BCS Oxfordshire Branch – AGM Report 2013/2014

Venue: e-Research Centre, Oxford University, Keble Road
Date: 13 November 2014
Time: 19:47

Apologies for Absence

Belated apologies were received from:

  • Chris Dawe
  • Kwasi Owusu-Asomaning

Minutes of Last Year’s AGM

The notes of last years meeting had been published on the Branch web site. No comments had been received, and there were no comments at the AGM. The minutes were therefore accepted as a true record of the event.

The were no matters arising.

Chairman’s Report

Tim Lambertstock, Branch Chairman, welcomed everyone to the meeting, and noted that the report had been circulated to the membership, and was also available on the Branch website.

We had had a good programme last year, with good attendances, and some good feedback from attendees. Tim summarised some of the highlights from the Programme, and noted that the Agile Workshop had had to be cancelled due to serious illness of the presenter. We hope to do something similar in the future.

We are looking forward to an equally enjoyable and exciting programme in the coming year. However, if anyone has suggestions or ideas, we are always looking for input, so they were asked to contact anyone on the committee.

The programme for the coming year is available on the Branch Web site.

Tim thanked the committee for their hard work and support during the year.

Treasurer’s Report

The Treasurer (Tony Cox) presented the accounts.

Tony noted that the under-spend in FY 2012-13 resulted in a reduction in the FY 2013-14 branch allocation, which demanded a significant effort in the submission of special funding requests to maintain our customary level of programme activity. A successful budget submission for the coming year had restored the Branch funding for FY 2014-15. More details are available in the Treasurer’s report.

The Treasurer’s report was accepted unanimously.

Following a question from the audience, Tony described how the Student Prizes were organised. Sheila Lloyd Lions (Committee), who liaises with the universities, said that the prizes were appreciated by the student recipients, and the Universities were keen to be involved. The student recipients are chosen by the Universities, and the Oxfordshire Branch has three universities (the University of Oxford, Oxford Brookes University, and Cranfield University) in its catchment area.

A follow on question was raised in relation to the Open University. Tony said that the Open University was not within the Oxfordshire remit, although obviously OU students could well be represented within the Oxfordshire membership.

A further question was asked about Branch funding, and whether its was based on nominal Branch headcount. Tony explained that the Branch allocations was loosely based on the Branch budget submission. There is no per capita allocation; with Branch funding was more linked to previous activity.

Election of Committee

The existing committee, with the exception of Athar Majed had volunteered to continue. The continuing committee is:

  • Brian Day (Secretary)
  •  Brian Read
  • Chris Dawe
  • Geoff Stone
  • Kwasi Owusu-Asomaning
  • Gerry Rohling (WebMaster)
  • Sheila Lloyd Lyons
  • Simon Marsh
  • Sverker Griph
  • Tim Lambertstock (Chair)
  • Tony Cox (Treasurer)
  • John Estdale

There being no other nominations, or objections the committee was constituted as above.

The Chairman and Treasurer were confirmed in their roles; allocation of other Committee responsibilities will be ratified later.

AOB

There being no further business, the AGM was closed at 20:01.

After this, Tim Lambertstock, gave an interesting session titled “The Changing Face of Payments”, which generated good interaction from the audience.

Brian Day, BSc PhD CEng CSci MBCS CITP
Branch Secretary