Annual General Meeting

Barber Institute, University of Birmingham

Saturday, 26 April 2011, at 10:25 pm

Minutes

Present: Bonnie Blackburn, Lisa Colton, Rachel Davies, Barbara Eichner, Elina Hamilton, Leofranc Holford-Strevens, Christian Leitmeir, Mary O'Neill, Matthew Salisbury, Thomas Schmidt-Beste

1.  Apologies
Margaret Bent, Helen Deeming, Elizabeth Leach, Bruno Turner, David Wulstan

2.  The minutes from the previous meeting were approved nem. con.

3.  Matters arising not on the agenda: none

4.  Annual Report
LC presented a report of the Society's activities for the period 1 January to 31 December 2010 (available on the PMMS website). In particular, she thanked, the organisers of the 2010 annual conference in Cambridge (Sam Barrett and Susan Rankin); the focus of the conference on research postgraduates has resulted in a very good mix of topics and high quality overall.

5.  Treasurer’s Report and Accounts
CL presented a financial report for the period 1 January to 31 December 2010 (available on the PMMS website). Approved nem. con.

Election of officers and trustees
All officers and trustees were re-elected:
i. Officers (re-elected):

Chairman: Dr. Lisa Colton

Secretary: Prof. Thomas Schmidt-Beste

Treasurer: Dr. Christian Leitmeir

ii. Executive Trustees:

Dr. Barbara Eichner, Dr. Owen Rees, Matthew Salisbury,
Dr. Nicolas Bell, Dr. Mary O'Neill

iii. Advisory trustees:

Prof. John Caldwell, Prof. Susan Rankin, Dr. Elizabeth Eva Leach


TSB was to confirm whether those not present would agree to continue their service to the society [Retrospective note: all did confirm their willingness to continue. TSB].

6.  Appointment of honorary auditor
Alison Armstrong (Finance Officer, College of Arts and Humanities, Bangor University) had expressed willingness to continue in this role. This met with universal approval.

7.  Future Conferences
The 2012 conference will be held at Oxford (to be organised by Owen Rees and Liz Leach); the 2013 conference at York, to coincide with the York Early Music Festival.

8.  Online newsletter and membership
The next newsletter was to appear soon. BE asked for contributions; TSB would contribute a report from the 2011 conference. It was at this point also suggested to write a report for Early Music.
An updated membership list prepared by the Society's administrator, Marianne Gillion, was circulated at this point. Membership stood at close to 130 members. Efforts to recruit new members in the wake of the PMMS wine reception at the 2010 Med-Ren conference at RHUL had come to very little due to lack of administrative follow-up; it was decided that the Society should redouble its efforts to recuit new members.

9.  Any other business
The perception that the Society was primarily serving the interests of scholars and academics was discussed. This criticism had been voiced members or ex-members (many of them clerics) who saw themselves less as scholars than as chant or medieval music enthusiasts. It was decided that this lack of 'outreach' should be discussed at the next council meeting.

10.  Dates of next meetings

Council: Friday 14 October, 2 pm, British Library
AGM: During the annual conference in Oxford, date tbc

The meeting ended at 11:00

TSB, 21 September 2011