DORSET GUILD OF SINGERS

Minutes of an ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Held on

20^th October, 2010

The Chair, Sarah Welton, welcomed everyone to the meeting.

1. Present: David Hallatt, (BpS), Sarah Welton, (Wareham), Anne Larkin, (BpS) Jay Buckle, (Swanage) Jane Soole, (BpS) Liz Roberts, (Swanage) Beth White, (Swanage), Jane Brochner, (BpS) Richard Hall, (BpS), Michael Davis, (Swanage), Karen and Richard Marchant, (Wareham), Jill Marsden, (BpS).

2. Apologies: Andrew Smetham (Wareham), Di Bailward, (BpS), Alan Maitland (BpS), Kirsten Webb, (BpS), Rachel Palmer (BpS), Keith Pitman, (BpS).

3. Minutes of the Last AGM were accepted as a true record.

4. Matters Arising: None.

5. Concert Managers Report.

On Saturday May 1^st, the Dorset Guild of Singers performed the Bach ‘St John Passion’ at the Lighthouse under the baton of Malcolm Archer. We were joined by 36 members of the Weymouth Choral Society and 25 students of the Thomas Hardye School, making a choir of 162 singers.

The Guild Orchestra was quite small by comparison, only 24 players, but they provided a most excellent accompaniment.

The soloists were of a particularly high standard especially Nathan Vale who sang the part of the Evangelist, James Ottoway who was Jesus and Timothy Travers-Brown who sang the alto part.

The performance itself was possibly one of the best performances given by the Guild but sadly the audience was quite small, about 350 people only. This was certainly in no way due to lack of effort on the part of Ken Palmer, Sarah and other members of the committee.

All the stops were pulled out but despite that the results were very disappointing. The committee has given this much thought and has come up with several reasons, the two most obvious ones being that a) it was a Bank Holiday weekend so people had commitments elsewhere, and b) it was suggested that maybe performing a Passion after Easter did not have the same appeal as performing a Passion before Easter. But, having said this, it was not our preferred weekend. We were governed by when the Lighthouse was free and also when Malcolm Archer was free. But, definitely something to bear in mind in the future.

On a brighter note, the concert raised just over £550 for Wateraid which was good. We also had a very nice letter from David Jenkins, the Chief Executive of Dorset County Council, who wrote “It was a great privilege to be present at your St John Passion on Saturday – thank you. ......I thought that the choirs, soloists and instrumentalists under the leadership of Malcolm Archer, were all superb – it is very satisfying indeed to know that such a performance can be put on here in Dorset.”

So,, in many ways it was a very successful concert and my thanks to all the committee members who made it so.

Now, looking ahead to 2011.

We shall be holding a workshop on Saturday 5^th February. We shall be studying Mozart’s Requiem under the guidance of Greg Beardsall. Some of you may have already hear of him but for those who haven’t, the Chief Conductor of the BBC Singers, David Hill, said “Greg is one of the most naturally gifted choir trainers of his generation”. And the Director of the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain said of him that “he has the ability to achieve his musical objectives speedily through a combination of clarity, humour and a charismatic manner” . So I think we can look forward to a very exciting day.

The workshop will be held at the United Church in Dorchester where our last workshop was held and will run from 10am to 4/5 pm.

Our 2012 Lighthouse concert will be held on Saturday 28^th April.

The committee has decided to deviate from the usual format a bit.

The main aims are to do something that will be great fun to perform but will also have mass audience appeal. So it is going to be a concert of mainly Italian music and we are going to perform Puccini’s ‘Messa di Gloria’ in the first half followed by some famous opera arias and choruses in the second half.

I think everyone will be delighted to hear that Nigel Perrin has agreed to be our gest conductor.

And that’s it really. Just a big thankyou to Jay Buckle and to all the committee members who help to make things happen and to make them run smoothly.

Thankyou.

6. Treasurers Report: Michael Davis presented the accounts – a copy of which is attached.

There has been a small drop in membership from constituent choirs from 2009, but on the whole we have held up pretty well.

The concert was one of our larger losses but hoping we will recover from it in due course, but we were particularly unfortunate on this occasion – a number of contributing factors: our guest choir did not sell any tickets, and although the committee did well to control costs – particularly Richard Hall, people did not buy tickets. Michael is hoping that the next programme will be more popular and keep membership up and maintain interest. We have a good conductor. Michael is therefore recommending there is no change in subscriptions next year.

We now have an income from the hire of our copies of Jenkins Requiem. Eventually the interest income will increase, but not while the base rates remain so low. This might be a guide to what we might expect in the future.

Michael invited questions and a general discussion followed:

David Hallatt asked who the guest choir might be in 2012. Richard Hall has a response from Dorchester Choral who feel it will be too close to their own concert and have refused on this occasion. This now needs addressing urgently.

David suggested that when inviting guest choirs we may be advised to expect some contribution to ticket sales – other members agreed with this.

Michael invited suggestions from members as the committee has given great consideration to this. Not everyone wants to sing in the Lighthouse and not everyone can bring their audience easily.

Suggestions:

Richard Hall will approach Sturminster Marshall, and Richard Marchant suggested the Symphonietta Choir.

Richard suggested inviting individuals who follow Nigel Perrin at a reasonable rate, and to advertise the concert at our singing day. Experienced singers may be able to manage with fewer rehearsals – would this cause resentment from existing members?

It will be important to look at the direction of the choir over the next 10 or so years – as Wareham certainly is an ageing choir – where do we go from here?

Jane Soole - that some individuals from Dorchester Choral Society may be interested in singing in the concert.

Ann Larkin – also need to individuals to sell tickets.

Nigel Webb – May be worth contacting some smaller groups eg Swanage, Sturminster Newton – needs careful thought.

Sarah Welton said that it would be nice for the Guild to get back to their roots – eg. Small choirs to join together – which should not preclude some smaller choirs becoming members of the Guild not just guests.

It is a difficulty when we are waiting for one choir to respond before contacting another when urgent action is required.

Jay Buckle has been on contact with Kate White and a meeting is needed with the orchestra to discuss finance eg choir/ orchestra conductor fees. This is not clear cut as their organisation is not the same as ours. These details need full discussion ad agreement.

7. Chairs Report:

Our disappointment in the last concert is not in any way a reflection on Ken Palmer who worked his socks off! Our sincere thanks go to Ken.

I find it hard to believe that I have been a member of the Guild since 1973 – we sang the Verdi Requiem in the Coade Hall at Bryanston – my first big choral experience. I found it thrilling and that’s why I am still here now! In fact, that is why I keep reminding members why the Guild is so important – it gives us the chance to sing great choral works, in a really big choir, in a major concert hall with professional conductors, soloists and players.

I think we all enjoyed singing under the baton of Malcolm Archer last May and the end result was of a very high standard, musically, despite the challenging music of the St. John Passion. I received a delightful letter from one of the excellent soloists in which he congratulated the choir on the very high standard of singing – he did not have to do that! However, as Beth has said, despite huge efforts from a lot of people, the size of the audience was disappointing. We recognise we made mistakes, as Beth has outlined – Bank Holiday weekend, a Passion after Easter and the numbered seats proved not to be beneficial and an administrative nightmare. The link with WaterAid should have brought many benefits to both organisations. However, in reality, although it was no loss to us and their images were lovely, there was little benefit to either organisation.

Despite this rather negative view of our last concert, I would like to thank Ken Palmer for working ‘his socks off’ to publicise the concert. No-one could have done more. Thank-you, Ken.

Your Committee is considering all of these issues in planning the 2012 concert. Above all, we hope that our programme, especially the well-known opera arias and choruses will appeal to a wide audience. Concerts and workshops don’t organise themselves. There is a huge amount of work - venues need to be booked, conductors, soloists and players must be found, rehearsals arranged, publicity organised etc. etc. – it is a huge job!

Your Committee has met 4 times during the year at Beth’s house. Thank you Beth and Andrew for your hospitality.

As always a Committee is as good as the sum of its parts and that is certainly the case with the Guild. I would like to thank everyone on the Committee for all their hard work throughout the year. To:

· Michael, our Treasurer, who calmly (he always says ‘it isn’t my money!) keeps us on the straight and narrow financially.

· Jill our Secretary, who minutes our ramblings, so efficiently.

· Richard for everything – such as seating the choir in the Lighthouse (I often wonder whether he is thinking ‘it would be easier with school children’!) and all the work he has done on our Website

· Our conductors, without whose musical expertise we would flounder. Here I would like to say a special thank-you to Andrew Smetham, conductor of Wareham Choral Society for his contribution to the Guild. Andrew is retiring at Christmas and we wish him well and look forward to welcoming Wareham’s new conductor to the Guild..

· Our choir representatives, who keep our all important membership abreast of what the Guild is doing.

So, looking forward – as Beth has told you we have an exciting workshop to look forward to early next year. Please tell all your singing friends about it – it will definitely be one not to miss. I will see you all there!.

8. Election of Officers:

Sarah advised the meeting that the Chair and Treasurer are due to retire next year.

David Hallatt proposed that the committee should be re-elected – this was seconded by Ann Larkin. The vote was unanimous.

9. Guild Website

Richard Marchant will update the website and hopes to have on line booking available for the workshop. Richard can monitor the numbers of people visiting the web-site. The Chair thanked Richard for all the work he has undertaken to five the Guild such professional presentation on the web.

10. A.O.B.

Jay Buckle proposed a vote of thanks to the officers and committee.

Richard Marchant commented that there had been difficulties over the screen hired for Wateraid – has it been paid for yet? Michael will be chasing this.

Richard suggested that our experience indicated that we should not be swayed by other organisations to adopt their charity.

Jay suggested that some charities are able to put something into the event – eg RNLI provided posters.

Michael suggested that any charity approached again should have some relevant interest in classical music. The posters probably need to reflect the nature of the concert more.

Anne suggested that the only way to sell tickets is for every choir member not to miss one single opportunity for selling tickets – each missed opportunity is 2 tickets.

The Chair suggested that as some members sell no tickets at all we need to impress on members the duty not just to pay subs and sing in concerts but also to sell tickets.

The Chair thanked people for attending. The meeting closed at 20.25 hours.