Old Hamptonians Association Inc
Report on the Annual General Meeting 2009
The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Old Hamptonians Association Inc. was held on MONDAY 20th July 2009, at The Hampton RSL, Holyrood Street, Hampton, at 8.00 PM under the chairmanship of committee member Bruce Bathols.
24 members were in attendance and apologies were received from seven other members.
Reports from the President, Secretary and Treasurer were tabled and adopted.
The retiring President Joan Bennett gave an overview of the year's achievements and thanked the committee for another year of good work. Joan also highlighted the fact that the membership was dwindling, and that ex-students from the latter years of the school had not shown very much support in our organisation. She thanked in particular former President and Committee member Geoff Grant for his untiring assistance in getting the two plaques installed over the past three years. Also Joan mentioned that we had one further item to install in the Hampton High Reserve and mentioned the proposed Cairn, which is currently being negotiated with Council. This Cairn will give a recognition of the four houses at the school, Eyre, Flinders, Kennedy,and Sturt.
Joan also highlighted the need for new committee members and fresh ideas to maintain continued interest and support in the Old Hamptonians. In conclusion, Joan stated that she would not be seeking re-appointment as President, she thanked everyone for their support and made special mention of the work that Bruce Bathols was doing with the Aurora production and Web site management... (applause !)
Barry Harman gave the Secretary's report, and apart from various administrative items he also mentioned about the need for new members and support from the "younger" generation of ex-students. Barry mentioned that the "Direct Debit" system was working well, but we had an amount of $50 accumulated over the year from members who had paid subs etc, but could not be identified, due to neglecting to give details of their remittance to the bank on the Bank statement, and also had not advised us of the payments.
Christine Hargreaves gave the Treasurer's report. She mentioned that trading this year in comparison to last year the overall income was down by several thousand dollars. Also that most of our reserves had been used with the running of events and expenses associated with the installation of the plaques. Membership has remained steady at around 420, this did fluctuate as we got new members signing up, but also several older members either had passed away, or did not renew. Last year (2007-08) we had received a grant of $1500 from City of Bayside to assist with the purchase of the Plaque. This year nothing has been received. Members subscriptions were down from $2020 to $1,650, but members Donations remained steady at $720 (the same as last year). Paver sales had shown a significant reduction from $1420 to $950 and CD sales had dropped from $816 to $485.
There are no exceptional items and the only fixed costs are Public Liability Insurance ($629) and Printing and postage of The Aurora ($1450). The year suffered a trading deficit of $719.
The Assets are $10,575 and this comprises of (depreciated values) a Computer $952, and two plaques $ 6,746, and Cash at Bank $2,877.
Liabilities consist of the balance forward of $11,294, less the trading deficit of $719. There are no outstanding accounts or financial matters.
The subscriptions were set at $15 per member for the ensuing year. This being brought about by the proposed purchase of the new Cairn (Approx $2,000) and the need for ongoing funds to keep The Aurora published. It was noted that the subs of $10 had not been increased since inception, and now that membership was dropping we need to build up reserves to survive. It was also mentioned that this increase may only be for the current year, as the committee recognised that any subs increase usually had a detrimental effect on renewals, but at $15 it was considered that this was an acceptable rise.
Long time Old Hamptonians supporter and ex-HHS student and local trader David Cooper from the Coachman was our Guest Speaker. David gave a wonderful overview of his successes in small business, having left HHS at Year 12, but with little business knowledge. He started work with Eddie Hattam- known as Hattams Stores as a salesman, and over the years developed enough business knowledge to start his own stores, and expand into other suburbs also. David paid tribute to his years at Hampton High School, although he mentioned that he was not an "A" student, he did pass all of his exams, and had many pleasant memories of his years there.
The chairman gave a suitable response and David was thanked and presented with a bottle of wine.The Election of Office Bearers was held and the Chairman Bruce Bathols declared all committee positions vacant.
The elected positions for 2009 - 2010 are now:-
President: Phyllis Marsche
Vice President: Joan Bennett
Secretary: Barry Harman
Treasurer: Christine Hargreaves
Committee: Andrew Harman
Berice Jones
Wendy Laughton
Bruce Bathols (Web site manager, and Aurora Production)
An open discussion was held and the new President Phyllis Marsche addressed the meeting.
She indicated that this new year would be a challenge, more committee members and ideas were needed, and it was very important that to enable the Old Hamptonians to continue, we needed the support of the younger generation. She asked all present to try and assist in that regard.
The meeting was closed at approx 9.15 pm in peace and harmony, and all present enjoyed light refreshments.