Annual General Meeting Minutes: held Tuesday April 18th 2023 in The Silks
[20 members attended]
1. Apologies for Absence
Alex Matthews, Margaret Matthews, Sue Parry, Liz Turner, Simon Meyer, Lisa Benn,
Carolyn Edmonds
2. Acceptance of 2022 AGM minutes:
The 2022 minutes were made available prior to the 2023 AGM.
Proposed: Marian Blakeney Seconded: Jane Fox
3. Chairman’s report
This was made available to members prior to the 2023 AGM.
On request the Chairman gave a verbal summary of his report (see below)
Proposed: Brian Wood Seconded: Isabelle Kingston
4. Appointment of committee
Following the acceptance at the Special General Meeting (immediately preceding this AGM)
of modifications to the Constitution, the role of vice Chairman was deleted.
candidates standing for re-election.
Chairman Bruce Fox
Secretary Margaret Matthews
Treasurer Alex Matthews
Committee Roger Harris
Jane Fox
Sue Parry
The members of the committee were re-elected en block, nem con.
Proposed: Marion Gordon – Finlayson Seconded: Janice Hetherington
5. Financial summary & fees proposal
In the absence of the Treasurer the chairman presented the financial summary.
Brought forward from 2022 575.77
Income less expenditure 2020 - 2022 -245.54
Available funds 330.23
[Please note that the expenditure includes:
2 years Web subscriptions 116.76
Picture donations to Silks 104.00
Wilts Building Record (1 year subs) 25.00 ]
2023/2024 subscription proposal
Since it is likely that the only expenditure in the coming year is for the Website, it was proposed that
no subscription should be levied this coming year but that a call for donations should be made to cover
any unexpected costs.
There were no questions, and the Financial Report was adopted unanimously by a show of hands.
6. Any other Business
In appreciation of his considerable contribution to the OSAHG, as its first chairman, then vice chairman,
Bruce Fox presented Brian Wood with a book of photographs of the Parish.
The meeting closed at 7.25pm and was followed by a slide show, open to the whole parish, of old photographs.
Thanks go to the Silks, and to Mark & Jan Whitehead and Simon Basford for running the bar helping to
make the evening a success
Chairman’s Report 2023
I reported last year that we were facing a number of problems, largely because of our limited numbers and thus the committee proposed running a “pared down” operation. Some of the stated aims have been achieved others are ongoing, with some progress in tracing the local history of houses with the help and assistance of the Wiltshire Buildings Record Trust. However a large portion of our time has been taken up with tying down the history of the Wheatsheaf and Axe of Compass. We still have a little way to go before writing a report, sorting some loose ends on unusual stories and people that have sprung into focus. It will also include a report on the graffiti which we discovered during the renovations. Roger Harris has played a large part in making sense of the data, even to recognising his own graffiti outside! It was decided to create and donate a time-line to the pub, together with a series of framed historic photographs of the pubs and an information leaflet. This was funded by donations and some Group funds.
No further progress has been made on two projects: the Audio history of the parish and a second ‘Millennium Book’ photo record.
Roger Harris, Simon Meyer and I have spent some time in the History Centre looking at the Merrimans’ boxes of Deeds, a fascinating collection of the Ward family who owned a large proportion of the village. The number of cottages (described in the late 1700’s as ‘hovels’!) which burnt down is quite surprising. Pulling a coherent story from all the data is time consuming but will be presented in due course. We have also discovered that there was a ‘washpool’ in the village, presumably at Wetpit, and that the bridge over the Og (again at Wetpit) was called in the 18th century ‘Whatley Bridge’ (why?).
Some unexpected sources have been discovered, for example the ‘Hearth Tax Exemptions’ for the time of Charles II – a list of villagers who were deemed too poor to pay the tax (which later evolved into the infamous ‘Window Tax’. Some gruesome stories came from the 18th century Coroners List – records of call out for unexpected deaths in the parish. ‘Unseasonal Weather’ seemed a frequent cause.
Access to the digitised newspapers has revealed a useful crop of stories, ranging from a 19th century sale of livestock of the Large family in Rockley to the fire which destroyed Mr Pinniger’s home (probably Poughcombe Farmhouse – to be confirmed). This man also had suffered two hayrick fires although he was, apparently, insured!
I recount these lines of research as possible lines of involvement for the wider membership. If you wish to investigate your house history or dig into the life of the parish you would be more than welcome. It is really a self-help process we are suggesting for the future. As little or as much time as you want to spend digging into the past.
Please don’t forget our website:
Ogbourne St Andrew History Group (osahg.org.uk)
Bruce Fox March 2023