MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE FRIENDS OF PENCARROW
HELD IN THE DRAWING ROOM ON WEDNESDAY 1st. MARCH 2023 AT 2 p.m.
PRESENT: Lady Molesworth-St. Aubyn, Sir William Molesworth- St. Aubyn, James Molesworth- St. Aubyn,
Shirley Kent, Peter Brandreth, Rita Austen, Pam Mulley, Jenny Brandreth, Jo Milner, Eli Ward, Pam Mulley , Tracy Davis and 46 members of The Friends Of Pencarrow.
WELCOME: Our Chair, Shirley Kent, welcomed everyone to the meeting, thanked Lady Molesworth and family for allowing us to use the Drawing room and reminded everyone to please tick the attendance form.
1. APOLOGIES: There were 84 Apologies recorded.
2. MINUTES OF LAST AGM – NOVEMBER 2[nd] . 2022 (for year ending Dec.
2021): Accepted.
3. MATTERS ARISING: None.
4. TRUSTEES REPORT – GIVEN BY SHIRLEY KENT: It seems no time at all since I was standing here in November 2022 giving you a chairman’s report for year ending 2021.
The year 2022 began with our first event, the Snowdrop Weekend. Although very tiring we were pleased with the change of format and will continue to keep it this way. The charity Hugs attended one day but, unfortunately, at late notice, one charity had to withdraw. So, the extra money on the second day was put towards the Fountain Appeal.
We had a stand at the Cornwall Flower Show in April to promote Pencarrow and hopefully add to the membership.
Our Bluebell and Wild Garlic Sunday in May was another fundraiser on a smaller scale, but helps to promote The Friends Of Pencarrow and gain new members.
The Christmas Fair was again overflowing with visitors, and, although a House event, plenty of F.O.P. volunteers offer their services when contacted by our Events Coordinator, Pam Mulley.
The Bookshed continues to be a very successful addition towards fundraising, so please feel free to carry on donating any books and jigsaw puzzles. These have become very popular.
We will occasionally, at very short notice, decide to have a cake and plant stall outside the Bookshed and will advertise this the best way possible at little cost to us, so , if you do see it advertised, we would very much welcome donations of homemade cakes on the day or contact a committee member , whose details are in The Pencarrow Times. This year’s copy will be with you shortly.
It is now time to say some Thank You - firstly, to my fellow Trustees and Volunteers for all the hard work they do throughout the year on behalf of F.O.P. – too many tasks to mention.
Thank you again to Tracy Davis, the House Administrator, for her work in the background helping to support the committee.
Thank you to everyone involved with getting today organised.
Finally I will say Thank You to Lady Molesworth-St. Aubyn and her Family for allowing us to play a small part in helping to keep Pencarrow a place we can keep coming to as Friends Of Pencarrow and enjoying all it has to offer.
Thank you for listening to my report.
5. TREASURER’S REPORT - GIVEN BY PETER BRANDRETH:
Income and Expenditure sheets for y/e December 2022 handed out at meeting.
I would call 2022 a steady year for the finances of the Friends Of Pencarrow -we do have some notable figures to discuss though.
INCOME
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SUBSCRIPTIONS: as will be explained by Jenny, our membership in this category is stable and remains our greatest form of income.
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FUNDRAISING: This shows a big jump from 3843 in 2021 to 314,422 in 2022. You can clearly see the residual effect of covid restrictions in 2021, and the fantastic support for our events like Snowdrops, Bluebells and the Christmas Fair in 2022.
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MISC. ( INC SUM-UP): To explain, SUM-UP is our card payment machine and it is interesting to see how takings by this method have increased dramatically, showing the value of our investment in technology!
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TOTAL INCOME: Almost double 2021, but, as already explained, this is simply moving us back to normal.
EXPENDITURE:
3 significant items here:
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MEMBERSHIP: printing and postage up considerably due to inflation.
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EVENT COSTS: related to running Snowdrop Weekend – plants, café supplies , etc. Entirely material costs as whole weekend organised and run by volunteers. Christmas marque cost £4,200.
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DONATIONS: £12,500 to Pencarrow Heritage – drive repairs and annual Start-up support.
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£2,000 to HUGS Foundation - nominated charity at Snowdrop Weekend 2022.
SURPLUS & TOTAL AT BANK:
Finally, 2022 generated additional income of £12, 920, giving a CASH AT BANK amount of £61,452 at year end.
That is an extremely healthy figure to begin 2023 and I would now like to invite Sir William to explain some of the possible ways it may be spent in the coming months.
Thank You. ACCOUNTS ACCEPTED BY SHOW OF HANDS IN THE ROOM.
SIR WILLIAM MOLESWORTH’S REPORT:
Sir William started by sincerely thanking F.O.P. members and Trustees for all their past and future support. His future projects include refurbishment of toilets ( currently under way), a new proposed toilet block near the car park, the potting shed roof ( est. cost £24,000) fencing , posts and gravel in grounds, repair of plasterwork in the main House entrance. After storm Eunice in 2022 destroyed so many trees, the wood is being utilised for lots of things around the estate; several beautiful tables and benches have now been placed in the café courtyard.
5. MEMBERSHIP REPORT – GIVEN BY JENNY BRANDRETH:
Jenny gave a short talk explaining to any new members how much their support helps F.O.P. to support House projects. For example, by showing your cards at the Shop on arrival, we monitored 4,501 visits by Members during last year.
We started 2022 with 826 individual members - by December we had 737 paid up members. – some people wait until the start of the new season to renew, and in February, we had 37 renewals. When I took on this role in 2014, we had around 402 members. I have been sadly notified of 7 members who have passed away in 2022: Marion & David Donaldson, Renee Roberts, Phillipa Edwards, Gillian Moulder, Christine Holmes and The Countess of Morley.
Jenny then reminded members to keep their contact details up to date and mentioned that renewal membership cards will now be available to pick up on your fist seasonal visit to the Shop to save postage costs. Also, a reminder about Gift Aid if your situation changes. Members are reminded of renewal of membership date ( by e-mail, if possible), but the date is on the card. Thank You.
6. ELECTION OF OFFICERS / TRUSTEES:
The Current committee voted in en bloc Proposed by Mr C Welch and Seconded by Mrs C Welch by post and by a SHOW OF HANDS in the room. As there were 2 Trustee vacancies, the current committee proposed that the position of Membership Secretary and Events Co-Ordinator be voted in as Trustees, and they are then able to have a vote on relevant issues. The serving Membership Secretary, Jenny Brandreth, was nominated by Jo Milner and seconded by Shirley Kent. The current Events CoOrdinator, Pam Mulley , was nominated by Rita Austen and seconded by Jo. Milner. This was accepted by a SHOW OF HANDS in the room. Our co-opted trustee, Eli Ward, was elected a full trustee. All vacancies are now filled. Retiring trustee, Sue Read, was presented with flowers and a gift, and thanked by all for her past help on the committee.
7. ANY OTHER BUSINESS:
Trustees will be calling a Special General Meeting in November when the House closes to put forward a few proposals to change the current constitution to bring it in line and take into account our growing membership and new ways of communication. A complimentary cream tea will be provided.
The Business part of the meeting was closed.
The chair then introduced Richard Blewett who is a FOP member and Pencarrow Archivist who then gave a slide show and talk about the wonderful items uncovered by the Archive Group at Pencarrow over many years. Items included basic account
books, several autograph books collected by Mary Ford and , best of all, a document signed by Queen Victoria. Richard then hosted a Q & A session.
Lady Molesworth-St. Aubyn gave a Thank you to whole Room.
Refreshments were served in the café.