After the successful Quiz and Curry Night on the 21st of May, I thought I would send out a little personal round up of Lyric Group news to keep everyone in the loop.
Quiz and Curry Night
First a big thanks to Alison Shearman Jones and Ramsay Jones for a fantastically fun Quiz night, and the delicious curry meal that accompanied it. I can honestly say that a good time was had by all! We made a fair chunk of money, first intimation is around about £900, which swells our coffers considerably and allows us to put on better shows, simply put. And thanks again to the Crunchy Carrot for the donation of some great veg for the curry, and to David and Kathleen for their sterling work in the kitchen! Also to Jo for doing just about everything else on the night. And also to those who donated the great raffle prizes. And also to those serving up the food and clearing tables (sorry, I didn’t get a look at who was serving, but you know who you are!) And especially to those people who came along for the quiz and helped to tidy the hall afterwards – above and beyond the call of duty, that!
I worked on the bar along with Martine, and can vouch that plenty of money was spent there as well. Well done everyone for a great night!
(At least one person has commented that she hopes it becomes an annual event!)
Annual General Meeting
I’d like to invite everyone along to the AGM on the Tuesday the 21st of June, at the Dunbar Day Centre. That’s the building directly behind St Anne’s church on the high street for those who don’t know. There will be the usual AGM business followed by drinks so do come along and socialise!
I’d like to fill you all in on what goes on at a typical Dunbar Lyric Group AGM and explain a bit about the role of the committee.
The main business of our AGM is to elect the members of the Committee for the next year, plus make any announcements as regards shows, and any other business, such as membership fees.
Election of Committee Members
The Dunbar Lyric Group Committee is made up of 7 members: The chairman, the vice-chairman, the secretary, the treasurer, and 3 ordinary committee members (I mean non-office holders – no one is ordinary on our committee!). Each of those roles pretty much “does what it says on the tin”! But the Secretary is really in charge of all official communications, and not just taking minutes (in case you were wondering).
The committee members are elected for one year, and at every AGM the entire committee is up for election. Any member can stand for any place, office holder or not, on the committee, and any member is entitled to vote for the committee members of their choice.
For members to stand for election to the committee, they have to be nominated and seconded by another member. So if you want to run, do speak to someone and arrange for them to nominate you. This is accepted practice and completely normal. Also, if you have to be away someone can nominate and second you and you can be elected in absentia – if that is the case it is even more imperative to line up a nominator and seconder ahead of time and not leave it to chance!
I encourage everyone to consider election to the committee, whether you are a seasoned hand or brand new, we do not discriminate on the basis of length of membership. If you are enthusiastic about the group, we want you!
Membership
If you want to stand for committee and vote in the election, please do check that your membership is current. Also please note that no matter when you join the Lyric Group, everyone’s membership expires at the AGM. So current members can run for office and vote, but after the business of the election takes place everyone’s membership is finished and will have to be renewed for the next year. If you join at the AGM you have until November to pay your membership fee, so if you’ve forgotten your wallet or purse don’t worry!
Currently the membership fee is £10.
The Work of the Committee
The Committee typically chooses what shows we will be performing and appoints the major production roles, including director and producer, and in the case of a musical the musical director and rehearsal pianist. The cast members and other members of the crew are then recruited by the people holding the major roles. Sometimes there is a big overlap between the members of the committee and the members of the production team, but strictly speaking the official role of the committee is to choose the show and the crew, not to run the shows themselves.
Other things we do is to set budgets for shows, and deal with banking and other monetary matters such as buying kit for the group, arranging storage for costumes, sets and props, administer the membership, arranges insurance, and the 101 other things that let the group do what it loves to do – put on a show! (I may have left out some things – no doubt I will be put right about that!)
Upcoming Shows
We will be proceeding with Anything Goes for next year, and you may have received an email asking people who are interested in directing, musical direction, producing or being the rehearsal pianist to put their hands up. We are still soliciting interest in these roles, but time is running out so if you are interested and haven’t yet come forward, do so now or forever hold your peace!
A reading group has also been perusing possible plays for a September production, and we have come up with a shortlist and one very strong contender, so an announcement will be coming up about that very soon once the Committee has had a chance to make the final choice!
On the backs of two very successful fund-raising events – the Victorian Music Hall Extravaganza, and the Quiz and Curry Night – we are now in a strong position to do some very good work and have a lot of fun this year, so I hope everyone who has participated in the past will carry on enjoying “putting on a show” with the Dunbar Lyric Group this year!
Hope to see you at the AGM!
Paul Milne, Chairman
