These are the draft minutes of the meeting.
OMS Committee Minutes – 13th May 2010
The committee met on Thursday 13th May. The meeting was attended by President Paul Clifford, Richard Ratcliffe[Chairman], Anthony Hayward[Secretary], Graham Belson[Treasurer], David Leeke, John Caley, John Clayton, Bernard Mee, James Kingsman, Simon Pain. [Peter Weaver participated and accepted the invitation to be co-opted] Nick Argent[Headmaster] is an ex officio member.
Apologies: Malcolm McCallum, Brian White, Gardner Crawley
Minutes of previous meeting:
These were signed by the chairman as correct.
Matters Arising:
These are included below.
The main outcomes were:
Richard Ratcliffe was re-elected Chairman of the Committee.
Neil Turrell’s contribution to the school was acknowledged by the creation of the post of Vice-President. This post will be occasionally bestowed on those who have served the Society or School well.
A number of other duties and posts were agreed or ratified, including:
· Paul Clifford stated his guest speaker would be Andrew Dilnot, Principal of St Hugh's College, Oxford. (’71-’72)
· Anthony Hayward will continue as Honorary Secretary for a further two years;
· Tony Butler is the President-elect and will take over from Paul Clifford at the Annual Supper and AGM on 25th March 2011;
· Anthony Hayward will then follow Tony Butler as President-elect;
· John Clayton has agreed to take on the role of Annual Supper co-ordinator;
· John Clayton was also re-affirmed as the OM Governor on the School Governing Body for a further 4-year period commencing at the end of the current academic year. The head expressed his satisfaction and thanked John for his support as a governor;
· Dr Tony Webb has agreed to take on the role of Archivist and will probably call upon John Caley to assist;
· Bernard Mee has agreed to take on the role of Awards Secretary;
· Graham Belson remains Honorary Treasurer, Membership Secretary[he will produce a list for leavers next week] and Editor of the Newsletter. Graham indicated that he would like someone else to take on the role of Membership Secretary and the sales of goods and publications in due course, but would continue for the time being;
· Peter Weaver has kindly volunteered his services to the committee, and was elected a member.
The Treasurer reported that the supper had generated a small surplus of approx £250 which would provide for the running costs for the next year (e.g. postage etc. to those requiring hard copies of the newsletter).
Awards Funds
The society has several awards funds, totalling about £12,500. Bernard Mee will take on the role of Awards Co-ordinator, which will involve the following:
· Liaise with the school, particularly the Headmaster, with respect to awards;
· Identify what awards might be made, and how much they will cost:
· An annual award of perhaps £250 to £500 for a particularly good project at school;
· Assistance with an event such as a World Challenge;
· Assistance to a pupil with a particular aptitude, who is unable to fund themselves;
· Identify equipment or software which the school needs and provide it;
· Develop a mechanism for determining what awards should be funded;
· Develop a mechanism for the committee to quickly agree to awards being made;
· Promulgate within the school the fact that the Society is able to provide awards;
· Advertise on the website and in the Newsletter;
· Determined fund-raising based on the goals identified with the school, and approach the membership, local bodies, local firms, to contribute to those causes.
The Headmaster, Nick Argent, was heavily involved with fund raising with the Old Boys Association at his previous school in Guernsey and provided helpful advice.
It was noted that no specific requests for support had been received recently through the school but it was acknowledged that the fact that the OMS could actually respond to such requests had not been well promulgated recently.
The processing of any awards will need to be evaluated against certain criteria, not least the availability of funds. It was generally acknowledged that the best way to proceed would be to define an objectives and then raise the funds necessary for it, as potential contributors are more likely to be attracted to donate to a specific project than just to the awards fund.
There are full details of the awards available on the website.
Charitable Status
Following the decision to more actively support the school by raising funds for specific needs, Charitable Trust status would be evaluated and if considered to be useful, sought. Registered Charity status would permit gift aid of donations. Gardner Crawley and Bernard Mee will progress this.
The OMS Website
The committee acknowledged the considerable work already completed on the website by James Kinsman and Simon Pain. The website is seen as the main vehicle for the Society to keep in contact with the membership. It needs to remain exciting and a ‘must view’ resource for old boys, and must therefore be regularly updated. To that end a sub-committee of John Clayton, Graham Belson and Peter Weaver was formed to move the project forward.
James and Simon, and the webmaster Malcolm MacCallum, will remain in close contact with the sub-committee. They will also look at the setting up of a Paypal facility in order that sales and contributions may be made directly through the website.
Newsletter Editorial Sub-Committee
In order to enhance the Newsletter, an editorial sub-committee comprising John Clayton, Graham Belson and Peter Weaver has been formed, the same members who form the website sub-committee.
Archive
The location and content of the archive was discussed at some length and it was agreed that there was little fundamental difference between Old Maidstonian archive material and that of MGS. An archive has been established in the school, and the location is both suitable and secure. The Society expressed its thanks to the Headmaster.
Dr. Tony Webb has very kindly agreed to take on the role of Archivist, and his previous position as deputy head will undoubtedly lend a great deal of professionalism to the project. John Caley, who also was a teacher at the school for many years, has agreed to assist. It now remains to determine what is archive material, and to catalogue and store it. Much work has already been completed and all current OMS archives and photographs have been catalogued. Accessibility to those carrying out research is one of the remits and it is also the intention to make available to the members copies of the photographs that are available.
The question of fireproof containers was discussed and this together with other policy matters would be progressed by the Archivist with the assistance of John Caley and others.
A medium term project to digitise the archive was suggested by James Kinsman and although this would not be cheap it could be worth exploring further. There might be ways of mitigating the costs.
OM Society Rules
The Rules of the Society had been redrafted by Dr. Brian White and helpful legal comment had been received from a former committee member and retired solicitor.[Tony Bishop, who will continue top receive minutes] Dr. White will build in these suggestions and it is anticipated that the revised Rules will be available prior to the next meeting in September for endorsing at that meeting.
Annual Supper
John Clayton agreed to take on the role of organising the Annual Supper. Various pieces of feedback on the revised format for the Annual Supper were reviewed and overall it was felt that the buffet style had been a success. Suggestions would be evaluated for the next Supper to be held on Friday 25th March 2011, regarding seating plans, attendance lists and name badges to make the whole experience more fulfilling for the old boys attending.
Use of the occasion for year Group reunions was an important point and these should be maximised. Special ‘date’ reunions (e.g. 25, 50 or 60 years) could even warrant mini pre-functions and school tours. The President felt that a target finish time for the event was important although social chit-chat could continue after the ‘final toast’.
Functions
It is acknowledged that the Society should increase the number and type of functions it holds. The need for a member or sub-committee to take on that responsibility was discussed. Unfortunately all current committee members are either engaged in other roles within the Society or do not have the time required to dedicate to such a function.
The Society will advertise through the website for a member to take on this very important role.
Date of next Meeting:
Tuesday 21st September at 6pm in Headmaster’s Study