Minutes of meeting 16th June 2026

Minutes of Committee Meeting at Woodlands Methodist Church

 10.00  am on Tuesday 16th June  2026                                                                                       

 Stuart Berry (SB), George Cross (GC) Copy to Lawrie Coulthard (LC), Richard Kay (RK)

At the suggestion of RK, analysis and feedback were deferred until after the SWYW concert in July. Promotion is however essential and TG and others will contact the usual media outlets for promotion. More flyers should be taken by members this evening. 

In the absence of II, it should be noted Elwyn and John Melanaphy are authorised bank signatories. II will prepare separate accounts for HMVC and SWYW (including the July concert). 

New members should be issued with HMVC folders and DB has checked that we have enough for the 5 new members who are active

Another anonymous gift of £1000 has been donated by a current member to go towards SWYW costs. In addition a grant of £1500 has been received from the Rotary club and a further grant is being pursued by David Healy.

The extension of our choir year until the beginning of July will incur an additional £800 for the music team and we will end the year with £2300 less on the bottom line. We budget for 36 rehearsals each year (II needs some assurance that this remains true for 2026/27). II points out with little income from concerts and the 3 festivals along with the school SingOut rehearsals there were extra costs on resources. II personally recommends we should aim to hold subs at £150 next choir year. 

Saturday 4th July, SWYW concert, 7.30 pm West Park Centre. RK has asked for members to be there by 5.30 pm to rehearse. Only 16 tickets have been sold on line so far.

Sunday 11th October, Starbeck Methodists. Joint concert with Eastwood Collieries MVC

Saturday 31st October, West Park Centre. Joint concert with Tewitt Well Band

16th, 17th or 18th December. York Christmas Choir Festival. We have confirmed our availability for this festival (4-5 songs similar to last York festival) and await our allocated date.

Saturday 13th March. Pickering.  Joint concert with Ryelarks ladies choir.

7-8 member details are outstanding. SB will issue a revised emergency contact list when all replies are received.   

We generally have more members at rehearsals that at performances and from a rough scan of our current member list, from 35 paid up members 3 are long term sick, 3 were ill or injured for Sing Out, 1 has taken time out since Easter leaving 28 who could  have prioritised performing at our annual concert.  More information will be sought from section reps. before an issue is made of this.   

Audience numbers were good with only about 30 seats not sold downstairs.  Fortunately, the balcony was not needed as this was deemed by GC on reflection to be difficult to access. Only 21 members, including 1 very new member were available to perform on the day however GC (who was unable to sing) thought our performance and balance were good. The effort to move some 120 heavy chairs to and from other rooms at West Park was onerous and should not be repeated . CD’s effort to move our equipment and school benches is to be commended especially as he had suffered an accident the day before. TG is aware that the balcony will be used for other purposes and has discussed the use of lighter chairs in future. Lower numbers of seats are anticipated for the SWYW concert.  We will consider giving a donation of £100 to each participating school and we will ask for feedback from the schools on their experience.  

For 2007 Sing Out, Richard Taylor school and a combination of Follifoot and Spofforth primary schools are under consideration.

RK has raised the question of subs for new members having difficulty paying. Possible solutions are paying monthly or subsidising. We would Rather keep our existing rules and find ways to reduce the cost of uniforms. 

New member Paul Boothman has kindly offered to host a BBQ for both HMVC members and members of the SWYW course. This is a good opportunity for both groups to get to know each other. It is intended for members only but carers and essential partners would also be welcome. The cost is £10 per head and DB has sent out a link to collect payment and indicate the numbers to be catered for. TG will get some sausages from Heck.