The 99th Annual General Meeting took place on Wednesday 30th October from 8:30 pm at Chester Road Sports and Social Club, hosted by President Ann Mullard.
It was a cold and rainy night at Kidderminster Cricket Club as a select band of Old Carolians met for the Annual General Meeting of the Association. Most meetings of this august body of mainly middle-aged and elderly members would consist of simply the Committee, but, on this occasion, there were a few other Old Carolians that helped to make the evening contain a little more atmosphere than usual. It could have been similar to the usual Parent Teacher Association AGM, which many of us have experienced, at which there are a few men in cloth caps with a couple of whippets, but, in the pleasantly warm surroundings of the large Committee room, the talk was lively and unfailingly humorous. Most members had dragged themselves away for the evening, from the unmissable Mercury Prize Announcement and Presentation on the television. Speaking personally, looking at the list of the twelve musical candidates, I recognised the Arctic Monkeys and David Bowie, and that sadly was it. As many of us have said, we really must try harder to enrol younger members onto the Committee.
The President, Ann Mullard, was in the Chair and the minutes of the 99th Annual General Meeting were formally approved. There were apologies from Norman Broadfield, Peter Guy, Andy Moule, Stuart Arch and Joe Kerrigan.
Ann gave us a report of her year in office. She remarked that time flies when you are having fun. She thanked us all for having her and enabling her to visit lots of unknown places, many of which were strange and somewhat scary on occasions. In reciprocation, we all felt that she had done an outstanding job as the first Old Carolian female President, which was hopefully not the last. As a distinguished ex-pupil of Lea Street Primary School (now sadly closed), Ann has brought a unique blend of warm personality, high presentational skills and good humour to every meeting. Her presidency will remain long in the memory. She much enjoyed hosting the Annual Dinner, the only drawback being a necessity to keep off the booze. She had received only positive comments and thanked her seconder, Kath Harris, and Association Secretary Colin Lloyd for all his advice. The King's Anniversary wreath-laying ceremony was well attended and she had the bonus of re-reading 'Jane Eyre', using quotations to support her small speech. Another much enjoyed treat was attendance at the distinctly merry meeting of the Old Elizabethan Association, important as the two schools are now well embedded together.
In April, she and Kath attended a school Sixth Form workshop on employability, and she thanked Stuart Arch for organising this very worthwhile event. The enjoyable Committee Dinner at La Brasserie was followed by the barbecue as we slipped into a glorious summer. Thanks were expressed to Tim Gulliver for allowing us the use of the Rose Garden once again. The final act of the presidency was the very well attended quiz on 18th October, an event that everyone agreed had been superbly well organised by Ann. She concluded by giving to Charlie Combes her very best wishes for a successful presidency in the year to come.
Receiving the Old Carolians Association President's Medal of Office, Charlie replied by saying that Ann had done a wonderful job. The mixed school and mixed Association had now been in existence for 36 years, and it was hoped that there would be even more female members - indeed, ten ladies that left the school in 1982 were attending the Dinner and several Kidderminster High School ex-pupils were also attending.
The Committee's nominations for other officers were all agreed unanimously:
Senior Vice President: Richard Woolley
Junior Vice President: Ken Ryder.
Association Secretary: Colin Lloyd
Treasurer: Peter Picken
Membership Secretary: Peter Guy
Magazine Editor: Norman Broadfield
Website Administrator: David Slater
Auditor: Tony Kidd
Committee Members elected:
Stuart Arch (ex officio)
Keith Bowkett
Martin Easton
Ken Garbett
Tim Gulliver (Headmaster, ex officio)
Martin Hobson
Martin Humphries
Joe Kerrigan
Ann Mullard
Andy Moule
Roger Perrin
Ian Sandall
Peter Vaughan
Pat Yarnold
In any other business, Brian Gittins remembered the special Old Carolians Association Dinner in 1993, held to celebrate John Drake's Anniversary Birthday. Twenty-one Old Carolians Association ex-presidents attended a celebratory meal held in the King Charles Room. He wondered whether this might be an event that could be repeated, and that he would be pleased to try to contact all the ex-presidents that were still alive. Peter Handley, who had been President at that Dinner, seconded Brian's proposal and said that the number of individuals concerned now stood at 37.
Ann said that she had tried to contact the magazine 'Worcestershire Life' so that it could attend the Dinner and take photographs. She would chase this up and contact 'The Shuttle', too. Colin Lloyd commented that he had been contacted by Arthur Miller, now living in France and unable to attend the Dinner. Instead, he had sent a cheque to pay for a place for a school leaver to attend. The Committee agreed to contact Stuart Arch about this.
Pat Yarnold said that there had been a BBC recording in school recently, which will be broadcast in next year. The pupils had been on a school visit to the World War I battlefields in France and Belgium, and had been able to research Old Carolian soldiers who had fought in the war, especially Eric Vazy, upon whom had been conferred the Victoria Cross. The BBC were now compiling a special programme on winners of the Victoria Cross. Eric's letters that he wrote home are still in existence. He attended King Charles from Stourport, moved to Australia and then fought in Egypt and on the Somme. He was killed there in 1916. Members of the Committee were reminded that a special Memorial Service will be held in front of the Woodfield stained glass window in the Old School Hall on 11th November.
There being no other items of business, President Charlie Combes closed the Meeting at 9 pm.
'Captain' Peter Vaughan, Chief Political Correspondent