ASSOCIAÇÃO DE AMIGOS DE MÚSICA DE SÃO LOURENÇO
Minutes of the Assembleia Geral of 2007-2008
The Assembleia Geral of the Associação was called to order at 17:30 on Friday, November 21st, 2008, in the Centro Cultural of São Lourenço by its Presidente, Mr. John Levitt. There not being a quorum present, the meeting was postponed for one hour and was reconvened at 18:30 of the same day in the same place with 41 members present in person and 14 present by proxy out of a total paid-up membership of 109 members (including 4 honorary members).
A reading of the minutes of the previous AGM of 23rd November, 2007, was dispensed with by unanimous consent. There were no matters arising.
The Presidente of the Direcção, Mr. Barry Shaw, gave his report (copy attached), reviewing the Associação’s 16 concerts of the past year and noting that, after detailed consideration by the Management Committee, it was decided to keep the annual membership fee unchanged at € 125 but to raise the joining fee from € 50 to € 75. The meeting was asked for a show of
interest in having a summer party next summer and most present were in favour. Mr. Shaw also noted that 2010 would mark the 30th anniversary for the Centro Cultural and the 20th anniversary for our Associação. He then thanked the Committee in general for its work during the year and, in particular, Margaret Jackson, who volunteered to take over from Rosemarie Angell as Secretário, and Edwin Bisset, the retiring Tesoureiro, for his 10 years’ service. Mr. Bisset will be replaced by Ted Maitland. The CCSL stopped providing food for the concerts a year ago, which has meant that, as AAMSL wishes to continue having food provided, an outside caterer has been used, which has resulted in an increase in costs. Mr. Shaw urged members to donate services (such as accomodation, air tickets, rental cars, etc for artists) and to bring paying guests as ways of helping AAMSL’s finances. The President´s report was accepted unanimously.
In Helga Hampton’s absence for illness Mr. Shaw described the Master Class project with Paul Crossley that is being created by Mrs. Hampton, noting that it will take place in October, 2009 (the next fiscal year) and that, with the help of conservatories all over Portugal, 3 Portuguese pianists had already been enlisted, with 3 more to come. The Classes will be open to AAMSL members and there will be 2 concerts given. This project will be financed by a very generous donation of € 5,000.
Mr. Edwin Bisset, the Tesoureiro, gave his report (copy attached). He noted that in the 2007-2008 year AAMSL events averaged 36 members (up 9% from last year) and 41 paying guests (up by 5 from last year) for a total average attendance of 77, about 86% of the venue’s capacity. The year turned out better than expected financially, mainly because there was a reduction of € 5,950 in the total support required of AAMSL for CCSL concerts. Annual subs were down marginally but donations totalled € 6,030 (of which € 5,000 has been put into restricted funds for the Master Class project). The Ballmann sponsorship was a € 1,000 expenditure. A surplus of € 3,835 was earned.
The
Conselho Fiscal’s report (copy attached) was given and the reports of both the Tesoureiro and the Conselho Fiscal were unanimously accepted.
The biannual election of officers was held and the following were elected unanimously for a 2 year term:
Position Assembleia Geral Direcção Conselho Fiscal
Presidente John Levitt Barry Shaw John Perera
Vice PresidenteChristine Lady Vasvasour Helga Hampton Erika Steinacker
Secretário Larry Hampton Margaret Jackson Jeffrey Jackson
Tesoureiro Ted Maitland
In his closing remarks Mr. Shaw thanked the existing AAMSL officers and he presented AAMSL’s traditional gifts of thanks to the Centro Cultural’s staff with appropriate comments.
There being no further business, Mr. Levitt closed the meeting at 19:10 and the members present then enjoyed cocktails and a piano recital by the Associação’s sponsoree, Ms. Joanna Ballmann, followed by a lovely meal offered by Marie Huber and her team at the Centro Cultural.