Oxford and Cambridge Musical Club
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Oxford and Cambridge Musical Club |
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The meeting was attended by approximately 45 members
Hugh Rosenbaum
In the absence of full minutes, abbreviated minutes of the previous Annual General Meeting (on March 17th 2001) were read and accepted. There were no matters arising.
Richard Wood reported on changes in membership numbers over the past 12 months. During this period overall membership had declined from 215 to 204. This resulted from
| 7 | resigned |
| 7 | allowed their membership to lapse (after successive reminder letters) |
| 1 | died |
| 4 | new members |
Alan Reddish reported on the musical events of the previous 12 months. His report, describing the large number of unusual works and performances, can be read by clicking here.
Before retiring from the Treasurership, Mike Scott presented a Financial Statement for 2001/2, incorporating
This showed a loss for the year of £2495, only partially offset by an unexpected rise in the valuation of the Club’s investments. The main cause of the loss was the high one-off expense of putting on a second opera in May 2001 - Britten’s ‘Turn of the Screw’. In view of the Club’s strong balance-sheet position Mike Scott’s advice was that this should be regarded as an isolated event and need not be seen as a problem provided that it did not become a precedent for more events of the same kind. He nevertheless thought that the Committee should keep the financial position under review. The need for a possible future increase in subscriptions could not be excluded unless there was an increase in membership..
Lyn Parkyns thanked Mike Scott for the major contribution which he has made to the Club during his 5 years as Treasurer, also for staying in post long enough for a new Treasurer to be found. She was very pleased to tell the meeting that the Club now has a new Treasurer - Libby Summers. On behalf of the Club she thanked Libby for volunteering for this essential position.
Andrew Westlake reported on the stage reached in development of the Club website. The website, which has now been in operation for nearly 2 years, is attracting interest as a kind of on-line brochure for the Club. It commonly attracts around 20 visits per day, of which a high proportion are from non-members. A new page has been added for In Memoriam notices of past members.
The principal benefit for members is the facility to access advance notices of concert programmes. All 65 Club members who have e-mail addresses recorded in the Club Directory now receive automatic e-mail notification as soon as details of each new concert programme are posted on the website. Of these 65, 17 members have elected to receive their information of future concerts solely by this means. This has made a significant reduction in one of the Club’s enduring problems - the workload and expense (postage, photocopying, envelopes) involved in mailings. Andrew hoped that more members can now be encouraged to follow this example, while at the same time recognising the rights of those members (including those who have e-mail access) who wish to continue receiving their programmes by post.
Richard Shaw reported on the stage currently reached. Robert and Deborah Behrman have completed the cataloguing of the Club’s former collection of chamber/instrumental music and have supplied a copy of the resultant catalogue, which is now in the Club’s possession. Gordon Cumming is still working on the catalogue of the piano music and expects to complete this at an early date. Robert and Deborah also have plans to expand the catalogue of chamber/instrumental music by adding a further collection from their own sources. This could more than double the size of the existing collection.
It is now a question of how to make the catalogue accessible to members. Robert has suggested that the ‘hard copy’ could be brought to Club concerts and made available then to Club members who wanted to browse or search it. Andrew Westlake suggested that the catalogue could be made accessible via the Club website. He and Richard will look into the practicalities of this.
11 Committee members were elected as follows :
| 10 existing members (re-elected) | Lyn Parkyns, Alan Reddish, Evelyn Bercott, Pauline Kahn, Lynne Maya, Liz Peecock, Hugh Rosenbaum, Richard Shaw, Percy Timberlake, Richard Wood |
| 1 new member | Libby Summers |
| 1 vacancy unfilled |
A motion was submitted for the adoption of the following new Rule :
‘That any lapsed member of the Club who wishes to rejoin the Club should be required to pay his/her subscription by Standing Order’
A vote was taken and the motion was passed by a clear majority
Lyn Parkyns asked members to express their views on a situation which has arisen in connection with some of the Club Archives. Some very interesting archives have recently ‘turned up’. These comprise the complete membership records of the Club for the period 1899 to 1935, lists of concert programmes for the same period, a ‘candidates book’ and a library catalogue. Lyn Parkyns currently has them in her possession but there is a question regarding the long-term custody of these records. The Bodleian Library has expressed an interest in acquiring these archives. Members were asked to express their views on this proposal.
It was pointed out that this material has already been well combed through and written up in the Club’s official published history. It was felt that the offer from the Bodleian would be acceptable provided it was agreed as a conditional loan rather than an outright gift.
A vote was taken and there was a clear majority for accepting the offer from the Bodleian provided this was on the basis of a conditional loan.
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Page last updated: 29 March 2004 |