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WEA COMMITTEE MEETING
THURSDAY 6th NOVEMBER 2008
Present : Chairman:
Paul Hadley; Secretary : David Bridge; Treasurer :
Richard Didsbury
Muriel Bridge; Linda Hadley; Carolyn
Hewitson; Margaret Stocks-Miller; Tony Wood; Josephine Tallon;
1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE :
Chris Matthews; Christine
MacLachlan; Andrew and Jenny Woodcock
2. MINUTES OF MEETING HELD 25th
JUNE 2008
It was agreed that the
minutes of the previous meeting were a true record.
3. FINANCE UPDATE 2007-2008
The Treasurer distributed
copies of the branch’s annual return as at 31st July 2008. He pointed
out that this showed a total surplus for the year of £625.48. This
would be added to the figure of £1,987.82 carried forward from the
previous year. He explained that branches with surplus funds in excess
of £3,500 would be sent an invoice for a contribution towards
development funds for the southwest region.
He added that this academic
year the branch was currently showing a loss of approximately £190 so
far and hoped that income from the day school next April would cover
this.
The Open Day had incurred
expenses of £210.
4. REVIEW OF CURRENT COURSES
David Bridge stated that he
was disappointed at the level of recruitment to current courses and
hoped that this was not the result of opening a third centre.
There were 13 students
attending An introduction to the emergence of modernism in European
art at Sherston. Carolyn Hewitson and Tony Wood felt that the title
of the course was misleading and David Bridge stated that he would relay
this to the Tutor Organiser and would discuss informally with Paul
Chapman, the lecturer, the possibility of a further course. Tony Wood
added that the WEA projector had proved to be faulty during the first
two weeks of the course. In response to a question fro the Chairman,
David Bridge stated that the wording for the publicity posters was taken
from the WEA brochure. It was agreed that further information should be
sought from the lecturer.
16 students are attending
Periods and pieces : symphonic music through the ages with
Bernard Cooper at Hullavington. General disappointment with the course
had been expressed by some students. It was also pointed out that,
although the course was advertised as 7 weekly meetings of two hours
each, these sessions invariably finished within 1¾ hours and it seemed
inevitable therefore that one session would have to be missed.
David Bridge agreed
to speak to the Tutor Organiser about these matters.
19 students had finally
enrolled on Egyptology: an introduction to all things Egyptian
with Charlotte Booth and the course was running well. It was pointed
out however that it was a rush to start the course at the agreed time
because of the need to set up the room. Subject to consultation with
the students, it was thought possible that a further course would be
popular, possibly at Sherston.
David Bridge agreed
to check the lecturer’s daytime availability.
[It has subsequently been discovered that this lecturer is not available
during the day.]
Approaches had been made
from students wishing to enrol after the courses had started at both
Malmesbury and Sherston. It was agreed
that this committee would discuss the matter fully at the its next
meeting.
David Bridge reported that
all was in hand for next term’s courses and details and publicity would
be distributed to deliverers before the end of this term’s courses.
He agreed to let Paul Hadley and Tony
Wood have publicity write-ups as soon as possible in order to meet the
required deadlines.
5. REVIEW OF SEPTEMBER OPEN
DAY
David Bridge reported that
the day had been a great success in terms of the commitment of members
of the committee and taster contributions from tutors Allan Phillipson
and Richard Henderson. He was disappointed, however, to report that in
spite of all efforts to publicise the event, only eight members of the
public had attended. The Chairman thanked all those who had taken part
but it was agreed that there would be no re-run of the event.
6. COUNTY MEETING REPORT
The Chairman stated that he
had found the meeting useful. He had been particularly interested to
hear the possible new lecturers and to meet and share views with members
from other branches. A representative from Salisbury branch had
stressed the effectiveness of Email publicity and it was agreed that
this branch would build a database of Email addresses on enrolment.
David Bridge stated that he would mention the branch’s website in his
letter to all our student contacts.
7. 2009-2010 PROGRAMME –
EARLY DECISIONS
Malmesbury Autumn 2009
– Richard Henderson on Rome: art, faith and power.
Hullavington Autumn 2009
– Jenny Sheppard is willing to do a 7-week course on either Giotto
or Mantegna on the Secrets of Painted Rooms. This is yet to
be confirmed.
Sherston - Tony Wood
believed that a course with Allan Phillipson on either a Tuesday or
Wednesday would now meet with a more successful uptake.
He agreed to check the availability of
the hall. It was also suggested that the Egyptology course might
be repeated at Sherston.
A further possibility for Sherston would
be a course by Diana Starkey on What happened in Wiltshire?
Day School possibilities
– Mick Atkinson on the Industrial Revolution; a day school with Tim
Porter. The Chairman stated that he would like to see an additional day
school if a volunteer could be found to undertake the necessary
arrangements.
8. ANY OTHER BUSINESS
8.1
The Chairman agreed to attend the
Malmesbury course to seek volunteers to take over the Malmesbury course
administration and strengthen committee representation.
8.2 Next meeting of this
committee – 11th February
2009 at Hullavington.
The Chairman agreed to book the room.
8.3 Annual General Meeting – the
AGM is normally held at the end of the Spring course. This year it
might be wise to set the date after the day school, when the financial
outcome should be clear. It was agreed that the necessary business of
the AGM be dealt with as quickly as possible and that
David Bridge would
approach Andrew Evans to give a short one-off talk afterwards.
It was agreed that this would take place at Hullavington.
There being no further business, the
meeting closed.
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