Minutes of the Alumni Committee Annual General Meeting

Present

Simon Pickett (HM Ex officio), Rich Bijster, Nathan Whales, Nigel Barton, Tom Webster, Paul O’Reilly, Robert Sheardown, Andrew Roberts, Andrew Jones, Ben Whinney, Mark Whittington*, Tom Deller*, Tony Shearer* & Michael Barney* *via remote link

Apologies were accepted from Gary Purvis.

Welcome and Opening Remarks

Mark Whittington opened the meeting, welcoming all present to the AGM.

Approval of the Agenda

The agenda had been issued by email prior to the AGM.

This contained links to the previous AGM minutes and the Constitution (existing and proposed).

The agenda content was proposed and seconded as being correct.  This was confirmed by vote by those present and therefore accepted.

Approval of Previous AGM Minutes

The previous AGM minutes from 29 April 2024 were reviewed.

The minutes were proposed and seconded as being accurate.

This was confirmed by vote by those present and therefore accepted without amendment.

President’s Report

The President reported that the first annual Alumni dinner since the COVID pandemic had taken place in December 2024.  Despite a small financial loss, the view of those who attended was very positive and there were encouraging signs that the impetus had been regained and that this year’s event would be also well attended.

The recruitment of additional committee members has helped move the Alumni society forward and this has been reflected in progress made, particularly in the revision of the Constitution.

Overall, the year has been very successful and has laid the foundations for further advancement of the society.

Financial Report

The Treasurer presented the financial accounts for the Alumni for the year ended 31 December 2024.

The Treasurer reported that subscriptions (in fact, donations) totaled £1,025.  There was a loss on the annual dinner of £390.  After deductions for website costs, PayPal/bank costs, cricket match costs and initiative/academic prizes. the net surplus was £244.  With deduction of the cost of ties for Leavers, the Alumni made a loss on the year of £752.

Bank accounts amounted to £12,563 giving a total in capital accounts of £13,984.  The Alumni has four bank accounts, the intention being to rationalise these into one account once the new Constitution has been accepted.

There is no requirement to have the accounts independently audited however this was considered as good practice and the Treasurer agreed to arrange an auditor for the 2025 accounts.

Acceptance of the accounts was proposed and seconded.  This was confirmed by vote by those present and therefore accepted.  The accounts will be posted on the Alumni web site in due course.

Special Resolutions

The existing Alumni Constitution dates from 1901 with an undated modification incorporated at a subsequent date.  The Alumni Committee had previously agreed that this should be updated to reflect current practices and expectations.  As a consequence, a revised constitution has been prepared for consideration at the AGM.

Richard Bijster, principal author, summarised the changes made to the existing Constitution.  These primarily covered:

• Changing name of Old Boys Society to Alumni,
• Incorporation of a revised vision and values for the Alumni (as listed on the Alumni web site),
• Removal of subscription as a requirement,
• Clarification of five key roles of the Committee and creation of co-opted officer roles,
• Clarification of roles of Secretary and Treasurer,
• Changes to AGM date and general arrangements,
• Rewording of section on Special General Meetings,
• Changed wording about rules to refer to them being available online,
• Changed wording for date of annual dinner,
• Removal of section about school tie,
• Updated section about school magazine to remove annual requirement for publication and to allow it to be published online if appropriate.

The scope of these changes was discussed amongst those present and a number of clarifications sought and discussed.  In conclusion, the following amendments were agreed to be made to the new Constitution under discussion:

• The Alumni is not a registered charity so para. 6 d shall be deleted.
• The financial statement will be available via the Alumni website to ensure transparency of the Alumni’s finances.  A reference to this shall be added to para. 6 of the revised Constitution.
• A statement shall be added to para. 8 (Annual General Meeting) to allow for a form of electronic voting at future meetings.  A methodology for this shall be investigated and discussed/adopted at a later date.

With these amendments discussed and agreed by those present, acceptance of the new Constitution with these three final modifications to be incorporated was proposed and seconded.  The subject was voted upon with all in favour of adopting the new Constitution with these amendments to be added.

The revised Constitution will be updated with these three amendments by Rich Bijster and uploaded as an agreed new constitution to the Alumni website.

Election of Committee Members

At this point, the Chairing of the meeting was transferred to the Head Master as an ex-officio member of the Committee.

With the adoption of the revised Constitution, election of the Committee is in accordance with the text of that document.

A number of nominations had been received for the Committee positions which are now open for election.

One nomination had been received with an inappropriate proposer and seconder and was discounted from the election.

For the President and the five honorary positions, the following were proposed, seconded and voted into post:

President	Mark Whittington
Chairperson	Tom Webstee
Vice-Chairperson	Robert Sheardown
Treasurer	Andrew Jones
Secretary	Andrew Roberts

Tony Shearer had announced that he would not be seeking re-election as Secretary.  All present expressed their sincere thanks to Tony for his duties as Secretary since 1991.

For the Co-opted Officers of the Committee, as listed in the revised Constitution, a discussion took place amongst present on those wishing to stand for the four posts.

In conclusion, the following positions were voted on and filled as outlined below:

Events Co-ordinator	Rich Bijster
Communications and Communities Co-Ordinator	Michael Barney
Fundraising and Development Co-Ordinator	Paul O’Reilly
Careers and Mentoring Co-Ordinator	Gavin Purvis

For the President and five honorary positions, these elections will be valid for one year.

For Coopted Committee Officers, the validity is four years.

The following were voted to be Co-opted on the Committee:

• Nigel Barton
• Tony Shearer
• Ben Whinney
• Tom Deller

The following are Ex-Offio Committee members

• School Liaison Officer --> Nathan Whales
• Headmaster --> Simon Pickett

This concluded the election of Committee Members for this AGM.

Questions from Members

None received.

Any Other Business

The Alumni cricket match will take place on 4 July.  A short discussion took place concerning plans for the day and how this event could eventually be expanded.  Rich Bijster will lead this task and will ask for help from others as necessary.  Closing Remarks In his closing remarks as Chairperson, Tom Webster expressed his wishes to continue to move the Alumni forward, implementing many of the ideas discussed during the year and to make the Alumni more attractive to prospective Alumni members.  He will be contacting the four Coordinators over the next week or so to discuss how these tasks can be progressed.

Andrew Roberts, Secretary