AGM MINUTES
Minutes of the 6th Annual General Meeting of the Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) of the Association for Heritage Interpretation held at 08:30hrs on Thursday, 10 October 2024, at The Glynhill Hotel & Spa, 169 Paisley Road, Renfrew, Glasgow, PA4 8XB.
Item 1 Welcome and apologies
AHI Chair, Jackie Lee welcomed everyone to the 6th Annual General Meeting of the CIO which was also the 49th for the Association for Heritage Interpretation. She declared the meeting open at 08:34hrs and confirmed that it was quorate.
The Chair asked Operational Group members Astrid Krumins (Secretary) and Michael Glen (Treasurer) present to introduce themselves. It was noted that Lyn Redknap was acting as minutes secretary and had joined the meeting online via Microsoft Teams.
Other trustees present were Gav Glencorse, Damon Mahoney, Geraldine Mathieson, and Chris Walker.
Apologies were received from:
- Philip Ryland
- Bob Jones
- Steven Richards-Price
- Carolyn Lloyd Brown
- Ruth Coulthard
- Beth Môrafon
- Eric Langham
- Barbara Acan
- Amelia Evans
- Sabrina Willekens
Item 2 Minutes of 5th CIO AGM (48th AGM for AHI).
The minutes of the last AGM’s were approved by the AHI trustees at our committee meeting on 4 December 2023. A copy was also uploaded onto the AHI website after that meeting. Copies of the minutes were also circulated to members via an e-Bulletin issued on 25 September 2024.
The Chair asked for questions from the floor and as there were no questions, she asked everyone to vote on the resolution:
THAT the minutes of the 5th AGM of the Charitable Incorporated organisation (CIO) (1180025) held on 13th October 2023 be received.Page 1The resolution was carried unanimously.
Item 3 Annual Report and financial statements AHI for the Year ending 31 March 2024
AHI Chair, Jackie Lee reported that despite the committees’ best efforts, a copy of the final 2023-24 report from accountants Xeinadin (formerly Williams Giles) wasn’t available be presented at the AGM. This was mainly due to problems with the software Xeinadin used to produce the report.
However, she provided a brief overview of the activity which has been detailed in the annual report, including:
- A successful conference in Lincoln October 2023 which included a pre-conference workshop on evaluating techniques , 16 speakers and one open session from a wide range of backgrounds and industries. The conference was attended by 86 delegates (65 members and 21 non-members).
- The 2023 Engaging People Awards (sponsored by The Creative Core) were opened for entry at the conference in October 2022. The winners were announced at a gala dinner attended by 98 people on 12 October 2023 and were featured in the winter issue of the Journal.
- AHI continued to be involved Consultation and advocacy including –
a. Representation on the Heritage Alliance SPAG (Spatial Planning Advocacy Group)
b. Supporting the Global Alliance for Heritage Interpretation to develop a framework. - A programme of well attended webinars, two online Heritage Interpretation
- courses and a Writing interpretation for children and family’s workshop had
- taken place.
- The trustees had commissioned some new Best Practice Guides; AV guide and
- Interpretation of Earth heritage
- Two well received journals.
To bring members up to date, since the end of the 2023/24 year the committee has been engaged with arranging AHI’s conference in Glasgow, preparing for the 2025 round of the Engaging Peoples Awards and applying for a NHLF grant.
More information regarding the Interpretation Gold project will be provided at a session scheduled to be held on Friday morning.
Jackie then handed over to AHI’s Treasurer, Michael Glen, who provided a basic picture of the accounts for the 2023/24 financial year.
Michael thanked AHI Administrator, Lyn Redknap for the work she undertook to accurately record AHI’s financial activity.
He reported that income for the 2023/24 financial year was £74,243; expenditure was £71,095, leaving a surplus of £3,148. Which means that AHI’s reserves are likely to fall a little below the target set in our financial policy of maintaining reserves equal to the average of the last three years’ turn over.
It was highlighted that reluctantly, the committee agreed at their meeting on 12 June to increase membership rates by 10% for the 2025/26 financial year (beginning 1 April 2025). This is the first increase for individual memberships since 2016/17 and the introduction of the new corporate membership structure in April 2022.
Overseas postage is an additional fee of £12
The Chair thanked Michael and invited questions from the floor.
Iona Keen asked how many members AHI had. It was noted that there are currently 367 memberships but that doesn’t reflect active members within corporate memberships.
With no further questions the Chair put the following resolution to the meeting:
THAT the Trustees’ will arrange an online EGM to allow members to receive the report as soon as it becomes available.
The resolution was carried unanimously.
Item 4 Appointment of auditors
The Chair noted that as a small charity, AHI does not have to have its accounts “audited” [see Charities Act 2011], and so we arrange for our accountants to undertake an independent examination of financial records.
The following resolution proposed by the Executive Committee was then put to the meeting:
THAT the Trustees review AHI’s requirements for accountancy services and identify a suitable company and that the Committee be allowed to determine their remuneration.
The resolution was carried unanimously.
Item 5 Announcements
Jackie asked those present to show your appreciation to Bill Bevan, who was awarded Fellowship in August 2024. She also asked the room to congratulate Steve Slack and Iona Keen who were awarded their Fellowships on 1 October 2024
Bill Bevan, Steve Slack and Iona Keen were then presented with their FAHI certificates
The chair also congratulated Emily Summers-Mileman who was awarded Full Membership on 15 April 2024
Item 6 Election of officers – announcement of the retirement and election of trustees
It was noted that under AHI’s constitution the CIO Executive Committee consists of at least six trustees. There is no maximum number of trustees which may be appointed to the CIO.
The Chair handed over AHI’s Secretary, Astrid Krumins, to carry out the election process.
Astrid reported that no new trustee nominations had been received.
However, Sindi Breshani had expressed an interest in becoming a trustee and would be invited to attend the next board meeting and may be appointed at that meeting.
Astrid announced that Beth Môrafon (MAHI) and Geraldine Mathieson (MAHI) are standing down from the Committee.
Item 7 Any Other Business
No other items were raised.
Item 8 Closing Remarks
Jackie Lee thanked Journal Editor Bill Bevan who produced another excellent and engaging edition of the AHI Journal.
She also offered sincere thanks to the conference team of Geraldine Mathieson, Michael Glen, Astrid Krumins, Damon Mahoney and our administrator Lyn Redknap.
She also thanked The Creative Core for sponsoring the 2024 conference.
Jackie also thanked her Awards team Ruth Coulthard, Geraldine Mathieson, Jo Scott
and Catherine Wright for their hard work and support whilst preparing for the 2025 awards round.
The Chair thanked the members of AHI for attending the meeting.
The AGM was declared closed at 08:56hrs.
( The minutes were approved by the AHI Trustees at their meeting held on 22 November 202 4 )