Promoting Yorkshire Authors

Notes from the PYA Annual General Meeting - 22 March 2022

Thank you to everyone who attended the Promoting Yorkshire Authors AGM by ZOOM at 7pm on Tuesday 22nd March 2022. These are the brief notes of the meeting.

Chairman's and Finance Report

Paul Smith presented highlights of the Chairman's and Finance report (available from this blog) and asked for comments and questions. Pam Golden asked Paul to explain the meaning of the columns on the Finance report but otherwise the reports were accepted by the AGM.

Committee

Neelie Wicks resigned from the committee and we thank her for the significant contribution made by her for the good of PYA.

The remaining committee will continue and be augmented by the new members detailed in the Chairman's report. In addition, Ros Kind and Stuart Larner volunteered to stand and we welcomed them to the committee.

Open Discussion

In no particular order, the following was either discussed and/or agreed by the AGM attendees:

• ZOOM events should continue as they attract members across Yorkshire and are better alternatives for some who would find it difficult to travel to sessions across our large county.
• We agreed that we should also aim to re-open our contacts with libraries across the region and aim to create face-to-face events in addition to the Book Fairs arranged in Harrogate for May and October. Paul will post in the Committee WhatsApp group and Facebook members' group seeking ideas for face-to-face events and identifying champions for locations within the county.
• Linda Jones and Darren Walker will aim to restart contacts for Wakefield and Leeds respectively if possible.
• Susanna Lewis will investigate PYA being involved in FEVA (Knaresborough Art Festival) - even if it is only a token representation for this year - aiming for a good long term relationship.
  
• Susan Pape suggested creating a Finance Subcommittee to investigate fund-raising for PYA and Paul will post in the Committee WhatsApp group seeking views and expressions of interest. To be considered are:
  
• Reinstating membership fees.
• Obtaining local grants.
• Funding from other sources - brainstorming ideas.