SOCIETY

2006 AGM

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held at Oxford on Saturday 23rd September 2006 at Worcester College Oxford.

Present: John Beddoes, Ted and Magda Rasey, Christine Hankinson, Annette Eley, Rachel Eley, Christine Eley and Rachel Salisbury.

Apologies and Good Wishes
Received from Jack and Diane Beddoes, Alan Halsey, Geraldine Monk, Janet Frost, Ute Bern, Christa Glur, Hugh Parry, Margaret Wakefield, Roy Humphrey, Clive Beddoes, Stewart Minton-Beddoes, Jurg Leick.

Minutes of Previous Meetings
The minutes of the Winter Meeting held on Monday 3rd April 2006 and the AGM minutes of 29th October 2005 were approved as a true record.

Matters arising not on the Agenda
We enjoyed three excellent visits in Oxford. First we went to see Lucy Walker the librarian of Pembroke (she had worked in Gottingen before). We examined The Improvisatore with TLB’s own bookplate inside alongside a dedication to his friend JGH Bourne and a copy of The Brides’ Tragedy in which there was an interesting dedicatory poem by EG Meyerstein. At The Bodleian we were treated to a whole range of Beddoesiana – from scrapbooks to the Dykes Campbell transcripts. Including another copy of The Improvisatore in which Beddoes had inserted an amendment to the prefatory Jonson quote. And then in the afternoon to Worcester College library where Dr Parker gave us a talk on the library of CH Wilkinson.

The Chair’s Report
Jestbook continues thanks to Shelley for organising. Subscribe at (_) or visit (_). Currently there are 31 members and 2619 messages.

Thank you very much to those members who do not have personal email address but who had sent a contact email address.

Radio 4 was a great success a big thank you to all who contributed. CD’s available from John.

We welcome 4 new members which brings our membership to 103. We will now be paying the ALS an increase in membership dues! Unfortunately we might be losing one or two due to lost contact and non payment of membership. It would be nice to keep membership over 100.

Any US member who has access to cheap/free photocopying and would undertake to pack and post 11 US Society Journals next year please let John know.

A big thank you to all the work Richard Geyer has done. The website has been completely updated and even the address has changed! The latest news is that Kelsall’s Memoir is now online and so are some MP3 files. It is now (_).

Finally John thanked everybody for their continued membership and support over the year.

Election of Officers
Officers re-elected

Journal
John has still failed to make contact with Mark Ford or Frances Wilson re possible Journal articles.

Other items still to be consider for Vol.12.

Judith Higgens article
Fred’s short article on Donner with photograph hopefully next year
Richard Geyer Bibliography update done
Brian Hollingsworth article might be ok for next year
Michael Remy article?
John to ask Ute for transcript of her talk on Beddoes and Blumenbach?
Essaka Joshua Article 3?
Mike Bradshaw’s ER account of DJB at Fordam John to chase for permission to reprint
Pickled Essence of Englishman Dr Iain Bamforth. John has received permission from Iain (plus disc version) but would need to contact BMJ Publishing Group to do David M Baulch. The “deserted home” of the Psyche: Madness and the Medical Subject of Romantic Science in Thomas Lovell Beddoes’s The Brides’ Tragedy. John to ask permission.
Annette’s article on the Radio 4 programme

All items to Shelley please “submissions of articles and letters, observations, advice, inquiries etc” to:

Shelley Rees
(_)
Email: (_)

Treasurers Report
2005/2006
Opening balance     £305.21
Total Income     £360.77
Total expenditure     -£389.63
Carried Forward Balance     £276.35

John will include a membership renewal form with the journal for those members who needed to renew membership.

Alliance of Literary Societies (ALS) AGM May 19th hosted by The Tolkien Society at St Hilda’s College Oxford. More information from John or Christine. If you want to attend they have to be told by 1st May.

AGM 2007

Date of Next Winter Meeting
Winter Meeting April 2007 Date to be confirmed

Date of Next AGM

AOB
It was decided that John will write a note on Jestbook about a projected visit to Germany and perhaps Switzerland in 2008. Ideas for visit greatly welcome.

FOOTNOTES:

Next Meeting
April 7th at 12..00 noon at Ted and Magda’s. John and Annett can collect people from Derby railway station at 11.00ish and return by 4.00ish. Please phone John or Annette to book lift.

AGM
The AGM will be on September the 22nd probably at Leeds, venue to be confirmed. 

2007 Spring Meeting

Minutes of the meeting held at Yew Tree House, 31 Woodside, Morley, Derbyshire, on Saturday 7th April 2007. 2.00 pm.

Present: John Beddoes, Ted and Magda Rasey, Annette Eley, Alan Halsey.

Apologies and Good Wishes

Received from Geraldine Monk, Hugh Parry, Margaret Wakefield, Christine Hankinson, Viola Reade, Michael Bradshaw, Eric Webb, Greg Crossan, Rachel Eley, Jack and Diane Beddoes.

Christine and Bertie were greatly missed and the meeting sent very best wishes to Christine for a fast recovery.

Minutes of Previous Meeting

The minutes of the AGM held on Saturday 23rd September 2006 were approved as a true record.

Matters arising not on the Agenda

There were none.

The Chair’s Report

John started by thanking Christine for arranging the Oxford AGM that had been so successful.

Jestbook continued thanks to Shelley for organising. Subscribe at (_) or visit (_).

Currently there are 32 members and 2785 messages.

Congratulations to Brian Holmes. Two of his settings of songs from DJB – The New Cecilia and The New Dodo (Squats on a Toadstool) are scheduled for performance with the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra this June. Another local orchestra offered him a commission to write an overture.

We welcome 2 new members which brings our membership to 105, one who joined following the Radio 4 Broadcast.

John had written to Chantelle Stayings from Primavera Press who were producing plays at the Kings Head Theatre, Islington. They had requested information via the Alliance of Literary Societies (ALS) for “Forgotten Classics” and wanted information on plays rarely produced. John had sent a copy of DJB.

John thanked Richard Geyer for his work on developing and updating the website and said that Kelsall’s Memoirs is now online and so are some MP3 files.

It might be possible to include the Radio 4 broadcast on jestbook, but it may have to be broken down into separate files.

John apologized for the delay in posting out the AGM minutes but the delay had meant that we could post these minutes at the same time that would save some cost on posting! He had been able to include in the mailing a bookplate he has had made with some information about it, plus a list of books in his collection. The bookplate is in a plastic wallet and is prone to get stuck in the envelope! John asked that members noted that the book list did contain some errors in typing, beware! An up to date version of his Beddoes books would be available on the website.

Finally John thanked everybody for their continued membership and support over the year.

Journal

John thanked Shelley again for the Journal and would check with Shelley in case she needed any help or finances for Vol.13, it was hoped that Fred would be able to provide the photograph of Donner for the next Journal.

Other items still to be considered for Vol.13:

Judith Higgens article on Wilkinson plus John to check on update on Dr King Publication

Fred’s article on Donner with photograph

Richard Geyer Bibliography update

Brian Hollingsworth article might be ok for next year John to chase.

John agreed to ask Ute for transcript of her talk on Beddoes and Blumenbach and to check what this item was.

Alan Halsey suggested that it would be useful to publish a selection of extracts from Jestbook which had been active and interesting lately.

All items to Shelley please “submissions of articles and letters, observations, advice, inquiries etc” to:

Shelley Rees
(_)

Email (_)

Website

Congratulations to Richard Geyer who has used his skills as a librarian to develop the website. It has clearly been an extensive project and the Society is extremely grateful to Richard for this achievement. The Committee is very pleased to have an authoritative website to display Beddoes material.

It may be possible to add links to useful sites. If anyone has suggestions for links get in touch with rgeyer@adrian.edu.

John mentioned that his son Thomas Beddoes had been filling gaps in the Dr Thomas Beddoes and Thomas Lovell Beddoes sections of Wikipedia, adding links to Thomas Kelsall and the TLB Society and cross linking father and son.

Treasurer’s Report

2006/2007

Opening balance     £ 276.35
Total Income     £ 287.63
Total expenditure     £ 182.09
Carried Forward Balance     £ 381.89

It was noted that the balance carried forward was high because the Journal was yet to be sent out.

The Society has been benefiting from a very reasonable printing rate of 1p a sheet. This agreement is to come to an end, but Belper School have agreed to the same rate. A discussion ensued on the new postal rates relating to the size of envelopes and it was agreed to be careful with the current mailing and to look at the relative cost of publishing the Journal on A5 format in order to benefit from the lower postage rates. A5 may also make the articles easier to read. John agreed to look into the cost of having the publication produced entirely at the printers.

John has included a membership renewal form with the journal for those members who needed to renew membership. Now made easy for those people with access to Pay Pal at (_) or US$ to Shelley Rees, plus Standing Orders on Request.

A big thank you to those members who have signed a Standing Order it has made the job of treasurer a lot easier and thank you to people who have supplied alternative email address if they are not on email
themselves.

John said that there was a problem with some bouncing email addresses and asked members to update their contact details if necessary.

Alliance of Literary Societies (ALS) AGM

May 19th hosted by The Tolkien Society at St Hilda’s College Oxford.

More information from John or Christine. If you want to attend, they have to be told by 1st May.

AOB

1. TLS promotion to be include in mailing

2. The possibility of organising a TLB Society German/Swiss tour in September 2009 was discussed. eg 2 nights each in Basle/Zurich, Gottingen and Wurzburg allowing a full day in each to follow the life story of Thomas Lovell Beddoes in these parts. This is only an idea at present but could be realised if there is enthusiasm for it from enough members of the Society. John would be very keen to hear from anybody interested in this tour. The suggestion is to stay in the Swan Hotel in Baden where TLB was reported to have tried to cut off his leg. Wow!

3. 2009 is the 1000 anniversary of the Welsh Prince Elston Glodrydd from whom Thomas Beddoes is descended. Philip Beddows is organising celebrations on a Welsh hillside. Hopefully more details to follow.

AGM 2007

September 22nd at Leeds details to be confirmed via jestbook and email.

Meeting at the Scarborough Hotel for Lunch at 11.00am next to Leeds railway station.

Date of Next Winter Meeting

Winter Meeting Saturday April 5th 2008. Venue to be decided.

The meeting ended at 4.00 pm. 

2008 AGM

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held at Aston on Clun, Shropshire, UK on July 5, 2008 at 10 a.m.

Present: John Beddoes, Ted and Magda Rasey, Christine Hankinson, Rachel Eley, Hugh Parry, Stephen Davies, Christine Moore and Nick Nelson

Apologies and Good Wishes
Received from Jack and Diane Beddoes, Geraldine Monk, Christa Glur, Margaret Wakefield, Jurg Leick, Viola Read, Geoff Holt, Tana and John Fletcher, and Annette Eley.

Minutes of Previous Meetings
Agreed as a true record with the one alteration: the Treasurer’s Winter report should read 2007/2008

Matters arising not on the Agenda
None

The Chair’s Report
John started by handing out a programme entitled “Beddoes Connections” witch gave details of the Flower Festival at Hopesay Church that was commemorating Thomas Lovell Beddoes and his extended family.

Thanks to Shelley for organising Jestbook. Subscribe at (_). Currently there are still 34 members and 3196 messages.

The meeting welcomed Christine Moore and Nick Nelson to their first Society meeting.

As always a big thank you for all the work Richard Geyer continues to do.

John hoped the new Portrait of Beddoes would be ready shortly for Jim Clark to do his work.

John thanked Christine Hankinson for her editing of the Newsletter.

Finally John thanked everybody for their continued membership and support over the past year.

Journal
Please see advert on back of Newsletter and winter meeting minutes.

Submissions of articles to the Journal:

Shelley Rees
(_)
Email (_)

Newsletter
The meeting thanked John and Christine for their work, the new look Newsletter was much appreciated.

Newsletter articles and letters, observations, advice, inquiries etc to:
John Beddoes
(_)
Email (_)

Treasurer’s Report
No expenditure since last meeting. Memberships received for 3 members. There had been no printing costs for this year’s Newsletter.

Thank you to Magda.

Election of Officers
Officers re-elected – Proposed by Stephen, seconded by Ted.

Chair, John Lovell Beddoes
Secretary, Christine Hankinson
Treasurer, Magda Rasey
Web Manager, Richard Geyer
Journal Editor, Shelly Rees
Newsletter Editor, Christine Hankinson

Executive Members:

Ted Rasey
Alan Halsey
Annette Eley
Rachel Eley (US Secretary)
Paul Morgan

Stephen Davies was elected as an Executive member. Rachel Eley was confirmed as our US Secretary to help with US postage printing and Newsletter distribution.

John agreed to report back to next meeting with a definition of Officers, Trustees and Executive members and also bring a copy of the Society’s Constitution.

Alliance of Literary Societies (ALS)
(_)

(_)
Two good sites for literary matters.

AOB
Stephen mentioned that a copy of The Picture and the Prosperous Man by John Gervas H Bourne (1835) was now available on [?]. In his book The Picture Bourne bases the character Derwent on Beddoes.

Date of Next Winter Meeting and AGM
Two possibilities, Firstly Alan Halsey an Geraldine Monk might be doing a Beddoes Talk and Poetry reading at Market Harborough early next Year. Secondly there may be a Beddoes Conference or Panel at London University during 2009. Watch this Space.

Philip Beddows may be planning a Beddows/es festival in Wales celebrating 1000 years.

The Meeting closed with a walk to Hopesay followed by Lunch at the Kangaroo.

Foot Note
Sandra Spence was made an Honorary Member of the Society. Members enjoyed a conducted tour of the Hopesay grave yard and a walk to various house either owned by Thomas Lovell Beddoes or built on his land.

Tea was had at Hopesay Farm House with thanks to Nic Allen. This house was lived in by Thomas Lovell Beddoes’ Aunt and later his Sister 

2009 AGM

Minutes of the AGM held at Boam’s Farm, Derbyshire on Friday 4th December 2009 at 11:00 a.m.

Present:
John Beddoes, Ted and Magda Rasey, Annette Eley, Honor Hewett, Clive Beddoes, Alan Halsey

Apologies and Good Wishes:
Jack and Diana Beddoes, Hugh Parry, Nora Beddoes, Paul Morgan, Brian Hollingworth, Rachel Eley, Nick Nelson, Stephen Davies

Minutes of Previous Meetings
The minutes were agreed as a true record.

Matters arising not on the Agenda
None.

The Chair’s Report
The Chairman welcomed every one and thanked Annette for hosting the meeting. The plan for this year’s AGM to be held at one of the events to be organised at Market Harborough, London University, The Lake District or the Welsh Mountains did not materialise. But it was good to be invited to Boam’s Farm again.

Subsequently we had not held our usual winter meeting.

John reported with sadness that Society members Dorothy Stansfield died in 2008 and Muriel Maby had died in 2009.

David Hancock from Shropshire Life Magazine, noting that 2010 will be the 250th anniversary of Dr Thomas Beddoes’ birth, has written to ask if the Society will be marking the event or joining in celebrations and publicity around Mike Jay’s book, The Atmosphere of Heaven. John has asked David Hancock to keep us informed of any planned event as we would like to come.

The agency for the Legal Deposit Libraries has now moved to Edinburgh.

Hugh Parry has a new Website (_).

The Society is now listed with the following organisations:

· Ask Hollis, The Directory of UK Associations, “The definitive directory of associations and organisations representing a membership, a mission, or a message”
· The Writer’s and Artist’s Year Book, a publication and website which links aspiring authors to publishers, agents, magazines etc. (_).

The Society is now included in MLAB (Modern Languages Association Bibliography)

Publications of interest include:-

· Honor Hewett has sent the Society a copy of her dissertation “Hood and Beddoes”
· Mike Jay, The Atmosphere of Heaven: The Unnatural Experiments of Dr Beddoes and his Sons of Genius (Yale, 2009), ISBN-13: 978-0300124392, details of which had been sent with Agenda
· Richard Holmes, The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science (Pantheon, 2009), ISBN-13: 978-0375422225, featuring a lot on Anna Beddoes and Humphry Davy
· Brian Hollingworth’s chapter “Richard Edgeworth as Parent and Educator”, in Romanticism and Parenting: Image, Instruction and Ideology, ed. Carolyn Weber (Cambridge Scholar’s Publishing, 2007), ISBN-13: 978-1847182951
· D. P. Miller and T. H. Levere, “Inhale it and See?: The Collaboration between Thomas Beddoes and James Watt in Pneumatic medicine” AMBIX, Journal for the Society of the History of Alchemy and Chemistry, Vol. 55, Number 1, March 2008

Alan and John had contact with Rodney Edgecombe who is writing a book on T.L.B. Rodney Edgecombe lives in South Africa.

The Royal Society in London put on a day of lectures on Dr. Thomas Beddoes to celebrate his 200th anniversary of his death. Some Society members attended and the papers can be seen at the Royal Society’s website at (_).

Shelley was thanked for organising Jestbook. Members can subscribe by emailing (_)or visit (_). Currently there are 34 members and 3196 messages.

Thanks again went to Shelley who has also arranged a Facebook page for the Society and friends, currently with 26 members.

As always a very big thank you for all the work Richard Geyer continues to do with (_). The Society website has recently changed in appearance. It is now possible to search for a quote from Thomas Lovell Beddoes’ works (it was noted that it is best to do so one line at a time). The site is extremely professional and very much appreciated. John reported that the new Portrait of Beddoes was now on the website and a big thank you to Rosalind Bliss who had given it to John.

John then reported that Christine Hankinson has resigned as Secretary and that Christine and John would no longer be doing the Newsletter. John regretted her departure from the post and thanked Christine for her work for the Society and the enthusiasm she brought to it. Unfortunately there had been a breakdown in communication about the production of the next Newsletter and the meeting would discuss how to prevent this from happening again. A volunteer or volunteers would be asked to fill the now vacant posts of Secretary and Newsletter editor.

John reported he had spent most of the year with a faulty computer and has now got a new computer. Unfortunately he had lost all his email address book and bits of Beddoes stuff. If society members could email John at (_) and include any Beddoes Word document that they may have that would be good for John to build back up his information. It had made John realize the importance of making the Society computer friendly and also to support members without internet access.

Finally John thanked everybody for their continued membership and support over the past year.

Newsletter and Journal
The meeting discussed the importance of putting procedures in place in order to avoid the mistakes made last year. It was agreed that in future the administration of the Newsletter, which has previously been an important part of the Society, will be agreed by the Executive Committee prior to decisions being made. Applications for the both the posts of Society Secretary and Society Newsletter Editor and also Newsletter submissions are requested to be sent to the chairman by 28th February 2010.

The decision on the posts will be made at the next Executive Meeting which is to be held at 3:00 p.m. at the Brunswick, Derby on March 13th.

Alan Halsey noted that it would be good to see some articles of a Beddoes interest in the journal Doomsday.

Submissions for the Newsletter go to:
John Beddoes
(_)
Email (_)

Submissions for the journal go to:
Shelley Rees
(_)
Email (_)

Treasurer’s Report
Magda presented the accounts for the period 1st April 2008 – 1st April 2009

Initial balance £247.76

Expenditure £48.53

Income £226.00

New Balance £453.41

Income was made up of £198 taken in subscriptions, £12 in donations and £16 in book sales.

Expenses paid out included £6 ALS membership, £35.38 postage and £7.15 photocopying. Magda noted that expenses were low this year because a Newsletter had not been distributed.

John noted that it was important to keep a record of those people who were not on the internet to ensure that they got mailings. Also that next year we may have to take out Public Liability Insurance. He thanked Magda for keeping the accounts.

Election of Officers
Officers re-elected:

Chair, John Lovell Beddoes: Proposed by Clive Beddoes, seconded by Ted Rasey

The following officers were re-elected. Proposed by Ted Rasey, seconded by Clive Beddoes.

Treasurer, Magda Rasey

Executive Members:-
Annette Eley (Acting Secretary)
Ted Rasey
Alan Halsey
Annette Eley
Paul Morgan
Stephen Davies
Rachel Eley

Secretary, vacant
Newsletter Editor, vacant

Alliance of Literary Societies (ALS)
The next ALS meeting is to be held in Knutsford, Cheshire on 15-16th May hosted by the Gaskell Society. Members might like to visit the Alliance of Literary Societies website. It is a good site for literary matters.

AOB
Aims and Organisation of the Society.

A discussion took place on the role of the Thomas Lovell Beddoes Society and how it might be run in the future. It was acknowledged that in the 16 years of the Society’s existence, there had been many changes. It was agreed that the Society itself had developed from a small group of family and friends to include a world-wide spread of both academics and non-academics. Also the world has changed during this time, the internet has made communication easier but less directed, and the Society at large is increasingly concerned with liability.

It was also agreed to have an open discussion at the next Executive Meeting in March (all members are welcome) for members to express their ideas on the aims and objectives for the society and to discuss how the Society might be organised in the future.

The Constitution
John had agreed to report to this meeting with a list of Officers, Trustees and Executive members, and also to bring a copy of the Society’s Constitution.

Executive Committee consists of:

Honorary Executive Officers

Chair, John Beddoes
Secretary, vacant
Treasurer, Magda Rasey

Honorary Executive Members

Ted Rasey
Alan Halsey
Stephen Davies
Rachel Eley
Annette Eley
Paul Morgan

Non-executive Honorary Offices:

Newsletter Editor, vacant
Journal Editor, Shelley Rees
Web Manager, Richard Geyer
US Secretary, Rachel Eley

Charity Commission Trustees:

All executive members

Date of Next Executive Meeting (Winter Meeting)
All members invited Saturday March 13th at 3pm at The Brunswick Pub in Derby near the train Station

AGM Provisional Date and Venue
Provisionally Saturday lunch time on September 11th at the Brunswick pub near Derby train Station. The date and location has been left as provisional in case we can find something more exciting to which we can attach the AGM, such as a literary or Beddoesian event. 

2010 Spring Meeting

Minutes of the meeting held Saturday 13th March 2010 at 3.00pm, at The Brunswick Pub, Derby.

Present:
John Beddoes, Ted and Magda Rasey, Christine Moore, Honor Hewett, Stephen Davies, Alan Halsey, Geraldine Monk

Apologies and Good Wishes:
Received from Hugh Parry, Margaret Wakefield, Mike Bradshaw, Annette Eley, Paul Morgan, Rachel Eley, Nora Beddoes, Richard Geyer, Shelley Rees, Nick Nelson, Christa Glur, Jörg Leick, Janet Frost

Minutes

In light of John’s decision to step-down as Chairman, and the Society’s long-term lack of a permanent secretary, a discussion regarding the future of the Society took place.

The meeting decided that the Society’s aims and objectives continue to be relevant and will remain. 

Members present felt strongly that the Society should continue if possible, a sentiment echoed by good wishes from Hugh Parry, Margaret Wakefield, Shelley Rees, Mike Bradshaw and Richard Geyer.

There are currently sufficient trustees for the society to continue to exist, but the vacant offices required for it to remain active (chairman and secretary) are still open for discussion. Nominations are being accepted and will be voted on at the AGM.

The suggestion of a shared chairmanship was made. Alongside this, there has been the proposal of a less traditional structure, in which a coordinator takes charge.

It was agreed that the society requires a new address.

Alan Halsey proposed that John Beddoes become the non-executive, Honorary President of the Society, allowing him to take a less active role, but to remain a figurehead in recognition of his hard work and dedication over the years, and in order to retain his knowledge and passion. The motion was seconded by Ted Rasey.

The meeting agreed that the positions of Editor and Contributing Editor of the society newsletter will be taken by Stephen Davies and Alan Halsey. Help has also been offered by Hugh Parry and Margaret Wakefield.

Stephen volunteered to work on proposals/visualisations of a new format for the newsletter, and it was suggested that he and Alan will decide jointly on the finished article.

It was proposed that if possible a first-draft of the newsletter format will be sent out with the minutes of this meeting.

The meeting suggested that the AGM takes place in London, on the basis of increased opportunity for members to attend.

The provisional date for the AGM was decided: Saturday 25th September, 1.pm at The Devereux , 20 Devereux Court, Essex St, The Strand, London, WC2R 3JJ