Held at the Royal Philatelic Society London (RPSL), 15, Abchurch Lane, London and via Zoom on Saturday, 8th July 2023 commencing at 14.00 BST.
- Members present: The Chair was taken by David Winnie with 22 other members present including 9 members joining via Zoom. Members who joined the AGM via Zoom came from Jersey, Guernsey, Austria, India, USA + 4 members from the UK.
- Apologies
Apologies were received from David Ackroyd, Julian Bagnall, Henri Cartier, Andrew Chappell, David Gurney, Mike Moody, Alan Moorcroft, Hayden Moorcroft, Tom Norgate, Brian Sole and Alan Whittaker.
3. Confirmation of Minutes of the 72nd Annual General Meeting held Saturday, 9th July 2022 at the RPSL and via Zoom
It was proposed by Ron Osborne and seconded by Mark Bailey that the Minutes of the 72nd Annual General Meeting as published be accepted as a true record. By a show of hands the proposal was passed unanimously.
4. Matters arising from these Minutes
4.1: South of England CISS Member’s Regional Meeting
Richard Flemming provided those members present with a verbal report on the meeting as provided by Alan Whittaker and it is hoped that a meeting will be held in 2024. Nick Stuart wished to record the Society’s thanks to Alan for arranging the meeting and this was fully endorsed by those members present.
5. President’s report
David Laurillard, provided members present with a verbal report as to his first year as CISS President, highlighting the success of the CISS journal Les Iles Normandes and recent advances made with the Society’s website. The President continued his report by thanking the members of the CISS Committee for their dedication to the Society and its members.
6. Officers’ Reports
6.1: Chairman’s report
David Winnie provided an update to his Chairman’s Report to the one that appears on the CISS website, in particular in relation to the 75th Anniversary of the founding of the CISS in 1950. The Chairman explained that the desire is for the 2025 Member’s Weekend to be held in the Channel Islands, explaining that initial inquiries were being made as to a preferred location. The Chairman also asked those members present if they had any preferences to location and options were offered. It was agreed that these options would be looked into so as to determine the best option going forward.
David Winnie then provided an update on the Digitising and Searchable Journal project, highlighting the excellent progress being made. He explained how all the volumes from 13.1 onwards were now searchable on the website using keywords. The aim is that all volumes from Volume 1.1 onwards will be available to view. Currently, Volumes 9.1 onwards are now available to view on the website, with Volumes 1.1 – 12.4 only requiring keywording. David Winnie expressed this thanks to all those committee members who have been involved in the project to date and especially to Nick and to Ed Martin who have been involved in scanning and digitising the journals into a PDF format.
6.2: Secretary’s Report
Richard Flemming reported that his annual report had been made available for members to view on the CISS website and that he had nothing further to add to his statement. There were no questions for Richard by those members present.
6.3: Treasurer’s Report
Bryan Elliston provided those members present with a brief overview of his written report that is to be found on the CISS website, highlighting the current strength of the Society’s finances.
Bryan Elliston then provided statements of the independently reviewed Income and Expenditure Account and Balance Sheet for the year ending 31st December 2022. David Winnie proposed that the account statements as presented be accepted as a true record. The proposal was seconded by Gerald Marriner and by a show of hands the accounts as presented were approved unanimously. There were no questions for Bryan from the floor.
David Winnie, on behalf of the CISS membership, thanked Bryan for his sterling efforts in managing the Society’s accounts.
6.4: Membership Secretary’s report
Mark Bailey has provided members with an overview of the current CISS membership, the full report being available on the CISS website. As of 22nd June 2023 the CISS membership stood at 236, which included six institutions who receive the Society’s journal. This is a drop of six members from the 2022 figure. There were no questions from the floor.
6.5: Auctioneer’s report
Nick Stuart provided a brief overview of the success of recent Society auctions and indicated that his full Auctioneer’s report was available to view on the CISS website. On a personal note, he wished to thank Gerald Marriner for his support in preparing the auction, including the describing and writing-up of the auction lists that goes out to the membership.
6.6 Packet Secretary’s report
Attending via Zoom, John Triggs informed those members present that his annual report was available to view on the CISS website. John also indicated that he was amalgamating the six Channel Islands postcard packets with the six UK packets, so having twelve postcard packets in the one circuit. John stated that he is always wanting more material from the CISS membership to go into the packets for circulation. There were no questions for John from the floor.
6.7: Press and Advertising Officer’s report
Steve Wells provided a brief overview, but indicated that his full report was available to view on the Society’s website. There were no questions for Steve from the floor.
The Chairman thanked Steve for his sterling efforts in promoting the Society, not only in the philatelic press, but also in the Jersey and Guernsey press.
6.8: Competition Secretary’s report
Nick Martin stated that his annual report was available to view on the CISS website and he had nothing further to add. There were no questions for Nick.
7. Ex-officio Officers’ reports
7.1: Archivist
Mark Bailey reported that he continues to add the Les Iles Normandes and the Jersey and Guernsey Stamp Bulletins to the archives, otherwise it has been a quiet year. There were no questions for Mark.
7.2: Book sales
Richard Flemming provided a report on the last twelve months’ activities regarding book and sundry sales. He also provided details of the current book and sundry stock held. There were no questions for Richard.
8. Amendment to Rule 8(d) – previously circulated
Nick Martin proposed that Agenda items 8, 9 and 10 regarding the amendments to Society Rules 8(d), 8(e) and 9 be approved as recommended by the Executive and Full Committee en bloc.The proposal was seconded by Mark Bailey and by a show of hands the motion was carried unanimously. The proposal to approve the amendments to Society Rules 8(d), and 8(e) and 9 en bloc as proposed was then put to the floor and by a show of hands the motion was carried unanimously.
9. Amendment to Rule 8(e) – previously circulated. See Agenda item 8 above.
10. Amendment to Rule 9 – previously circulated. See agenda item 8 above.
11. Dates for Members’ meetings for 2024
Richard Flemming reported that the date for Members Meetings during 2024 will be appearing in Les Iles Normandes and on the Society’s website. He also confirmed that he had made room bookings with the RPSL for 2025.
12. Election of Officers
At this point, David Winnie, Chairman, stood down and David Laurillard, President, took the chair. David Winnie stated that he was willing to continue as Chairman for a further twelve months. Seeing that there was no other nominee proposed, the President duly proposed that David Winnie be elected as the Chairman of the CISS until the 2024 Annual General Meeting. The proposal was seconded by Richard Flemming and by a show of hands, David Winnie was elected unanimously to serve as Chairman until the next Annual General Meeting
Election of other CISS Committee members.
Richard Flemming, Secretary, declared that all current CISS committee members were prepared to stand in their current committee positions until the next Annual General Meeting and had been properly proposed and seconded as per Society rules. Seeing that there were no further nominees coming forward Gerald Marriner proposed that the remaining CISS committee positions be voted in en bloc. This proposal was seconded by Ron Osborne, and by a show of hand it was agreed unanimously that all current CISS committee members be re-elected to their current committee positions until the next Annual General Meeting.
13. Update on the Member’s Weekend Meeting 2024 at the Milford Hall Hotel, Salisbury.
David Winnie was pleased to announce that he had secured the booking at the Milford Hall Hotel, Salisbury for the 2024 Members’ Weekend Meeting which will be held from the 19th – 21st April. Details for room bookings, etc. will be released later in the year.
14. Any other business
14.1 Peter Viscusi asked if it was likely that relatives/next of kin actually knew the value of a member’s collection(s) or how to value them. The general consensus was that it was unlikely that they would. Nick Martin then highlighted the importance of keeping appropriate records of their collection(s) and ensure that there are clear instructions regarding their disposal. Guidance for our members is to be considered going forward.
Action point: The Executive Committee to consider how to take this forward at their next meeting.
14.2: Richard Flemming read out the content of two emails he had received from CISS members. The first thanking those members involved in the Guernsey Member’s Weekend and making it such a success. The second email thanked the CISS committee members for their efforts on behalf of the membership to make the CISS the success that it is.
14.3 Ron Osborne also wished to thank the CISS committee members for their efforts over the past twelve months, but also wished to especially thank David Gurney for his work in producing the journal, and to Nick Stuart for managing the auctions.
14.4 Joan Flood Salver
The Chairman was pleased to announce that Roger Harris had been awarded the Joan Flood Salver for his book Delivered by the Hotels’ Care and Roger was duly presented with the salver.
15. Date of the 74th Annual General Meeting: Saturday, 6th July2024 at the RPSL and via Zoom.
