CUMS ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

THURSDAY 19 FEBRUARY 2009

ST. ANDREW’S STREET BAPTIST CHURCH 9.45pm

Present: Simon Fairclough (Chairman), Chris Ford (Treasurer), Caroline Goulder (Chorus Manager)

and approximately 50 members. Caroline Goulder took the minutes.

Apologies were received from Jo Whitehead, Maggie Heywood, Nick Shaw, Robert Culshaw, Stephen Cleobury

The minutes of the last AGM were approved and signed.

Matters arising. There were no matters arising.

Chairman’s Report 

Last year had been an excellent year, the highlight being the CUMS 1 concert of Messiaen’s Turangalila Symphony which had received glowing reviews.

In addition, the Chorus singing the Music Makers with the Philharmonia in King’s Chapel had been successful and thanks are due to King’s College/SC for inviting the chorus to take part.

Another outstanding concert, again with very positive reviews, was a performance of Verdi’s Requiem with CUMS 1 and the Festival Chorus, a combination of college chapel choirs.

The Chairman thanked the various volunteers who helped with the organisation of the Society during 2008–09, particularly three key people: Caroline Goulder, Dan Hill and Jennifer Howells 

Stephen Cleobury was also thanked for his work as principal conductor and for generating interesting ideas and projects for the Society.

Fundraising has been successful this year: £40,000 has been raised this year from donors’ generosity, trusts and the development board. This has enabled the Peter Maxwell Davies commission for this year’s May Week Concert in June and engaging such distinguished artists such as Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Gerald Finley and Sir Roger Norrington which would not have been possible two or three years ago.

The Mahler 8 concert in Ely Cathedral in November will now be possible thanks to financial support from CUP.  Michael Sharp was thanked for enabling this.

Treasurer’s Report

Chris Ford, Senior Treasurer, distributed the year’s accounts 

Last year not much was spent on the instrument collection but the Treasurer pointed out that it is important to keep looking after the instruments as the revenue from instrument hire is so valuable to the Society.

A charity donation of £2000 was made to the Burma appeal to close the Tsunami appeal account.

£5,500 was lost on concerts due to the number of soloists and poor audiences in King’s Chapel. The CUMS 1 Turangalila concert made a loss of £3000, CUMS 1 lost £2900 overall, CUMS 2 concerts broke even, Zephyr (now CUWO) lost £1,000, 

£6000 was taken from the CUMS fund to offset losses for big concerts. 

Jo Whitehead was thanked for his vision in predicting audience numbers.

Sam Kemp was also thanked for his work on the instrument hire as well as Jo Whitehead, Nick Shaw and Chris Ford.

Thanks were also extended to Simon Fairclough, Jo Whitehead, Chris Lawrence and Michael Sharp for their work on fundraising and Christine Skeen for managing the Supporters Circle. 

Appointment of the Auditors. The appointment of CKL Partnership was approved. 

Proposed by Lies Blom-Smith

Seconded by Natasha Ritchie.

(Item 8 was discussed before item 7) 

Proposed Constitutional Amendment

Nick Shaw has offered to serve as Treasurer in order to relieve Chris Ford, Senior Treasurer, of the bulk of his workload.

       There would be an EGM to appoint both formally.

The issue of the Senior Treasurer being potentially liable for financial debt was discussed and it was agreed that the Senior Treasurer should be protected from liability.

Proposed by John Barber

Seconded by Michael Sharp

All in favour, 3 abstentions, 0 against

It was proposed that the Junior Treasurer should also be protected from liability and that this should be added to the constitution para 40 so “and Junior Treasurer” should be added after “Senior Treasurer”.

John Barber proposed a vote to approve the amended amendment.

All in favour, 4 abstentions, 0 against

[NOTE: the constitutional amendment discussed here was subsequently ratified at the EGM on 22 October 2009]

Election of Officers for 2009/10

Fund-raising Manager — Michael Sharp, Treasurer — Nicholas Shaw,  Instrument Manager — Simon Smart, Publicity Officer — Rosica Bates, Librarian — Maggie Heywood
    

Alex Selby (Webmaster) would like to reconsider his position. This will be discussed at the EGM.

All in favour,0 abstentions, 0 against

The meeting closed at 10.15pm.