THE SOCIETY OF RECORDER PLAYERS

RegisteredCharity No. 282751

MINUTES OF ANNUAL CONFERENCE

Sunday, 7 April 2002

Tormead School, 27 Cranley Road,Guildford GU1 2JD

Present:

Officers,Committee & Musical Advisers:

Andrew Short Alistair Read Brian Fraser-Hook John Allen Jim Rowley Graham Danbury Bob Horsley

Chairman Secretary Treasurer Membership Secretary COS Chairman, WBF Publicity Officer

Alyson Lewin David Beare Denis Bloodworth Margaret Shearing Sylvia Davies Evelyn Nallen Colin Touchin

MA on Comte Committee Committee Committee Committee Musical Adviser M/A elect

Branches

Aberdeen Beds & N Herts Birmingham (Observer Bristol Cambridge Chelt. & Glos Cornwall Cumbria Devon Dorset East Berks (Observer Edinburgh Guildford (Observer Ireland (Observer Kent (Observer Leicester

Douglas Haston Stephen Marlowe Jim Rowley Peter Cooke) Margaret Leach Anne Walston Arthur Humphrey Angela Dumbreck Helen Beare Jeanette Hipsey Alison Powell Andrew Challinger Norma Herdson) Eileen Finlayson Dick Pyper Rosemary Whisson) Patricia Flanagan Ciara Flanagan) Ursula Burchette David Harris) Sylvia Davidson

Lincoln London Manchester Mid-Herts Newcastle North Cotswold North London Northampton Nuneaton (Observer Oxford Somerset South Downs South London (Observer Suffolk Warwick Weald of Kent Wessex West Dorset York

Anita Spencer Ann English David Scruby Moira Fraser-Hook Joan Reeve Anne Childs Barbara Hogg Sheila Marlowe Philip Goode Vivian Goode) Helga Bogisch-Francis Joyce Rudall Alan Lane Margaret Crocker Paula Marsh) Mary Halliwell Helen Jones Anne Trevillion Shirley Batterley Robin Powell David Grosvenor

The Chairman welcomedthe Committee and Delegates to the Conference and congratulated GuildfordBranch on the success of the Festival.

1. Apologies for absence were received from Brian Bonsor, Paul Clark, Andrew Collis,Sandra Foxall, Helen Hooker, Edgar Hunt, Petrina Lodge, Colin Martin, HilaryOliver, Layton Ring, Anthony Rowland-Jones, Madeline Seviour and Theo Wyatt(Officers, Committee and Musical Advisers); and from the following branches:Cleveland, Glasgow, Hillfoots, Isle of Man, Milton Keynes, Norfolk, Nottingham,Roxburgh, Sheffield, South Staffs. and West Riding.

The deaths were noted, withregret, of Bill England (Manchester) and Ron Jackson (Mid-Herts).

2. Minutesof last Conference

With theunder-mentioned corrections Dick Pyper (Guildford) proposed and David Beare(Cumbria) seconded the motion that the Minutes of Conference 2001 be adopted asa fair record of those proceedings. Carried nemcon.

Min (1) line 7: should read…Geoff Hall

Min (4) line 2: should read…Ursula Burchette (Kent)

Min (7) line 7 should read…Denis Bloodworth

Min (8) line 1 should read…Easter 31 March

3. Therewere no Matters arising

4. Endorsementof Committee nominations

4.1       New Musical Adviser

Conferencewas pleased to RATIFY the appointment of Colin Touchin as Musical Adviser.Carried nem con.

4.2       Honorary Life Membership

Conference was pleased to RATIFY the appointment of RobertHarrison as Honorary Life Member of the Society upon his retirement after 27years’ service as honorary auditor. Carried nemcon.

9. Futureof CSRP [Takenout of Agenda order]

Following lengthydiscussion on the future of the Certificate of the SRP, Conference AGREED thatit was something that should not be allowed to fall by the wayside, rather itshould be redefined and training given to assist candidates. It was felt that,in the fullness of time, accreditation should be sought. Meanwhile the mattershould be referred back to Committee for further discussion. (Action:Committee)

5. Electionof Officers and Committee

5.1       The Chairman said all Officers wereprepared to stand for re-election. He pointed out that Mary Tyers had takenover as Competition Administrator in place of Patricia Davies. The currentOfficers were proposed en bloc byMargaret Crocker (South London); seconded by Andrew Challinger (East Berkshire)and ELECTED nem con. byConference for a further term of one year.

5.2 Committee Members: As Denis Bloodworth (South London) andPetrina Lodge (Cambridge) were due to retire this year, the followingnominations had been received:

Committee	Proposed by	Seconded by
Norma Herdson (East Berks) Peter Sturgeon (Nottingham)	Andrew Short Andrew Short	Alistair Read Alistair Read

Sandra Foxall’s candidature was withdrawn following thedecision to review the CSRP. She is presently Examination Secretary.

Six othernominees declined to have their names put forward for consideration.

There being two nominees for two places on the CommitteeNorma Herdson and Peter Sturgeon were elected unopposedto serve for a period of three years.

Under the Society’s amended Rule 5(i), Colin Martin succeedsPaul Clark as Musical Adviser on Committee

6. Officers' Reports

TheChairman reminded Conference that written reports from all Officers had beencirculated with the papers for the meeting. He thanked the Officers for theirwork during the past year. Some Officers added to their reports or answeredquestions:

6.1 PublicityOfficer: Although Bob Horsley had nothing to add, the Chairman said he hadreceived a detailed report from the Web Editor, Mr Ashley Allerton, which revealedthat interest in our website was receiving hits from around the world. He wenton to say that Ashley would be pleased to add branch information to thewebsite.

6.2 GrahamDanbury said that, whilst he had nothing to add to his written report, hewished to bring to Conference’s attention the fact that 14 September 2002 wasthe centenary of Walter Bergmann’s birth. Marion Scott (?and others) wereorganising a concert at the end of the year to commemorate this and he hopedthat branches would also organise fund-raising events in his memory during thecourse of the ensuing year.

6.3 In theabsence of the Competition Administrator, the Chairman fielded questions as toits relevance to the SRP of the Moeck/SRP Solo Recorder Competition and therefollowed a lengthy discussion. The Chairman said that discussions between theSRP and Moeck were scheduled to take place in the near future and thesuggestions that had been made from the floor would be borne in mind.

6.4 Dick Pyper(Guildford) proposed and David Grosvenor (York) seconded the motion that theaccounts for year ended 31 August 2001 be adopted. Carried nem con. Turning to the current financialyear, the Treasurer said he still had not received subscriptions from YorkBranch and apologised for saying in his report that London Recorder Orchestrahad not paid their affiliated subscription. Other branches mentioned in thereport have now paid their subscriptions with the exception of York. Adiscussion then followed with regard to the Arthur Ingram legacy. Inconcluding, Brian Fraser-Hook pointed out that, as a registered charity, wewere in no position to use the legacy to prop up the day-to-day cost of runningthe Society; the principal had to be invested or used on a capital project. Itwas the Committee’s view that funding a National Youth Recorder Orchestra wasjust such a capital project. Should the Society divide the legacy amongbranches, say, our charitable status could be seriously jeopardised. In answerto a question, he confirmed that separate accounts, similar to those presentedfor the Walter Bergmann Fund, would be produced in future years. With regard tothe Society’s financial state, Brian reported that there would be a likelydeficit at the end of the current financial year. Accordingly, he had no optionbut to ask Conference to approve an increase in annual subscription as set outin his report. Proposed: The Treasurer; seconded: Jeanette Hipsey (Devon) andAGREED by Conference.

7. FutureFestivals The following arrangements were noted:

2003 Manchester Branch: William Hulme’s Grammar School, 26/27 April [Easter 20 April]

2004 Wessex Branch: St Swithun’s School, Winchester 16/17 April [Easter 11 April]

2005 EastBerkshire Branch (Date and venue to be advised) [Easter 27 March]

2006 CumbriaBranch (Date and venue to be advised) [Easter 16April]

8. National Youth Recorder Orchestra

The Chairman opened the debate by saying that he and ColinTouchin had produced an application and a financial plan for presentation tothe National Foundation for Youth Music in an effort to secure funding forNYRO. Regrettably, the application had failed because it did not meet all thecriteria of the scheme although we had been encouraged to reapply under adifferent scheme in the future. Accordingly, the SRP Committee agreed tounderwrite the cost of the first course, to be held at Malvern, and inauguralconcert, to be held at Adrian Boult Hall, Birmingham Conservatoire on 5 June 2002.The Chairman stressed that the Society could not afford to subvent this projecton an on-going basis but hoped that by proving it was possible to run such aventure successfully future funding might be more easily obtained. The sum,from the Arthur Ingram legacy, was £14,000. Andrew Short then asked ColinTouchin to give a report to Conference. He opened by expressing thanks toAndrew Short for all his hard work and to the Committee for their financialbacking and outlined the progress so far made. Facts and figures from his paperare attached to the Officers’ Reports.

10. Resolutionto Conference: Amendment to the Rules

The Chairman explained that this resolution arose out ofConference 2001 Minute 6(2) to amend the Rulesin order that musical advisers serve on Committee in rotation. Proposed:Committee; seconded: Ursula Burchette (Kent). Conference AGREED, nem con., that the following changes bemade to the Society’s Rules:

(5) (i) Musical Advisers shall be appointed to theCommittee by rotation on such basis as the Committee shall from time to timeresolve

(j) The other members of the Committeeshall be elected at an Annual Conference of the Society from members nominatedas hereinafter provided. Where the number of nominations exceeds the number ofvacancies on the Committee the election of Committee members shall be by secretballot amongst those eligible to vote at the Annual Conference

(k) OneMusical Adviser and two other members of the Committee shall retire annually byrotation, those to retire in each year being the Musical Adviser and the twoother members who have respectively served longest since their election, lastre-election or appointment to the Committee (and if there shall be more thanone Musical Adviser or two such members who have served an identical length oftime those to retire shall in each case be the one or those whose surnames arealphabetically earlier.) Retiring members of the Committee shall not beeligible for re-election as Committee members for a period of one yearthereafter although they may be elected to any vacant office of the Society inaccordance with rule 5(h)

11. Anyother business

11.1 In answer to aquestion, Graham Danbury confirmed that gifts to branches of the Society wereeligible for gift aid tax relief.

11.2 SylviaDavies (Committee/Bristol) confirmed that she had now received a list of thelarger sets of Edgar Hunt’s music. She went on to say that, with there beingsuch a large quantity, finding a home for it would be difficult; Theo Wyatthad, however, offered to store it in the short term (with the London BranchLibrary) and was willing to send it out on loan provided the branch/tutorwishing to make use of it paid for the postage in both directions. It wasagreed that a list of the music would be distributed with the next mailing ofSociety papers and published on the web. Sylvia said there was also a vastamount of other music which would be sold off at Summer Schools and othervenues, the proceeds going to the Walter Bergmann Fund.

11.3     Douglas Haston (Aberdeen) said he waswilling to place branches’ music libraries on a database suitable for the web.He was, however, unable to undertake the typing, only the collating ofpreviously organised databases.

11.4 Paula Marsh(South London) proposed and Helen Beare (Cumbria) seconded a vote of thanks tothe Committee for all their work behind the scenes.

The Conference closed at 12.35 pm

01.05.02

Minutes (Final.2) 2002