Chicago (1996)

A Little Night Music (1997)

Into the Woods (2000)

Little Shop of Horrors (2002)

Company (2003)

EGM Minutes 2003

TORBAY OPERATIC AND DRAMATIC SOCIETY

MINUTES OF AN EXTRA-ORDINARY GENERAL MEETING OF THE SOCIETY HELD ON SATURDAY NOVEMBER 8^TH 2003 AT ST. LUKES CHURCH HALL, SHEDDEN HILL, TORQUAY. THE MEETING WAS HELD AS PART OF A SOCIAL EVENING, AND THE BUSINESS OF THE MEETING WAS TRANSACTED AT APPROX 9.15PM.

PRESENT :  There were 41 persons present (2 officials, 2 life members, 8 non members and 29 ordinary members) as follows :

OFFICIALS : Iain Douglas (Hon. Secretary) ; Elaine Gard (Hon. Treasurer)

LIFE MEMBERS : Marguerite Green ; Margaret Randall

MEMBERS : Heather Appleby ; Margaret Aulton ; Carolyn Bavister ; Richard Bearne ; Robert Blenkinsopp ; Tony Charlton ; Julia Cole ; Jason Davey ; David Denton ; Amanda Dore ; John Franklin ; Colin Gilderthorp ; Rae Gilderthorp ; Emma Hammond ; Chris Hawes ; Derek Hexter ; Daniella Hopkins ; Fiona Humphreys ; Jonathan Hunt ; Amanda Jenkins ; June Keen ; Julian Nietrzebka ; Viv Nietrzebka ; Miles Opie ; Helen Randall ; Nicola Samuel-Stevens ; Doreen Smiles ; John Smiles ; Dennis Wenman

NON MEMBERS : A total of 8 present

APOLOGIES :  Had been received from 6 persons (1 official and 5 members) as follows :

OFFICIAL : Jean Macer (Chairman)

MEMBERS : Dean Breyley ; Elaine Johnson ; Jo Matthews ; Andrew Pryce ; Tony Smith

PURPOSE OF MEETING : Chris Hawes (Vice Chairman) opened the meeting and explained that the reason was to gain agreement for the committee’s plans to change the promotional name of the society. The actual charity name would remain unchanged as “Torbay Operatic and Dramatic Society”, but the section of Rule 1 that read “the name of the society for promotional purposes is TOADS OPERATIC”  would be changed to “the name of the society for promotional purposes is TOADS STAGE MUSICAL COMPANY” . Chris passed the meeting over to Iain Douglas (Hon. Secretary) for a further explanation.

EXPLANATION : Iain reminded the meeting of the discussion that took place at the 2003 AGM when the committee first presented ideas for a change of promotional name. The outcome of the discussion was that the membership were not opposed to the move as long as the name TOADS remained in the title (as that had great goodwill value) and various suggestions of name were discussed. It was decided to leave the matter to the committee to discuss further and then arrive at a chosen name for the members approval at either an EGM or the next AGM.

The reasons for the suggested change were that the word “operatic” was now deemed to be rather old fashioned and could put newer younger members off joining because it conjured up visions of older style shows and concerts rather than the more modern livelier fare that the society has become known for. Additionally, it was also hoped to try and stop the confusion between this society and Torquay Operatic society by removing the word operatic from our promotional title. It was felt that the name ought to convey exactly what the society presented to the public. One suggestion (Toads Musical Comedy Society) was deemed unsuitable because not all the productions were musical comedy. It was felt that the suffix “company” had a more professional ring to it than the word “society”. Another suggestion (Toads musical theatre company) was deemed too similar to the towns dramatic society (Toads Theatre Company) and thus unsuitable. The suggestion (Toads musical society) was rejected on the grounds that it sounded like a choir. The final choice of the committee was TOADS STAGE MUSICAL COMPANY.

Iain felt it only correct that members heard both sides of the argument, and he read out a letter from member Andrew Pryce, who disagreed with the name change. His stated reasons were that the society does not normally present the older style shows anyway and that the general public know full well what an operatic society usually presents. By loosing the word “operatic” is the society also to leave the National Operatic and Dramatic Association, by the same token ? They haven’t deemed it necessary to loose the word from their title. The confusion between Torquay and Toads Operatic societies should recede as Torquay becomes more known as TOPS, its promotional name. It appears that the reason for the name change is to enable the society to market itself more effectively. If so then surely a name that trips off the tongue and is as easy to say as “Toads Operatic” would be a better choice. He felt that the change was purely for change’s sake and not necessary.

Having heard both sets of comments, the change of promotional title was proposed by Iain Douglas and seconded by Derek Hexter.

VOTING : The rules of the company stated that there could be no change to any of them without the agreement of at least two thirds of the votes cast at a meeting. There were 33 members with voting rights at the meeting and 1 proxy vote had been cast making a total of 34 votes to cast. Under the rules, at least 22 had to vote in favour of the name change. The result was that 31 were in favour of the name change and 3 were against.

It was therefore the decision of the meeting that the promotional name of the society would change from TOADS OPERATIC to TOADS STAGE MUSICAL COMPANY.