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Minutes of the General Committee Meeting of the Westonbirt Association
held at Westonbirt School, on Sunday 3 October 2004 at 12:00

Present: President (in the Chair), School Head, Vice-Chair, Hon. Secretary, Hon. Treasurer, News Editor, News Finance, Representative to Governors, Network Facilitator, 11 other Section Reps (9, 15, 16, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 30, 36, 47, 51, 52, 53, 54, 56, 59, 60, 62, Staff, Current Staff).

The President welcomed XXXX XXXX as Network Facilitator, and XXXX XXXX as Vice-Chair.

1. Apologies for Absence were received from the reprsentatives of sections 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 10, 12, 14, 17, 18, 20, 25, 31, 32, 34, 38, 39, 46, 48, 49.

2. Minutes of the previous meeting held on Saturday 4 October 2002 were approved by those present and signed by the President.

3. Matters arising from previous meeting

   Item 4, second point: Mailing-labels for "non-active" members would only be produced once every two years, starting in the Spring of 2005.

   Item 7, first paragraph: Concern was expressed that the cessation of the North American section had caused contact to be lost with those that had replied to that section. The Secretary would endeavour to make contact herself in 2005.

   Item 7, second paragraph: The most recent Amaryllians were now available on-line. (Parents were told at registration that photographs of the girls might be published, and were asked if they wished their daughter to be omitted; no such request had yet been received.)

4. Section Representatives' Business and Reports Section representative changes were announced informally, in advance of being reported to the AGM.

   4.1 Representatives were advised that return addresses on envelopes might help a representative discover that an address is no longer valid,

   and that names of "retired" (have requested no further contact) and "non-active" (have not sent news for five years, or no address is available) members should be given to the Database Officer or the Secretary

   4.2 Two reunions were occurring at the 2004 AGM - the leavers of 1974, and the leavers of around 1954, including a number of non-member Old Girls.

   There were contact details for obtaining details about organising reunions on the School website. Advice from previous organisers would be put on the Association site.

   4.3 It was agreed that, because the Amaryllians were produced half-way through the Spring term, the newsletter timings would be changed to

   packets sent to section representatives:	mid-late February
   mailings sent to members by section representatives:	early-mid March (certainly in March)
   replies in to section representatives by:	end April
   reports sent to Editor	as soon as possible in May, at least by: mid-May.

   4.4 It was agreed that Reunion Day notices would include notification that lists (giving names and sections) of those attending would be on the Association website shortly before the final date for replies. The reply form would include the possibility of stating that a name should not appear on the list.

5. Honorary Members It was agreed that Mrs XXXX XXXX and Mrs XXXX XXXX, who had retired in the Summer as Heads of Classics and Drama after 15 or 16 years at the School, would be offered Honorary Membership of the Association.

6. Election of News Editor The current representative of section 47 volunteered to replace XXXX XXXX as Association News Editor.

7. Any Other Business

   The Treasurer thanked representatives for claiming in a timely manner, and also those that, by not claiming expenses, donated to the Association.

   Brooches, magazines (and magazine subscribers' statements) were available.

   The President thanked the Committee for all their work.

The meeting ended at 12:40pm.