Minutes of the Committee Meeting of Tuesday 2 November, 2004, held at 12.30 a.m. in the Thirkill Room, Clare College.

1. Present:

Executive Officers: Harry Blake (HB), Stephen Cleobury (SC), Martin Ennis (ME), Simon Fairclough (SF), Shona Fenion (SF), Liz Harvey (EH), Maggie Heywood (MH.), Craig Hudson (CH), Sam Hudson (SH), Tagbo Ilozue (TI), Gordon Lawrence (GL), Richard Neill (RN), Claire Pike (CP)

Co-opted members: John Barber (JB), Tim Brown (TB), Caroline Goulder (CG),

  1. Apologies: Aidan Brown (AB), Dora Kemp (DK), Max Pappenheim (MP), Beth Thompson (ET), Chris Ward (CW), Jo Whitehead (JW)

3. Minutes

The minutes of the meeting of 16.10.04 were approved and signed.

4 Matters arising

The follow-up questionnaires to audiences will be carried out next term, not this term.

6.ii CUMS Chamber Concert on 20 October went very well and the choir would like to give another concert next term, perhaps with CUBE if a suitable date and venue can be found. The chairman invited the conductor of the small choir, Sam Hudson, to bring a proposal to the next meeting. Action SH

7. The CUMS II Tour report is on the web.

8. The parts for the new composition have been prepared and the conductor was awaiting the score.

10. There has not been time, since the last committee, for a meeting between the Treasurer and the chairman of the strategy sub-committee to produce a financial forecast. Action: DK/JW

12. The Chairman reported that he had raised the question of opening the Faculty Bar after rehearsals informally, and he would be willing to take a specific proposal to the next Faculty Board if one of the ensemble reps would like to send one to him.

Action: Reps

20. The date of the AGM was discussed but not fixed. It was agreed that time should be allowed for discussion beforehand if possible to enable the whole membership to air its views.

5 Remuneration of the Secretary and Conductor

The committee accepted the recommendation of the sub-committee that the Conductor should be paid in line with the recommended rates set out by `Making Music' and the Secretary in line with University rates for a similar posts. It was agreed that so far as possible the remuneration should be paid, as at present, from the annual revenue of the Society, but that any shortfall should, for the time being, be made up from the CUMS Fund, subject to the approval of the Trustees. It was further agreed that the new rates should be introduced retrospectively from the start of this academic year. It was noted that the new rate of remuneration for the Conductor was only just above the minimum rates recommended by the Musician's Union for such work, and that it should be reviewed on an annual basis, with a view to making an annual incremental rise.

The Chairman added that the unanimous decision of the committee to proceed with the increased payments to the Conductor and Secretary payments was a mark of the committee's respect and gratitude for what both Stephen and Maggie have done for the society for so long.

6 Revision of Constitution

The committee went through the paper submitted to the meeting by the chairman, and a wide-ranging discussion ensued. In presenting his paper, Mr Brown, endorsed by Mr Cleobury, made it clear that in his view there were some matters of real concern, but others that perhaps did not warrant significant change. Mr Cleobury made the point that in view of so much change of the past year, it was indeed prudent not to be over-hasty in making changes to the Constitution that, with hindsight, might be perceived as being `knee-jerk' reactions. It was agreed to set up a sub-committee to consider and, where appropriate, to re-write the necessary clauses, with a view to bringing proposals for constitutional changes to the AGM (the sub-committee, set up after the meeting, will consist of TB, MH, SF, CP & JW) Action: TB

The following topics were raised (numbers correspond to those of Constitution):

I Objects: ? re-name `Aims'

II Membership: clarify appeal procedure

IV Consider: annual elections for some posts, e.g. Librarian, web-master, publicity officer. Conductor & Secretary deserve separate. Paragraphs, being appointed, not elected: suggestion: initial three years plus five. Conditions of agreement/contract worth discussion (the chairman made clear that constitutional matters relating to the Conductor and Secretary would not apply to the current holders of those posts).

V Consider change of date of AGM to January, in order to allow more time for preparation

VI Student/non-student representation on sub-committees / committee. A straw vote (14 for, none against, 2 abstentions) approved the choice of either student or non-student convenor, whilst recognizing the desirability of involving students as much as possible/practicable. However, it was also recognized that non-students play a major role in the Society, especially in the Chorus, and that they are entitled to adequate representation on committees.

Elections of sub-committee might usefully occur in March, in

order to achieve greater continuity

Minutes on web before following meeting. It was agreed that a

précis should be made by the Chairman for this purpose.

7 Library

The librarian pointed out that there is no official agreement in writing between CUMS and Brian Jordan who now runs our library hire scheme. BJ needs to know how much to replace e.g. full scores, or just missing parts. The sets of `reserved stock, for CUMS use only' need to be moved out of the UL, at the request of Mr Andrewes. The librarian will produce a list of these sets for the conductors and committee to re-consider making some available for general hire.

Action: GL

The question of hiring from other sources for our own use was raised. If we ask our librarian to do any research into this all such enquiries should be recorded so that the information is available in the future.

8 Verdi Requiem

The Chairman reported that the Verdi Requiem one day event had gone well and he was grateful for the input from CUMS. He particularly wanted to record his thanks Maggie for her work in fixing the orchestra. He felt that it proved that it was possible to put on a large work in one day and such an event might be a good way for the whole society to start the year.

9 AOB

  1. The question of string players who miss a concert was raised and discussed. It was agreed that they would be allowed to continue to play the following term, but it was also agreed that players should not be able to miss more than two rehearsals per concert.

  2. It was agreed that the leaders of string sections should be encouraged to meet together and with their conductors to improve rapport and communication and also to clarify their responsibilities.

10 Date of the next meeting: Saturday 27 November at 10.30am in the Latimer Room, Clare College.