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MINUTES OF FOURTEENTH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

SHRIGLEY HALL HOTEL

19TH SEPTEMBER 2009

1. WELCOME AND APOLOGIES: Fr. Albert Carette SDB began proceedings with a prayer. (10.55 a.m.) The Chair welcomed and thanked all present.
PRESENT: Peter Roebuck (Chair), Mike Kilduff (Sec./Archivist), Eric Baggaley (Min. Sec./IT Coordinator), Fr. Charles Garrick SDB, Fr. Edmund O'Neill SDB, Tom McCormick, Robert Hilton, Terry Devine, Joe Doogan, Greg Bell, Gerry Wright, Tony McCarthy, Jill McCarthy, Bernard Murray, Dianne Murray, Michael McManus, Lawrence Tucker, John Burke, Keith Dransfield (Web Master), Paul Barnes ( Southern Rep.), Fr. George Robson SDB, Louis Skehal, Tony Quinn, Fr. Albert Carette SDB, Bernard O'Neill, Fr. Canice Dooley SDB, Norbert Gough.
APOLOGIES: George Holley, Martin Caine, Ted Carless, John Bergin (Scottish Rep.), Doug Robertson, Tony Calway, Terry Gerighty, Michael Dewane, Peter Stubbs, John Watts, Fr. James Walsh SDB, Stan Malloy, John King, Eddie Rivera, Peter Lally, David Murphy (Treasurer), Patrick O'Neill, Paul Pastore, Fr. Bernard Parkes SDB.

2. Minutes of the 13th Annual General Meeting at Shrigley 20.09.2008 - Document - follow LINK.
The Minutes were accepted as a true record.

3. Matters arising from the Minutes: Life Membership - see later.

4.Chairman's Communications:

The Presidency : Fr. Albert Carette SDB accepted the Committee's nomination as President 2009/2010 - to warm applause.
Report for the Year: All of our Events, in another busy year, including the 50th Anniversary of Dan Cocksey's death, the 75th Anniversary celebrations of the Church at Shrigley, and our open Committee Meetings at Glasgow, Chertsey, Shrigley and Savio House, are fully recorded in the Secretary's Newsletters and on the Association Website. After two years of endeavour, we have decided to discontinue the attempt to organize Committee Meetings in the South of England. The Committee Meetings for 2009/10 will be scheduled for Glasgow and Shrigley/Savio. The Chairman recorded his special vote of thanks to his hard-working Committee, who had ensured that the Finances, the Archives the Secretariat, the Website and the year's Events had all been excellently managed.
National Council Business: Document - follow LINK In regular consultation with fellow Committee Members, the Chairman has endeavoured, via a long correspondence with the President of the NC, to resolve our difficulties regarding the proposed new Constitution for the National Council. Among points of detail, the key one is our strong feeling that it should contain an explicit commitment to inclusivity, as does the Constitution of the Shrigley Association. The correspondence has been temporarily discontinued to await more propitious circumstances in which to pursue the matter. Further developments would follow the next NC meeting in November. The AGM fully endorsed the Committee's position and proposals. Efforts are being made to liaise with the Blaisdon Past Pupils Association. It was suggested that Fr. Sean Murray (SDB Delegate for Past Pupils) could well be of help here.

5. Other Reports:

Secretary & Archivist: Mike Kilduff presented three documents -
Report,
'A Search for the Men who Built the Shrigley Church', Opens in PDF
'True Remembrances, the memoirs of an Architect - Philip Tilden'. Opens in PDF
Minutes Secretary and IT Coordinator: Document - follow LINK . Eric Baggaley updated the Meeting with the latest news from South Africa and the launch of "Memories of Beckford" through correspondence with Eddie Rivera. Keith Dransfield explained the year's statistics - LINK - analysing "Visits", "Page Views" and "Hits" on the SA website.
Treasurer: In David Murphy's absence, the Chairman presented the Financial Report. This Document is not available on the website, but obtainable by personal request to David. Peter Roebuck again underlined that, although all Shrigley Boys and Staff are Entitled Members of the Association, Enrolled Members, with voting rights at the AGM, are those who have paid the current year's subscription. Life membership is confirmed at £100, and Annual Membership at £10, paid preferably by DD; forms are available on the SA website and from David Murphy. Support for BOVA was again approved and the Meeting agreed a £600 donation this year also. Finally Peter Roebuck proposed a special vote of thanks to David and to Jane Murphy for their excellent work on behalf of the Association's Finances.

Date of next year's Reunion: September 17-19 2010 was proposed and accepted.
Elections to the Committee for 2009-10: Wishing to act in solidarity whilst completing negotiations with the National Council of Past Pupils, Peter Roebuck, Mike Kilduff, David Murphy and Eric Baggaley all volunteered to continue in Office for a further year. Bernard O'Neill resigned as Events Organizer and Paul Barnes volunteered to take up this Office. Duly nominated, and unopposed, these Members were accordingly voted into Office by the AGM. John Bergin was to be approached and asked to continue his co-option as Scottish Rep. It was not considered necessary to make a further co-option as Southern Rep. However, an additional helper for John Bergin in Scotland, and another co-option to help organize Events in the North of England, would be most welcome. Bernard O'Neill was heartily thanked for his two years' work as Events Coordinator.

Any other business: Photographs to be arranged on the Church steps after lunch. Sue Lynch, grand-daughter of the chief stonemason working on the Shrigley Church, is welcomed to the Reunion for her presentation of family memoirs. Paul Barnes requested items for the concert and also answers to his enquiry about the Event he is organizing in Bolton on Sunday October 11th.

The Meeting closed at 11.45 a.m.

Eric Baggaley (Minutes Secretary/IT Coordinator) 30.09.2009

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THE SHRIGLEY ASSOCIATION & THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF THE FEDERATION OF SALESIAN PAST PUPILS (GREAT BRITAIN)
A Statement from the Committee of the Shrigley Association
About a year ago the President of the National Council asked Local Associations for their comments on a draft of a proposed new constitution for the Federation. Since last autumn we have been engaged in a debate about this which, though some progress has been made, has yet to be concluded satisfactorily from our point of view. We have been represented at the last two meetings of the Council and the matter will be considered further at the next meeting in November. Our main points are as follows:

1. The draft Constitution is a confusing mixture of Constitution, Mission, Strategy, and Operational Statement, all rolled indiscriminately into one. We believe that a shorter version would best meet today’s needs: still encapsulated within a single document but with its
component parts clearly distinguished as such.

2. Whereas we were established independently, there is an assumption throughout the draft that Local Associations are in various ways subservient and beholden to the National Council. They are expected to conform to a certain pattern of meetings, committee structures and other arrangements; to subscribe to a central charity of the Council’s choosing; and to report to the Council according to a set format. The tone of the document is heavy-handed and it would benefit greatly (and the Council with it) not just from being shorter but also from having a much ‘lighter touch’. If the National Council is to thrive (which is not currently the case), it needs to win support from the Local Associations, not browbeat them.

3. Most significantly, we believe that any section on the ‘Constitution’ should be explicitly inclusive. Our Constitution declares that all past pupils, ‘whatever their current persuasion’, are entitled to membership of the Shrigley Association. The document governing the operations of the National Council should do likewise. This is not only realistic, but positive, and would certainly align with Salesian practice elsewhere. Worldwide, many people of various faiths, and none, wish to support Salesian work. They should be entitled and clearly encouraged to do so.

4. There are other matters of detail which, we think, with benefit, might be amended. For example, the ‘draft’ has the Council ‘deciding’ the level of subscriptions from Local Associations. We think the Council should ‘propose’, not ‘decide, and that this would be likely to result in a better income stream, as well as recognising that Local Associations are going to‘decide’ anyway in the light of their current circumstances.

There is a good deal of support for our proposals among members of the National Council. We hope that many of our views on these issues will prevail at the next meeting in November, so that we can play a positive role in National Council business, encouraging Past Pupils’ endeavours in support of Salesian work everywhere.
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Shrigley Association

Annual General Meeting September 2009

Secretary/Archivist Report

My report covers some of what has taken place since the last Annual General Meeting and Reunion in September 2008. This report needs to be read in conjunction with reports from other members of the Committee.

Two weeks after that reunion, on October 4^th, the Association marked the 50^th Anniversary of the death of Damien Cocksey, the last boy to die and be buried at Shrigley. Damien’s sister and brother, and their partners, were guests of the Association at Shrigley to mark the occasion. Following a lunch there was a commemoration service in the cemetery led by Fr Albert Carette.

On November 28-29^th there was a Southern Gathering, a business and social event organised by Paul Barnes. On the Friday evening members met at the Salesian House in Chertsey before going to a local Italian restaurant for a meal. A Committee Meeting, to which all were invited, was held on the Saturday morning in the parish church hall. Lunch was hosted by the Salesians and in the afternoon there was a programme of talks before Mass and another restaurant meal in the evening.

This was part of the Committee’s programme of reaching out to the membership by organising meetings and social events away from the Association’s natural base in the north-west at Shrigley and Savio House.

In Glasgow at the end of January, the Scottish members traditionally hold their Mass to mark the Feast of Don Bosco. This year a Committee Meeting, the Mass and Social were held on Sunday 1^st February in St Benedict’s, Easterhouse, courtesy of Fr Charles Garrick. The evening before, at the Piazza Italian restaurant in Merchant City in central Glasgow, John Bergin had arranged a meal which was enjoyed by over a dozen members of the association.

At Shrigley, in February, the enlarged photographs from Salesian and Shrigley Archives went on display along the corridor that now runs alongside the outer wall of the former church.

April 1^st was the 75^th Anniversary of Don Bosco’s Canonisation and the cutting of the first sod for the building of the Shrigley. This was marked by a lunch and a programme of appropriate readings, again from the Archives, presided over by Fr Albert Carette who had been present in 1934. Macclesfield’s local weekly paper recorded the anniversary, with an article the week before the event and a photograph and report the week after.

There was a Committee Meeting at Shrigley following the celebrations, to plan this year’s Reunion, and a further Committee Meeting was held at Savio House on June 26^th. Decisions made by these meetings and the earlier one held at Chertsey have been communicated to members in other reports and under Matters Arising.

During the year there have been three newsletters. These were posted on the Association’s website. Over 250 E-mail messages are sent to inform people each time a new newsletter appears on site. At the same time about 120 printed copies are posted out to those members listed in the Directory who do not have access to the internet.

Response to these newsletters has been favourable, though it is still a matter of conjecture as to how many reach the people to whom they are addressed. During the year, mail has been returned from about fifteen addresses, one taking almost a year to find its way back.

Members can see from my attached summary of accounts what this communication with members who do not have access to the internet costs the Association. The cost of maintaining links with members via the website cannot be estimated, chiefly because much of the cost, time and effort expended is borne by those who give voluntarily of their services to the Association.

My main activity this year as Archivist of the Association has been to mark in some way the 75^th Anniversary of the commencement of work on the building of the Shrigley Church. This has resulted in the invitation to Sue Lynch, whose father and grandfather were among those who were involved in that work, to attend this year’s reunion.

To further mark this anniversary, I make available to those attending the reunion a transcript of the architect Philip Tilden’s account of the building of the church, in his book True Remembrances , and an updated account of the search for information on those who worked on that project, which I have entitled A Search for the Men Who Built the Shrigley Church. I feel that that search has come to an end, so next year will concentrate on maintaining what we have already in the archive and making further material available to the membership in the form of displays at our gatherings and in contribution to our website.

Mike Kilduff

September 2009

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SHRIGLEY ASSOCIATION WEBSITE: shrigleyassociation.org

REPORT - AGM - 19-09-2009

The Association owes a great debt of gratitude to KEITH DRANSFIELD. His expertise and enthusiasm to update and freshen the site, almost daily, is never less than 100%. THANK YOU, KEITH.
2008-2009 has seen significant developments

THE HOME PAGE has been expanded and redesigned to prominently display the 15 Sections of the site, viz., HOME - LATEST NEWS - RECENT E-MAILS - FUTURE EVENTS - PRAYERS REQUESTED - CONTACTS - REPORTS - NEWSLETTER - PUBLICATIONS - GALLERY - LINKS - MEMORIES - ARCHIVES - ASSOCIATION HISTORY - SALESIANS AT SHRIGLEY - OVERSEAS MEMBERS.

ARCHIVES - This section has been greatly enhanced and expanded, chiefly thanks to the work of MIKE KILDUFF, on topics such as the Lomas and House Shields, The History of the Shrigley Chapel and the Celebrations for the 75th Anniversary of Cutting the First Sod (April 1st. 2009).

MEMORIES - This section is growing apace, as more and more members send in reminiscences, eg. BOB HILTON and others about MUSIC AT SHRIGLEY, FR. JOE BROWN & BRO. DONALD MACDONALD about LIBERIA, BOB CAULFIELD about MALTA, JOHN AUSTIN about SHRIGLEY IN THE 70s, WINTER AT SHRIGLEY, etc.

A special effort was made to fully cover the extensive correspondence and tributes prompted by the death of FR. FELIX GLOWICKI.

GALLERY - now gives much fuller coverage of all REUNIONS, as members have responded for appeals to send in photographs - with as many names as possible recorded.

LINKS - has been expanded to enable members to be in contact with information about the SDB British Province and Salesians around the world.

Members are urged to consult the site with some regularity and also to contribute to its interest and variety by sending in their reminiscences, photographs, comments and the like.

Eric Baggaley (Minutes Secretary & IT Coordinator)

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These statistics show a) the number of visits to our site over the last twelve months, b) the top ten countries which visited and c) the top thirty search engine phrases which led visitors to the site. 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
Month	Visits	Page Views	Hits
September, 2008	682	3,271	9,291
October, 2008	815	4,137	15,680
November, 2008	721	3,723	15,222
December, 2008	614	2,204	12,450
January, 2009	964	4,095	15,207
February, 2009	1,001	4,506	12,515
March, 2009	764	3,281	9,574
April, 2009	1,100	4,505	16,389
May, 2009	1,095	3,346	12,484
June, 2009	710	2,646	9,910
July, 2009	580	3,155	11,459
August, 2009	1,200	4,017	16,747
September, 2009	371	1,681	6,241
Averages	817	3,428	12,551


Country	Visits	Page Views	Hits
United Kingdom	4,223	29,354	112,164
United States	3,878	4,365	10,765
Ireland	411	2,771	11,197
Australia	338	1,906	6,981
Canada	239	1,328	4,760
Philippines	291	619	2,951
Romania	26	391	391
Germany	51	377	1,148
Italy	50	225	829
New Zealand	37	183	814


Phrase	Visits
shrigleyassociation.org	383
shrigley association	300
felix glowicki	47
fr. felix glowicki	34
shrigley	34
shrigleyassociation	22
peter newbery	21
shrigley old boys	15
Fr Felix Glowicki	13
shrigley hall history	13
The Shrigley Association	10
eric baggaley	10
www.shrigleyassociation.org	9
fr. peter newbery	6
ted carless	6
shrigley salesian	6
Shrigley Past Pupils	6
salesians at shrigley hall	6
fr. felix glowicki sdb	5
salesian college shrigley park	5
mike kilduff	5
Salesian shrigley	5
headstone	5
shrigley old boys association	4
"felix glowicki"	4

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The Reunion this year was attended by over forty members, wives and guests and was made more pleasant by the glorious sunshine. Members came from South Africa, Scotland, Ireland, England and Wales.

The Annual General Meeting took place in the Stafford Suite, a room previously known to many as Upper Elements, or the classroom at the bottom end of the Study Hall. Business was done expeditiously as lunch called. The meeting’s papers are available above.

A Buffet Lunch was taken in the main restaurant of the hotel, the Orchard Suite.

Special Guest of the Association was Sue Lynch, grand-daughter of James Lynch, the Chief Mason for the building of the Shrigley Church. Her father, also James Lynch, worked as an apprentice in the site. Sue had agreed to talk to the Association during the afternoon session.

After lunch the taking of an official photograph, on the steps of the former church, was, as usual, a production of order out of chaos.

The Service of Remembrance in the Cemetery followed, led this year by Fr George Robson. Though Marie Burke, the provider of our flowers over many years was not able to attend, she did prepare tributes for each of the graves, and these were laid by members as Fr George read the names of those who lie at Shrigley, and of some of those, boys and co-operators whose ashes are scattered there. As usual, the singing was impressive.

Back in the Stafford Suite, members gathered for the afternoon’s programme. First, our guest Sue Lynch spoke about her father and grandfather, both of whom worked on the building of the Church of St John Bosco.

Both were James Lynch, the elder being Chief Mason on the site, the younger being the apprentice. Her talk was warmly received. Her contribution was essential to the writing of ‘A Search for the Men Who Built the Shrigley Church’ (Click to view), in which her father’s account of his accident while working at Shrigley is quoted.

This was followed by the main event of the afternoon, on the subject of life at Shrigley in the 1960s. Tony Quinn and Louis Skehal had prepared a presentation of their collection of Shrigley photographs, with appropriate comments.

The premise on which Tony introduced the session was that the general perception held by the older members of the Association was that the tough regime endured at Shrigley had, by the middle years of the ‘60s, been so diluted that it turned a character-forming experience into a holiday-camp playground. This provided scope for both seriousness and humour. An exhaustive listing of the features of the decade, political, cultural, sporting and religious, was followed by claims that boys at Shrigley at the time either missed them, were deprived of knowledge of, or participation in them. This seemed to indicate that the strictness of the regime continued. But, to hear of Shrigley boys being allowed to go unsupervised to Bollington, to tidy up gardens, converse with house-bound elderly, in charitable works (which, occasionally were rewarded with boxes of chocolates!) and eventually to visit cinemas in Stockport, to compete in County Level Cross-Country Competitions in Lyme Park, to watch TV, left the ‘40s and 50’s veterans feeling ‘case proved’. Anecdotes flowed from the two speakers and a few of their camp-followers among the audience.

All in all, an excellent session, one of the best presentations seen in recent reunions. Thank you, Tony and Louis, and the cohorts from Scotland.

This brought to an end the Shrigley leg of the reunion and members retired to Savio House for dinner and evening concert.

That was excellent, too, and Tony and Louis contributed mightily there, but I leave Paul Barnes, originator, humorist and MC to report on that.

Shrigley Association Reunion 2009