The Bagpipe Society

AGM 2010

Blowout 2010

The meeting was chaired by Ian Clabburn

Apologies were received from Don Ward, who was doing something very important at Chippenham.

Officers

All current officers of the Society were prepared to continue and we welcome Andy Letcher as the new Publicity Officer and Judy Rockliff and Tom Hughes as members- without-portfolio. All were elected/re-elected unopposed.

Finances

The annual account was presented and the Society remains healthily in surplus. Full breakdown will be published separately.

Website

There was a wide ranging discussion about the need to update the website, possibly improving the range and type of content as well as the look. It also needs regular updating to encourage people to return to it. Michael Ross (webmaster) said that this was difficult for him due to pressures of work and that this will need sharing with others. It was felt that the website could also be developed as a means of online selling – the BagSoc holds a number of books for sale and this could be expanded. It should also be possible to link with an online T shirt printing company, for example. Andy Letcher said he would look into website development as he has a very good friend who “knows about these things”. Ian will be meeting with Andy to discuss these issues and ideas for future publicity further.

Publicity

Andy to set up a Bagpipe Society Facebook page to encourage more interest and interaction. (Since the AGM, the page has been successful and now has more members than the BagSoc! Find the group under categories: music and folk).

Blowout Weekend

It was agreed that the extra day made for a relaxed and enjoyable weekend and there were no strong opinions either way about whether or not to hold the event over the bank holiday weekend next year, although attendance was markedly down on last year (Blowout 2010 made a loss of about £300, as opposed to a profit in region of £500 in 2009). Ian said that the choice of weekend was limited by other long-standing hall bookings. There are two possible weekends for 2011, either 27th to 30th May or 10th to 12th June, but church bookings may mean we are back to the Bank holiday weekend. Final date to be announced asap.

Student Pipes

David Faulkner asked if the Society would consider expanding its collection of student pipes as he sees a demand in other regions of the country. He will look into possible instruments and report back with a proposal and some costings for consideration. Ian said that although there were still some students learning on the Society’s smallpipes, take-up was down on previous years and some, if not all of these pipes may become available for use elsewhere very soon.

Future Projects

The Society has underwritten two pipe related events this year and there are still funds available to support furtherance of the Society’s aims, so anyone with a project that is suitable should apply to the committee.

Pig Plate

Judy Rockliff reminded us that there was a “piping pig” plate which was awarded some years ago for the most successful fund raiser and that maybe we should consider bringing it out of retirement, but to be awarded for some other reason. This will be considered once Don Ward (last known custodian) has been contacted.

Vote of thanks

The members offered a vote of thanks to all officers, especially John Tose for his sterling work on producing such a high quality Chanter.