Notice of Annual General Meeting

17th Mar 2010

Notice of Annual General Meeting
Restaurant,  Gateshead Civic Centre.

The 2009-10 Annual General Meeting of Fellows based in the North East Region will be held on Wednesday March 17th. 

Tea, coffee, and biscuits will be served before the meeting from 6.00 pm

Agenda
1 Apologies for Absence
2 Minutes of the AGM held on September 3rd  2008
3 Matter arising from those minutes
4 Chairman’s Review of the Year
5 Treasurer’s report
6 Election of officers and committee
7 Proposed arrangements for future events (see attached paper)

Nominations for committee membership supported by the name of the proposer and seconder should be sent to the treasurer (address below) no later than one week prior to the Meeting.  If there are more nominations than places available on the committee, those Fellows attending the AGM will be asked to vote.

Committee Membership 2008 – 2009 as elected at the 2008 AGM
Peter Allatt    Chairman
John Lindley  Deputy Chairman
Nathan Pellow  Treasurer*
Tom Medhurst  Secretary*
Neil Barker
Paddy Deans, Professor Patrick Easen, Maurice Gilmour OBE, Claire Maxwell, Janice Webster
* The treasurer and hon. secretary are appointed by the committee from within its own membership.

Mr Medhurst resigned during the year and does not wish not to offer himself for election.  Mr Lindley, after many years of service including a period in the chair, has resigned effective from this AGM.  Mr Barker and Prof Easen have reached the end of their current period of service but offer themselves for re-election.

Operating guidelines suggest six to twelve committee members plus officers and historically the region has operated at close to the maximum.  Ordinary committee members are elected for an initial term of three years and can serve another term if re-elected.  After six years there must be a break of one year, except in the case where they are elected chair.  The chairman’s period of office can be excluded from the total number of years on the committee.  For the last two years the committee has been operating below full strength.  The chairman’s period of office ends in September 2010.

The topic to follow this year’s AGM will be the new arrangements for the engagement of Fellows with the Society. Our guest is to be Tessy Britton who last July was elected to the Fellowship Council by Fellows in the South Central Region and in December was elected chair of the Council.

Tessy will describe the current strategy of the Fellowship Council and in particular the methods being used to embed the work of the Fellowship Council within the Fellowship, through new Working Groups and experimental Specialist Networks. The Fellowship Council has decided to adopt a more distributed working approach and Tessy will describe how this is being used to stimulate participation. She will also update on current progress of some of the Working Groups such as the Fellowship Charter. Tessy is very keen to understand the interests and priorities of Fellows in the North East and will use the opportunity to get a sense of how the Fellowship Council might establish and maintain positive and constructive relations with Fellows regionally and look for possible ideas for developing mechanisms of mutual support. Finally there will be an opportunity for Fellows present to have an open discussion before we adjourn for the buffet supper for those Fellows who wish to stay and socialise.

The AGM and discussion afterwards are free of charge to all Fellows living or working in the North East.  There will be a charge of £11.00 for supper and applications for supper places must be with the treasurer no later than March 10th.     
  
If you wish to attend please download the reply slip and return to Hon Treasurer, Nathan Pellow, 19 Laburnum Avenue, Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear, NE26 2HX

For further information please contact Nathan Pellow.