Minutes of the 16th (101st) Annual General Meeting
of the St. Beghian Society held in the Whitelaw Building
on Saturday 12th September 2009 at 11.00am.

  1. The minutes of the 100th Annual General Meeting were accepted.
  1. The Election of Officers for 2009/2010:
  2. Committee – Three of the four retiring members, R.P. Calvin, D.W. Davies and A.J.  Haile, all agreed to stand for re-election. D.F. Lord to confirm with Mrs C. Hunt her willingness to stand again. A.T. Johnston agreed to fill one of the two vacant positions.

            DFL indicated that he had several names in mind to fill the other vacant position on the Committee and would follow them up.

  1. Secretary and Treasurer – D.F. Lord agreed that he was prepared to continue.
  2. Nominative Governors –DFL proposed a vote of thanks to Matthew Rigby, appointed four years ago to the Governing Body, for the excellent job that he has done. Motion carried. MGR spoke about the new Golf Studio and Golf Foundation and invited members to go and have a look at the studio.
  3. Golfing Secretary – A.P. Fox advised that James Doggett was willing to continue.
  4. Accounts Checker – A cheque in appreciation of the work carried out was recently sent but had been returned by Jason Spires with thanks.
  5. President Elect for 2010-2012 – The President advised that he had approached Anthony Wills to be his successor and at the Committee Meeting, held earlier that morning, AJW had accepted. It had been discussed, however, at the March Committee Meeting that a Presidential third year in office is something that should be considered. Don Williams had indicated his willingness to serve for an additional year, and in view of the excellent job he was doing, the Committee were in favour of such an arrangement. At the AGM it was agreed, (A.P. Fox proposed, seconded by A.S. MacCaig) that our President, Don Williams, should serve for a period of three years. The point was made that a third year in office would only be appropriate if both the Committee and the President were in agreement.
  6. 200 Club – D.W. Davies confirmed that the September Draw had taken place at the earlier Committee Meeting. The winners were as follows:

 

1 @ £140

No.36

D.W. & P.M. Davies

4 @ £20  

No.34

A.A. Cotes

5 @ £40  

No.19

R.P. Calvin

 

No.16

M & C Holliday

 

No.18

Mrs S.J. Calvin

 

No.29

P & A Strafford

 

No.24

W.M.H. Dix

 

No.21

A.M. Wilton-Steer

 

No.54

W.E. Dove

3 @ £10

No.35

C.A. Maclachlan

 

No.26

H & J.A. Upton

 

No.48

Mrs C McKay

 

 

 

 

No.2  

G.C. Robson

    1. Grant to Golfing Society – DFL informed members that that the figure of £500 had stood for the last couple of years and was therefore proposing an increase to £600. This was voted on and agreed.

 

  1. Accounts –
  2. Old St. Beghians’ Club Guarantee Trust Fund – Following the purchase of No.8 Lonsdale in March 2008, all the properties on Lonsdale Terrace are now owned by the Society through the Guarantee Trust Fund. There are no mortgages outstanding other than on No.7 and No.8. No.7’s mortgage has reduced to £1200 and should be fully repaid by   April 2011. The mortgage on No.8 has reduced in line with the terms of the original mortgage agreement, i.e. repayment over a 20 year term.
  3. The St. Beghian Society General Account – This account made a loss as a result of Pam Rumney’s salary being paid from the       account. The situation will be reversed in 2009/10 as her salary will be paid from the Guarantee Trust Fund and in subsequent years will be split between the two accounts. In 2009/10 printing and stationery costs will reduce further as the bi-annual Bulletin hard copies are now being produced in-house.
  4. The St. Beghian Society Scholarship Fund – Whilst an improvement has been seen in recent months, the value of investments has still some considerable way to go before a return to those valuations seen during 2007. The fund continues to assist the school with monies for Bursaries.

Anthony Wills asked whether the decrease in the total amount of        grants towards school fees was due to a reduction in the number of requests received from Society members for funding.  DFL indicated that the Society was reliant on requests being received for assistance and these certainly were not as frequent as they once were. He also emphasised the fact that he does try to ensure that beneficiaries are fully deserving and that there is a real need. An advert continues to go into the Bulletin on a regular basis about the availability of bursaries. DFL advised that it is well known amongst independent schools that the number of children going to the same school as their parents is nationally very low and St. Bees is no exception to this.

  1. The St. Beghian Society Trust Funds - Consolidated Trust Fund. This account is purely used to fund prizes on Speech Day - £300 07/08, £400 08/09 with a further increase to £500 in 2009/10.
  2. No.8 Lonsdale Terrace – The Head confirmed that the builders, Highgrove Properties, were currently carrying out extensive repairs to No.8. It had been hoped that the property would be ready for occupation in September 2009 but this had not proved possible due to additional work required relating to the windows and chimneys. Abbotts Court is now surplus to requirements and a decision as to its future is yet to be made.
  3. Any other business:
    1. The Head informed the meeting of the sad news that Hugh Turpin’s wife had died yesterday, Friday 11th September.
    2. The Head also reported that two new key appointments had been made - Dan Evans as Deputy Head and Helen Gascoyne as Director of Marketing and Development. Both would be present at the Society lunch following the meeting.

  4. Date of AGM and Old St. Beghians’ Day 2010 – Saturday 18th September, 2010.

 

The meeting closed at 11.50am.


The St. Beghian Society, St. Bees School, St. Bees, Cumbria, CA27 0DS

tel: 01946 828093         
email: osb@st-bees-school.co.uk     www.st-beghian-society.co.uk