Preen News Summer 2019 IMPORTANT: If you wish to receive personal copies of these Newsletters, please complete the GDPR form on the back page 1. Preen Reunion 2019 The 2019 reunion was held in Church Preen Village Hall on Saturday 22 June. It was a bright sunny day, a pleasant change for the recent weather. 24 members were present and the meeting started at 10.30. Normally it would have started with a talk on the family to be featured at this meeting. However on this occasion the topic was the history of Preen Manor (since we believe the family took its name from this Domesday Manor) and that was described in the programme given to everyone who attended. So we proceeded to the AGM, since there were important decisions to be taken. Group Photo of those attending AGM for the Preen Family History Study Group held on 22 June 2019 in Church Preen Present: (shown in the group photo) Philip Davies (F32) - Chairman and Publicity Officer Sue Laflin (F03) - Editor and Archivist Andy Stevens (F27) - Webmaster Also present: Michael Preen (F05), Patricia Preen (F05), Angela De'ath (F05), Philip Preen (F04), Patricia Preen (F04), Barry Kirtlan (F34), Maureen Foxall (F34), Douglas Round (F34), Vera Round (F34), Eric Beard (F32), Colin Preen (F07), Ann Preen (F07), Marion Bytheway (F03), Phillip Bytheway (F03), Philip Barker (F03), Pauline Davies (F32), Jan Edwards (F32), Kenneth Pugh (F04), Edith Pugh (F04), Malcolm Preen (F09) and Rita Preen (F09). 1 Minutes of 2019 AGM continued. 1) The minutes of the 2018 meeting were accepted as a correct record. 2) Elections. The three officers were willing to continue and this was approved unanimously. 3) Officers' Reports. Chairman's Report: Philip referred to the contributions made by the officers and by Phillip and Marion Bytheway, who organised the meeting this year. Editor's Report: Sue said the only new publication was the programme for this year, which contained an account of the history of Preen Manor and would, in due course, appear as "2019 The Preens of Preen Manor". She has started preparatory work on a second edition of the four-volume "History of the Preen Family", which will need data from the 1921 census, due to become available on 1 January 2022. Webmaster's Report: Andy reported that the web site has been viewed all over the world and is a very important method of publicising this group. He has been working on an extended site, which he will discuss and demonstrate later. Publicity Officer's Report: Philip has been publicising the meeting and he gave examples of the places in which this publicity has been placed. Archivist's Report: Sue apologised for the backlog in getting the original document deposited in Shropshire Archives. Those already deposited may be seen on their online catalogue. Organiser's Report: Phillip Bytheway described the organisation of the meeting. Catering for lunch (which proved to be excellent) was by Jane Wilde and the gardens of Preen Manor would be open this afternoon to those who wished to visit for a payment of £6 per person (given to charity). 4) Venues for Future Years Sue had prepared a summary of the position (given later in this newsletter). The concept of holding a meeting somewhere relevant to a particular family was approved and we discussed the various possibilities for those families who have not yet been featured in a reunion. Mike Preen and others agreed to hold a 2020 reunion in or near Bridgnorth and featuring family F05. It will probably be on Saturday 27 June 2020. Others may be willing to organise meetings in future years, but were not willing to commit themselves so far in advance. 5) Any Other Business a) The Future of the Group. Sue presented her thoughts (included later in this newsletter). Without a Treasurer, she felt that we had to change how the group was run and we needed to close the Bank Account. This was discussed and in deciding what to do with the money, possible debts were considered. It was noted that in 2012, when Volume Two of the history was published, Sue had contributed £700 to help pay the printers and we have never sold enough copies to refund this. It was agreed that this should be repaid. Phillip Bytheway, this year's organiser, admitted there was a small amount owing but said he was happy to make this his contribution to the group. He was thanked for this. Patricia Preen (F05) from Bridgnorth volunteered to take on the job of Treasurer. Her offer was welcomed and unanimously accepted. So for now, the group can continue to function as before. Members will be those who have completed a GDPR application form and membership will remain free of charge and will include the "Preen News". 2 b) Revised website. Andy told us what he had prepared for an extended website, some parts free and some (containing additional details) for a small annual fee. (He suggested £30 per annum, or €36 euros or $40) After discussion, his ideas were approved and he was thanked for all his hard work. He said that after lunch, he would give a demonstration of the work so far to those who were interested. The AGM closed at 11.30am. After the AGM, we all went outside for the group photograph and then enjoyed our lunch. In the afternoon, some people went round the Preen Manor Gardens, others visited the church, where Rev. Phillip Bytheway (shown in the picture) told them about it, and others remained in the Hall to use the Archive or view the new website. Tea was a little early at 3pm, but everyone had returned and the tea and cakes were ready, so we decided not to wait. Some people had come a very long distance and wanted to start the journey home. 2. Future of the Preen Family History Study Group by Sue Laflin When Frances Preen gave me a sum of money from her sister's estate to help with research into the Preen family, I wanted to use this to set up a formal Family History Society with committee, bank account and constitution. Others were unwilling to do this and so we finished with an informal "Preen Family History Study Group". We had officers (Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer, Editor, Membership Secretary, Publicity Officer and Archivist) although with only a small group of active members there was inevitably some duplication of positions. Some members were strongly opposed to the idea of collection of membership subscriptions, feeling that we should not charge people to belong to the group. This meant we were never quite sure who was a member and were always short of money. Later Andy joined us as "Webmaster" but we never found anyone willing to take on the job of "Sales manager". Now the number of officers running the group has shrunk to Philip Davies (Chairman and Publicity Officer), Andy Stevens (Webmaster) and myself Sue Laflin (Editor and Archivist). At present we are able and willing to continue doing these jobs on behalf of the group. However with no-one to be Treasurer, Secretary, Sales Manager or Membership secretary, we cannot continue even with our previous informal structure as the "Preen Family History Study Group". Nor do we have volunteers to run the annual reunions. Crucially we cannot continue in the same way without a Treasurer. If no-one is willing to take on this job, we shall have to change the way in which the group functions. We shall need to close the Group bank account and function as follows:- 1. We shall hold reunions from time to time, whenever we have anyone willing to organise such a meeting. 2. Andy will continue to run, develop and maintain the website. Some parts of the website will be free to anyone, others will be available on payment of a small fee. Andy will be responsible for the money raised and will use it to research the history of the family and extend the website. 3. Philip will continue to hold the title of "Chairman" and anyone wishing to arrange a reunion should approach him. He will also arrange publicity where appropriate and will help Sue to produce and distribute the newsletter "Preen News". 3 4. Sue will continue as Editor and this includes writing or editing the various books and arranging for their publication using LULU (an online publishing company which also distributes the books worldwide and collects the payments for them). This generates a small amount of income, which in future will be paid to Sue and used for research and writing more books. She will be responsible for this money. This will allow the Study Group to continue, at least as long as we are able to carry out these duties. Once again, let me stress that we would love to be able do more - regular annual reunions are something we wish we could continue. But this requires active members of the group to help with the work involved. We all have other commitments and can only devote a certain amount of time and effort to the Preen Group. These proposals seem to make the best possible use of the time and effort that we are able to supply. These proposals were discussed at the AGM, but Patricia Preen volunteered to take on the job of Treasurer and so this drastic action described here was not necessary. Any profits raised from either sale of books or the website will be paid into the Preen FHSG bank account and those carrying out the research will be eligible to claim some of their expenses.