The meeting began at approx 15.15 hrs in the presence of:

President – Mrs June West

Treasurer – Mr François Devin

Secretary – Mrs Linda Gorton

Mme Josephine Collinson

Mme Marie France Simmonet

Mr Roger Petitjean

Mr Patrice Garreau

Mr Brian Collinson

47 other Members of the Association were present or were represented.

President’s Report

 

June began by welcoming everyone to the AGM and on behalf of the Committee, wished everyone a Happy New Year.  .During her report, which was interpreted into French by Marie France, she went on to recall the social events, which had occurred during 2013,

“ Our first event following the last AGM was the fete de Galette de Roi during which a competition was held to select the best home-made crown. Jim West won the men’s section with his light-headed version and the lady’s prize went to Josette Tatinclaux. The usual pancake party took place in February thanks to François’s culinary skills.

During March a Folk dance and supper was held and well attended and enjoyed by all. Thanks to Phillipe and his team for the musical input. The Beetle drive in April was not well attended but those who did enjoyed it and had plenty of cake. At the end of June a number of us went to visit a vineyard at Champ du Layon. We received a warm welcome from the proprietors who also provided a very nice room in which to eat our picnic lunch and gave us an assortment of wine to go with it. After a visit to the vines and production area it was back to make our purchases.

We had planned to have a B-B-Q to celebrate t he birth of the new Royal baby and set the date for 27yh July hoping that it would arrive in time. Prince George appeared a few days prior to the date.

Thanks to Roger.

During to the times when the Salle was unavailable we had a number of outside events including bowling, two walks, a visit to the Vendee miniature village, a visit to Sable d’Olonne for fish & chips, an evening at Bourinne a Loulou, a sardine factory shop and the bar! Our annual picnic at Lac de Jaunay was not so popular this year, perhaps it is time for a change of venue. please let us know if you have some ideas.

Five members of Le Pont filled a car for the Rallye Touristique d’Association expérience et Partage and I am pleased to say that Le Pont won one of the competitions.

This year came to a close with a loto afternoon in November, a trip to the Christmas show at Puy de Fou and our Chant de Noel which was attended by 74 people. Thanks to Claudine who played the keyboard for us. The singing was great. We quenched our thirst with vin chaud, mince pies and other cakes. We also used this occasion to collect tinned and dried food to present to Restos du Coeur at St. Hilarie who received it gratefully and told us that their client numbers had doubled in the past year. We have received a very nice letter thanking Le Pont for its participation and can I tell you that the 7^th/8^th March is the annual collection for Restos du Coeur across France and I you would like to bring some gifts for that on either Thursday evening or Friday morning before those dates , we will see that they are delivered.

Whilst we have had a successful year, we have seen the number of English speaking members decreasing. This has led us to do a mail shot of British sounding names found in the phone book for the St. Hilaire de Riez area and surrounding villages. So far we have had two new couples come to Le Pont and we welcome them especially today and hope they will join us. A number of people have returned to the UK and sadly a number have been ill and unable to come to Le Pont. We take this opportunity to extend our sincere condolences to those who have lost loved ones over the past year.

I would personally like to thank members who help on Friday mornings serving tea and coffee and all the committee members who are responsible for opening the Salle and making sure everything is in order when the session is finished. Thanks to Brian, Michel and Anne-Marie for doing the quiz every Friday morning. Also thank you Brian for keeping the website up to date and if you haven’t visited it yet please do. Thanks also to François and Marie France for their work every Thursday evening. Every member of the Committee contributes to the organisation of the Association and I thank each of them for their participation and support.

Francois is our Treasurer and I hand over to him for his annual report.

 

Treasurers Report.

 

Please see attachments .

 

 

June welcomed new Members. As there had been no comments from the last year’s AGM minutes these were accepted by the membership as were the President’s Report and the Treasurer’s. There were no questions from the floor

 

2013 in retrospect.

Marie France had created an excellent series of slides – with  a sound track – to illustrate those events of 2013 which June had described.  These were projected and much appreciated.

 

Elections to Membership of the Committee.

Patrice Garreau has resigned from the Committee but will still act as publicity officers so he is ex-officio now. There is a new candidate Josette Languedoc  and Marie France is due for re-election. During the subsequent  discussion the votes were taken by secret ballot and were as follows:

52 votes cast for Mme Languedoc unanimous

52 votes for Mme Simonnet unanimous

 

Then June announced that she would be resigning as President and a successor would be announced later. Linda Gorton was also resigning as Secretary. There were some concern raised from  the floor that this would severely alter the Association and help was promised  to help June as one of the main reasons was expressed by her that her French was not extensive enough for an association with an increasing French membership and to represent  Le Pont at official meetings. Several members also thanked her for her leadership.

The meeting ended but all comments will be taken to the Committee meeting and the membership will be informed of developments asap.

 

Linda Gorton- Secretary

 

Annual General Meeting 12th January 2013.

The meeting began at 1522hrs in the presence of:

President – Mrs June West

Treasurer – Mr François Devin

Mme Josephine Collinson

Mme Michèle Coutard

Mme Marie France Simmonet

Mr Roger Petitjean

Mr Patrice Garreau

Mr Brian Collinson

 

57 other Members of the Association were present.

 

President’s Report

 

June began by welcoming everyone to the AGM and on behalf of the Committee, wished everyone a Happy New Year.  She also welcomed new Members, and introduced Members of the Committee.  During her report, which was interpreted into French by Marie France, she touched upon the difficulties experienced by the Association following the uncertainties surrounding the previously used premises and the subsequent move to the Salle Communale in Sion.

 

She went on to recall the social events, which had occurred during 2012, and to outline some of the planned events for 2013.  These to include a Galette du Rois party, Scottish country dancing, and the car rally together with the Association Experience et Partage.  Also intended are the annual picnic at the Lac de Jaunay and visits to a vineyard and hopefully a visit to the historic site at Neuil sur l’Autize; the year to end with ‘Chants de Noel’ on Sunday 15^th December.

 

2012 in retrospect.

Marie France had created an excellent series of slides – with sound effects – to illustrate those events of 2012 which June had described.  These were projected and much appreciated.

 

Treasurers Report.

Francois began by comparing 2011 with 2012.  Major differences in the balance sheet derive from the Association having moved premises from one which required a rental payment, and payment for electricity and gas etc., to one which required none of the above.

In answer to a question from the floor Francois explained that extra income had also resulted from the sale of the cooker from the previous premises,  together with bookshelves and other items.  He pointed out also that the uncertainty of the future required the Association to retain the financial resources to meet changing circumstances.  He felt there was  no indication for any change to the annual subscription of 12 euros.

It was proposed by Ian Taylor that the Treasurer’s report be accepted.  This was seconded by David Vernon and carried unanimously.

Statute Changes.

Marie France informed the AGM that French regulations required some minor amendments to the Constitution of the Association, and their acceptance at the AGM.

Those changes involved a modification in the wording regarding availability of books, and a requirement for new Members to accept the Constitution and to pay an annual Membership fee.   The other change was regarding proxy voting; the number of proxy votes allowed to be held by any Member was to be a maximum of two – with the exception of the parent or legal representative of any child Members, who would be entitled to hold proxy votes for all of those children, regardless of number.

A show of hands showed a unanimous acceptance of these changes, which will be entered into the Constitution. 

Elections to Membership of the Committee.

The President announced that she and Linda Gorton were required to stand for re-election and that Brian Collinson needed to be ratified as a Member of the Committee. (He had replaced Alison Taylor, whom the President thanked and praised for her work  on the Committee since the beginning of the Association). Wendy Vernon had also volunteered to serve on the Committee and was standing for election. Voting papers were then collected and counted.

 

Votes counted for election to the Committee were  as follows:

Linda Gorton     – 63 of 65 Members

Wendy Vernon  – 62 of 65 Members

June West          – 63 of 65 Members

Brian Collinson – 64 of 65 Members

The President closed the Annual General Meeting at 1605hrs. 

 

 

Brian Collinson                                                   June West

Acting Minutes Secretary                                    President