AGM 2025
President Laura Ford opened the AGM welcoming everyone and confirming that the meeting met the quorum requirement of 25 attendees and that 112 ballots had been received. Laura also spoke about the three members we had lost this past year and members took a moment to quietly remember them:
MICHAEL COOPER FRSS Michael had been a Fellow of the Society since 1995. Michael exhibited widely at a variety of venues from London Zoo to Yorkshire Sculpture Park and the Royal Academy. His large scale commissions can be seen in Covent Garden and Bicester Village.
YUNUS HAIDER MRSS Yunus joined the Society in 1981 having trained at Central St Martins and the RCA. His work was highly influenced by his childhood years in the Himalayas and explored his love for the countryside through bronze and ceramics.
CAROLE HODGSON FRSS Carole studied at Wimbledon School of Art followed by the Slade and subsequently received many awards including from the British Council. The Elephant Trust, Arts Council and British School at Rome.Her work mixed abstraction, landscape and the human figure with solo shows at Flowers East, Llanelli festival and New Ashgate Gallery in Farnham.
Julian Wild PVPRSS wrote a few words about Carole that you can read here
Members took a moment to quietly remember Michael, Yunus and Carole.
Director Caroline Worthington gave her director's report followed by Laura's president speech and the meeting closed.
Director's Report
Our Director Caroline Worthington gave her director's report that you can read here
President's Speech
Our President Laura Ford gave her president's speech and you can read it here.
AGM 2025
Minutes from the AGM 2025
2024 Accounts
Our Treasurer, Mark Burch, and a number of Trustees are representing the Society at Buckingham Palace on the day of the AGM. Mark has provided this short note on the accounts and our Finance Manager, Andrea, and auditor, Gareth Hughes, will be on hand to take questions during the meeting:
In the year ended 31st December 2024 the accounts for the Society show a healthy surplus reflecting the fundraising effort in connection with the continuing refurbishment of Dora House. Fundraising continued after year end and it is anticipated that the majority of the expenditure on “Creating a Home for Sculptors” will appear in the Society’s accounts for 2025. Membership income rose by 7% through the increase in member fees and a further increase in membership numbers. The Society’s costs continued to be tightly controlled with the staff costs increasing by only 4%.
Keynote Speaker at the AGM 2025
Freeny Yianni, curator and owner of CLOSE Gallery will be the keynote speaker at this year's AGM.
CLOSE represents artists, runs exhibitions, residencies and education programs. Yianni's home gallery and studios are set in Somerset, her gallery has been established since 2009. She is a Greek Cypriot and has lived most of her life in the UK.
Yianni is an important figure within the history of contemporary art of the 1990's to the present day. She has been responsible for nurturing artists careers from the onset and seeing them flourish in the cultural arena. Yianni's ethos for her gallery concentrates on a contemporary art program in a unique way, developing artists legacy's through astute direction, and a bespoke approach, whilst engaging art programs in collaboration with inspiring partnerships with museums, galleries and cultural institutions. Yianni sees art as a vehicle to transformation.
The rostra of artists include the representation of the Estate of Jane Harris and the Estate of Grenville Davey.
Both are testament to Yianni's devotion to her work, and reflect relationships built that span 30 years. Other artists she represents comprise; Trish Morrissey, Simon Hitchens, Anna Mossman, Carali McCall, Katherine Perrins, Magnus Hammick, Stewart Geddes & Toni Davey.
Yianni has worked with many other associated artists who have made projects at CLOSE, she keeps her artist list lean and maintains the continuity of creative practice and relationships concentrated and relevant.
