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END OF YEAR REPORT 2007
At the end of what has been quite a busy and eventful year, for all of us on the Committee of Burgundy Friends, a final update for all members of how we stand going into next year.
We started the year with a Committee of 9 and we end the year with 6. As I reported earlier in the year, Stuart resigned the Presidency and sadly Ian Mills passed away. At the end of November Michael Hamshaw resigned. Both personally and on behalf of the Committee I would like to thank Mick for all of his work and efforts on the Committee for the membership.
As a result, at the forthcoming AGM we will be seeking new members on the Committee and an AGM pack will go to all members; including nomination forms for the Committee. ALL members are eligible to stand and residency is not a pre-requisite. I would like to encourage all members to consider putting themselves forward so that we can get as broad and representative coverage of our members in order to try and cater for all members’ needs and aspirations of our Association.
We have maintained the number of traditional events this year and tried to introduce some new ones, with varying degrees of success. Our keynote monthly Rendez Vous has, over the last couple of months, had something of resurgence by applying our new policies of changing the timings to try and catch visitors and non-resident members at half-terms and holiday periods. Changing to a Saturday for those of us who work and trying new locations and venues outside of the historic tradition of Autun has been particularly successful. Another move under consideration is scheduling Saturdays where people can bring their children to the event subject to which Saturday of the month their schools will be closed. Again, also under consideration is changing the event from the last Saturday of a month as it is so closely followed the following week by the monthly bookswap. With the dark nights of winter having drawn in, we are now looking to introduce some events to brighten up the long nights and reduce everyone’s dependence on SKY TV! Finally, we are also looking to have some event to coincide with the AGM to get a greater participation and add some more interest to the AGM itself – more on that shortly in the New Year.
The biggest project undertaken by the Committee this year has been that related to our Association website. After so many years, it is time to update and freshen up the site that we have to try and reflect more what Burgundy Friends is about and what it is moving towards. In the past we have essentially been ‘abusing’ a forum format and calling it a website; but as things have moved on both with technology and with Burgundy Friends it is time to move on. I have already provided some background to this project in my previous reports and I am pleased to announce that we shall be moving on in January and transferring to our new site, barring any last minute technical hitches.
To speed up the process in building our new site and finding a relevant format we think suitable, we have ‘stolen’ the clothes of another local Association and followed their style and format because it was both appropriate and made the task a lot easier for us. The style and layout that we had gone for mirrors that of the Dutch Club du Morvan. You can view their site at www.clubdumorvan.info.
Their president, Jan van der Lee has been very helpful in this process as has the web-builder, Maarten Hendriks and his staff at Facile-en-ligne based in Nevers. I have also had some discussions with Jan van der Lee on where we can find some synergy between our two Associations – indeed we have common members and I hope this will show out in some new services that we will be able to offer our members, in conjunction with them, in the coming months next year. Another consequence of the website exercise has been to freshen up our image and ‘brand’ Burgundy Friends. Already a number of you will have seen the new graphics that we have started using on event literature and the new membership cards. These themes will run through the new website and we are indebted to Albane at Facile-en-ligne for the styling and design of these images which have proved popular already.
We have kept to our basic remit, as a Committee, regarding the cost and financing of the new site. We shall be announcing at launch, new partners (advertisers) to our site. These have been selected primarily on the basis of the services that they can offer to our members with particular reference to relevance and benefit for our members; which is why I prefer to call them partners rather than advertisers, and we hope to develop a number of activities with them in the future, beneficial both to them and to Burgundy Friends.
Prior to the launch of our new site, we will be circulating a specific report to all members, advising the specific changes and what will be needed to both access and use the site and a general guide.
On the financial side, things still remain healthy as I reported previously along with the care and prudence the Committee has brought to this area of our Association. The final figures and balance at the year end will be submitted as part of the AGM pack to be circulated to all Members.
There is now only one matter left for me in closing – on behalf of both myself and all members of the Committee, I would like to thank all of our members for their continued support of Burgundy Friends in making it the successful organisation we now are and we would like to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and a peaceful and prosperous New Year wherever and with whomever you will be spending it.
Peter Edmunds
President – Burgundy Friends
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