If our chairman has a fault, and that’s yet to be proven, it isn’t that of prolonging an AGM.
We breezed through his own report, which sympathetically summarised our inability to meet for two years.
He also praised Maggie, Ian and Brian for keeping the society alive in that time.
Maggie, as secretary, also kept it admirably brief focusing on thanks to Simon Foster for his help with finding our new venue and on membership numbers which reached a high of c. 90 in March 2020 and still stand at around 60.
Please look out for an email canvassing views on our meeting dates for 2023/24, potentially moving to the first Thursday of the month and sometimes changing to a Monday if necessary to secure a particular speaker.
Please also note also that our next meeting will take place on MONDAY 16 January so England, Durham and Lancashire seamer Graham Onions can join us.
Brian introduced his signed accounts, current to September 2020 and distributed for all to read. All income and expenditure incurred since then will be included in next year's accounts. The finances are healthy, and reserves of £3,000+ ensure we can book a more expensive speaker if desired.
In other good news, raffle income remains healthy and allows us to maintain membership fees unchanged at £15 a year.
The committee were re-elected en masse with no objections.
There was no other business but Simon Foster spoke on behalf of all members to thank the officers for their continuing care of the society during the last two difficult years.
Then it was on to our speaker, Mr Chris O’Brien.
There's a saying that one should not let facts get in the way of a good story.
Chris certainly had a good story to tell, about the writer Neville Cardus, whose style suggests that he was a true believer in this phrase.
Chris, however, based his talk firmly in the facts – many his own discovery – and distilled a complex life into an interesting and enjoyable tale, peppered with memorable and amusing quotes, and told with style and verve.
And
in a lively question and answer session he was a thoughtful responder, assessing Cardus with
care and objectivity.
At the time of writing, the raffle is thought to have raised £73, so again many thanks to those who contributed.
If this figure proves incorrect, please blame my reporting and not those individuals described by our chairman as 'three competent librarians and a treasurer who can’t count'!