AGM Minutes: London Vampyre Group 15th October 2006 16:00 at Penderels Oak, Holborn

Attendance Darren Powell, Paul Ewen, Louisa Wright-Wastell, Nick Firth, Nancy Schumann Duncan Newham, Mick Smith, Martin Antonelli, Rebecca Summers,
Apologies Vix Long, Klif Fuller, Tara Daynes, Derek Langan
Election of Chair and Scribe Duncan Newham elected as Chair and Rebecca Summers as scribe

1 Reports on 2006:
1.1 Treasurer report A detailed view of the LVG accounts for January 2006 to current were presented. It is believed that we are currently £87 in the red, however we are awaiting further funds from membership renewals. There are also no Bank statements being sent to our Treasurer to confirm this.
1.2 Membership Report We have a declining membership - Active Membership stands at 98 members, although there are more members we expect to renew for the remainder of 2006. So far this year we have achieved 63 renewals from the mail shots.# We have gained new members from events and via the website. The LVG's international members are from: America, Sweden, Romania and Germany
1.3 Events Report We have had three successful Requiem events and Summer Picnic. Agreed we made the correct decision not to hold fourth Requiem during summer months. Next week's requiem looks as though it will be our most successful to date with over 70 tickets being pre-sold.
1.4 Magazine (Vampire Enterprises Report) We are now selling 250 magazines though shops such as The Forbidden Planet. We have approximately £500 in the Vampire Enterprises account for publications and merchandise. Mick highlighted the strong and weak points of the magazine. Generally agreed that the magazine has great potential, but the group needs to decide whether to take the magazine forward and how much effort the LVG are willing to put into it. The notion is that it is not just a fanzine. It needs to be run as a business. There are a lot of non-glamorous jobs involved in running and distributing the magazine as well as the nicer jobs. The Editorial team is now down to Mick, whereas it started as 3 people at the last AGM.

2 Vote of Confidence to Continue Last year the LVG Committee set a membership target of having 150 members by October 2006 or we would vote to disband. We have not achieved this target, however Mick proposed that we continue running as a group. This was seconded by Martin and voted by the group to continue (despite the fact that we don't have 150 members…)

3 Elections For Posts There were no new volunteers for the posts, however the current committee volunteered to keep their posts for the next year and were voted in accordingly. The LVG Committee for 2006-2007 is:
Secretary: Rebecca Summers
Membership Secretary: Louisa Wright-Wastell
Party Events Organiser: Darren Powell
(New Post) Events Supporter: Martin Antonelli
Treasurer: Duncan Newham
Magazine Editor: Mick Smith
(New Post) Co. Editor: Nancy Schumann
Magazine Editorial Committee / Distributors: Mick & Nancy (with support)
PR & Publicity: Rebecca, with Mick, Darren, Nancy and Lou

4 Business:
4.1 Membership We need to increase membership. To do this we need to produce a pack for events and flyers / cards for our members to give out. The Team needs to be more pro-active in getting new members. Louisa suggested having a table at gigs and events. For this, flyers and pack (forms) are needed. Louisa is happy with the current process of receiving membership forms. Rebecca and Duncan are also happy with the process. A decision was made to give Louisa 'ownership' of the LVG Chronicles, and she will distribute to the members. Yearly Membership payments to start in 2007. A new membership card will be issued to all members. This will be purple. There will be a cost of £60 for 200 cards. Darren requested that the group have a new logo, but it was voted against due to the extra costs involved. To be considered next year. We will have a 'meet and greet' area in the pub with leaflets and membership forms and a display board. The LVG Yahoo egroup has members whose membership has expired. Mick proposed that non-members are 'banned' if they do not want to pay the LVG subscription fee. They will receive an email warning them and suggesting if they don't want to subscribe they will have to use the website form instead. This will happen from the beginning of 2007. The group were in favour of this.
Mick to purchase cards and give to Lou Mick by 01/12/06
Mick and Lou to discuss who will be moderator of egroup Mick / Lou by 31/10/06
4.2 Merchandise Mick believes that badges will sell and that we need something to build up the identity of the group (kindred spirit / community), and maybe bring in some revenue. Mick proposed that he has 150 badges made which will be sold to members (at discounted price) and non-members. This will cost approximately £200. There was some concern that this was a cost the group could not justify, however Mick suggested that the funds could come from the Vampire Enterprises account. Two people voted for this motion, two people voted against and four abstained. It was agreed that we would get the artistic people in the LVG to design the badge and we would then vote on it and produce it.
Float idea on Yahoo egroup / via email and get badge designs Mick by 31/10/06
Receive and Vote on designs All Committee by 30/11/06
4.3 Events for 2007 Proposed events:
" Auction and After-party
" More Requiems (but close down in the Summer)
" Quiz and After-party " Summer Picnic a la Aly&Rob
" Proper Summer Outing
" And a Christmas 2006 event (Darren is currently planning!)
4.5 Meetings and Location The committee have agreed to move as less people are going to the Ben Crouch. There were approximately 20 people at the last meeting. Mick proposed that we use the Penderels Oak as a new venue. This was agreed on condition we are able to use the cellar bar and run 'activities' such as quizzes, talks, music on the Thursday nights. The Committee (led by Darren) will talk to the PO Managers on Saturday. If not in agreement then we will need a plan of action with the aim of moving ASAP.
Discuss use of Penderels Oak with PO Managers Darren and support by 21/10/06
Plan Launch Night Committee by Dependent upon above
4.6 Foreign Trip 2007There hasn't been much interest in a trip for either this year or next. Partly to do with the New Orleans plans. Plus the trips began to get quite expensive. Mick has identified that the Dracula Society are doing a trip similar to that planned by the LVG next year, so it was proposed and agreed that foreign trips would be put on hold until late 2007 or 2008. Martin suggested a weekend trip may work and it was suggested that this be discussed on the egroup. Darren also raised the idea of the French Goth parties.
Float idea of 2007 weekend trip on Yahoo group Martin by 31/10/06
Investigate French Goth parties in castles Darren by 30/11/06
4.7 Chronicles and Literary Supplement With the current schedule the next Chronicles should be ready by the 2nd week of December, to get out to the embers and shops before Christmas. The writers deadline is the 2nd week of November. We have 80 Chronicles mags left (latest issue) that we hope to sell at Whitby. The Literary Supplement is almost ready to go out. It will cost approximately £130 to print 150 copies and £50 to distribute. Duncan had concerns over the financial viability of producing and issuing the supplement. It was suggested that Darren could print it cheaply / for free as an A4 non-magazine style document until we have more funds, however it was then pointed out that Nancy had spent much time working on this and it's structure was an A5 magazine. Mick proposed that 150 copies would be printed and distributed. The motion was carried (4 agreed, 1 against and 3 abstained) Martin mentioned that he has some students who are interested in writing for the magazine. It was agreed that he would coordinate this and feed the final articles to the editors. The students would be expected to pay the £3.50 cost for the magazine though should they want a copy.
Coordinate students with reviews, drawings, interviews, drawings, 'photoshopped' items Martin ongoing
Can we identify anybody to write scripts for cartoons? Klif very good for artwork (if agreeable) Mick by 30/11/06
4.8 Media / Publicity We need general flyers. Darren can print these in batches. Darren will do a sample and issue for discussion.
Send wordings to Darren Rebecca by 22/10/06
Produce sample of flyer Darren by 15/11/06
Approve / Agree on sample Committee by 20/11/06
Produce batches of flyers and issue Darren by 30/11/06
4.9 Finance / Accounts Bank statements are going to Lawrence's old address and are being collated there, however they can be forwarded to Duncan. Duncan proposed moving the bank account from NWB to LTSB. All voted in favour of. Signatories will be Duncan, Rebecca, Mick and Malcolm. Duncan also proposed setting up a Paypal account in place of the Nochex account. To make web transactions easier to manage.
Transfer account to LTSB Duncan by 31/10/06
Set up Paypal Account Duncan by 31/10/06
Provide signatory forms for Rebecca, Malcolm, Mick Duncan by 31/10/06
Change membership link for electronic payment on website once Paypal has been set up. Also change link for events Mick by 10/11/06
Send cheque from Nochex payments to Duncan to be paid into bank account (once Paypal set up) Lawrence by 10/11/06