Chairman’s Update, July 2020

Dear Member,

I do hope that, for those of you who logged in to the online lecture on Wednesday 1st July, you enjoyed it – I thought it was a fascinating insight into a piece of the artistic history and culture of the UK that I knew very little about.

This is a brief update on three important matters:

AGM results
Many thanks to those of you who took the time to vote in our first ever online/postal AGM. We had 314 votes cast, 95 by post and 219 online so a really good turnout and thank you all again for that.

All the resolutions were passed by overwhelming majorities; I have chosen not to include the details of voting on each resolution in this update but if anyone wishes to see the detailed results please contact the secretary; these results will, as usual, be included in the minutes of this AGM which will go out with the papers for the 2021/22 AGM.

As a result of the AGM, John Clark has now formally stepped down as Short Breaks secretary and that role is now shared by Roz Crampton and Kate Varney as Joint Secretaries. I am also delighted to welcome Dr. Susan Dunnett to the Committee who has been elected as the Days of Special Interest Secretary.

Subscriptions
The resolution to set the subscription at £48 for 2020/21, with a reduction to £35 for existing members in 2019/20 renewing their membership, was approved at the AGM.

As usual, subscriptions are due by no later than the end of July 2020 and I, and probably even more so, the membership secretary would be most grateful if you could arrange to pay your subscription by the due date.

2020/21 Programme Card
We are currently in the process of compiling the 2020/21 programme card and expect to mail it out to members on August 20th. This will, as usual, contain all the key information on our programme of events for 2020/ 21.

You will see from it that our current planning assumption is that the first time we think it is realistic for us to be able to return to the Spa Centre is for the February 2021 lecture. You will also see that there will be an online lecture every month up to, and including, January 2021. Details of all lectures are now available on this website.

Clearly events may change such that we can return to the Spa Centre either earlier or later than our current assumption but, in any event and as I have said before, our first priority will be to make sure that you, our members, can participate safely.

As always, if you have any concerns or matters that you wish to raise please do not hesitate to contact me.

Best wishes and stay safe and well.

Shaun Pitt
Chairman
3rd July 2020