FRIENDS OF
THE SWINDON MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY
ANNUAL
GENERAL MEETING
Held on held on Thursday 9th
November 2017 at Swindon Dance, Town Hall, Regent Circus, Swindon, SN1 1QF
MINUTES
Linda Kasmaty, Chair of
the Friends of Swindon Museum and Art Gallery welcomed members to the AGM.
1. Apologies
for absence: Nicky Alberry, Dick Millard, Sarah
Troughton, Peter Troughton, Lindsay Pilbrow, Helen George, Nicholas Fogg, Nick
Martin, Emma Yates, Mike Yates, Katie Ackrill, Kay Fisher, Simon Gale, Jane Milner-Barry.
2. Approval of
previous AGM minutes: the AGM held on 24th November 2016,
previously circulated to all members were accepted as a true record. No matters
arising. Proposed: Sophie Cummings.
Seconded: Paul Gregory.
3. Approval of
the Annual report 2016-17. Proposed: Ray Ward. Seconded: Martin Savage.
4. Approval of
the Annual Accounts 2016-7 and
membership fee change: it was put to the
membership that the joint membership fee be ended and that the fee should be
£10 per adult. A vote was taken and the
proposition passed. The annual accounts
were issued to the members at the meeting and accepted.
Proposed: Jane Caudwell. Seconded: Sally Taylor.
5. Appointment
of scrutineers for the annual accounts 2017-2018.
It was proposed that we
appoint Linda Kasmaty, Rosemary
Savage. Observer: Tim Carroll.
Proposed: Sue Gray, seconded:
Marion James
6. To elect
Officers and Ordinary Members of the Committee:
Retiring members: Jane Milner-Barry. John Walsh.
This item to be carried over to early
2018
7. Reports on
the year from committee members:
Linda Kasmaty introduced the main points:
·
More people attending
the Talks and the Trips.
·
The Museum and
Art Gallery opening hours is up from 16 to 35 hrs per week.
·
The Friends
membership now numbers 320, (120 in 2014).
Paul Gregory gave more details of the membership status:
·
Membership
revenue £2217 (up 155% from £1978 in 2016)
·
Donations to
FSMAG £1525 (up from £1250 in 2016)
·
Grants to SMAG
£3421 (up 120% from £2500 in 2016)
Paul
explained the committee’s decision to reduce the bank account by extending
grants for
several works:
several works:
·
Purchase of
‘Witnessed’ by Sarah Purvey
·
Conservation of ‘Night
Sky’ by Jack Smith
·
The filming of
Christopher Le Brun in conversation with Sophie Cummings by Create Studios
·
Conservation of
‘Girl with Fig Leaf’ by Lucian Freud
·
Contribution to
HLF Archaeological Project
·
Purchase of a PA
sound system
·
Purchase of SAGE Charity
accounting software for FSMAG
·
The Museum’s new
external signage: the design funded by FSMAG
Ray Ward on behalf of Katie Ackrill, reminded
us of the talks:
·
‘Archaeological
Reconstruction Drawings’ by Jennie Anderson
·
‘The Bishop Otter
Collection’ by Professor Gill Clarke
·
‘Order From Chaos’
exhibition by Steph Vincent
·
‘Portrait
Therapy’ by Susan Carr
·
‘An Uphill
Struggle’ by Michael Sandle
·
‘The Blind Spot’
by Cathy Lomax
·
‘Journey So Far’
by Peter Waldron
Linda led us through the visits to:
·
Madresfield, Hauser
and Wirth, Watts Gallery and Chavenage House
Future talks and trips:
·
Still to come: ‘Stonehenge and Avebury’, Janet Boulton ‘A
Seeming Diversity’.
·
2018 : Under
consideration: Magnums wine tasting, a
talk by Kate Malone, Art and Sculpture at Urchfont, coach to London, William
Morris in Walthamstow, Craft Centre in Farnham.
Martin Newman talked about
Friends’ involvement including:
·
Museum front
garden hedge cutting and clearing of weeds, and the flower bed planting by
Friends and local residents.
·
FSMAG help
towards the cost of the conservation of the Todd Herbarium.
·
Osborne Samuel
gallery’s kind offer of an exhibition in their Mayfair Gallery in January 2017
helped spread the word about our collection of modern art and ceramics. Some of
the Friends’ committee attended the opening night.
·
The new FSMAG website
has information and bookings facilities, and more news on the blog.
·
The ‘new museum’
model displayed at many venues throughout the summer and autumn which attracted
a great deal of interest, approval and signatures towards the HLF bid.
Mike Bradley called for more volunteers, on or off the committee, to raise awareness of
Swindon’s important collections with ideas for the future.
8.
News from Curator Sophie Cummings
Sophie
described the busy year of improvements with extended open hours, the
programmes of 3 major exhibitions and several smaller displays which are
changed three times a year.
Purchase
of Eileen Cooper’s ‘Play Dead II’, Susan
Carr’s ‘Paint Me This Way’, Conservation of paintings, Stef Vincent’s
successful HLF bid of £60,000 for archaeology, Battersea Arts celebration
outside the Museum, the loan of the Vanessa Bell art to Dulwich and Pompidou
galleries and the fact that the mummified hand caught the attention of the
press
Funding
application is in place for:
The
Herbarium – 9,000 pressed plants from 1920 – 1930s, restoration and
digitisation
The
Archaeological dept. to be revamped in 2018, Exhibition of WW1 art and
Wiltshire Yeomanry
Future
projects include:
Winslow
Collection of musical instruments and more work on Instagram and Twitter.
Sophie
thanked the FSMAG committee for their support.
9.
Updates from Rod Hebden: Director and Chief Executive of the Swindon Museum
and Art Gallery Trust
Rod
showed slides of the ‘Back the Bid’ events from May with the model and postcard
signings around the area. His task was to address the 2014 Bid concerns leading
to the plans for this application to include: Audience development eg: families
and schools Wider issues of mental health, physical disabilities, socio
economically disadvantaged young people, refugees, asylum seekers. Consider
partnerships with TWIGS for the new museum’s roof garden and the café. Swindon
needs a ‘Statement building’ and the ‘fly through’ images produced by the
architects MAKE, visualised the building entrance, ground floor social hub,
galleries and exhibition spaces, conservation area and work room for
volunteers.
AOB. None
Q and A: Rod Hebden took questions from the hall:
Is there a name for the
new building? Not yet, currently known as the new Swindon M and AG.
Why has the site
moved? The new preferred position for the Bid is on the same plot but nearer
the main road
Will this involve more
ventilation? Not yet addressed.
Will this new position
reduce the visual impact from the road? The view from Fleming Way will not be
obscured.
What energy efficient
technology will be used eg: geothermal, solar, ground source and roof heat
pumps? HLF require details on projected energy use and demands. The options are not yet known.
What plans for Apsley
House? The house will be retained by SBC and used for community purposes.
Friends of Swindon Museum and Art
Gallery 25th Annual Report
As we
celebrate twenty five years of existence, it would have been glorious if we
could also have won the Heritage Lottery Fund bid for £12.5 million to build an
iconic new Museum and Art Gallery in the centre of Swindon. However we were not
successful in this Bid, and currently Swindon Borough Council are engaged in an
Options Appraisal to decide how to proceed. They are well aware that the
current facility at Apsley House falls far short of what is needed. In fact
when the Friends were formed, our Patron, Desmond Morris, commented that we
needed larger premises to accommodate the current collections better and allow
us to show travelling exhibitions. It is instructive to visit other towns and see
how they have housed their collections; visiting The Hepworth in Wakefield
recently, I was very impressed by the beautifully designed building, situated
on a meander of the river Calder. I hope
that by this time next year, we are able to look forward to some definite plans
for the future location of the Swindon Museum and Art Gallery. We are so
perfectly situated to attract a plethora of visitors, and I am keen to remain
positive about our future prospects.
You may have
noticed on a recent visit to the museum that the flower beds at the front are
looking very colourful, with penstemons, rudbeckias and asters making a
fantastic show. The Friends in conjunction with the local residents’
association have taken on the management of the beds from the Parish Council.
The flower bed to the left of the museum has been covered with shredded leaf
litter and bark because it’s very difficult to grow anything around the stump
of the old tree, although we did uncover a wall made out of fossil-laden stones
in the area when weeding there.
We have once
again had a fantastic programme of talks this year organised by Katie Ackrill, with
big names like Kate Malone in June. Kate was an inspirational speaker and has
very generously donated a plate to match our fabulous jug. I think those who
came on our trip to London enjoyed it, and the trip to the Urchfont Manor
Friends of the Garden Sculpture Trail was a great success. Photos and
information about all events appears at www.friendsofsmag.blogspot.com and the talk with most page views has
been Jon Ratcliffe’s talk on “Cellars, Towers and Tunnels”. Sadly, Katie has
had to give up organising talks because her new job requires too much time out
of Swindon. I would like to thank her for the wonderful job she has done. Recently Carol Lamble, a member of the
Friends, has agreed to take on the role of talks and trips organiser, for which
I’m very grateful.
We have
donated almost £5,000 to the museum this year, contributing to purchases,
sponsoring exhibitions, conservation and the refurbishment of the Archaeology
Gallery. We were partly able to do this by reducing our capital, but in future
would like to increase our fundraising to enable us to contribute more. Looking
at printing and postage costs, we have also decided that we need to raise the
cost of membership to £15 for everyone from now on. Many of us have enjoyed volunteering on the
front desk and with children’s summer workshops. More volunteers are often needed, so please
email me for details of what is involved.
There have
been some wonderful themed exhibitions this year, with three main exhibitions a
year, and more in the small gallery, with regular changes made by Curator
Sophie Cummings. Details of exhibitions, activities and the free lunchtime
talks are given on the museum’s website: www.swindonmuseumandartgallery.org.uk . I would like to specially thank
Nicki Western for her feedback from meetings, setting up talks and the website,
to Tracy White for setting up talks, website help and general support, and to
Stef Vincent for her amazing knowledge and enthusiasm for archaeology,
conservation and storage.
There is
going to be a huge gap left in our committee by the departure of Ray Ward after
at least 20 years on the committee. For all the time I have been involved, Ray
has been the mainstay of the organisation, and I’d like to thank him on behalf
of everyone for the huge commitment he has made over the years. A bit like
buses, we are also saying a massive thank you to Paul Ricketts who kept
everything going for years, but has lately been less able to be involved. The committee is very sorry to bid him
farewell. We welcome new committee members,
so please do let me know if you are able to be involved, particularly in compiling
the journal and updating the website. All our activities do appear on the
website www.friendsofsmag.org but it needs new life breathing into it.
Before I wind
up I should just mention a few concerns and some things I’d like to see improved.
The opening hours at the museum were reduced when we lost the bid. I
think this was regrettable and sent out the wrong message. The opening hours
are currently 11am to 4.30pm, Tuesday to Saturday. The lack of Sunday opening
misses a huge prospective audience, and we are looking to apply for funds to enable
this happen. Visitors often remark on the lack of signage advertising the
existence of Swindon Museum and Art Gallery, particularly from the station, and
we have suggested a range of ways to overcome this shortcoming.
Finally, I’d
like to say how grateful the Committee is to the large number of supportive
Friends we have in the organisation and I’d like to end by thanking you all for
your ongoing support for the Museum and Art Gallery, especially as the going
gets tough.
Linda Kasmaty
(Chair) 22.10.2018
Executive Committee Nominations 2018/19
Nominations for Election made prior to the AGM,
EXECUTIVE MEMBERS
CHAIR
LINDA KASMATY FOR 2
YEARS
TREASURER PAUL
GREGORY
FOR 2 YEARS
VICE CHAIR MIKE
BRADLEY FOR 2 YEARS
ORDINARY
MEMBERS
KATIE ACKRILL FOR 1 YEAR
RACHEL VOYCE FOR 1 YEAR
KATHY GEDDES FOR
1 YEAR
MARTIN NEWMAN FOR 1 YEAR
IAN WILKINS
FOR 1 YEAR
RACHEL VOYCE FOR
1YEAR
ERIK BURNETT-GODFREE FOR 1 YEAR
In accordance with custom, the above persons are deemed
elected subject to confirmation by the meeting, unless further nominations are
made from the floor of the meeting. In that case members will vote for
individual members. The post of Secretary will come up for election for two
years at the 2019 AGM.
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