1. Agenda
2. A.G.M. MINUTES
3. Chairman's Report
4. Secretary's Report
5. Treasurer's Report
6. IT Co-ordinator's Report
7. Report of Saturday Evening Concert
8. Photos from the Weekend

I. AGENDA

1. Welcome & Apologies
2. Minutes of the last AGM
3. Matters Arising
4. Chairman’s Report
5. Secretary & Archivist’s Report
6. Treasurer’s Report
7. Webmaster’s Report
8. Proposal from the Committee:
‘To wind up the Association with Immediate Effect’
9. Implications & Proposals for Arrangements

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II. MINUTES
MINUTES of the 16th Annual General Meeting of the Shrigley Association held on 17th September 2011 at 3.30 pm in the Cheshire Suite, Shrigley Hotel & Country Club.
Prior to the Meeting Paul Barnes made a Presentation to Bro. Donald MacDonald SDB to mark the 60th Anniversary of Bro. Donald’s Profession as a Salesian.  Members congratulated Bro. Donald and wished him Ad Multos Annos.

PRESENT: Paul Barnes, John Burke, John Burnett, Tony Calway, Albert Carette SDB, Ted Carless, Bob Coupe SDB, Terry Devine, Michael Dewane, Joe Doogan, Keith Dransfield, Mike Egan, Charles Garrick, Terry Gerighty, Brendan Gill, Vincent Gill, Bob Hilton, Tom Holden, George Holley, Mike Kilduff, Donald MacDonald SDB, Martin McArthur, Tom McCormick, Frank McGreal, Michael McManus, Ray Mongan, Bernard Murray, Bernard O'Neill, Tony Quinn, George Robson SDB, Peter Roebuck, Peter Stubbs, Lawrence Tucker, Daphne Tucker, Michael Winstanley SDB, Gerry Wright.
APOLOGIES: Eric Baggaley, Tom Bushell, Martin Caine, John Crowshaw, Canice Dooley SDB, Norbert Gough, John King, Joe Lomax, David Murphy, Eddie O'Neil SDB, Bernard Parkes SDB, Paul Pastore, Terry Prendergast, Louis Skehal.

1. The Chairman, Peter Roebuck, opened the Meeting by warmly welcoming members and the Secretary, Mike Kilduff, read the list of Apologies for absence. In noting the latter, the Chairman read out a message from Eric Baggaley, who had managed e-mails for the Association and liaised with the Webmaster over many years. Members remained grateful for his service to the Association.

2. The Minutes of the 15th Annual General Meeting in 2010 were agreed as a true record of proceedings.

3. There were no Matters Arising from these Minutes.
The Chairman proposed that the Association rule that ‘Only Enrolled Members may vote at AGMs’ be suspended to allow all present at this, possibly final, AGM to vote if they so wished. This was agreed without objection.

4. The Chairman’s pre-circulated Report was taken as read. Peter stressed the main point: the Scots, who were based at Easterhouse, proposed to run an Association of Shrigley Old Boys with a much less formal structure than at present.

5. The pre-circulated Report of the Secretary & Archivist was taken as read. Mike McManus proposed a vote of thanks to Mike Kilduff, especially for his work on the Shrigley Archive. This was warmly endorsed. Fr. Michael Winstanley SDB noted that those parts of the Archive which were available on the web, together with the books produced by Peter and Mike, kept memories alive, especially for members overseas.

6. The pre-circulated Report of the Treasurer was introduced by the Chairman in the unavoidable absence of David Murphy. The two main points were the transfer of Life Membership funds to Subscriptions, and the need to agree on the distribution of Association funds following any dissolution. David Murphy was thanked in his absence for his work on behalf of the Association. Since the main business was the proposal for dissolution of the Association, it was agreed to discuss the disposal of funds as part of item 9, ‘Implications & Proposals for Arrangements’. Mike McManus expressed concern that the Association might be wound up prior to any agreement about the disposal of its funds.

7. In commenting on his pre-circulated Webmaster’s Report, Keith Dransfield noted that the number of e-mails and material submitted for the web had been considerably fewer than in previous years, but that traffic to the site had been as high as ever. Ted Carless proposed a vote of thanks to the Webmaster, which was agreed.

8. The Chairman proposed the motion: ‘To Wind-Up the Association with Immediate Effect’, which was seconded by Bob Hilton. Mike McManus again raised his concern about the disposal of funds. After further discussion, the Chairman proposed the reversal of items 8 & 9, to which the Meeting agreed.

9. The first implication arising from any wind-up was the disposal of funds. The Chairman noted that the Scots, through their representative, had indicated that they had no wish to receive monies. He therefore proposed that, after meeting possible Committee final expenses, all funds should be donated without strings attached to the British Salesians. Paul Barnes suggested that, because of its close links with the Association, Savio House might be a beneficiary: funds were being sought for ‘Meeting Tents’ for work with Youth Groups. The Chairman advised that, as this and other initiatives were unknown to the Association, it would be better to allow the Salesians to establish priorities. Tony Calway enquired as to what the Association Constitution said about the matter. Members were informed that item 6.7 required all post-Dissolution funds to be donated to a named Charity, which the British Salesians were. Mike Egan asked about the cost of the Website and was assured by Keith Dransfield that there were none. Terry Devine said that the SOBA would be revived in Scotland, and that Bernard O’Neill hoped to organise events south of the Border. Ted Carless asked whether a database of e-mail addresses was available for use by future organisers. Mike Kilduff indicated that a list could be passed on, but Keith Dransfield stressed that, due to Data Protection issues, it could not be made public, e.g. via the Website.
A second implication related to the Association’s excellent relationship with the Shrigley Hotel. Mike Kilduff had asked whether the special rate currently available to members might be continued, and still awaited a reply. Bob Hilton enquired about the continued upkeep of the Salesian Cemetery. Fr. Michael Winstanley SDB hoped that Savio House would continue the care in conjunction with the Hotel who, as Peter noted, had taken their responsibilities seriously as exemplified by their efforts after the storm a few years ago. Fr. George Robson SDB indicated that the British Salesians held a covenant on all Salesian cemeteries in the UK. Gerry Wright suggested using our funds to finance a clean-up. It was pointed out, however, that such an operation would swallow up a large amount and the results would be very short-lived.
A third implication concerned the Association website. Keith Dransfield proposed that the present site format be continued for a few months: but that, following a wind-up, it should be ‘frozen’, with a CD/DVD of its content being added to the archive. The Scots had already enquired about its future use, and it was proposed to set up a ‘sub Domain’ for them. There would be a prominent link to this on the Home Page of the ‘frozen’ site. Thus, any future Association would be able to carry forward current arrangements, controlling the set-up and layout of the sub Domain without any impact, other than the Home Page link, on the present pages. Fr. George Robson SDB indicated that the Salesian Community at Easterhouse was very supportive of efforts to establish SOBA north of the Border.
A fourth implication concerned the Archive collated by Mike Kilduff, mainly from records in Stockport, where the condition of many items had deteriorated. Peter Roebuck outlined the benefits of placing the SOBA archive on indefinite loan in the Cheshire Record Office in Chester. Its facilities offered a free opportunity to preserve the material in scientifically-controlled conditions, where they would be professionally catalogued and readily accessible. Cheshire had expressed considerable interest, although certain details – in particular their definition of artefacts (which they do not accept) – remained to be negotiated. Fr. Michael Winstanley SDB suggested that the Archive of the British Salesians, now at Thornleigh, could be used if nowhere else was available. Mike pointed out that much of the relevant material from there had been scanned and constituted a major part of the Association archive; and it was this material which should be preserved as a unit. A member noted that the Thornleigh Community was willing to accept the archive and Peter agreed that, if Cheshire wished to make a major split of our material, their offer would be refused and the Thornleigh option re-examined – but only as a last resort because of poor conditions for preservation and difficulties of public access. Paddy O’Neill asked about the legal framework governing loans to the Cheshire Record Office and Mike replied that the exact details formed part of continuing discussions with them. In answer to further queries from Bernard O’Neill and Michael Dewane, members were assured that it would be possible to continue to add to the SOBA archive; and that nowadays many catalogues were available online. Peter Roebuck again proposed that, subject to a satisfactory outcome of discussions with Cheshire, the SOBA archive be deposited on indefinite loan in the Record Office, which was accepted without dissent.
Mike McManus argued that the final implication of the wind-up was the disposal of funds, and proposed that they be held in the present account for future use by the Scots in any new Association venture. The Chairman pointed out that, while this notion had featured in the Committee’s original thinking, it was not possible to give money to individuals other than through a properly constituted bank account; and the Scots had specifically excluded such an account. The proposal now was that our funds be handed over to a Charity, the British Salesians, with a request that a significant sum be reserved to support possible Old Boy activities from a new base at Easterhouse. Mike McManus then suggested that a sum, perhaps £1,000, could be given to the Salesian Community at Easterhouse. However, Fr. George Robson SDB, now based at Easterhouse, advised that the funds should be handed over to Salesian Provincial headquarters, and Peter indicated that he would write an appropriate letter on behalf of the Association to accompany the transfer, which was agreed. Terry Devine then proposed that, following the settling of any outstanding Association expenses, the funds be donated to the British Salesians, with no strings attached other than a request that they consider the needs of any new SOBA. Mike McManus seconded the proposal and the motion was passed without dissent.

8. The Chairman then reverted to item 8 on the agenda and put the Committee’s proposal ‘To wind up the Association with immediate effect’. Bob Hilton seconded the motion, which was accepted unanimously.

10. A paper from Scottish members, prepared following their meeting on 16 August 2011, was laid before the meeting. Tony Quinn strongly supported its proposals and re-iterated the gratitude of members for all the efforts of the individuals and committees who had worked over many years for different forms of the Association. Noting the informality of the proposed arrangements for a new Association, Tony Calway warned of the need for some individual(s) to assume responsibility, if only for communication. In response Tony Quinn believed that an Association could continue and develop from Easterhouse along the informal lines followed there to date; and that, as members reached retirement age, more time would be available to build a more formal structure. He looked forward to perpetuating the Association’s emphasis on inclusiveness; and re-iterated the invitation to all members to participate in future activities based at Easterhouse, which prompted many expressions of support.
There being no other business, Bob Hilton proposed a vote of thanks to the Chairman, Peter Roebuck, for his work for the Association over the years, which was agreed, whereupon the Chairman concluded the meeting.
Keith Dransfield

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III. REPORT FROM THE CHAIRMAN, 2010-2011
As usual, we tried to keep members abreast of developments during the year. Two of the very first generation of Shrigley boys died during the year. Mike Kilduff prepared a notice for the website on Fr. James Walsh SDB, whom some of you will remember was able to join us for the launch a few years ago of The Salesian Cemetery at Shrigley. Having been contacted by his niece, Geraldine McAlinden, there was also a notice about Monsignor Thaddeus (‘Teddy’) Rooney, compiled by our President, Fr. Albert, and myself. May they rest in peace!
There were no formal meetings during the year, but members of your truncated Committee stayed in close touch with each other and attempted to maintain good order with our business. For myself, this included accepting an invitation from Fr. John Dickson SDB to speak in January to his confreres at Farnborough and others involved in his Book Club about Foundation Decade.
There have been three other significant items:
As this was envisaged as our last formal Re-union, we attempted to arrange as attractive a programme as possible, though this was difficult in view of the number of those who were unwilling or unable to participate. We are extremely grateful to those who agreed to speak. If only because he will probably be unwilling to say so himself, I should also point out that Mike Kilduff has again fielded a quite astonishing number of very late requests for accommodation, meals etc.
Following up last year’s AGM, Mike and I travelled to Glasgow in January, where we had a constructive meeting and a very enjoyable weekend with our Scottish colleagues. Although we were always adamant that they should only embark on what they felt was appropriate in their circumstances, we felt able, (following a report of a further meeting among themselves) to indicate on our website that we had good hopes that they would carry the Association forward in something like its present form from a new base at Easterhouse. There was then a hiatus in communication between us, until very recently, when their further report indicated a wish to proceed on a much less formal basis, without a constitution etc. This is entirely their prerogative. They will keep in touch with us and we wish them all the best with their new endeavour.
It also seemed sensible to anticipate some of the implications of dissolution and to present proposals for tidying-up. Keith Dransfield’s generous suggestions in regard to the website are outlined on your agenda, as are our proposals in regard to the disposal of our finances. We will also attempt to maintain our current relationship with the Shrigley Hotel, with its special price per night.
The proposal in regard to the Archive perhaps needs a little further explanation. I who have had such excellent access to the Salesian Archive, do not criticise arrangements at Thornleigh – the Salesians have far greater calls on their income than to devote some of it to the creation of custom-built facilities for their archives.
Yet it is precisely these which are available to us free of charge in Chester at the Cheshire Record Office. All paper archives are in danger of being kept in one of two states: either too damp, in which case they will gradually reduce to pulp; or too dry, in which case they will gradually reduce to dust. The proposal, therefore, is designed to ensure that our archive is preserved forever.
We will let you know the outcome of these various endeavours.
Finally, it has been a privilege to serve as Chairman of the Association and I thank members for giving me the opportunity to do so.
Peter Roebuck
September 2011

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IV. Report from Secretary and Archivist 2010-2011
My work as Secretary has been light this year, in view of decisions taken a year ago. After writing the report of last year’s reunion I had fewer calls on my time, as there seemed a general acceptance of the necessity for closure. There was no need to prepare papers for the Glasgow meeting in January as that, unlike meetings of the previous years, did not include a full committee meeting, but had a one item agenda. My role, with the Chairman, was to answer questions raised by the Scottish members who were making moves to discuss their response to the closure, and to listen to their early thoughts on what they might propose as an alternative.
My only newsletter of the year, which would usually have gone out in April, was held over until June, in the expectation of substantive proposals. That letter was brief and much of the space was taken up by details of the programme for the reunion, costs and booking arrangements. The number of printed copies I sent out this year was smaller than for previous letters. Over 250 e-mails went out to inform members when the letter was available for reading on the website.
The work I judged I needed to do as Archivist was more than enough to make up for the lighter secretarial role, and the Archive has been my chief concern for the last year. I am aware that I am the only member of the association who actually knows what it consists of.
As you will see from the small display I have put up for the reunion, I think my first responsibility is to give some idea of what it does consist of. As you will see there is a catalogue of over twenty A4 pages listing the contents.
I sometimes wonder whether ‘archive’ is the right word to describe what has grown from the early collection of letters that was transferred to me from the boot of John Burke’s car. John and Joe Lomax had those letters as they were part of the small group who helped create the Shrigley Association out of the first two modern era reunions set up by Ted Carless and Eric Baggaley.
Letters are now overwhelmed in numbers by photographs, in their printed and in their scanned, digital forms. The Salesians allowed me to scan all their Shrigley albums; many members did likewise. Hence much space is taken up by the ‘contact print’ pages of scanned images. Actual photographs donated by members take up much less space. In the form in which I store those, donations of photographs do not just exist as simply that. Some of them come with endorsements, others with letters. Some, in absolute terms, could be said to be valuable only because of the person who gave them, because of the obvious affection with which they have been stored by their owners over many years.
There are personal accounts of Shrigley life. There is a section called ‘The Roll of Honour’, which is not one completed list of names. Because of the way in which a roll had to be constructed, there being none bequeathed by the Salesians, the scribbled, scrawled, annotated pages left by those who participated in the process are valuable. The process of contribution and collection is more moving than the finished result could ever be.
There are copies of the ‘Salesian Bulletin’ kept only because they contain an obituary notice of a Salesian with a Shrigley connection. There are funeral order of service programmes, sometimes several copies of the same, given by members. These are as important as a record of the donor’s contribution as well as of the name in the programme. There are ‘artefacts’: one a piece of the first sod from the Shrigley Church, a poorly recorded cassette tape of a choir singing in the ‘60s, another of Fr Albert in conversation with John Burke and me.
There are personal papers given for storage, medals and cards and books, newspaper cuttings. There is also the research material that went into the writing of the books published, and much more.
When I said it perhaps should be called something other than ‘archive’ I was thinking that many of the things only have value as part of the whole, and they draw their power from being part of a collection that I think might be appropriately described as a ‘time capsule’ which might be buried somewhere at Shrigley.
As this my last report as Secretary, Archivist, I would like to say that I feel privileged to have helped to put it together and to have been able to use it in displays that I hope have brought back happy memories. I am also particularly pleased that the House and Lomas Shields have found a suitable place for display at Shrigley.
It is now time for the rest of the archive to be taken out of my spare bedroom and put somewhere safe, which at the moment looks like the Cheshire Record Office.

Mike Kilduff
September 2011

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V. Report from Treasurer
This year was marked by a lack of economic activity - the only major event was the AGM which ran at a loss. The overall surplus for the year was £381.

Income was down substantially. One cause was the falling away of membership where only 26 people actually paid during the year. Almost all of these were by standing order. Normally I would collect subscriptions at the AGM and at the Glasgow Mass on or about St John Bosco's feast day. For work related reasons I could not attend either of these this year and so subscriptions weren't paid. Normally I would receive about 20 subscriptions this way. As you can see from the Accounts I have transferred the life fund to subscriptions this year. With the demise of the Association it is no longer appropriate to maintain a life fund. Donations have also decreased dramatically.

The AGM, as for previous years had a slight deficit. However because of the lack of costs an overall surplus for the year has been recorded.

After meeting the costs of the 2011 reunion we will have something of the order of £3000 to dispose of and I would suggest that this be donated to BOVA.
Many of you pay by standing order and I would urge you to transfer your standing order to BOVA

The Shrigley Association account will be closed when the Association is formally wound up.

David Murphy
September 2011

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VI. Report from IT Co-ordinator
Web Site Statistics 2011
These statistics show a) the number of visits to our site over the last twelve months, b) the top twenty five countries which “visited”. A Visit is just that, someone views at least one page on the site, Page Views shows the number of separate pages viewed and a Hit records a click on some item (e.g. a photo or a link) on the page. Up to Sept this year we had an average of over 15,000 hits per month.

Monthly Visitors

Month	Page Views	Visits	Hits
September, 2010	5,901	1,113	17,690
October, 2010	5,044	1,355	19,564
November, 2010	3,795	1,340	12,452
December, 2010	4,644	1,326	19,207
January, 2011	4,129	1,314	14,930
February, 2011	3,124	1,072	10,953
March, 2011	4,284	1,373	12,088
April, 2011	4,142	1,068	12,865
May, 2011	3,819	1,265	13,204
June, 2011	4,818	1,513	15,063
July, 2011	4,109	1,376	10,774
August, 2011	4,094	1,283	13,470
September, 2011	1,036	266	3,347

Geographical Stats

Country	Page Views	Visits	Hits
United Kingdom	21,049	4,796	93,027
N/A	10,311	2,139	28,567
United States	9,190	5,816	18,207
Ukraine	3,145	236	3,153
Germany	2,891	266	7,640
Netherlands	1,161	53	1,390
Ireland	922	265	5,953
France	851	270	1,340
Australia	676	161	2,819
Romania	524	17	593
Canada	503	170	2,802
Malta	203	62	1,751
Cote D'Ivoire	161	5	163
Japan	161	106	242
Spain	161	55	845
China	136	178	225
New Zealand	136	43	790
Italy	130	59	741
Philippines	104	127	998
Sweden	91	31	696
Hong Kong	78	41	499
Russian Federation	56	40	119
Tunisia	54	6	104
India	54	83	302
South Africa	51	80	556

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“The Last Night of the Proms”

Over the last few years the Concert in Savio House on the Saturday night of the Annual Reunion has presented an opportunity to relive some of those concerts we used to have at Shrigley even though the most popular item was the “Rector’s item”. They have always been great fun organising and presenting and I have been privileged to MC most if not all of them.

This year was no exception as our harvest of items included some from the BOVA Team who were invited to join us during their training weekend. They actually put on a pantomime- see below. The whole concert lasted about two hours with a “beer break” in the middle. One of the highlights was getting everybody “up Sunshine Mountain” when everybody took part even our genial nonagenarian President, Fr. Albert.

The full programme was as follows:
1. Introduction-as usual this was announced as a “sell-out” with phone calls coming in all week from local residents looking for tickets!
2. The past year-I gave a brief summary of what had happened over the year. One of the saddest was the passing away of my hero Nat Lofthouse whose funeral I attended. Both my heroes are now dead - Nat and Don Bosco.
3. The Pantomime-Cinderella-this “dragged” on a bit with some high-pitched contributions from a dark shaven 6 feet 6 inches volunteer in training. Fr. Martin did a good job as Cinderella – it was a case of “if the shoe fits wear it”
4. Saxophone - James Trewby then did a rendition on his saxophone at the same time promoting his “Musicians weekend” at Savio.
5. Hamlet as you has never heard it before by Tony Quinn.
6. Keith, our webmaster, did his usual monologue on Albert and presented our Albert with a “stick with an ‘orses ‘ead ‘andle” plus a Certificate to commemorate for the occasion.
7. Fr. Michael, former Provincial x two, played his guitar and sang one or two of his favourites.
8. Fr. Joe Brown gave us a choice – English or Italian, being an educated audience we choose Italian and sang all about Bella Polenta! I tried this on the Metro in Madrid for WTD with some Italians from Rome. They refused to sing it saying it was only sung in the North- imagine if we had to live like that – the Southerners would never have caught onto the Beatles songs!
9. Tom Holden told a story or two.
10. Keith sang a song.
11. Sean sang his usual Irish ballad.
12. Martyn sang a song
13. The Scots came out in force and sang a medley including “Flower of Scotland” which some of us politely stood for.
14. Finally, we had Gerry Wright on the guitar-he kept us going for about 15 minutes for a suitable finale to a wonderful concert.

I apologise if I have forgotten anybody.
I would just like to take this opportunity of thanking all the contributors over they years. Your volunteering made my job easy really. Te hardest job was trying to remember which jokes I had told before!

We drank a toast to the ladies in our lives and recalling the Salesian School song (sung earlier in the day at the cemetery service)…”and may thy sons here after bring honour to thy name”…I am sure they will and here’s to when we meet again despite not having a Constitution to go by-we have never needed it to have good Concert!
God bless and take care.

Paul Barnes.

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