THE MYSTERY BEFORE THE DRINKS
Who in their right mind would want to miss the AGM? The annual general meeting – yes, I know it sounds dull – has in fact always been an opportunity to see who is running the club and to question them, and also to applaud them.
The AGM is also an opportunity for a sit down! When you’ve been on your feet all day and you’re looking forward to an evening on your feet at a drinks party, it makes sense to take a seat for half an hour.
And another pragmatic point: If you’re like me – not always punctual – then aiming for the start of the AGM guarantees not missing the start of the drinks.
To some OHs, the annual general meeting is a mysterious rigmarole preceding the real event. For me, it’s always been a vigorous highspot among OH events, with suggestions being aired and policy discussed. You can have your say. (Keep it short though, please!)
But this year the AGM is going to change, or so I gather. The club’s top brass apparently have in mind something less starchy, less formal. Less rhetoric and more entertainment, by the sound of it.
I had an interesting email from our president Seb Warner, reminding me that we are lucky to still have a club. There is no longer a school to support it and he pointed out that this year Allhallows has been closed 25 years. So this year Seb wants the AGM to celebrate the club’s continued existence, he told me, adding: “It will be more of a club update, rather than a formal constitutional event.”
Seb and his new mini-committee seem to be livening up the OH scene. I expect we’ll get more details of the new-look AGM on the website in weeks if not days. Until then, it’s a pre-drinks mystery.
The AGM and drinks, at the Royal Automobile Club in London, will be on Thursday evening, November 16th.
l Next website offering from monthly contributor George Hayter: 1st October.
