AGM 2025 The Arts Society Kington Langley

The Arts Society Kington Langley AGM 2025

Another year has flown by. Another AGM. All the papers were sent out online and so the final meeting was short and to the point.

All resolutions were agreed and we now have a new chairman – Keith Pearce, who will take over the reins in October for the start of the new season. As well as the AGM, we commemorated the 80th VE Day with cupcakes and a rolling screen of paintings from WW11 followed by an amazing lecture by Mark Cottle depicting the Endurance mission through black and white images showing the bravery if foolhardiness of undertaking such an adventure. Thank you also to David Venables for reminding us of his flying trips down to South Georgia and that nowadays how much easier that journey, especially the return one, is.

Our sincere thanks to Peter Giles for his moving tribute to that wartime generation and Peter also had a recording of an anthem entitled ‘A Day May Come’ (Anthem for VE Day 80) composed by Debbie Wiseman, set to words specially written by the contemporary Welsh poet Grahame Davies and performed by Voces8.  It was released on VE Day. A fitting end to a lecture session looking at those who persevere sometimes against horrendous odds.

Our opening lecture way back in October 2024 was by Dr. Amy Lin on Women Artists in Britain 1520-1920. This was followed by our welcome buffet where we have the opportunity to meet old friends after our holidays and meet new members.

The year has sped by full of wonderful lectures which an increasing number of members are viewing ‘live’ in the hall with a wonderful buzz as members chat over coffee. Our TASKL zoom members are also increasing and as part of the TAS Zoom Guest Scheme we have welcomed numerous visitors to each of our lectures. ‘Pugin’ was very popular online. The hybrid capacity has been such a boon as parking has not got any easier and the hall is not filled to an uncomfortable capacity. The recordings have also been a great success allowing people to catch up when necessary.

Our lecturers selected by Geoff have been excellent and we are trying to bring new topics and ways of looking at the arts to our meetings. From  exploring wine with David Wright, becoming more knowledgeable on telling the difference between ‘Fakes and Forgeries’ with Mark Alum and realising the ‘Wild men of the North’ in Canada are not that wild or that far north after all, we have had many intellectual treats.

We were treated to a passionate and enthusiastic lecture from Doug Gillen on Street Art followed later in the week by our Special Interest Day with Ian Swankie which saw Ian at his sparkling best. We Ooohed and Aaahed   as Ian Keable demonstrated magic tricks in ‘The Art of Trickery’, a very different take on a lecture but extremely enjoyable. Still to come is ‘Landscape Photography’ and finally the ‘Skagen Painters, Danish Modernism’ to look forward to.

I won’t tempt fate by saying that all things hybrid are without any hiccups but we are so lucky to have such help from Peter Giles and Peter Hart from KLVH when we want to check things out and make updates and changes. Our own lecture support team of Martin, Kevan, Alan, Stuart and Mike have been such a sound and creative team throughout the last two years. Lecturers have been very complimentary about our system and how it is managed.

The TASKL committee comprises of 6 volunteers, and we have found this is an efficient number to attend meetings and make decisions about forward planning. However, we could not operate in this way without the amazing support of other volunteers who take on a variety of roles as and when they are needed.

A very big thank you to all those who help with setting up the hall, meet and greet members, issue name tags, serve coffee, are part of the lecture support team or arrange trips and visits. If you would like to contribute to the wellbeing of our society in any way, please do speak with a member of the committee.  

As ever we would welcome any little support – maybe help before the lectures, we could do with a whizz kid to take on Facebook and help spread the word about our meetings and ethos. Or your good idea that we haven’t even thought of!

‘Just One Thing’ is the latest buzz  – so think about your one thing that would make a difference to us all. We must thank Jackie for organising the last two years successful visits but she now is handing the reins on. Caroline has agreed to organise one Garden Visit so consider taking us somewhere you are passionate about and think would make an enjoyable day out. No other commitments except finding and doing the initial booking.

We have had our successful and convivial Christmas lunch and we look forward to our upcoming visits. One is a self-drive visit to Chevenage House and we had to open up Ticket Tailor to accept more bookings.

We have been by coach to Minterne House to enjoy lunch with Lord Digby and then explore the Himalayan gardens in the sun afterwards. This was a wonderful day out as we learnt about the house, his exciting female relatives, The Battle of Trafalgar, and much more.

Our café set up before the lectures continues to be popular and the name badges have been a godsend.

We have tried to introduce more social events to build on the “buzz “in the hall and celebrate the joy of fellowship as we meet our friends each month and welcome new ones to join us. Members were invited to stay for a light buffet lunch at the start of the year and Pimm’s and Punch were served before the final lecture of the last season in July. Once again, we will finish this year with a glass of something sparkling.

We followed our December meeting with a buffet lunch and the now usual lunch after the Special Interest Day was as brilliant as ever. The next Special Interest Day is Tuesday 10th February 2026 on ‘Art in 19th Century Venice - poets, painters and private lives’ with Douglas Skeggs. A themed Italian buffet is already being planned.

So please put the date in your diary. We do hope you have enjoyed these opportunities to socialise and that they have helped you make new friends among the membership.

Thank you for bringing friends to lectures and events and we welcome them to the meetings. Most of them have then joined as members which is wonderful. Our membership is growing as is our digital membership for members who can no longer join us in person or who are still working.

Arts volunteering has been very active again this year and Heather sent this report. ‘Thanks to our members, through your support of trips, visits and Christmas lunches in the past we have been able to support a considerable number of arts projects in the local schools and communities. We have also successfully applied for two Community Grants as well as two Patricia Fay Memorial Fund Awards.

We have also managed an abstract acrylic painting workshop with Rae Melody for our members to enjoy. This was fun and we hope to organise another session soon.

As well as being a requirement of Arts Societies to undertake some volunteering work to maintain The Arts Society ‘s charitable status it is so good for the volunteer. Even more important is seeing our funding making such a huge difference. Those smiling faces as people learn new skills, helping turn those dreams into reality, and celebrate and more importantly support arts education in schools and elsewhere.

We have been working with Public Art Chippenham and acquired a Patricia Fay Memorial Fund Grant to pay for the mural in Chippenham as the first project of the PAC plan for the town. This has been an outstanding success.

We have been successful with the latest application to the same fund to help develop the ‘Down the Line’ Railway 200 project in association with Trans Wilts. This will be a Photographic Competition for display boards installed in the seven stations that Trans Wilts manages. This willbe open to our members,schools and other organisations locally.

We were involved with Art Bytes exhibiting Year 5 and Year 9 artwork. This was a successful day in Chippenham with over 189 student’s work being displayed. The pride in the young people as they showed their work to their parents was palpable and made all our hard work worthwhile.

Go to www.taskl.org.uk to see the details of these and the many other projects. Arts Volunteering has been such an exciting and enjoyable part of my Arts Society life. If anyone would like to join me, it would be lovely to have a new pair of eyes as we look for new school and groups to support’.

We have a full programme of lectures, SIDs, visits and opportunities for socialising planned for the coming year. However, we would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions about future events so talk to a committee member or write to us on www.taskl.org.uk.

After the increase of membership fees last year, we are able to maintain those same rates for the next year. We are appreciative of your support over the years and know you will understand that we must keep the society viable. Therefore, thank you for your support for the raffle, the Christmas lunch and the SID as we are able to make a small surplus on those events which acts as a bulwark towards the ever-rising costs.

Single Membership stays at £45 and Joint Memberships stays at £85.

Thank you all for your support and friendship again this year.

Lindi

Hon. Secretary