SOUTHWARK AND SOUTH LONDON SOCIETY OF ORGANISTS
MINUTES OF MEETING HELD AT MARILYN’S HOME SUNDAY 1ST FEBRUARY 1.30PM
1. WELCOME AND APOLOGIES
Marilyn welcomed members of the committee.
Present: Marilyn Harper, Martin Callingham, Andrew Chadney, John Mitchell, Peter Ramell, Nicky Jones.
Apologies: Sue Heath Downey and Anne Rickwood.
At this point in the meeting, it was agreed that members of the committee should let each other know their respective telephone numbers and these were exchanged.
2. MINUTES OF LAST MEETING
Matters of fact:
The minutes of the last meeting held on Sunday 4th January 2015 were approved.
Matters arising:
2.4(i) All Saints was suggested as the venue for Harry Bramma’s session on hand registration. It was hoped that this event could take place in November 2015. Marilyn will contact Harry to arrange the venue/ date and also contact Woolf Van Silver.
2.4(ii) Re an event to show Fugue State DVD’s, Marilyn will contact Will Fraser to discuss a possible date at the end of February 2016 and to agree the mechanics of the event. It was suggested that we collaborate with nearby associations on this (Bromley, Bexley and East Surrey for example). The event could probably take place at St. Peter’s Vauxhall. The DVD’s are excellent but quite expensive. Members and or the Society would need to purchase a certain number of DVD’s or alternatively we would need to pay for the public screening cost (£199). In any event it was agreed to go forward and arrange such an event.
4.(7) Nicky still needs to arrange for copies of the IAO’s Good Practice leaflet to be obtained for committee members.
3. SUBSCRIPTION STRATEGY
Anne had noted the poor response to requests to members to pay their subscriptions, including the £1 increase. It was agreed that non-payers should be actively followed up.
It was also felt that direct debits which authorize increases as required, might work best.
Peter kindly agreed to look into this (respective merits of direct debits and standing orders) and come back with proposals in due course.
4. PENGE COMPOSITE RECITAL ARRANGEMENTS
Nicky said that so far, 9 members had opted to play. He will send a further email asking any other members who wish to play in the concert to make contact before the end of next week. All players will be requested to write something about their piece, why they chose it and to add a few words about the composer and about themselves, for example, what originally lead them to start playing the organ and where do they play now. Members will also be reminded that guests are very welcome. Martin agreed to present the concert and be the continuity person. Whilst he is reading out the notes, the players will be able to set up the organ and prepare registration etc. Martin will also let participants know that he is recording the event. Any participant who does not wish to be recorded can let Martin know. Martin’s idea is to make a composite tape with 10-15 seconds of each person playing. Nicky will contact Graham Powell to see if he would be willing to welcome players/attendees and to provide registration advice and support at the console when this is required. Nicky agreed to take on the welcoming role if Graham is unable to do this.
Marilyn Nicholson might also be able to help with registration.
As regards publicity,Nicky will circulate the poster kindly prepared by Marilyn and Martin and also make this and our website known to other relevant societies.
5. FUTURE EVENTS
The annual dinner arrangements will be discussed at our next meeting. See matters arising for discussion of the hand registration and Fugue State DVD events. The annual general meeting takes place on Monday 20th April at 7.30pm at St. Augustine church, Honor Oak Park.
6. LEAFLET/FLIER ABOUT SSLSO
Martin had devised a flier summarizing what the society is about. All agreed that this was very good and only a few minor revisions were made. Nicky will add in these changes and send the revised document to Martin and Marilyn.
7.PROGRESS/ PLANNING FOR WEBSITE LAUNCH
The new website address is the new site is just advertising the Penge concert. The plan is to launch the new wesite on 1st March and it was agreed to proceed with this plan. Almost everything is now in place on the website and this will become apparent on the launch date. Both Marilyn and David Wakefield have agreed to write an article each month. Martin also said that the pilot forum exercise was a success and the forum will be an important feature of the website.
Publicising the new site:
Following thPenge concert, Nicky will do the following:-
1. Email members inviting them to “watch this space”, indicating that the new website will be launched 1st March. A hyperlink will be included in the email.
2. On 1st March, he will send a further email to members, again with the hyperlink.
3. Early in March, non emailers will be sent a letter inviting them to look at the new website, with the suggestion that they could use their local library if a computer was not available at their home.
4. The IAO and The Bridge should also be alerted to the new site as well as local associations.
Linking to social media:
In the months following the launch, Martin will investigate the possibility of linking the site with social media such as Facebook and Twitter. Marilyn also wondered about the use of radio.
Next forum topic:
Another topic will be needed a few days before the launch. After much discussion, the agreed topic was “will electronic organs eventually supercede the pipe organ”?
My church page:
John Mitchell, Marilyn Harper Andrew Chadney and MyleneShoreman have all agreed to contribute to this.
Sharing knowledge about the website:
Martin asked Marilyn and Nicky to visit his home so that he can showthem how to load items onto the site etc. A visit will be arranged for March or April.
8. REVIEW OF COMMITTEE MEMBER ROLES
It was agreed to monitor the workload associated with the new website and other committee work. It was felt that we should all be sensitive to when fellow committee members may be becoming overloaded. It was further agreed to think about involving others with the committee in an associative role, for example, members such as Robert Bowles and Woolf Van Silver.
9. ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Marilyn shared that MyleneShoreman is organizing a trip to Leipzig on 3rd March for a day with Ullrich Bohme. She will pass details on to anyone who is interested.
10. DATE AND TIME OF NEXT MEETING
The next meeting, which is after the AGM, will take place on Sunday 3rd May at1.30pm at Marilyn’s home.
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