The 97th Annual General Meeting took place on Wednesday 2nd November from 8:30 pm at Chester Road Sports and Social Club, hosted by President Joe Kerrigan.
With President Joe Kerrigan in the Chair, around 17 Old Carolians were present and, in some ways, it reminded me of an Annual School Governors' AGM, at which you were likely to see a full complement of Governors, together with three men and a Rottweiler. Before Joe reported on his year in office, apologies were received from Norman Broadfield, Charlie Combes, Ann Mullard and Keith Weston. Most of us remember cuddly Keith as an esteemed Past President and dynamic hooker for the School and Old Carolians. Those were the days, of course, when the scrum half put the ball in straight and both hookers struck for it, instead of today when it seems invariably to go directly into the second row. Although Keith was at the meeting in spirit, it was acknowledged that he would have had difficulty in attending from Australia, as Qantas were on strike. In the case of Norman Broadfield, who was hors de combat at The Alexandra Hospital in Redditch, members were unanimous in wishing him a very speedy recovery, since no Meeting can ever be the same without him.
Joe began his review of his presidential year by apologising that he had not been able to give sufficient time to the role. The reason for this was that he had been establishing his new solicitors' practice. He said that he had now attended three Founder's Day services. He had found them to be very enjoyable and the students to be very well behaved - much better than in the 70s! The highlight of his year had been the Association Dinner with its musical interlude and he reminisced about his now notoriously long speech. The third major highlight of his year, Joe said, was the Choral Evensong, at which the sermon had been excellent. He was only disappointed that the Service was quite poorly attended. He concluded by commenting that other successes of his year had been the Wreath Laying ceremony for the King's Anniversary, the Committee Supper at The Brasserie, the Barbecue, and the Autumn Quiz. It was a matter of some satisfaction to him that the twin 'University Challenge' professionals, Colin Lloyd and Roger Perrin (Kidderminster Quiz League), had not walked away with a victory. In their defence, others present at the Quiz reported that, in some questions, one could detect Joe's Catholic bias - eg, 'Where was the birthplace of Pope John XXIII?', 'What is the 8th Station of the Cross?' and 'What were the dates of the Second Vatican Council?' In the music round, Joe's musical taste included this question 'Who wrote the latest single of Daddy Yankee?' Someone made a dark comment that Mazhar Majeed from the Test Match Cricket scandal must have been involved somewhere.
Joe said that it had been a great honour and privilege to be elected President of the Association. He thanked all Committee members for their help and support, and he singled out Colin Lloyd for his invaluable experience as Secretary. He also said that Norman Broadfield had been a great inspiration to him during the year - a great advert for the Association with his never failing good humour. Lastly he congratulated Andy Moule on his election as the new President and wished him all the best of luck for 2011-2012.
Peter Picken began his Treasurer's report by thanking Tony Kidd for his auditing of the accounts. Association subscriptions had been increased this year and there were several financially successful events such as the Barbecue, the Annual Dinner and the Autumn Event. Cash at the bank had gone up from £5491 in 2010, to £6142 in 2011. Peter thanked Membership Secretary Peter Guy for his diligent recruitment of new members, and David Slater for his help with merchandise, for a much cheaper website and for magazine advertising. The Magazine expenses this year would be a little more than £1750 and, with postage at 95p each, he was very grateful to all Association members who hand delivered copies around the District. Postage had come to £400 this year. At the end of Peter's report, the Accounts were approved on a proposal of David Slater, seconded by Martin Humphries.
Accounts for the Harry Train Exhibition and The Old Carolians' Leaving Scholarship Funds were presented by Martin Easton and showed a total of £500 paid in grants during the year. Acceptance of these accounts was proposed by Ken Garbett, seconded by Martin Hobson, and also carried unanimously. Thanks were recorded to Peter Picken and Martin Easton together with Tony Kidd for the auditing of the Association accounts.
Election of Officers
The following were elected unanimously to hold office for the year 2011-2012:
- President: Andy Moule
- Senior Vice-President: Ann Mullard
- Junior Vice-President: Charlie Combes
- Association Secretary: Colin Lloyd
- Treasurer: Peter Picken
- Membership Secretary: Peter Guy
- Magazine Editor: Norman Broadfield
- Website Administrator: David Slater
- Auditor: Tony Kidd
Election of the Committee
The following were elected as Committee Members:
Keith Bowkett, Martin Easton, Ken Garbett, Tim Gulliver (Headmaster, ex officio), Martin Hobson, Martin Humphries, Joe Kerrigan, Roger Perrin, Ian Sandall, Peter Vaughan, Pat Yarnold and Martin Yates.
Any other business
The Committee recognised that John Booth was attending his last Committee Meeting and AGM after an amazingly loyal 50 years. John had represented the School and the Old Carolians in several sports, including rugby and cricket, and had been President on two occasions. No one else in the history of the Association had such a distinguished record. There was a celebratory Committee photograph to recognise this milestone.
Tim Gulliver was pleased to report that a recent surprise Ofsted visit had resulted in a very good overall assessment. The School was now aiming for an outstanding benchmark as well as Academy status in 2012.
There being no further business, the new President Andy Moule declared the meeting closed.
A report on the AGM would not be complete without mention of the more social side of the meeting. It is rather sad in many ways that the Old Carolians Association Committee comprises what euphemistically might be called the Old Codgers, and one can only hope that there will be an influx of a younger element as the older generation fall by the wayside; the average age of the Committee is approximately 65 year. For the majority, it is probably fair to say that there are some interesting personal views. In our youth, many of us had a philosophy to the left of Friedrich Engels, while, today, the opinions are somewhere to the right of Joseph Goebbels. Is that a gentle meander to a more mature and realistic outlook on life or is it a headlong rush into the shoes of Victor Meldrew? The post-meeting gathering at the bar explored a whole range of topical issues. Thus, loyal supporters of the Harriers commented on the latest player issues and recent campaigns at Aggborough. Others condemned the Greeks to an expulsion from the Eurozone, as none of them pays any taxes and all retire on generous pensions at 50. And Britain's exit from the European Union could not come soon enough as we are made to dance to the tunes of Merkozy, the European Court of Justice, the Human Rights legislation and unelected, overpaid Eurocrats. While we are about it, shouldn't we just send a squad of riot police into the area near St Paul's to sweep the tented and unwashed into the Thames? The Archbishop of Canterbury, Ed Miliband, Nick Clegg, John Terry and some of the overpaid, oversexed English international rugby players can take a swim, too. A mention of the travellers' expulsion from Dale Farm stimulated a forest fire of vitriol against any proposal to establish traveller sites on Sion Hill, Lea Castle or anywhere else within 100 miles of green and pleasant Kidderminster.
On the one hand, the Old Carolians Committee is a hard working, friendly group of volunteers with the very best interests of the Association at heart. They are dedicated to keeping the flame of King Charles I School memories burning for ever. But, listening to the banter from some Old Codgers at the end of the meeting, you would be forgiven if you decided to keep any alternative liberal opinions to yourself.
'Captain' Peter Vaughan, World Affairs Correspondent