Waiheke Choral Society Annual General Meeting

AGENDA

Date: 7.00 pm 19 March 2013

Location: Whitaker's Musical Museum

Opening: The President declared the meeting open and welcomed guests and members

Present: 30 choir member were present – sorry we didn’t take the names

Apologies: Alex Balfour; Harriet Crampton, Phillip Symonds

Minutes: The Secretary read the minutes of the previous AGM.

That the Minutes be accepted Kim Dockley / Marian Knight

Carried

Matters Arising: The matter of appointment of Auditors was to have been investigated – this

having been done, it was decided that the current Auditors (Harrop &

Hargraves) remain appointed.

Annual Reports:

Musical Director: The Musical Director, Richard Melville, presented his report. He thanked

Society Members for continuing to turn up and for continuing to sing

enthusiastically.

He felt that the Mikado performances were well received and that touring the Island

with the show was both a brave and a successful operation.

He thanked the orchestra (Anne Willmann) to general applause.

“Unfortunately,” Richard said, “the Mozart concert has yet to come off: there can never be

too much practice !” but plans were well in place for the concert

still to be held in the near future.

In two months time – June 2013 – it will be 20 years since Richard took over

as Musical Director, the first performance having been “American Accent”

wherein Isabelle ______ and Mary Melville sang duets. Richard recalled that

he had feared no-one would attend, and that his new career would abruptly

end, but Waihekeans had supported the Society well. He felt he was

privileged to have been associated with the Society for such a long time.

“So long as you all keep coming along, I'll keep on coming, too” he said.

That the Musical Director's Report be received Lynn Kemeys / Janet Mayes

CARRIED

Treasurer: Mark James, the Treasurer, presented the Annual Financial Statement

(Copy attached)

For the year ended March 2013, the Society had made a profit of $1,085 –

this was slightly down on previous years due to not having put on the same

number of concerts.

Subscriptions were up on last year but so were Hall hire costs.

The matter of having the books reviewed / audited is a big expense – even a

“review” (ie, not a full audit) cost $431 last year, or 33% of Society profits.

An audit would cost much more. However, Mark is to attend a meeting on

“Financial Reporting for Charities” and he will report back to Committee and

Members.

That the Treasurer's Report be received: Maya Spence / Eileen Boghurst

CARRIED

President: Andy Spence presented his Report

President's report March 2013

The past year has been very rewarding and very challenging at the same time. Firstly I must thank our very hard-working Committee – Dee and Mark in particular. They made the logistics of our touring Mikado an interesting diversion rather than a logistical nightmare! We had great fun putting together the costumes and the scary make-up. We also had good audiences and a lot of fun putting it on. Our thanks must also go to our orchestral support – Anne on piano.

However I must say that the choral part of our year has been a bit of a disaster...

(sings)

As someday it may happen that a victim must be found

I've got a little list

I've got a little list....

There's those pestilential soloists who never can be found

The sopranos and the others that we'd love to run to ground

I've got them on my list !

But then an orchestra with instruments all lining up to play

Who don't require a stipend and would rather like to pay

And a pianist who loves Mozart with all those twiddly bits

They sure are sorely missed

They sure are sorely missed

But hopefully we will soon be able to get everyone necessary for the performance in the same place at the same time to put the concert on. I've never known such a long run of complications and I really hope I don't again. There is probably a lesson to be learnt here that we would be best to work within our local pool of available talent when considering shows.

I'd like to say a huge thank-you to Richard for his tireless patience in getting this choir to sing seemingly impossible music. This is Richard's 20^th year as Musical Director of the Waiheke Choral Society, and I would like to propose a motion at this AGM that both Richard and Mary be appointed Life Members of the Society. [This was passed by acclamation ]

This is my last year as President. I'm proud to have been President for some wonderful shows: Forum and the Mikado and particularly Fiddler on the Roof. There have been some memorable choral works of which The Messiah was my highlight. Now it's time to pass the baton on to someone with fresh enthusiasm and energy.

So I would like to nominate Susan Triggs as President.

Thank you all very much.

In his Report, Andy proposed that Richard and Mary Melville be appointed

Life Members of the Waiheke Choral Society in appreciation of the effort

they had both made on the Society's behalf. This motion was carried by

acclamation.

That the President's Report be received: George Blanchard / Dee Austring

CARRIED

General Business:

Subscriptions:

That the annual subscription remains at

$30.00 per individual

$50.00 per family

$10.00 for children and students

Phillip Symonds was re-appointed as Membership Secretary, to be responsible for

collecting fees and for encouraging membership

Proposed: Mark James / Dee Austring CARRIED

Election of Officers and Committee:

Musical Director: Richard agreed to be reappointed as Musical Director for the coming

year. This was greeted by spontaneous applause.

Proposed Marian Knight / Maya Spence CARRIED

President: Andy nominated Susan Triggs as the new President

Proposed Maya Spence / Nassai Herren CARRIED

Treasurer: Mark James agreed to remain as Treasurer – CARRIED unanimously

Secretary: Andy nominated Kirsten Kesting as Secretary

Proposed Andy Spence / Dee Austring CARRIED

Communications co-ordinator:

Dee Austring agreed to remain as Co-ordinator

Proposed Mark James / Marian Knight CARRIED

Committee: Phillip Symonds, Lyn Kemeys, Maya and Andy Spence, Mala

Somersun and Nicolas Herren all volunteered – in addition, two

Youth Members were appointed to the committee for the first time:

Nassai and Saskia Herren

Signatories: Existing signatories are Andy, Mark and Phillip. Susan Triggs to be added to this list

Meeting Closed: Susan thanked the Outgoing President for all his work over the last three years,

and declared the meeting closed at 7.30pm.