General Meeting Agenda - 2024
1 Receive apologies
2 Accept the minutes of last General Meeting - November 2022
3 Identify any matters arising, not included below.
4 Chairman’s 2023 Report
5.1 Conductor
5.2 Music Scribe
6 Treasurer’s 2023 Report (we need to formally accept this)
7 Webmaster / email list / web volunteers
8 Church
9 WGMA
10 Seek/appoint/confirm the above officers and other committee members: Denise (church) and Julia (WGMA)
11 Quire materials and archive
12 Events
13 any other items
Minutes for General Meeting 19th November 2022
The meeting was well attended with everybody staying on for it after the quire practice. There were a few apologies related to health and fitness.
The business of the meeting
1 Dave Middleton was appointed treasurer and gave appreciative comments on the work of Barry Clay and his careful and historically interesting record keeping.
2 The meeting approved the application to NatWest Bank for a bank account under their rules for community groups.
The account will be operated by two signatories: the Treasurer, Dave Middleton and Chairman, Mike Stevens.
These nominees can be replaced or added to as needs arise.
3 Our conductor, Brian David, gave an uplifting assessment of our musical progress and performances during the year and he received a warm vote of thanks. He was confirmed in post by acclamation.
4 Webmaster, John Clayton, reported on the website. He mentioned the imminent addition of the Weston Manuscript with password access. In response to some technical issues, the website will be moved to a new Service Provider in the near future. That may involve a brief unavailability.
John described the process of creating a new email contact list - everyone will be emailed to authorise their inclusion . A printed list was available for checking and all are exhorted to do so. (If you have received this email and did not tick the list at the meeting, please confirm to me.)
5 Thanks were expressed to Chris and Denise Gudgin for the welcome of the church, it’s facilities and their refreshments. There was much applause.
6 The proposal was made to increase the sub from £2 to £3 to increase the payment to the church for heating should this be needed. It was generally affirmed that a decision could be made by the officers and committee if, and when, required.
7 Julia Jacobs was thanked for her entertaining articles about the choir published in the WGMA newsletter, with a hearty recommendation that individuals should seek membership of this excellent organisation.
8 The incumbent Chairman/Secretary sought volunteers for either or both of these tasks. He was invited to continue in post, nem con.
He accepted and was thanked by the meeting for his efforts.
9 Volunteers were sought and accepted for the committee. Your committee is now the Chairman, the Treasurer, the Conductor, the Webmaster and Denise and Julia.
10 Events
10th December, rehearsal at 9:30 /10:00, followed by the Dementia Café community event at 11:00. Please come in costume.
8 January, Plough Service at Aslackby 11:15 for 11:30, in costume please. There will be lunch after, and country dancing to a band, please contribute a pudding. April, most likely Saturday, the 1st of April, Bottesford Methodist Church, in costume please. Details will follow.
20-21 May, Folkingham Georgian Fair this is a costume event Saturday and Sunday, Saturday morning most likely and Sunday afternoon.
All the above were accepted and committed to diaries. Please make sure they are in your diary.
11 Special thanks
On behalf of the Quire the chairman will write to Pete Shaw to thank him and recognise his unique contribution in forming and developing the choir.
The Chairman will also write to Barry Clay, our first Treasurer, and Victoria Clay, our first Chairman to thank them both for their years of friendship and participation in the Quire.
The meeting was closed at 12:10 pm.
Thank you to all who attended and helped the meeting to be so effective.
Mike Stevens (Chairman/Secretary)
Chairman's General Meeting Report - 2024
We are looking at the activities of 2023 during which we began to put previous disruptions behind us. We caught up with the Bottesford Chapel bicentenary (+ a bit) and the Folkingham Georgean event that had been affected by the death of Queen Elizabeth in 2022. We also sang at Horbling and several members attended events at Byfield and Retford. We continued our close relationship with St James' church through the Plough Service and the Christmas Cafe.
We all age and are sometimes unwell or injured, with several members finding the need to withdraw for a while or stop completely. These are friends and colleagues. We miss them of course and wish them well. We are a community strengthened by kindness and I think we all find that a great support. Membership, however, has not dwindled, as our Conductor has observed (currently 44 active members). We welcome newcomers and they must feel that or they wouldn't stay.
We had a hiatus in our web communications and I'm pleased with the extra involvement of Michael Cockerill and Dave Middleton in support of John Clayton and the Conductor. Keeping things going requires a lot of work and effort, unsung. So thank you guys.
We are still a small and fairly loose organisation, but we are now required to be more exact in finance and banking. Dave Middleton has worked his way through the banking fog and we are truly "legit". Thank you Dave.
Where would we be without the safe haven of this church and the care and preparations of Chris and Denise Gudgin? Thank you, we are fortunate indeed.
I'd like to mention the WGMA (West Gallery Music Association). Membership is for individuals only, not for Choir organisations. It is a conduit for wider communication with others via regular newsletters. Julia regularly contributes "news from the Greenwood" which I always find interesting (and informative), an archive in itself.
Ah, yes, ARCHIVE!
Pete Shaw, our founder and first Musical Director, has generously gifted the Quire his researches into West Gallery music that informed our first faltering steps, together with song books and singing day sheets from which some of our early material emerged. We need to assess it and find a way to conserve and make use of it.
Other local material has emerged that several of us have within our own individual researches.
There are several other reports for you to read and I invite anyone to offer support or take on a role.
I look forward to seeing you all on Saturday.
Mike
Mike Stevens - Chairman
Conductor's Report 2023/24
Another year has seen the Quire grow in strength in every way. We have many more members, and musical standards improve all the time. We are particularly fortunate that we have some excellent new players in the band, enabling us to continue and progress despite other musicians having had to depart. I am especially grateful to Michael Cockerill for taking on the task of music setting and production of sound files. This has allowed us to add several new numbers to our repertoire over the past year, and more are in the pipeline. I would also like to thank Ken Baddley for taking a rehearsal and bringing us new material. Thanks also to our chairman, the website team and of course Chris and Denise. Nothing would be possible without the work of all these people.
The impression I have is that we are all enjoying singing and playing, which of course is vital. My philosophy is always that sounding as good as we can is part of the satisfaction of what we do, and I thank you for your patience and dedication in letting me push you as well as lead you from time to time! We are a remarkable organisation and I believe we bring joy to ourselves and others.
Brian David - Conductor
Music Scribe Report 2023/24
During the year I have transcribed four new pieces which have been added to the Musical Resources section on the Website.
There are Gibraltar, Sovereignty and Tranquility which have all been performed by the Quire during the year and Celestial City which is waiting ‘in the wings’ for its first outing!
For those interested in the process, each piece requires me to transcribe a master score, which once agreed with Brian, is then used to generate the 12 separate scores and 10 individual audio files that are needed to populate the website.
Looking forward to this year’s challenges!
Michael Cockerill - Music Scribe
Treasurer's Report
We commenced 2023 with a total balance of £685.91. The year ending December 2023 recorded an accrued balance of £943.91. This was made up of a surplus of income over expenditure (£257.90) and the balance brought forward of £685.91 from 2022. For further details please see the attached financial summary below.
Current position - After expenditure in January 2024 the total balance as of the 19/1/24 was £763.81 (Bank £672.81 + Cash £92.00)
In addition to the details shown below donations on the door for Bottesford Chapel Bicentenary performance in April 2023 raised a total of £410.50 in aid of the MND Association (£150.50 of which was Gift Aided).
David Middleton - Treasurer
Greenwood Quire Accounts 2023
