Last chance to save the Reepham Society

At its recent Annual General Meeting the Reepham Society, which was founded more than 30 years ago to protect, research and present the town’s heritage, failed to elect new officers.
 
Normally, the existing officers are voted back on to the committee for a further term, but this year, most unusually, none of them wished to stand again.
 

A Special General Meeting of the Reepham Society will be held at 7.30 pm on Tuesday, 4 June in St Michael's (Photo: John Tym)

 
 
Nichola Johnson, acting chair of the AGM, explained: “Of course, they all had personal reasons for stepping down, but it is also the case that recent committee meetings were increasingly dominated by personal concerns, which the majority of the committee felt were distracting from its core responsibilities both to the Charity Commissioners and to the Society’s wider membership’s interests.
 
“Unfortunately, none of the new people nominated were elected at the AGM, which left the Society potentially without officers. Under such circumstances, the ‘old’ executive committee is required to call a Special General Meeting (SGM) so that additional nominations may be received and voted on by the membership or, failing this, that a motion to close the Society be tabled.”
 
Ms Johnson said that since the Society’s foundation an enormous amount has been achieved by successive members and officers. “Research has been conducted, publications produced, an impressive archive of photographs and related items has been amassed, and a consistently watchful and well-informed eye has been applied to hundreds of planning applications,” she said.
 
“We cannot think that members who have supported and contributed to the Society for many years, or those who have moved to Reepham more recently and joined the Society through a genuine interest in our local heritage, would wish to see the Society disbanded.”
 
Ms Johnson said the hope is that all members will help to ensure its survival by encouraging others to come forward as nominees for the officer positions at the SGM to be held on 4 June, so there will be a wider “slate” of candidates to add to the names of those who stood at the AGM. All nominees will be invited to speak briefly about their interest in the Society and about any particular skills and/or experience that they feel they can contribute, and asked to declare any vested interests they may have.
 
“Once we have successfully elected new officers, the Reepham Society can embark, re-energised, on the next phase of its existence,” said Ms Johnson, who will also chair the SGM.

Related stories: