AGM 2024

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Canterbury Society (CS) AGM 2024

Location: Fruitworks Coworking, 1-2 Jewry Lane, Canterbury CT1 2NP

The meeting started at 7pm with the Chair Hilary Brian’s welcome.

Agenda

Quoracy was confirmed and there were no conflicts of interest.
Apologies from Martin Vye and David Clarke.
Minutes of September 13th 2023 were approved.
No matters arising.

Chair’s Report

The venue’s neighbourhood, its proximity to Nason’s linen factory and The Foundry, was mentioned with the possibility of using the same space for future AGMs.
Hilary thanked CS Officers for their commitment and highlighted the projects the committee has been working on, such as the Local Plan, Heritage, Marketing, Quality of Life Campaign, and Blue Plaques (Jan Pahl and John Walker specifically for this project).

She further mentioned CS events such as the Dean’s talk entitled ‘What Is A Cathedral For’, the guided tour at St. Augustine’s Abbey, and the summer event at Solly’s Orchard.

The Chair stated that CS aims at increasing the membership and thanked each of the organisations who sponsor Canterbury Society (all listed on the CS website):
Canterbury Society Website

Working Groups, Verbal Summaries

Membership and Marketing: Carole Wells

The role and mission of M&M is to promote CS. The main achievement has been the production of a CS leaflet. We have printed 1000 copies which we continue to distribute.
We have launched our updated website, hoping to attract a wider range of new members. There have been 14 events over the last year, and we inform members via the Newsletter.
The biggest event for the coming year is the Heritage Expo – Saturday 9th November, 11 – 4. Please check our website and put the date in your diary.
Many organisations are either speaking or holding a stall to promote volunteering/training opportunities and all the projects people undertake.

My thanks to Lynette for her help with social media:

Treasurer’s Report: Kim Parker

Kim thanked Hilary, noting that she is a pleasure to work with. The Society’s finances are in a sound state, and the way we work is to ringfence money for projects.
We decided last year to have a Reserves policy and keep £4,500 for that purpose. Projects are commenced and completed.

Read the full Treasurer’s Report here.

Regarding membership renewals, there is a turnover of approx. 10-12%, with around 80% steady. Some older projects have small balances left, which will be used for other projects, ensuring agreement from donors.

Heritage and Conservation: John Walker, Vice-Chair

Canterbury Tales of England: design improvement around the city with The Pound’s Steve Allen leading this project.
The Leveling Up Fund came just in time to help The Pound, with £20 million to be spent on the city.

Heritage Open Days project has been successful, with many enjoying the heritage venues, but we are thinking about how to take it forward as it requires significant time to organise.

The first phase of the Blue Plaques is almost complete. We are now considering installing new, larger plaques on the wall at St. Augustine’s Abbey, proving the point that this wall is not part of the prison!
We are working with Canterbury Commemoration Society on this project, and I am told that we probably don’t need planning permission as the wall is not listed.

An application is being made to Canterbury City Council for Tower House to be listed as an Asset of Community Value.

The waiting room at Canterbury West Station will become an exhibition space showcasing railway pictures in conjunction with the Canterbury Commemoration Society.

Nikos Karydis will give a talk on Good Design on 17th October – see website for details.

The Cathedral is having discussions on a ten-year plan to secure its finances long-term.

Jan Pahl briefly spoke about the Friends of the Cemetery Group project and how to make it better known and visited. There are over 300 varieties of wildlife at the Cemetery, and there will be a public meeting on 7th October.
Please refer to the website for details.

Architecture, Planning & Streetscapes

no report available

Quality of Life & Local democracy

report here

The Chair thanked everyone for speaking and the audience who were present at the AGM.

AGM Business

The confirmation of Officers for 2024-2025 and return of committee Members and Trustees was proposed and approved en bloc.
Guy Mayhew was introduced and confirmed as a new Trustee.

Officers

Chair: Hilary Brian
Vice-Chair: John Walker
Treasurer: Kim Parker
Secretary: Martin Vye

Other Trustees

Dr Hubert Pragnell
Dr Mehri Holliday
Carole Wells
Clive Bowley
Guy Mayhew

Committee Members

Peter Bradford
David Clarke

Speaker: Dr Hubert Pragnell – JMW Turner in Kent

A most interesting presentation with question and answer session was given.

We learned about the birth location of Turner with a context for London’s intellectual and cultural life at the time, i.e The Royal Academy, as well as imminent technological developments such as photography. His teachers and possible influences were mentioned but the talk focused on his work in Kent, i.e. Canterbury monuments and Dover and Margate. Dr Pragnell took the audience on a marvellous journey of topographic drawings and the internalised world of perception and emotion of JWM Turner.
Please see link to slides here
https://canterburysociety.org.uk/talk-turner-in-kent-canterbury-society/
Jan Pahl gave Hubert a vote of thanks and presented him with a small gift.

Making Canterbury a better
place to live, work and play