Minutes of West Midlands
Region AGM
BWY West Midlands Regional AGM held at
The Lantern, Shrewsbury on Saturday 24th October 2009.
Present: Richard Gordon (Regional Officer);
Jules Burdett (County Representative, Shropshire); Lesley Butterwick
(County Representative, Warwickshire); John Hayward (County
Representative, Hereford & Worcestershire and Treasurer) plus 18 BWY
members.
Welcome and Introductions: Richard opened
the meeting by welcoming all to the Lantern and thanks to Jules for
finding such a good venue. He then introduced the committee members
present.
Apologies: Raj Papps, Heather Donovan, Lorna Loy
(County Representative, West Midlands),
Sarah Watkins (County Representative, Hereford & Worcester), Gill Russel,
Derek Osborne, Liz Gardner (Editor)
Minutes of the previous meeting were
published in the Spring 2009 Regional Newsletter. Copies were made
available. They were accepted as a true and accurate record. Proposed John
Hayward. Seconded Alison Clowes
Matters arising. There were no matters arising from the last minutes but
some other points raised are recorded under AOB.
Regional Officer’s Report.
As reported on page 5 of this newsletter Proposed Cathy Holcroft. Seconded
Carol Whitfield Regional Treasurers Report. John explained that he had
taken over the role of Treasurer from Donna Baldwin in January and also
that today’s report is interim, based on bank statement of 16th October as
the financial year doesn’t end until 31st October.
The final report will be published in the Regional Newsletter. John
reported that the Region still has a healthy balance sheet although some
changes have taken place this year the main ones being (a) a stock value
of £1218.76, which represents BWY DVD’s held by committee members, has
been written down and (b) the committee had decided that this year events
could be run at a small loss. Although, in the main, events organised this
year had made a profit
some were under attended and while in the past these would have been
cancelled, this year several have continued to be run. These were accepted
by the members present.
Proposed Richard Gordon. Seconded Lesley Butterwick
County Representatives’ Reports:
Jules Burdett. Shropshire: Jules thanked Val Young and Janet Evans for
their help in organising events during the year. Val the Summer School and
Janet the Peter Blackaby event. Successful events included Granville
Cousins, Carol Smith. Today’s teacher Richard Adamo who will lead a very
well supported event following the AGM.
Proposed Richard Gordon Seconded Janet Evans
John Hayward. Herefordshire and
Worcestershire.
On behalf of John and Sarah John reported that the membership in H&W
is currently 105. During the year they have organised the AGM at
Bromsberrow with Gill Rusell. Two 1st Aid Training Courses, both
with the maximum in attendance. Bill Wood at Bromsberrow in July was one
of the events that went ahead despite not breaking even. Paul Fox,
adjusting Students with Confidence Part 2 and a half
day ‘Chanting Workshop’ with Jyoti earlier this month.
November 7th sees another 1st Aid day which
is full
and on 21st Zoe Knott will be in Worcester. Places
still available for Zoe’s workshop.
Proposed Richard Gordon Seconded Jules Burdett
Lesley Butterwick. Warwickshire.
Warwickshire County Representative Report. West Midlands Region AGM 24th
October 2009
Activities: I came into post in December 2008 but really only picked up
the work in January 2009. In addition to organising training days and
workshops as outlined below, the county representative role has
seen me:
• help organisations find teachers for proposed classes or to replace
teachers for existing classes; help students find classes whether with BWY
teachers or other teachers working in Coventry and Warwickshire;
• give advice on BWY requirements with the help of Head Office and
particularly the National In-Service Training Officer, Gillian Gee - also
a mention to Richard Gordon who has been a stalwart support and
fount of knowledge;
• keep track of the membership in Warwickshire which is mostly teachers
either BWY or non-BWY but active locally. Several members have dropped out
since 2008 which may reflect the lack of workshops
and training days in the first part of the year.
Workshops
I organised one workshop during the year, a day on Ayurveda with Anna
Semylen of Yoga in York. This was a modest success with fifteen students
including several teachers both BWY and other. We would certainly
recommend Anna as a tutor for both general days and for INSET training.
She came very well prepared and was very knowledgeable.
Training Days 2009
First Aid Training with Nick Glasby in September was a full day in both
senses, with lots of effort put in by all participants and just one short
of the maximum number of students permitted. Teachers came from out of
region to this and appreciated the venue being accessible by public
transport as well as car. One non-BWY teacher came and felt the day was
excellent and excellent value for money so well done Nick.
An ISTD Training Day on Yoga for the Mature Student with Pam Horton is
arranged for 7th November. A small number of places are left. The venue is
Meriden which is close to the motorway network (M40 and M42) which has
proved to be a good move with students willing to travel from out of area
when they find out how easy it is to find.
Training Days 2010
One ISTD Training Day is already organised for March 2010. This will be
with Gillian Gee looking at Different Styles of Yoga and learning more
about assessing students and offering varied approaches to
suit different body styles and approaches. The focus will definitely be on
developing teaching related skills. Students booking on it must be
prepared for its emphasis on teacher development. Lesley Butterwick BWY
Warwickshire County Representative 24.10.09 Proposed Richard Gordon
Seconded Jules Burdett
Regional Training Officers Report
British Wheel of Yoga, West Midlands Regional Training Officer’s Report
for 2008/2009 Thanks to Gillian Russell for extending her long
service up to April 2009. This post has been vacant since then and covered
by Richard Gordon, as the Regional Officer.
Proposed John Hayward Seconded Jules Burdett.
In-Service Training Days in the Region
200 The internal dynamics of Asana and Pranayama Bill Wood 4/7/09 HEW
201 Strength in Asana Zoe Knott 21/11/09 HEW
202 Meditation, Mudra and movement Ranju Roy 23/1/09 STA
203 Pregnancy Module Refresher Day Wendy Teasdill 14/3/09 HEW
204 Chakras Lina Mookerjee 31/5/09 STA
205 Osteoporosis Swami Satyaprakash 6/6/09 WMI
206 Integrating Pregnant students Wendy Teasdill 15/3/09 WMI
207 Menopause Carol Smith 17/5/09 SHR
208 Adjusting students II Paul Fox 22/2/09 HEW
209 First Aid Nick Glasby 28/2/09 HEW
210 Embodied Anatomy Beverley Nolan 3/10/09 WMI
First Aid Nick Glasby 12/9/09 WAR
Regional Editor’s Report
BWY West Midlands Regional Editor Report 2009 We have successfully
completed 4 excellent publications of our Regional Newsletter during 2009
with many thanks to the efforts of our designer Kevan Stevens who manages
the publication and distribution.
Our advertising rates continue to help towards the production of our
newsletter. However the costs are still high. As you will see we are now
publishing the newsletter onto our web site as a downloadable file for all
to read. We no longer send copies to other BWY Officers outside the region
and have therefore made some saving towards post and packaging. A big
thank you goes to all the people who have
contributed by writing articles or supplying information. We want our
newsletter to reflect our members views so please keep it up.
To help in the production of the diary of events and advertising IST days
can I remind all Country Reps to include the ISTD reference number with
their adverts.
We still do not have photographs of all our officers.
This really is a great opportunity to encourage our members to approach
us. I have had several positive comments and feedback since printing the
current ones. So please, please send them through to me.
Matters for discussion at the AGM
1. Review advertising costs
Current charges are:
Insertion Member
Non Member
Full page £25
£30
Half page £15
£20
Quarter page £8
£12
Repeat x 4 issues 10% discount 5% discount
Lineage 10p per word 15p per word
3 Months Website entry per event
£3 £4.50
1 year website entry per event
£8
£12
1 year web page & address with updates
£20
N/A
Once again the Lineage, 3 Months Website entry and 1 year Website entry
per event charges have not been taken up by any of our advertisers and I
would like to propose that these be removed.
2. Review Web entries
Clarification is requested for what can and cannot be published to our web
pages for the region. As I am to understand only BWY events should be
advertised on the web and I would like to ask if this includes events
being offered by BWY members. This may have a bearing on our advertisers
as we currently offer free publication to the web when they advertise with
us.
3. Additional copies of newsletters to County Reps
Currently County Reps are sent 5 extra copies of each newsletter. Are all
of these copies being used and is the quantity sufficient? We have roughly
30 extra copies each issue so if you would like additional copies sent to
you please contact me. The more people reading our newsletter means more
people finding out about workshops and events running in their area.
4. Notice Board/Wanted/For Sale Section
As a member of the committee I receive many emails and calls from people
looking for classes and venues looking for teachers. I would like to
propose that we include a Notice Board in future issues to
encourage information sharing. This could be a free service to announce
information that would benefit both members and teachers. Your views
appreciated.
Liz Gardner (Editor)
Proposed Richard Gordon Seconded John Hayward
Election of Officers:
Regional Officer: Richard Gordon
Regional Training Officer: Vacant
Regional Treasurer: John Hayward
Regional Editor: Liz Gardner
County Representative. Shropshire: Jules Burdett
County Representative. Staffordshire: Lin James
County Representative. West Midlands: Vacant
County Representative. Warwickshire. Lesley Butterwick
County Representatives. Herefordshire & Worcestershire: Sarah Watkins and
John Hayward
Committee Elected en-bloc: Proposed Janet Evans. Seconded Alison Clowes
AOB
A number of points were raised during the meeting and are summarised
below.
1st Aid training. The CR’s don’t have a record of when members 1st
Aid Training Certificates expire. This would help in the scheduling of
training in each area. At present most courses are full so there is
great demand but it would help CR’s and Teachers if this information was
available.
Events: The meeting were all in favour of the committee decision to
support non-cancellation of the few events not delivering a profit.
It was also agreed that the committee would discuss the option of holding
a ‘coffee morning’ for group discussion should numbers be too small to
continue with an event.
Can CR’s please ensure that events are
advertised in the Regional Newsletter well in advance. It was noted that
some adverts appeared in Regional Newsletter published after the event.
CR’s to check
publishing dates.
CR’s to be aware of events being organised in adjoining areas. As an
example it was noted that an event in Powys had been cancelled as it
clashed with today’s AGM/Richard Adamo workshop. If attendees
of events were travelling long distances could the CR’s facilitate ‘car
sharing’ or perhaps hire of a mini-bus? A request was made for Richard to
investigate possibility of a workshop by Donna Farhi. This was prompted by
Richard explaining his philosophy for delivering quality training to the
West Midlands and having a healthy balance sheet. Richard to investigate
Website. Following the Editors Report a discussion took place
reminding all of the link to the West Midlands from the main BWY web-site.
Teachers to check their information is up to date.
For £20 pa teachers can advertise their classes.
Some teachers also use Yellow Pages
Could more use be made of local Libraries to advertise BWY? All CR’s to
check locally Teachers would also like to be able to download
frequently used forms from the web. Head office staff are always helpful
but is there an easier way?
Lesley Butterwick shared a web address,
www.warwickshireyoga.co.uk
as an example of a useful site.
The meeting finished at 11:15 and was
followed by a day of dynamic hatha yoga with Richard Adamo
Financial Return Year Ended 31 October
2009
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