Minutes of the Annual General Meeting s4

T H E S O C I E T Y O F O L D P R I C E A N S

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held at Lysses House Hotel on Sunday 6th October 2013

PRESENT Albert Alwood, John Coombes, Michael J Croad-Brangwyn, Charles Evans, John Evans, Neale Fray, David Goldring, Robert Grimble, Mary Holiday-Bishop, Peter Keemer, Harold Langridge, Derek Marlow, Alec Morris, Ian Newman, Patrick Nobes, Roy Pond, Phillip Reynolds, Roy Rolf, David Rudling, Louis Stamp, Alan Walker, David Williams, John Young

1. Chairman’s Introduction

The Chairman welcomed members to the AGM

2. Apologies for Absence

Rodney Baker, Richard Brent (delayed in traffic), Robert Cockbain, Roger Ditchburn, Ernie Grogan, Victor Hughes, David Kill, Michael Peagram, Brian Pearce, Miss Joanne Reed,

3. Minutes of the Meeting held on 5th October 2012

The Minutes were approved.

4. Matters Arising from Minutes

President: Patrick Nobes (1941-1951); Chairman: Charles Evans (1954-1958); Secretary: Michael Peagram (1964-1971) T H E S O C I E T Y O F O L D P R I C E A N S

The image of William Price obtained from the Portsmouth Evening News is not William Price the founder of Price’s School.

The grave of William Price has been refurbished.

5. Chairman’s Report

This has been a year of mixed fortunes for the Society. There have been several notable successes but one disappointment, of which more will be said later.

We believe the annual Remembrance Day ceremony at the war memorial outside Trinity Church is enhanced by reading aloud the names of those from Fareham who lost their lives in the two world wars and in subsequent conflicts. Old Priceans and their guests have had the honour of performing this service and many people tell us they appreciate that relatives and friends they have lost are being remembered in such an appropriate manner.

The Christmas Luncheon took place at the RAF Club, Piccadilly, London, on 1st December 2012 and our thanks are due to Paul Lewis and Michael Bayliss for facilitating this. As usual it was a great success and the hard work of Michael Croad-Brangwyn as Treasurer was also very much appreciated.

The Summer Luncheon on 2 June was held at Fareham College and many who attended said they enjoyed it very much. Alcoholic beverages were very affordable and it is possible this added to the feel-good factor. As usual lunch was preceded by the wreath laying ceremony at the grave of William Price. The Mayor, Councillor Mrs Susan Bayford, laid the wreath on behalf of the Society and there were several Civic dignitaries present as well as representatives from Fareham College, The Price’s Charity and many others.

Last year I mentioned that Fareham College had a new Principal, Mr Nigel Duncan, who valued the heritage of Price’s School. The President and I myself met him and he expressed a desire to change the ethos of the Sixth Form Centre so that it would become more attractive to young people who have academic aspirations. He hoped to emphasise the link with Price’s School and to support this development the President proposed (and the committee unanimously agreed) that the Society should fund an annual award for academic excellence.

Mr Duncan was very keen to engage with the Society and indeed we have been holding our committee meetings at Fareham College. We hope to hold the Summer Luncheon there for the foreseeable future as it has excellent facilities and there are no problems with wheelchair access.

I was careful to caution last year that, because we have had several false dawns in the past, we needed to be cautious about predicting what may happen at Fareham College. It nevertheless came as a considerable disappointment to learn, shortly after the prize giving in Fernham Hall which the President and I attended and at which prizes funded by the Old Priceans for academic excellence were awarded, that Fareham Sixth form centre was to close.

It seems that the Principal Mr Duncan had to face harsh economic realities. Fareham College is not perceived as a centre of academic excellence and able students travel elsewhere if they can to study A levels. Those who amalgamated Price’s Sixth Form College with Fareham Technical College failed to appreciate that there is a world of difference between a student studying A levels intending to gain a university place and those studying A levels at a Technical college for some vocational or other reason. The difficulties have undoubtedly been confounded because of the unequal funding arrangements between a tertiary college and a sixth form college.

There were three committee meetings during the year on 20 February, 15 May and 18 September, all at Fareham College. There was also a President’s Day of cricket at the Ageas Bowl on 24 September.

Following this meeting, and before lunch, we shall be attending the unveiling of a blue plaque to honour William Price on the building which now stands where William Price lived; his house became the first school. There has been a

generous donation by Fareham Borough Council’s community fund and a lot of hard work by the committee to facilitate this. I must give special mention Brian and Pam Pearce. Brian arranged for the plaque to be made and he designed and built the unveiling mechanism. Pam made the curtains and contributed the material.

There were some delicate and protracted negotiations with the bank, conducted by John Evans, but eventually things were resolved satisfactorily and permission was given to put the blue plaque on the bank without any charge.

There are several other things that the committee and other members have done this year including the refurbishment of William Price’s grave. The poor state of the memorial fountain (which now has no water system and seems to be used for rubbish) and the possibility of moving it to the museum is still being pursued.

Lastly I thank the committee and indeed many other Old Priceans who by their considerable efforts enable the society to continue to function.

6. Honorary Secretary’s Report

The past year can best described like the standard School report as “Steady progress”.

The most interesting event was probably receiving a substantial bundle of memorabilia from the daughter of loyal OP, Roy Gates, who died in January 2011. These rare items, including exercise books, text books and School reports will be added to our archives held in the Hampshire County archives where they can be seen by future generations.

The website continues to be an important point of contact for the Society. Our site www.societyofoldpriceans.co.uk holds more than 3,000 files and over 1,700 photographs. Detailed reports of those who browse the site show that certain pages like those relating to the school cruise ship SS Nevasa are particularly popular, for example and that the site has been viewed internationally far and wide during 2013 from, for instance, Russia (many times), Rumania and even from the Turks and Caicos!

An excellent recent addition relating to Sports Day and the CCF from David Goldring is especially notable. These lengthy, thoroughly researched and interestingly presented documents merit study and can be downloaded from the website.

Further contributions, especially of photographs of events at the School, are particularly welcome. We believe, however, that we have most if not all of the School “panorama” photographs on-line through the generosity of former headmaster, Mr Eric Poyner.

7. Honorary Treasurer’s Report and Membership Secretary’s Report

The Treasurer’s report is attached to these minutes.

There is no plan to increase the cost of subscriptions at this moment in time.

Members who have not paid their subscriptions for 2 years will have their memberships suspended.

8. Election of committee

Brian Pearce, John Evans, Neale Fray and Phillip Reynolds were re-elected to the committee.

David Williams wished to stand down from his co-opted role on the committee.

9. Proposed amendments to the Constitution

The proposed amendments, attached to these minutes, were approved by all present.

10. Any other business

The President requested the names of readers for the Remembrance Service on the 10th of November 2013 at Holy Trinity Church Fareham.

The Speaker for the Christmas Lunch on the 7th December 2013 is David Prest.

It was agreed that a flyer will go into the next mailing to all members requesting that all future distributions will be made by email. This will save money in printing and postage.

David Williams reported that 3 members of the Society will be looking to extend and update F.C. Gregory’s History of Price’s School.

The President wanted to know if there are any more members who would achieve their 80th Birthday this year.

There was a general discussion about the lack of academic A-Level provision in Fareham.

The meeting closed at 11:20am and was followed by the unveiling of the plaque to William Price in West Street Fareham.

President: Patrick Nobes (1941-1951); Chairman: Charles Evans (1954-1958); Secretary: Michael Peagram (1964-1971)