose the TADS acronym, because we have, as a society, built up a following; people know that our productions will be of a high standard. If we changed the name significantly, we would have to add “formerly known as” to posters, flyers, etc.
Some alternative proposals were put forward. The final list of possibilities was:
no name change
Tewkesbury Arts and Drama Society
Tewkesbury Drama
TADS, with no explanation of the letters. The disadvantage of this would be that people would still ask what it stood for.
Tewkesbury Arts and Drama
Tewkesbury Arts and Drama Company
Theocsblood
With a series of votes, these were eliminated until only Tewkesbury Arts and Drama Society and Tewkesbury Arts and Drama Company remained. Richard proposed that we should change the name to Tewkesbury Arts and Drama Society; this was seconded and the vote was in favour. It was also agreed that the points raised had been good ones and that the discussion had been worthwhile.
The change of name will mean changes to the Constitution, the website, bank accounts, insurance policies, and with the GDA.
Actions:
Brenda to inform GDA of the change of name.
John to change bank accounts and insurance.
Martin to change the website.
Oonagh to write to Deborah to inform her of the change of name, and to inform the Tewkesbury Observer.
4. The meeting closed at 8:10 pm.