Every year we (usually) hold a day of dance to celebrate and showcase our members, followed by our annual general meeting, and usually a ceilidh. The day of dance and AGM are usually hosted in the home town/city of one or more of our members, and often followed by a ceilidh.
The days of dance in 2020 and 2021 were cancelled due to the covid pandemic, so the AGMs were held online.
2022 Day of Dance & AGM
In 2022 the Day of Dance and AGM will be held on Saturday 24th September 2022 in Darlington, County Durham, hosted by Black Diamond Mixed Cotswold Morris. The format will be a day of dance, followed by the AGM meeting, then a ceilidh. For more info on the day and how to book your team to perform there, see: Day of Dance & AGM event 2022
Annual General Meeting
The AGM will start at 16:30. We plan to provide an option to attend the meeting online via Zoom so that representatives will not be put off attending due to travelling.
The DRAFT Minutes of 2021 AGM are to be approved at the 2022 AGM, if you spot any errors please contact us and choose ‘general enquiries’ to let us know.
Election of Committee Members
Committee members are elected for a term of 3 years at a time. This year, two elected Committee members reach the end of their 3-year term on 31st December 2022 – President and Newletter Editor.
Pauline Woods-Wilson (President) is willing to stand again in that post.
Sam Ross (Newsletter Editor) will not be standing again. She has undertaken that role since 2016, and was instrumental in creating the glossy FedExtra Magazine we have enjoyed these past years, as well as contributing to web design and content, bringing in the membership database, and running the online AGMs.
We are now looking to broaden that role to cover all Membership Communications – specifically to take the magazine online and send the broadcast emails – so we are looking to elect a Membership Communications Officer, see: job description. For an informal chat about the role, please contact Sam Ross: go to contact us and choose ‘newsletter’; or contact any of the other committee members.
If you wish to stand for election to either post, please complete a Committee Post Nomination Form (choose 1 of 3 formats below) and be proposed and seconded by a member(*). The classes of Membership are: Full Group / Junior Group / Full Individual / Associate / Honorary Life.
- Committee Post Nomination Form [Word Format] – downloads automatically to ‘downloads’ folder
- Committee Post Nomination Form [Rich Text Format] – downloads automatically to ‘downloads’ folder
- Committee Post Nomination Form [online form] – opens in new window
You need to submit your nomination by midnight, Tuesday 26th July 2022.
Motions and Items for Discussion
All Motions must be proposed and seconded by a member (*). A team member representing the proposer & seconder must attend the AGM (in person or online). Items for Discussion must be proposed by a member. (*) The classes of Membership are: Full Group / Junior Group / Full Individual / Associate / Honorary Life.
To submit a Motion, please complete this form (choose 1 of 3 formats below):
- Submitting a Motion [Word Format] – downloads automatically to ‘downloads’ folder
- Submitting a Motion [Rich Text Format] – downloads automatically to ‘downloads’ folder
- Submitting a Motion [online form] – opens in new window
You need to submit Motions by midnight, Tuesday 26th July 2022.
To submit an Item for Discussion, please complete this form:
You need to submit Items for Discussion by midnight, Tuesday 26th July 2022.
EGM for revised Constitution, Sat 3rd December 2022
As noted at our AGMs in 2020 & 2021, the Committee are of the view that our Constitution and Standing Orders need a thorough review and overhaul. We are looking to replace these during 2022-2023. A small working group has already met to create initial drafts.
We propose that an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) be held on Saturday 3rd December at 16:00 to adopt a new Constitution and Standing Orders.
If you are interested in joining a group to review and input to the proposals before the final proposal is presented to the EGM, please contact us and choose ‘feedback’ to contact Jerry West. Or if you have a proposal to input to the group, please contact Jerry.
Volunteers needed!
There are also plenty of opportunities to volunteer towards the work of the Morris Federation as a co-opted member of the Committee, or just as someone who helps out with things from time to time. It can be for a short time, or longer term. For example we have a backlog of zoom recordings waiting to be edited – can you help?
The current co-opted members are Dan Watford (IT Administrator), Sally Smith (Communications), Brian Kelly (Communications and IT) and Abigail Banfield (Social Media). Co-opted posts are reviewed annually by the elected Committee. We also have other helpers, including Alan Courtney (Photography) and James Merryclough (Press Liaison).
If you have skills and time to offer support, we would love to hear from you, especially in these areas: Events Management; Video Editing; Safeguarding; Schools Liaison; Teaching morris and related activities in schools; Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion; Recruitment of team members; Marketing; Media Liaison. Please contact us and choose ‘general enquiries’ to arrange an informal chat with any of the committee members.
Getting your AGM Pack
The AGM papers will be sent by email to our registered contacts and voting will be electronic (in advance and online) or in-person at the meeting.
The AGM Pack 2022 will contain the papers for the meeting and will be emailed to member contacts in early September, for them to circulate to team members to read and decide how to vote on elections of Officers and any Motions, and to think about input to any discussion items.
A separate document AGM Voting & Registration 2022 will be emailed to member contacts soon afterwards with information on how to register to attend the meeting, how to submit votes in advance or at the meeting, submit apologies, appoint a proxy etc.
When the documents are ready, Member contacts will also be able to find the above two documents in the Members Area of the web site at: www.morrisfed.org.uk/members/agm (need to login).
Attending the meeting
Only one representative per member team will be able to vote at the meeting (individual members may attend in their own right).
Each member team may register to attend the meeting in person or online. Each person may represent only 1 member team in person or 1 Zoom session for the duration of the meeting. Attendance at the Zoom meeting will be counted as ‘represented in person’ to meet the quorum of 15 group members.
The meeting will not be recorded.
Other members of your team (or a different member team) will be able to sit with the representative in person, or online on zoom, or watch a live stream, but will not be permitted to participate directly.
The meeting will start promptly at the stated start time. If you join via Zoom, you should connect at least 15 minutes beforehand to check and adjust your setup.
Watching the meeting
We may decide to provide a live stream on YouTube so that any member of a member team may watch the AGM ‘live’ and it will be removed at the end of the meeting. The link will be emailed to member contacts a few days before the meeting. Please don’t record the meeting yourself, as we will not be asking for permission from the attendees. Please only share the link with people who are a member of a team in The Morris Federation – it is a Members’ meeting not a Public meeting.
Voting
All members are encouraged to vote so that the views of the entire membership is known.
For teams not attending the meeting, voting ‘in advance’ will be online with a deadline of midnight before the meeting i.e. on Friday 23rd September 2022. Proxy voting will also be available.
For representatives of teams attending in person or online, voting will also be made available during the meeting.
Your member contact will ask their team members for their votes on these items:
- Election of President – votes For or Against or Abstain
- Election of Membership Communications Officer – votes For or Against or Abstain
- Any Motions – votes For or Against or Abstain
Queries
ANY QUERIES about any AGM/EGM items: please contact us and choose ‘general enquiries’.
2023 Day of Dance & AGM
In 2023 the AGM and Day of Dance will be held on Saturday 23rd September 2023 in Shropshire, hosted by Shropshire Bedlams and Martha Rhoden’s Tuppenny Dish. When the hosts are ready to take bookings we will let you know in a broadcast email.
Minutes from our previous AGMs
- MF AGM Minutes 25 September 2021 [PDF] DRAFT – to be approved at the 2022 AGM
- MF AGM Minutes 26 September 2020 [PDF]
- MF AGM Minutes 28 September 2019 [PDF]
- MF AGM Minutes 22 September 2018 [PDF]
- MF AGM Minutes 23 September 2017 [PDF]
- MF AGM Minutes 24 September 2016 [PDF]
- MF AGM Minutes 26 September 2015 [PDF]
