Reprinted from Newsletter 107, dated 2003 April–May

Proceedings of the annual general meeting for 2002

Janet Morland

More than 30 people attended the Glastonbury Conservation Society’s annual general meeting on Friday January 24 at St Mary’s Church Hall. A full list of names is in the minute book.   Apologies: Keith and Josie Matthews, Martyn Webb, Jean Pike, Alan Levett, Mary Smith and Kathleen Collet.

Minutes

The minutes of the previous AGM, held on November 30 in 2001, were distributed for reading and accepted.

Chairman’s report

The chairman’s report was as printed in newsletter 106, published in January before the meeting.

Tree report

Ian Rands gave a report on tree planting, including the 30,000th tree, which was planted by the society in Joe Joseph’s field near the Tor. Ian thanked John Brunsdon for his hospitality at committee meetings and the Carmens for providing refreshments for the tree planters.

Accounts

Dennis Allen gave a brief oral resume of the accounts.

A chart entitled “Accounts for year ending 2002 July 31”, prepared by Dennis Allen. Income, about half of which came from trees, and a quarter from subscriptions and donations, totalled £5,030.03. Expenditure, which was largely on trees and the Romulus and Remus project, totalled £5,191.76. The closing balances total £10,788.61.

Officers

The office holders were re-appointed unopposed:

During the year Terry and Anne Carmen joined the committee. Martin Blake and Geoff Brunt resigned. Two new committee members were appointed, John Egan and Neil Stevenson.

Newsletters

Jim Nagel was thanked for his work producing the quarterly newsletters.

Other business

Tribunal

Donald Martin felt that his complaint last year about the Tribunal being a drab place for the Tourist Information Centre was not reported properly. He feels that the Tribunal should be a museum and the TIC should move into the empty shop next door.

Dennis Allen then gave a resume on the reasons why the TIC is in the Tribunal. He also said that 80,000 people go into the centre every year. Martin Lofthouse also explained the situation: the Tribunal is one of the most historic buildings in Glastonbury and plans are being made to improve the lighting.

Travellers

Martin Lofthouse mentioned the problem of travellers as they cause environmental pollution. [Chairman’s note: This matter is being attended to!] Ian Cairns, the gypsy liaison officer, has said that many are homeless, and homeless single men have very little chance of being rehoused.

Names for paths

Jan Morland suggested that the path from Bulwarks Lane through Ten-Acre Field to Wellhouse Lane should be named Karen’s Path and the Oak Row should be Rands’ Row.

Clean pavements

Jim Nagel asked whether a pressure-washer could be used to clear grime (not to mention chewing gum) from High Street pavements. Not long ago we had sparkling new paving stones and the brick details were red, but now all is grey. The meeting passed a vote of thanks to Steven Brown for his faithful work in keeping the town clean.

After the AGM business, Alan Cotton gave a talk on the history of the postal services in the Glastonbury area.