Report by Frank Hilton, our Hon. Secretary
Congratulations to Barry Lowe, our new Chair, who was unanimously elected on Thursday evening at the 2018 Annual General Meeting of the Society. Barry is looking forward to help steer the Society to a bright future whilst acknowledging the very large boots he has to fill in succeeding Wilf Langford. Barry will be supported by Phil Hadley who was also elected to the new position of Vice Chair.
Wilf was re-elected as our President for a further year, and Pam Rhodes, Alan Townsend, Anne Linton and Suki White were all re-elected, again unanimously, for a further three years as Honorary Membership Secretary, Honorary Travel and Workshops Secretary, Publicity and Print Workshop Convenor respectively. Congratulations all!
We are also delighted that Jennifer Wallace, Jillian Wallace, Karen Lowe, Judi Willerton and Julie Lloyd Roberts stood for election to the Committee and were all elected for a three year term as well. Once again, congratulations to our new Committee Members and a big thank you for responding to the call.
In addition to the traditional AGM fare of an annual report on the Society’s activities by our team of organisers, we received the Statement of Accounts and the Treasurer’s Report. Whilst the Society’s finances are very sound, this last year has seen an increase in administration costs, storage charges for our exhibition boards and increased hire charges at all our venues. This year our expenditure outpaced our income and the Committee therefore recommended to the Annual General Meeting that the annual subscription for 2019 be raised from £5 to £10 in order to consolidate our financial position. This increase was agreed and whilst regrettable, we hope that all members will agree that this is incredible value for money for all the activities on offer. We will also be increasing the one-off joining fee to £10 for new members.
Look out for the annual subscription renewal letter in early December!
And that concluded the formal business of the 2018 Annual General Meeting of the Shropshire Art Society.