Village Show Annual General Meeting

The Annual General meeting of the Austwick Village Show was held on Wednesday 13th November 2024.  

It was preceded by two excellent film and photography events this year starting with a brilliant “premiere” of Diane and Doon Storey’s film of the 2024 Show with an introduction by the President Margaret Hird and the Chairman Graham Cleverly. The film covered the preparations for the Show by five selected exhibitors comprising Paul Tibbatts (Garden Produce), Pam Smith (Handicrafts), Ian Radford (Art), Carol Wilkinson (Artistic Flowers) and Nick Burton (Cookery). It was very much appreciated by everyone present who agreed it was to a high professional standard and perfectly captured the spirit of the Show as a traditional community event. Anyone who missed the showing will get a second opportunity to see it in the spring on Saturday 10th May 2025 when the Society will hold a coffee morning and film showing in the Parish Hall with profits from the catering contributing to the 2025 Show costs.

Following the film, Chris and Judy Leeming showed a selection of their excellent slides of the Show which captured its essence and showed all the first prize entries enabling the audience to re-live the occasion and marvel at the usual high quality of the products on display. (Images in this article are courtesy of Chris and Judy). 

The Chairman thanked Diane and Doon for all their hard work and for the high quality of the film which forms a valuable moving record of the 2024 Show, and thanked Chris and Judy Leeming for their continued high quality work as “official Show photographers”.

The Chairman confirmed that the President, Margaret Hird is stepping down as President due to family commitments. The Chairman thanked Margaret for all her work supporting the Show over many years on behalf of the Committee. He confirmed that Pam Smith has agreed to be the new President

Officers were duly elected/ re-elected as follows:

President: P Smith, Vice President: Vacant, Chairman: G Cleverly, Vice Chairman: S Dewhirst, Secretary: J Garlick, Treasurer: J Huck. 

Sue Brown and Ken Jowett resigned from the Committee and the Chairman thanked them for their work on the Show over the past years.  Margaret Hird and Margaret Wilding re-joined/ joined the Committee.

The following existing Committee members agreed to carry on next year: B Procter, G Gooch, S Gooch, C Wilkinson, C Lardner, H Brown, C Barber, R Pettiford.

The Treasurer reported a reasonable financial balance of £673, although there was a deficit this year of £70 compared to 2024.  Sponsors and advertisers were thanked for their continued support. It was agreed by the Committee to increase the entrance fee for visitors in 2025 from £1 to £2.

The Committee agreed to split the photography and art judges for the 2025 Show. They also agreed to again include the children’s entries in the Main Hall and use the Small Hall only for refreshments. The Chairman thanked the contributors to the Raffle including Officers as well as the Cheese Shop, the Folly and the RIND pizza restaurant.

The Chairman explained that the engraving of the cups and trophies had unfortunately been delayed this year but that the engraved cups and trophies should be returned to the winners before Christmas.

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