Elizabeth Bishop Society of Nova Scotia
Minutes of Annual General Meeting
20 June 2015, 1:30 p.m.
In the Village Café, Great
Village, N.S.
President Laurie Gunn called the meeting to order and
welcomed about twenty members and guests to the EBSNS AGM for 2015. She made
note of the fact that there was an Open House at the Elizabeth Bishop House
that afternoon, in case anyone wanted to visit.
Secretary Sandra Barry read the Minutes of the 2014 AGM,
finding a minor factual error as she did so. As there were no other errors or
omissions, Sandra moved the acceptance of the corrected 2014 Minutes. Second
Patti Sharpe. All in favour. Accepted.
Treasurer Joy Graham presented the Financial Report for the
term 1 April 2014 to 31 March 2015. As of 31 March 2015, the bank balance in
the EB account was $9,061.41. Joy made note of some of the expenditures and
income. She noted, for example, that the EBSNS had received a donation from the
estate of Donalda Nelson (one of the most faithful EBSNS members), as well as a
donation from a member of Donalda’s family. Overall, activity had returned to a
more regular or normal level, with all centenary and legacy projects completed.
Joy moved the acceptance of the Financial Report. Second Meredith Layton. All
in favour. Accepted.
Joy then distributed an information sheet, with an income
and disbursements breakdown for the period from 1 April to 20 June, 2015, which
indicated that the balance in the EB account was $11,052.17. Again, she noted a
few of the particulars.
In the absence of Nominating Committee member Bruce Gray,
board member John Barnstead presented the Nominating Committee Report. He noted
with sadness that founding board member Angus Chisholm was stepping down from
the board. John thanked him for his faithful service and said that we would be
returning to Gus shortly.
The proposed slate of officers and board for 2015-2016 were:
Laurie Gunn – President
Patti Sharpe – Vice President
Sandra Barry – Secretary
Joy Graham – Treasurer
Board:
John Barnstead – Past President
Lois Bray
Bruce Gray
Meredith Layton
Pat Townsend
Judith van Duren
New board members proposed:
Cathy Mazur
Laura Sharpe, who will be our inaugural “youth” board member
As there were no nominations from the floor, John declared
the slate of officers and board accepted.
Laurie Gunn presented her President’s Report (attached below),
which summarized the society’s activities in the previous year and looked
forward to The Elizabeth Bishop Festival on 8 August 2015.
Her final item was to extend a heartfelt thank you to Angus
Chisholm on behalf of the EBSNS for his many years of service to and support of
the EBSNS. She presented him with one of her lovely photo cards containing two
complimentary tickets to the Suzie LeBlanc festival concert. She noted that we
will miss Gus’s steady presence, wisdom and sense of humour at board meetings,
but the EBSNS will keep hold of him for good because she asked for a motion to make
Gus a Life Member of the EBSNS. Immediately moved by Patti Sharpe. And
immediately seconded by Pat Townsend. All in favour. Accepted with a hearty
round of applause.
Laurie moved to have her report approved. Second June
Chisholm. All in favour. Accepted.
Meredith Layton rose and spoke about an important
development in the village with regard to the pergola. She noted that the
structure had sustained damage from the flood on 22 September 2014 and the
grounds had been disturbed by the construction of the new bridge. The Great
Village Historical Society and the Great Village Garden Club partnered to bring
in gravel and restore the grounds immediately around the pergola. The gravel
was donated by Masstown Concrete and delivered by Fred Priest. A work party
from both organizations spent a number of hours working to return the pergola
to its proper state. Lowland
Gardens once again
donated flowers for the planters. The panels were mounted for the summer
season. Everyone agreed that the pergola looks great again. And it was decided
that a letter of thanks would be sent to the Historical Society and Garden
Club.
The final item of the meeting was the official unveiling of
The Elizabeth Bishop Festival program. Laurie, Patti and Sandra described some
of the activities that will happen in Great Village
on 8 August 2015, a full day of events with over 30 artists and artisans. They
discussed the nature of the partnership with the In the Village Café, which
will be providing venue space and all the food.
Laurie asked Gus if he would move to adjourn the 2015 EBSNS
AGM. Gus so moved and the meeting was adjourned.
The In the Village Café provided tea, coffee and their
signature lemonade, along with a wide array of delicious sweets, of which all
in attendance partook with gusto. After a fifteen minute break for all to get
their treats, everyone settled in for the highlight of the afternoon.
Photograph by Brenda Barry
Sandra introduced guest speaker Binnie Brennan, a long-time
member of Symphony Nova Scotia and a writer
whose novel Like Any Other Monday was
recently published by Gaspereau Press. Sandra noted how during a casual
conversation at a coffee shop, Binnie mentioned a growing interest in the
silent film comedy star Buster Keaton. And from this moment a lively, on-going
conversation about Keaton began between them. Sandra noted how wonderful it was
to watch Binnie’s initial interest blossom into a full-blown passion, which
took her on a fascinating journey of research and writing, culminating in her
novel. Sandra thanked Binnie for bringing Buster Keaton and his uplifting art
into her life, and alerted to those assembled that on Sunday, on Turner Classic
Movies, Keaton’s great film “Steamboat Bill Jr.” was being broadcast.
Binnie Brennan presented a fascinating account of her
journey, even noting Elizabeth Bishop’s connection to Keaton. Bishop was a
Keaton fan and wrote but never finished an homage poem to the comedian, which
Binnie read. Binnie described some of her research and the path that lead her
to write about the final years of Keaton’s vaudeville days, before he embarked
on his film career. Part of this path included several writing retreats at the
Elizabeth Bishop House. She read passages from Like Any Other Monday and generously answered the many questions
from a rapt audience. Everyone was energized by this engaging talk/reading.
Sandra thanked Binnie for sharing some of her infectious enthusiasm and keen
knowledge of one of the most important comedians of the twentieth century.
Slowly, the gathering dispersed and went out into the
beautiful sunshine of the last day of spring 2015.
*******************************************************************
President’s report 2015 – Laurie Gunn
I
can’t believe all the good things that were accomplished in the last year. We
are truly celebrating the life and work of the poet Elizabeth Bishop through
various activities and projects and I am pleased to be part of it.
Last
July we set up an Elizabeth Bishop display in one corner of the sanctuary of
St. James Church, for folks who are interested in learning more about EB and
her connection to Great
Village. We are hoping to
make a more permanent display in the near future. The St. James Church
Preservation Society has already approved an area of the sanctuary for our new
permanent display in 2016.
On
August 17th, 2014 the society organized an “In the Village Afternoon” to
celebrate young people who had made a connection to Elizabeth Bishop in the
last few years. We invited them to come and share what creative things they
were involved in. It was a delightful afternoon with a good attendance from the
public and the program was entertaining and the food provided by the “In the
Village” Café was delicious.
In
September in honour of the Elizabeth Bishop Society of Nova Scotia’s 20th
anniversary it was decided to put together a list of the most significant
resources, that the society, as well as organizations and individuals in Nova
Scotia, have created about or been inspired by Elizabeth Bishop. Sandra Barry
and Patti Sharpe did an excellent job creating this useful tool, in the form of
a brochure, for students, teachers, scholars and readers who wish to learn more
about Elizabeth Bishop.
In
October of 2014 we were invited to a meeting by the St. James Church
Preservation Society of Great Village, to discuss ways to use the church for
community based activities. At the meeting the EBSNS was asked if we might have
a one day EB activity in the summer of 2015. Sandra Barry, Patti Sharpe and
myself began meeting in December to plan the event and continued to meet and
email through the winter and spring. We have an amazing day for August 8th with
activities for everyone. The festival is a celebration of Nova Scotia’s rich artistic and cultural
heritage which we will tell you about a little later in the program. I wish to
thank Sandra Barry for doing an excellent job filling out and sending off the grant
applications in hope of obtaining funds for our one day arts festival. We are
continuing to look for volunteers as well as patrons of the festival. If you
are interested please let Sandra, Patti or myself know. We are also pleased to
have hired the services of Laura Sharpe who has created a Facebook account as
well as Twitter account. We are enjoying her postings and she is helping to
keep the Festival front and centre on the web.
This
spring we ordered 10 new “In The Village” banners to replace some of the older
banners that have faded because of the sun. Most of you may have noticed that
the EBSNS has a new website. A big thank you to Becky Colwell who has looked
after and paid for our website since it was created. It needed to be
transferred to a new
server
and updated as well. Becky employed the very talented Heidi Helm to create the
website that we have today, at a reduced cost to the society. Becky has also
contributed her own funds to help pay for the server costs for the next few
years. Heidi has also created a tutorial so that the executive can update the
website themselves. And last but not least, I wish to thank Gus Chisholm for
all his years of service to the EBSNS. He was one of the founding members and
is also a past president. We shall miss his wisdom and his sense of humour. I
ask that someone make a motion to have Angus Chisholm
as a
life member of the Elizabeth Bishop Society of Nova Scotia.
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