The 110th Annual General Meeting took place on Wednesday 16th October from 8:30 pm at Chester Road Sports and Social Club, hosted by President John Hall.
The 110th AGM of the Old Carolians Association was held on 16th October 2024. It was due to start at 8:30 pm, but, owing to the Committee Meeting that preceded it overrunning, it actually started at 8:50 pm. All the nominations for Officers and Committee Members will be noted* in the Magazine. Peter Picken presented a healthy set of accounts, which showed cash at bank of £5,262.84 and a surplus for the year of £967.28.
The outgoing President, John Hall, commented on how much he had enjoyed his year in office and, among the many highlights (in yellow on the sheet that John kindly gave to me) mentioned the King's Anniversary held in St Mary's Chantry, and the awards ceremonies held at the school: the Upper School event, attended by Suzanne Virdee, and, especially, the Lower School event, at which his granddaughter, Amelia, had won three awards. (Sign her up for the Committee, John!)
Other memories that John mentioned include the excellent time that he had at the Dinner seated with the Old Elizabethans' President and the Mayor of Kidderminster, learning about the Battle of Stowe; the EGM with the Constitution changes; and finally the Autumn Event, in its usual form of a quiz. (In fact, he didn't say this, but I will! If you think that you can do better and have some ideas for the future of the Old Carolians Association, please join us. Your future is our future!)
There followed the formal handing over of the Badge of Office to Norman, who outlined his proposals for the Association's future, which you will find elsewhere in the Magazine, but from which I shall include a few salient points. First, and I should have included this earlier, Norman expressed his gratitude to Roger Perrin, who had been a stalwart Committee member for many, many years. David ('Daz') Slater will also be sadly missed. Norman aimed to set up some ‘think tanks’ to meet on Zoom to discuss, among other items, 'Finance', 'Social' and 'the Future of the Association in general'. The incoming President had analysed the OCA membership and noted that, of the website members, nearly two thirds are female. Food for thought!
After the normal formalities, the meeting closed at 9.35 pm.
Richard Woolley (All Generals Must have a Secretary)
* Those elected as Officers and other Committee members for 2024–5:
- President: Norman Broadfield
- Senior Vice-President: David Simons
- Junior Vice-President: Nigel Geary
- Association Secretary: Tim Gulliver
- Treasurer: Pete Picken
- Membership Secretary: Joel Douglas
- Magazine Editor: Norman Broadfield
- Website Administrator: Joel Douglas
- Auditor: Tony Kidd
- Committee Members: Jamie Butler (Headteacher, ex officio), Martin Easton, Pete Guy, John Hall, Stuart Harris, Louise Heath (co-opted), Arthur Miller, Ann Mullard, Ken Ryder, Richard Woolley and Stephen Wyer