AGM
MINUTES OF THE AGM 2009 The Annual General Meeting of the Old Brutonian Association was held in the John Davie Room at King’s School, Bruton at 11 a.m. on Saturday, June 20th, 2009. The President, Col. John Longman, was in the chair and 18 members of the Association were present. Apologies were received from the Hon. Treasurer, Michael Harvey (N/P41/45), Keith Lilly (O39/42), Colin Jones (Hon. Member) and Jack Rammell (N43/47). 1. The Minutes The Minutes of the last AGM, held on Saturday, June 21st, 2008, having been circulated with the Newsletter for 2009, were agreed and signed as a true record. 2. Matters Arising There were no matters arising. 3. President’s Items a. The President thanked Sally Snook (72/73), the Editor of the Newsletter, now renamed The Old Brutonian, for another outstanding publication. b. The President stressed the School’s need for its own swimming-pool, the old pool being now out of commission. In the present financial climate, such a building project would have to wait. However, he proposed to start raising funds at the next London Lunch and to take up the issue with the new Headmaster. c. He spoke of the death of Sgt. Ben Ross of the Royal Military Police who was killed on active service in Afghanistan in May and whose funeral was held in St Mary’s Church on May 26th. It was planned that Ben’s name and details should join the other names of the fallen engraved in the Memorial Hall and that an appeal for funds for the refurbishment of the Hall should be launched in Ben’s memory. This had the approval of Ben’s widow and of his family. 4. Hon. Secretary’s Report a. The Hon. Secretary reported that the OBA Office was now fully established in the Basil Wright Reception Centre b. The OBA possessed a complete set of the School magazine, The Dolphin, dating from its inception in 1892. These individual copies were now in the process of being bound into volumes to preserve them for posterity. The Old Brutonian newsletters had been similarly bound or would be bound in due course. c. To help the Hon. Treasurer with the day-to-day running of the Association’s finances, a professional accountant had been appointed by the Committee on a small monthly retainer. This is Mr Simon Hillier who is a School parent. 5. Hon. Treasurer’s Report In the absence of the Hon. Treasurer, the President reported on the 2008 accounts from notes provided by James Spinney. a. The OBA’s investments were not immune to the global downturn and it was necessary to record a loss of £19,000. Whilst investment income was only marginally affected in 2008, it is expected to decline more markedly in 2009. b. The cash position of the Association remains satisfactory and will benefit from the completion of the transitional subscription income arrangements. c. Where the Charitable Trust was concerned, the Trustees have responded to the declining level of charitable donations and to the bleak outlook for short-term investment growth and investment income by allocating scholarships on a principle of dire need and availability of funds rather than on the automatic allocation of a set sum.
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d. The Trustees are confident that a period of consolidation, while asset values and associated income recover, will allow the Trust to resume a higher level of activity in the future. 6. The Charitable Trust: Vice-President’s Report a. The Vice-President announced the OBA prizewinners for the current academic year. The OBA Prize for Excellence in GCSE (2008) was awarded to Bridget Harris (Priory) who took eight subjects, gaining 7 A*s and 1 A. OBA Progress Prizes were awarded to Lucinda Chester (Wellesley) and Thomas Hunt (New), both in the Lower 6th, and also to Jessica Robertson (Priory) who is in the Upper 6th. This year’s OBA Graduate Prize had been awarded to both Victoria Barns-Graham (P00/05) and William Winborn (P/A99/04). Victoria graduated with a First in Law from Merton College, Oxford and is currently studying for a BCL degree as well as doing some lecturing in the University. William gained a First in Materials Science at St Anne’s College, Oxford and is now studying for a Doctorate of Philosophy at the same university. b. OBA Scholarships are currently held by five members of the School: James Otieno, Emma Burgess, Theo Scaramanga, Tim Cameron and Matthew Wilcox. Matthew leaves school at the end of the current term and a new OBA scholar, Max Dellwhite, enters the 3rd Form in September. c. One-off awards have been made to Tim Abbey, a current pupil, who was given £200 towards the cost of a ‘cello bow, and also to Iain Parr (N02/07) who is studying Materials Science at St Edmund Hall, Oxford and who was awarded £100 to help him join the Oxford University visit to Beijing University. (See page 8) 7. Officers and Committee a. The Meeting unanimously endorsed the Committee’s recommendation of one new Committee member, Jamie Cranfield (O94/99), to replace Lizzie Sedgman (W97/99) who retires by rotation. b. The Hon. Secretary and the Hon. Treasurer agreed to serve for another year, as did the Hon. Auditor. 8. Election of an Honorary Member a. Upon a proposal by the Committee in accordance with 2 (c) of the rules of the Association, the Headmaster, Nigel Lashbrook and Malcolm Parr, President of Common Room, were unanimously elected Honorary Members of the Association. 9. A.O.B. a. Roger Gallannaugh (O54/58) informed the meeting of the monthly lunch held in The Angel at Long Ashton, Bristol for any OBs who happened to be available. b. In his capacity as a governor of the School, Roger reported that Helena Sampson (W85/87), this year’s prize-giver, is to join the other OBs on the Governing Body. c. Kevin Viney (P74/79), a Bruton Town Councillor, asked if he might have the meeting’s approval to propose to the Town Council that Ben Ross’s name be added to the Town war memorial. That approval was given unanimously. He also asked if Ben’s name would appear on any other public memorial. The President said that it would almost certainly have been engraved already on the new Armed Forces Memorial in Staffordshire and that the name would also appear on the war memorial of the Royal Military Police.
There being no other business, the meeting closed at 11.50 a.m.
The next AGM will take place on Saturday, June 26th, 2010
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