Annual General Meeting 2004
The Annual General Meeting of the Old Tauntonians' Association, Southampton was held on Thursday 25 November 2004 at 7pm at The Sporting View, Southampton Sports Centre.
Minutes of this meeting will be presented for approval at the next AGM and so cannot be reproduced here.
Given below for your information are the Meeting Agenda, list of Elected Officers and Honorary General Secretary's Annual Report (Period 2003–2004).
- Apologies for absence
- Minutes of the last Annual General Meeting (held on 27 November 2003)
- Matters arising from the Minutes
- Correspondence
- Reports 2003–2004
- Honorary Secretary
- Honorary Membership Secretary
- Honorary Editor News & Views
- Honorary Website Manager
- Report 2003–2004 and Subscription for the ensuing year – Honorary Treasurer
- Election of Vice President(s)
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- Election of Officers for 2004–2005:
President; Chairman of the Association; General Secretary; Treasurer; Membership Secretary; Editor, News & Views; Website Manager
- Election of three Ordinary Members for 2004–2005
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The current Officers are:
| President: |
Jenny Fitton |
| Chairman: |
John Martin |
| General Secretary: |
John Bathurst |
| Treasurer: |
David Bryett |
| Membership Secretary: |
Jeff White |
| News & Views Editor: |
Mike Gould |
| Website Manager: |
Jeff White |
The three Ordinary Members of Council are currently:
Mike Bull, Peter Burrows and Gordon Jefferies
Ex-Officio Members of Council:
Principal (Mrs Jenny Fitton)
Immediate Past President (Mr Peter Munro)
Immediate Past Chairman of Council (Mr Roy Stephens)
Vice Presidents: Messrs Caffrey, Carmichael, Colenutt, Hodgkinson, Humby and Wainwright
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The report covers the period from November 2003 to October 2004. It includes activities involving Old Tauntonians whether or not promoted by the Executive Council.
The Southampton Reunion Dinner, November 2003
The Chairman of the Dinner was David Bryett. There were 120 Old Tauntonians and guests in attendance. Robin Holley welcomed the guests and proposed the health of the College. Responding, the President and Principal of Taunton's College, Jenny Fitton, while reporting further academic and sporting successes at the College, delighted the audience with very humorous extracts from the school reports of a number of well-known personalities. More details
The London Dinner
Organised by Peter Jones, there were 41 diners present. The Chairman was Michael Nash who had travelled from Switzerland for the event. More details
Golf:
- The John Rush Trophy
The Old Bournemouthians again joined us for an afternoon of friendly golf competition, the format including the John Rush Trophy for Old Tauntonians. The winner of the friendly competition and the trophy was, once again, Richard Knight although only on a "count-back" with Ralph Turner. This year we enjoyed a record field of 33 golfers. More details
- The Triangular Golf Match
Played in June at Hockley, between Old Tauntonian, Old Edwardian and Old Symondian teams. The result was a win for Old Edwardians (9.5), with Old Tauntonians second (8) and Old Symondians third (6.5). The event was organised, for the last time prior to his retirement from those duties, by Steve White. Steve had administered the event since the 1950s and, as a mark of appreciation, was presented with a cut-glass decanter. More details
Football: OT Football
The Veterans are now the only OT representatives in local football. Playing in the Veterans 'A' League they finished in sixth position. In the Veterans cup competitions they came into their own. They lost in the semi-final of the Challenge Cup but beat Botley to win the Hampshire Vets Cup and then Bishopstoke in the Southampton Cup – the latter on the 18th penalty of a match, which had ended full time at 1–1!
Evacuees' Lunch
In late March, over 70 ex-evacuee Tauntonians met for lunch at the then St Jacques Restaurant, Copythorne. The whole event was organised by Maurice Ashley, including press and local television coverage, the latter featuring on both lunchtime and evening news programmes. It was probably one of the most successful gatherings in many years, thoroughly nostalgic and thoroughly enjoyed by all those wise enough to decide to attend. More details
Inter Association
In September, 14 OTs attended the annual dinner of the Old Bournemouthians' Association. Eric Godley was the OBA's Tauntonian guest for the evening. More details
Executive Council
The Executive Council met four times during the year. The majority of Tauntonian events are organised by independent groups of OTs, the Council being mainly involved with secretarial, financial, membership, website and editorial matters. During the year:
- A unique and quite excellent system of membership and financial records was devised and installed by Tony Burbridge. This has enabled us to reorganise and substantially improve the record systems, and we are most grateful to Tony for his help. We are also indebted to Doug Huggins for information he has provided from the historic filing card system he has maintained for so many years.
- A sub-committee was formed to discuss and suggest what might usefully be done to promote a better relationship with the College, in order both to help the College and to encourage interest in the Association. A number of suggestions had been received from members and these, with others from within the sub-committee, were submitted to the College in mid-year. A meeting followed with the Principal and the Student Relations Manager, who were very receptive and keen to take things forward. A mutual wish was to involve the students in any events or sponsorships that might be agreed, and the first meeting with the student committee is scheduled for early December.
Obituaries
During the year, we sadly reported the deaths of 16 Old Tauntonians. They included:
J.R.L. "Jim" Allott (1936–1943) – a sporting "god" at school; excellent at football, cricket, golf, skiing and sailing
C.W. "Charlie" Baker (1939–1945) – another popular and able sportsman
K.S. "Ken" Collins (1924–1934) – ex school captain and all-rounder
A.R. "Bob" Fowler – an illustrious Southampton florist and businessman; served the Dinner Committee for 68 years!
F.R. Padfield (1933–1940) – Air Commodore and mastermind of the Skynet satellite system
M.F.A. Archer (1938–1944) – prominent civil engineer
Professor Charles Pilcher (1951–1958) – Kuwait University Faculty of Medicine
New Members
Tauntonians of the past continue to "return to the fold", some re-joining after a period of lapse and others – despite their years at Taunton's being long ago – deciding that it was time they mended their ways! The Association welcomed 16 of them during the year.
I conclude by thanking the Chairman and my fellow members of the Executive Council for their support, assistance and forbearance during the year.
John Bathurst, October 2004 |
