2016 May AGM
Annual General Meeting held on 17th May 2016 - by Liz
Julia opened the meeting with general notices:
1. There will be no ingredients table at the June meeting as Patchwork Cabin will be in attendance with goods for sale. The ingredients table will be back in July
2. There are still spaces on the Mary Gamester workshop on 4 June, and this has now been opened up to other organisations
3. The Quilters’ Guild Region 2 will be holding a Fabric Sale on June 11th from 10.30 to 1 at Woodmansterne Village Hall
4. Exhibition forms are now available (Eileen will email to all members). The entry forms must be returned by 16 August. Members can exhibit any items made at the transfer painting and quick triangle workshops and the ‘Blue’ challenge set in January. Members are asked to exhibit up to two quilts each, either traditional or contemporary or one of each
5. Julia reminded everyone to save 2.5 inch strips of full width fabric for a challenge we will be doing next year
6. There were Linus fabric packs available for members to make up
7. Gail Penberthy will hold an SQ workshop on 18 March 2017 and has suggested three possible topics: a tissue box, hedgehogs or a flower cushion. Members who wish to attend this workshop were asked to put their names on the sheet of paper illustrating the topic they would prefer so that the most popular could be identified. The cost will be £26
8. Members will be able to sign up from the June meeting for the Hawiian Applique workshop with Maggie Davis on 10 September. There will be 15 places available and the cost will be £25
9. On 23 July there will be a Fabric Fayre at The Old Barn Hall, Church Road, Great Bookham from 10 - 4. There will be twelve traders as well as ‘make and take’ sessions. Julia Gahagan will also be present
10. There are two new books in the library from tonight: Sylvia Critcher’s Raised Quilt and Stitch, and Jenny Raiment’s Tucks & Textures 2
11. Creative Quilters are now stocking strips to join wadding
The Annual General meeting followed the notices. Minutes of the last meeting were approved and the Treasurer, Secretary and Chair gave short verbal reports
Jackie (Treasurer) reported that the bank balance is quite healthy and the current membership fee of £27 is just enough to cover expenses for admin and meetings. Raffles made a slight loss over the year but the mini exhibition made a small profit, and workshops also look to be making a small loss. The accounts have not yet been verified
Eileen (Secretary) said she is very happy to receive news of any shows attended by members, such as the upcoming Sandown and Malvern events. Also, news of new shops or other useful information is always welcome
Julia (Chairman) has now been in this role for five years, and has one year remaining in her current term of office. She thanked the Committee and members for their dedication and hard work, which helps to make Shirley Quilters the happy group it is, and asked for suggestions and ideas for future workshops from members
SQ’s continued support for Project Linus has resulted in over 400 quilts from individual members and groups, and in addition charity donations have been made to Mission Care (£250), the food hub based at Purley (£55) and Project Linus (£20). In addition members knitted 60 Easter crème egg covers for the MS Centre
Julia’s report was followed by the unanimous re-election of Jackie to the role of Treasurer. This will be her third term of office. Members were reminded that next year there will be three places up for election: Chairman, Secretary and Events Organiser
Under ‘Any Other Business’ the issue of charities was discussed. In view of the difficulties involved in changing charities each year it was suggested that we adopt Project Linus on an ongoing basis from next year. This motion was carried. Quilts and donations to other local causes would continue on an ad hoc basis.
The number and frequency of exhibitions was also raised and following discussion it was decided to continue with a main exhibition and a mini exhibition on alternate years as now, but with a new sub-committee to help ease the burden on the main committee. Also, wider advertising would be helpful and any ideas for where/how this could be done would be welcomed. For example, getting a local estate agent to provide boards. Any other ideas would be welcomed
The next AGM will be held on Tuesday, 16 May 2017.
Following the close of the AGM and a break for refreshments, the large yellow suitcase which had been sitting on the stage behind the committee, was opened. This suitcase is one of several created by the Quilters’ Guild and contained 40 delightful small quilts made by members of the Traditional Quilt Group, a specialist group of the QG. Other suitcases are available from the Guild, including miniature quilts and contemporary quilt
The quilts were a parade of wonders: tiny log cabin blocks, intricate Jacobean, Baltimore and Hawiian appliqué, small samplers and welsh quilting, with themes that included the seasons of the year, kaleidoscopes, dragons and pizza (!). Julia read out a paragraoh about each quilt as it was shown and I think it is sage to say that they were gretly appreciated by all of us present