2009 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Wyck Rissington Village Hall
On Sunday 26th July 2009 at 11am
This is notice to all members of the forthcoming Annual General Meeting, to which all members will be welcome.
The Cotswold Sheep
Annual General Meeting
Wyck Rissington Village Hall, Gloucestershire
On Sunday 10th August 2008
Present Were: Mrs P Quinn (President), Mr E Freeman (Vice President)
Mr R Palmer (Chairman), Mrs L Foster (Secretary)
Together With: Mr R
Mumford, Mr R Harvey Long, Mrs P Quinn, Mrs M Pursch, Mrs F Whiteman, Mr N
Shelton, Mrs Y Froehlich,
Mr P Froehlich, Mr D Bevan, The Hon Mrs Reid, Mrs J Wilkie, Mr J Henson, Mrs J
Colburn, Mrs M Cross, Mr D Cross, Master P Cross, Mr A Loker, Mr E Freeman, Mr R
Smith, Mrs K Elliott, Mr R Leach, Mr R Boodle, Mrs K Kay, Mr N Kay, Mrs Y Brown
The Chairman welcomed everyone to the Annual General Meeting and thanked Mr and Mrs D Cross and their son Philip very much for hosting the event.
Apologies for Absence
Apologies for absence were received from Mr S Gibbings, Mrs L Gibbings, Mr S Parkes, Mrs L Parkes, Mrs C Cunningham, Mr T Jackson and Miss A Garne.
Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on 15th July 2007
The Chairman asked those present if they were in favour of the minutes being signed as a true record (proposed by Mr R Mumford, seconded by Mrs M Pursch) and all were in favour.
Matters Arising
There were no matters arising.
Chairman’s Report
Please find attached a copy of the Chairman’s report.
At the end of the Chairman’s report Mr N Kay thanked Mr R Palmer very much for all his hard work over the past 12 months as Chairman.
Treasurer’s Report
Mr R Palmer read out the Treasurer’s report, a copy of which is attached.
Adoption of Accounts for Year Ended 31sdt March 2008.
All members had been sent a copy of the Accounts with the July newsletter so the Chairman asked the members present if they had any questions regarding the accounts.
Mr N Kay suggested that more newsletters and enclosures could be emailed (particularly to members in foreign countries) rather than posting hard copies to them. It was noted that Council had thought that everyone should receive a hard copy as well. The Secretary will ask members in the October newsletter to contact her if they wish to only receive an emailed copy of the newsletter with its enclosures.
Mr R Boodle pointed out that the donations must have been more erratic within that period for the gift aid figure to be down.
Mr R Leach wanted to thank Mrs L Parkes so much for all her hard work over the last 12 months especially with organising the recent Sale which was certainly not her fault that it had a disappointing outcome.
The Chairman requested that the accounts for the year to 31st March 2007 be adopted. The accounts were agreed and adopted (proposed by Mr R Harvey Long and seconded by Mrs K Kay), all in favour.
Election of Officers of the Society
Mrs Quinn was nominated to stand again as President; Mrs Quinn accepted.
Mrs E Freeman was nominated to stand again as Vice President; Mr Freeman accepted.
Mr R Palmer was nominated as Chairman (proposed by Mrs P Quinn, seconded by Mr J Henson); Mr Palmer accepted
Mrs Y Froehlich was nominated to stand again as Vice-Chairman (proposed by Mr R Harvey Long, seconded by Mr R Smith); Mrs Froehlich accepted.
Three nominations had been received for new Council members; Mr D Cross, Mrs C Cunningham and The Hon Mrs A Reid. The Chairman said these three nominations could therefore automatically be nominated onto the Council.
The Chairman nominated Mr R Mumford to be co-opted onto the Council for a further year. This was seconded by Mr D Cross and Mr R Mumford accepted.
Re-Appointment of Hon Auditor
The Chairman thanked Mr Kingsmill for his services to the Society and asked that he should be reappointed as auditor. Proposed by Mrs Y Froehlich and seconded by Mr R Smith and all in favour for his reappointment.
The Chairman suggested that Mr Kingsmill should be offered a free advertisement in the next flock book. Mr P Froehlich said we should check with him first. Mr N Shelton suggested that he should continue to be given a free ticket to the Moreton Show.
Membership Subscription fees
The Chairman read out a piece from the Council Meeting held on 28th May 2008 minutes in respect of a proposed increase in membership subscription fees.
“Although it would not affect Income for 2008/09 it was unanimously agreed that a motion should be laid before the 2008 AGM to increase the Membership Subscription from £20 to £30 pa. A second Membership class – Associate Membership would be created. The subscription for Associate Membership would be £20. An Associate Member would be entitled to all the benefits of full membership, excepting that they would not be allowed to vote at any AGM or EGM, would not be entitled to a complimentary copy of the annual Flock Book and would not be entitled to register their sheep.”
This motion was proposed by Mr R Mumford, seconded by Mrs J Colburn and all in favour of the suggested proposal as set out above.
Mr J Henson asked that everyone should be sent a new bankers order form with the updated amount in the New Year along with another Gift Aid form. It was agreed that these would be included with the January 2009 newsletter.
Mr P Froehlich offered to put these two forms onto the website as well.
Mr D Smith suggested that members email addresses could be included in the next flock book.
Any Other Business
Registration fees for Cotswold rams: Mr N Kay asked that further thought should be given as to the Council’s decision to raise the cost of registering all rams to £25. He said he thought that the decision had been taken with the Council’s “best intentions” but that it may have been done “mistakenly”. Members only wanted to use good quality Cotswold rams and he thought the registration fee would be inconsequential to the quality of rams used. He understood that it was not to raise more money for the Society and therefore he believed it would be against the members’ interest as members would think twice about registering their rams. In terms of “genetic diversity” he felt it important to actively encourage ram registrations.
Mr P Froehlich agreed with Mr Kay’s comments and said it was important not to loose good blood lines. He felt that the quality of rams used would not be improved by increasing the registration fee.
Mr R Mumford broadly agreed with Mr N Kay that diversification was very important. He suggested that maybe some rams could be registered at a cheaper rate and after registering 2 or 3 rams then maybe a higher premium should be paid for subsequent ones.
Mrs K Kay said the original discussion at Council was to try and maintain the quality of rams used and on reflection she didn’t feel the quality would be improved. She has since read several articles on the importance of genetic diversity and therefore now thinks the matter should be reconsidered.
Mr R Palmer clarified the current position: it costs nothing to birth notify a ram but it would cost £25 to register the ram the following year and subsequent years after birth.
Mr E Freeman thought there was a surplus of rams. He suggested that all rams should be looked at separately and fed well.
Mr R Leach supported Mr Freeman’s comments. He felt that with the disappointing last Show members may not bother to rear rams and that good geno typing had not helped with the production of good rams.
Mr P Froehlich thought the quality of the “Cotswolds” had improved every year. He re-iterated that we should look at the wider picture as he didn’t want to risk loosing the blood lines.
Mrs J Colburn wanted to congratulate Mr R Harvey Long on his winning fleece (99 points out of 100) at the NSA Sheep 2008.
Mr J Henson suggested the geneped system was used. Mr P Froehlich said this system could be used at no cost of the Society. It was agreed to try this.
After much discussion the Chairman asked the members if they felt the increase was correct or would the members prefer the matter to go back to Council for reconsideration. It was unanimously agreed that the matter should be returned to Council for further consideration.
Links between the Society and RBST: Mr N Skelton asked what the problems had been between the Society and the RBST as he understood that we used to show at Melton Mowbray but this had stopped due to hard feelings between both parties.
Mrs P Froehlich said that the Council were often talking about members outside the immediate Cotswold area and that the Council were working on ways to include members further away and that she would not like them to feel forgotten in any way.
Mrs P Quinn said she thought the Society had stopped going to Melton Mowbray as it meant an overnight stay for many members and the Registrar had thought that maybe sheep had been sold there which had not be registered. Mrs P Quinn also said there had been a problem with database information not being used correctly by the RBST but this had been a long time ago and it was hoped that matters could now move on.
The Chairman said the matter might be resolved if we have the Sale at Stoneleigh next year. The Chairman said he thought that the Society should now re-address the relationship with the RBST as he hoped the Society could now emerge as “adults” on the matter.
Mr P Froehlich pointed out that it would be brilliant if Stoneleigh could be used but that the Society did not need to have their own Sale – all we actual need is a site and there were lots of options of “piggy backing” onto another sale.
Mr R Leach said that the Auctioneers of the Gloucestershire Sale would be very happy for the Society to “tag” onto one of their sales next year.
Mr E Freeman said he had read an article in the ARK which listed breeds which could sell their wool privately but that the Cotswolds were not included in the list. Mrs K Kay said it was in our hands as we only needed to make an application to BWMB be included.
Ear tags - Mr R Smith raised the matter of the ear tags. The Chairman explained that this had been discussed many times at Council but that so members were not put too extra cost at this stage Council had decided to put the matter “on hold” until the introduction of electronic tagging which is due in the next couple of years.
Wool Competition: Mr J Henson asked if there was enough wool for the wool competition as he thought it was a brilliant idea. The Chairman said he would be providing the wool.
Society Stand: Mr P Froehlich asked if Council could consider replacing the current stand which takes two people to put up and dismantle and it costs a fortune to take it around the country. Mrs P Quinn said she thought it should be updated. Mrs K Kay said she was already looking into funding for it.
Voyce Pullin Sale at Cirencester market on 14 August: Mrs M Pursch read out an advertisement saying there were 30 Cotswold ewes/rams to be disposed of in the Sale on 14th August. She would look into this further.
As there was no other business the Chairman thanked everyone for attending and closed the meeting at 12.45pm.