Reports presented at the 179th Annual General Meeting held on 2nd April 2025 are linked from the Agenda items below.
1. Attendance and Apologies2. Minutes of the last AGM
3. Annual Statement of Accounts - Treasurer’s Report
4. Report of the Council
5. Appointment of Independent Examiner for 2025
6. Election of Officers and Council Members for 2025-2026
7. Any other Business
8. Date of next AGM: The 180th AGM will be held on Wednesday 1st April 2026
Treasurer’s Report
Report of the Council
A note of concern was raised by our retiring President last year about the future of our historic Club, thankfully we are now emerging from this period of uncertainty. While there was a determination by Council to continue, it is only through the willingness of members to take on the roles of Officers that the Club’s immediate future may be assured. We are still without the guiding presence of a President and have no formal Lecturer Secretary. Meanwhile, Council members are sharing the former role and are looking at innovative ways of putting together and running a lecture programme. Nonetheless, we hope that others may come forward so these key roles can eventually be filled.
Key points and highlights from Officers’ annual reports:
Membership - The Club’s subscription year continues to run from 1 January to 31 December; membership currently stands at 167, including 5 honorary members. We were sorry to report the deaths of members Mrs Judith Courts, the Reverend Canon Brian Andrews, Professor Timothy Darvill and ex-members Mrs Liz Major, Mr Peter Roberts and Mr ‘Lynn’ (Anthony) Steer. Having completed 2 years as Membership Secretary Clare Woodman is now standing down and handing over to John Elbert.
Lectures - The full breadth of the Club’s interests were again represented in the lectures, reviews of each of these can be found on the Lecture Reviews Web page. For the year October 2024 to May 2025, we will have had 15 presentations; a notable success being the Christmas celebration in Box. Both Sue Bennett and Paul Wyeth are now relinquishing their roles and, in the immediate absence of replacements, a small working group is pursuing some novel ideas to retain our lecture programme. The group is already keen to know of any suggestions you may have for speakers.
Events - The year’s programme of Field Activities was limited by two factors: a lack of active Field Officers and the closure of the A46 near Pitchcombe. Unfortunately, the latter meant that Officers could not plan coach trips with the usual pick-ups, because of the uncertainty of the timing and duration of the work. While this problem has now resolved, the first – the continuing lack of Field Officers – remains a major impediment. Nevertheless, four well attended, interesting and contrasting events took place in 2024: to Slimbridge for the Evening with Wild Swans, to the Textile Conservation Studio in Bristol, a follow up to Alison Lister’s talk, a guided tour of the medieval Frocester Court by CNFC member and owner Arthur Price and the successful 5-day excursion to Norfolk, including visits to Ely Cathedral, Sandringham and the Norfolk Broads. Again, reviews of these are on our Website.
Much appreciation then to those who organised the year’s outings, Peter Cornish and Jane Rowe, and Denise Magauran and Lynne O’Farrell, the latter two who are both now retiring. While we hope to facilitate the lot of those remaining through digital technology, with online booking being trialled soon, we are still looking for replacement Field Officers, even if just to arrange one event. In this regard, we are very grateful to Margaret Lister for her offer to organise an exclusive guided tour around Woodchester Mansion this June.
We should also thank Peter once again for arranging our convivial New Year’s lunch at the Frocester George Inn.
Publications - What is likely to be the final hardcopy volume of the Proceedings 49 (II/III) was published, containing a number of popular research papers, besides two erudite contributions from the former Editor, Joe Angseesing. Some of the usual content was excluded, such as the AGM reports and the Club’s Constitution, and posted to our Website instead. The full content of any future issues will probably be digital. We are now looking forward to the imminent publication of an occasional monograph, this one by Chiz Harward on Minchinhampton Church. We should acknowledge the sterling work of David Thackray and all those who were on the Research and Publication Committee in overseeing these projects.
Finally, no doubt members will wish to record thanks to all continuing and retiring Council Officers and Field Officers without whom there would be no Club, and also express gratitude to our Publicity Officer, Jane, and our invaluable Administrative Secretary, Sylvia. Presuming your ratification of the nominations, besides our new Membership Secretary, John Elbert, you will be pleased to welcome Sue Parker as our Honorary Secretary, who will be ensuring we have a workable Constitution, and Rob Soutar as Deputy-Treasurer, who will be supporting Stan. We should, of course, commend too our wonderful volunteers at lectures on the registration desk and in the kitchen.
Thanks to you, the members, we should celebrate our achievements over the year and the bright future of our Club.
Elected Officers and Council members for 2025-26
Council (New, Continuing)
|
President |
Vacancy |
|
Hon. Secretary |
Sue Parker |
|
Hon. Treasurer |
Stan Waddington |
|
Deputy Treasurer |
Rob Soutar |
|
Membership Secretary |
John Elbert |
|
Lecture Secretary |
Vacancy |
|
Members of Council |
Peter Cornish |
|
|
Gerry Revell |
|
|
David Thackray |
|
Minutes Secretary to Council |
Sylvia May |
Other Roles
|
Publicity |
Jane Rowe |
|
Field Activities Committee* |
Peter Cornish |
|
|
Gerry Revell (advisory) |
|
|
Jane Rowe |
|
|
David Thackray (advisory) |
|
|
Margaret Lister (ad hoc) |
|
|
Vacancies |
|
Minutes Secretary to FAC |
Sylvia May |
|
Web Administrator |
Paul Wyeth (to 31/12/2025) |
|
Lecture Logistics |
Peter Cornish |
|
Badgeworth Reserve Officer |
Peter Cornish |
|
Hon. Accounts Examiner |
Anthony Pearson |
*The President, Hon. Secretary, and Hon. Treasurer are ex-officio members of all Committees.
Membership
The Club’s membership subscription year continues to run from 1 January to 31 December; the Club was able to keep the annual subscription rates to those of the previous year ie £25 for an Individual Membership and £40 for a Joint Membership.
Following the placement of publicity articles in several local newsletters, and recommendation of the Club and introductions by current members, the Club has continued to welcome a number of new members throughout the past 12 months. We thank everyone for their continued support.
We were sorry to report the deaths in 2024 of members Mrs Judith Courts (member 2019-2024), the Reverend Canon Brian Andrews (member 2009-2024), Professor Timothy Darvill (member 2020-2024) and of, most recently, ex-members Mrs Liz Major, Mr Peter Roberts and Mr ‘Lynn’ (Anthony) Steer.
Although a number of resignations have been received from members not wishing to renew their membership for 2025, at the time of the AGM, the Club membership currently stands at 167 comprising 5 Honorary Members (Mrs Jane Rowe, Mr Robert Mann, Mr Gerry Revell, Professor Peter Wilson and Dr Joe Angseesing) and 162 Ordinary Members.
Having completed 2 years in the role of Membership Secretary I am now standing down and handing over to the Club’s new Membership Secretary Mr John Elbert.
Clare Woodman
Lectures
Over this last year Sue Bennett has looked after the Box Village Hall talks while Paul Wyeth has overseen those at the Beacon Hall in the Painswick Centre. The full breadth of the Club’s interests are represented in the lectures, reviews of each can be found on the Club’s Website.
For the year October 2024 to May 2025, we will have had 15 presentations, again starting our New Year in mid-January at Box; a notable success was the Christmas celebration. Attendance has generally been around 40-50, though that in Painswick has declined somewhat compared to last year.
Both Sue and Paul are relinquishing their roles and, in the immediate absence of replacements, Council is considering innovative ways of continuing our lecture programme. Suggestions from members are always welcome.
Sue Bennett and Paul Wyeth
Events
The 2024 programme of Field Activities was limited by two factors: a lack of active Field Officers and the closure of the A46.
The second factor, the closure of the A46 to through traffic while repairs were needed to a blocked culvert near Pitchcombe, although now resolved, meant that Officers could not plan coach trips with the usual pick-ups, because of the uncertainty of the timing and duration of the work. The first factor – the continuing lack of Field Officers – however, remains a major impediment to developing future plans. If any member would like to organise just one trip, this would be hugely appreciated. We are very grateful to Margaret Lister for her offer to organise an exclusive guided tour around Woodchester Mansion in 2025.
Nevertheless, four interesting and contrasting events took place in 2024: to Slimbridge, a Textile Conservation studio, Frocester Court and Norfolk.
A further 55 members booked for the Evening with Wild Swans and Supper at WWT’s Slimbridge Reserve on Friday 2nd February, bringing the total bookings for the 2023 and 2024 visits to 103. On both occasions, the Reserve Manager, Dave Paynter, gave extremely informative commentaries on the birdlife at Slimbridge.
A visit to a nationally-acclaimed Textile Conservation Studio in Bristol took place on 10th April, following up owner Alison Lister’s talk to members in Box. We are grateful to Sue Bennett for arranging this interesting, informative and enjoyable visit.
CNFC Member Arthur Price and his wife hosted a guided tour around historic Frocester Court, built as part of a medieval estate. The event was organised by Peter Cornish and, at the request of Arthur, resulted in a donation to the local church.
Finally, 30 members booked an enjoyable 5-day, 4-night excursion by coach to Norfolk departing on 23rd September, with accommodation in Norwich. Organised by Denise Magauran and Lynne O’Farrell, highlights included visits to Ely Cathedral, Sandringham and the Norfolk Broads by paddle steamer.
Jane Rowe