AGM Minutes June 2025

Minutes of the 30th (115th) Annual General Meeting of the St Beghian Society held in the Foundation Building on Saturday, 14th June 2025 at 11.00am.

There were around 36 people present, including Darryl Davies (President), David Lord (Treasurer), Pam Rumney (Secretary) and Andrew Keep (Interim Headmaster).

1. Welcome by the President, Darryl Davies. Darryl welcomed everyone to St Beghians’ Day 2025 and thanked them for their attendance. He went on to introduce Andrew Keep the Interim Headmaster.

2. School Update by the Headmaster (Interim) – Andrew Keep. Andrew began by indicating that the school had continued to improve academically and that the site itself had seen several developments, including the refurbishment of the Memorial Hall. He confirmed that in the previous year the school had experienced its best university results since its reopening and that 2025 looked encouraging too. He indicated that sport also continued to thrive, including cricket, badminton, fives and volleyball, along with music, cultural activities and the DofE Award Scheme. Staffing had remained stable during the 2024/25 academic year and the school were proud to have two very long-standing members of the support staff, David Lamb and Jenny Bain, both with over 40 years of service with them. Student numbers had also remained steady at around 110.
Andrew indicated that he would be retiring at the end of the summer term and that a new Headmaster had been appointed, who would be taking up his position officially in September 2026. A formal announcement about the Head, who was currently working at Harrow International School, Haikou, China, would be made in September 2025. In the interim, Laurence Gribble had been appointed as an Interim Headmaster to guide the school over the coming year.
Andrew expressed his appreciation for the support shown by the Full Circle Education Group. He also thanked the OSBs wholeheartedly for their help and assistance in various projects, such as the 200 Club donations towards the library and the DofE tents. He went on to say that the OSB presence had made a genuine difference and that he hoped that they would continue to be partners in the future progress of the school. He concluded by asking for any questions.
Adrian Peckitt thanked Andrew for his interesting talk and said that he had felt heartened to hear the progress made in Fives at the school, however, he indicated his disappointment in the lack of students involved in golf.
Andrew confirmed that Laurence Gribble had been instrumental in driving forward Fives within the school and that they had a taster day where all students were encouraged to try the game and play. However, he recognised that golf was a trickier one. He confirmed that golf was part of the school’s summer programme and that pupils could use the golf course, which they did do, but agreed that it was not used to the extent that it should be. He also acknowledged that they would need to recruit a good golfer onto the staff, as they currently had recreational golfers but not those of a competition standard.
In conclusion, Andrew was thanked for his interesting summary of the school’s progress to date.

3. Brief silence in memory of departed OSBs. The names of those who had passed away since the last AGM in 2024 were read out by the Secretary, and the President conducted a period of silence in their honour.

4. President’s Yearly Report – Darryl Davies. Darryl began by summarising the Branch events he had attended since becoming President in June, the previous year. In September 2024 there was the South Lakes Social held at the Grange Golf Course, followed by the North East Lunch in November in memory of Bill Dove and kindly organised and attended by Bill’s daughter Amanda, with help from Don Williams. Darryl thanked all the organisers involved in helping to make these events a great success.
He also mentioned the Cumbria Dinner Gathering, which he had organised at Armathwaite Hall in February, which 98 people had attended, including OSBs, partners, friends and several staff from the school. A rugby shirt, which had been donated by Howard Graham, was auctioned on the night and presented by Stuart Lancaster, and had raised £1000 for OSB funds. Darryl expressed his thanks to all those involved.
Darryl also reported that he had attended an excellent London Dinner held in May at the Civil Service Club, kindly organised by Martin Birkett and Graeme Bagnall. This was the first formal dinner in London for several years and was very much enjoyed by those present.
Darryl concluded by reiterating his main aims for his Presidency in respect of attracting more female and younger OSBs to get involved in the Society and he was pleased to report that at the afternoon’s Music in the Quad there would be two female OSBs and a 19 year old OSB performing.

5. Confirmation of the Minutes of the 114th A.G.M. held on Saturday 15th June, 2024 (published in the January 2025 Bulletin). The Minutes of the previous meeting in June 2024 were agreed as a true and accurate record. They were proposed by Robert Middleton and seconded by Dacre Watson.

6. Matters Arising – There were no matters arising from the Minutes.

7. Election of Officers:
     a) President Elect – Darryl reported that there was no President Elect in place at the present time but that he had some ideas and would be approaching people in due course. He also mentioned that at the Committee Meeting earlier it had been agreed to change the title name to Deputy President and to appoint three people to cover the role until a new President was appointed in June 2026.
     b) Committee – Retiring this year were John Dunn, Mark Roberts and Lucy Cox - It was advised that John Dunn and Mark Roberts were willing to stand for re-election, but Lucy Cox had asked to stand down.
     c) Treasurer – David Lord. David was willing to stand for re-election but as had been discussed in the previous Committee Meeting, new officers would need to be found in the next few years to cover the retirement of the Treasurer, Secretary and Bulletin Editor.
     d) Secretary – Pam Rumney. Pam indicated a willingness to stand for re-election.
     e) Golfing Secretary – Tom Wright. Tom was willing to continue.
     f) Accounts Checker – Jason Spires. Jason was willing to stand for re-election.
     g) Bulletin Editor – Tony Reeve. Tony was also willing to continue.
Anthony Fox proposed the election of the officers mentioned above and this was seconded by Don Williams.

8. St Beghian Society Finances and Accounts (2023/2024) – David Lord. David drew attention to the accounts sheet for the year ended 31st January 2025, which had been circulated with the AGM papers. He advised that the balance of cash held in the Society’s bank and building society accounts amounted to just short of £84k. However, he pointed out that expenditure had exceed income by about £10k. He went on to indicate that these funds would see the Society through the next five to six years, but not indefinitely, and that a plan for the future would need to be put in place. After much discussion it was agreed that OSB annual Subscriptions should be increased in due course.

9. OSBGS Golfing Society report – Tom Wright/Adrian Peckitt. Tom (OSBGS Secretary) and Adrian from the OSBGS (Old St Beghians’ Golfing Society) introduced themselves and circulated a paper presentation outlining the Old St Beghian Golfing Society (OSBGS), its status, and the events and competitions it is currently involved in. The presentation also gave details of the past support given to the school by the OSBGS and also the club’s future plans and challenges.
Adrian began by expressing how it had been an honour and privilege to represent the OSB badge at golfing competitions for over 45 years. He described the Halford Hewitt tournament, which is held on one of the best golf courses in the country and attracts 640 golfers on the tee on the first day, from 64 independent schools from across the UK. It was reported that several other events were also attended, in Edinburgh, Yorkshire, Cumbria, Kent etc, and with competitors from all over the country, which gave the opportunity to promote St Bees School far and wide. However, Adrian stated that the funding of these competitions was becoming invariably harder for the OSBGS to support as was the recruitment of new and younger members.
A discussion then ensued and various ideas were mooted, including the possibility of linking golfing competitions with OSB events, such as the Edinburgh OSB Gathering and the Queen Elizabeth Tournament, which is held in Edinburgh. The Society and OSBGS agreed to consider this for the 2026 event.
Questions relating to golf within the current St Bees School curriculum were raised and Laurence Gribble stated that it did play a part in both summer PE sessions, as well as the GCAS (Global Awareness, Creativity, Action and Service) extra-curricular programme.
A suggestion to broaden the wider golfing community by introducing more social golfing and events was also put forward.

10. GTF, OSB Nominee Ltd – Anthony Fox/David Lord. Anthony reported that the GTF (Guarantee Trust Fund), OSB Nominee Ltd currently had three Trustees - David Lord, Roy Calvin and himself, and indicated that new Directors were being sought. He explained that OSB Nominee Ltd had been set up to hold the assets of the GTF funds, which currently had a nominal value of over £2m, including small packets of land, a loan to the school Governors and the remains of the proceeds of the sale of Lonsdale Terrace. He went on to state that OSB Nominee Ltd had been established in order to avoid personal liability and that the Directors were currently trying to monetarise assets. He also indicated that it would be beneficial for new Directors to have a background in, for example, law, accountancy, business investment, but that the new Directors did not necessarily need to be OSB Members. Those present were asked to consider if they themselves, or someone they knew, could possibly be a future Director of OSB Nominee Ltd.

11. New OSB Newsletter and Instagram page. The Secretary drew attention to the new OSB Newsletter which had been distributed for the first time in April. Circulated twice a year (Spring and Autumn), in between the main Bulletin issues, Pam indicated that this trialled newsletter aimed to offer accessible current news in a bitesize interactive format and it was hoped that it would be a useful visual tool that would engage younger OSBs and those who perhaps did not have the time or interest to read the full biannual Bulletin.

12. Branch Activities – Dinners/Events List distributed. Darryl summarised the various dinners, lunches and social events which had taken place throughout the country over the last year and pointed out that all the forthcoming OSB events were detailed in the OSB Day Programme, which had been circulated with the AGM papers. He encouraged OSBs to attend and support the many different occasions wherever possible.

13. The 200 Club Report and Annual Draw – Darryl Davies. Darryl provided a summary of the 200 Club, stating that there were currently 75 numbers purchased, as opposed to 57 last year, and that there would be just under £2000 in funds, after the June 2025 draw. He went on to say that donations to the school for projects had included the School Library, the Eco Club and tents for the School DofE Programme.
As time was short, the 200 Club draw took place during lunch and produced the following winners:

PRIZE	No.	WINNER	PRIZE	No.	WINNER
£200	46	DW & PM Davies (Darryl)	£40	71	W Mathison (Gordon)
£40	1	WE Dove (Amanda Dodsworth)	£40	43	PA Mawson (Paul)
£40	30	KJ & EC Smith (Kevin)

The President thanked members for attending and closed the meeting at around 12.15pm.