Minutes of the Fusion Annual General meeting, held on 26th January 2008 at Yarnfield Park training and conference Centre.

1. Present:

Nick Braithwaite, Dave Clapham, Steve Downes, Sam Eden, Graham Foyle, Anne-Marie Gallen, Leo Goatley, Jimena Gorfinkiel, Maria Griffiths, Jim Grozier (chairing), Janette Harris, Jason Hill, Liisa Jahkonen, Sandy Keen (minutes), Steve Kelly, Sandra Lara Castillo, Nigel Mason, Fred Muirhead, Margaret Muirhead-Webb, Mike Nugent, Dwyn Padfield, Sybil Richardson, Chris Seaman, John Small, Digby Tarvin, Bill Willows.

2. Minute Taker

Sandy Keen (SK) offered and was appointed minute taker.

3. Introductions

Members were invited to introduce themselves to the meeting.

4. Apologies for absence:

None.

5. Minutes of 2007 AGM: Approved with no matters arising.

ACTION: JG/DT: Minutes of AGM to be placed on the Fusion website.

6. Reports

Jim stated that since there was no "events coordinator" no report would be made on this item. Also ideas for future events had been discussed fully in the preliminary meeting held in the morning so this would not be covered again in the AGM. Below are the brief verbal reports made at the meeting, full details are available from the secretary.

(a) Treasurer

Graham Foyle (GF) circulated his report; GF stated that the balance was healthy, and perhaps a high interest account should be considered. T-shirt sales were good. The 2007 S207 Preparation Weekend had made a small loss, but the 2008 Weekend was looking better thanks to the work put in by JG and Anne-Marie Gallen (AMG). It was expensive to hold the AGM at Yarnfield and it is likely to be held at alternative venues in future years. On the expenditure side, some events/visits had been subsidised. A substantial sum was also spent on travel expenses for Committee members. Expenditure had exceeded income, but the healthy balance remained. Sybil Richardson (SR) asked how many committee meetings were held each year: four.

Bill Willows (BW) asked for clarification of the Institute of Physics Subscriptions paid by Fusion on members’ behalf. GF explained that he had simplified his report as IOP are slow in dealing with cheques; a full audited set of accounts will be obtained.

SR asked for the date of commencement of the financial year: GF stated 1st January. John Small (JS) said that to make a full and fair description of the accounts it would be necessary to itemise all income from subscriptions. GF said that as the balance was good, he felt able to display the accounts as circulated. Fred Muirhead (FM) felt the figures presented were a summary of the Society’s finances and were acceptable. JS noted that more than half the income from subscriptions was used in expenses for committee meetings. Maria Griffiths (MG) asked if the geographical location of committee members should therefore be restricted. FM said the income should be used for the running of the society, and so the expenses were not a problem. He then suggested voting on the acceptability of GF’s format. A vote was taken to approve the Treasurer’s Report as presented: this was carried unanimously.

(b) Membership

JS said there were 638 members at the start of the year; there were 141 new or renewed memberships; at the end of the year there were 440 members, therefore about 200 members had been lost. He suggested that a paper reminder be sent to former members who have not renewed. The decline in membership could be explained in part by the 80 or so members acquired from the OU Computer Science, Space and Technology Society a few years ago, who may have now allowed their Fusion membership to lapse. A discussion ensued as to how best to retain and recruit members. Suggestions included:

Reminder of subscription renewal to be sent with “final” Newsletter;
Fusion representative at OU Residential schools;
Course Directors at Residential Schools to advertise Fusion;

JG stated that students from Birkbeck College had been invited to join Fusion. MG reminded the meeting that Fusion membership is not restricted to OU students only. FM questioned the need to have a Personal Identifier box on the membership application form. JS asked if all the data collected is necessary. JG said that some of it is required by the IOP. BW asked if there was a need to restrict the age of members: AMG stated that under 18’s should be accompanied by an adult on visits.

ACTION: JS/DT to produce a web application form during the year.

(c) Newsletter

JG explained that there was no Editor at present; he had put an edition together in November, and another recently. This meant there was now no unused material. Some articles submitted via the e-mail links on the Fusion website may have been lost. The Y-Doku had proved popular: Nick Braithwaite (NB) drew the winning entry from Andrew Webster of Sheffield, who will receive £10 book token. No entries had been received for the t-shirt competition. JG circulated an A5 copy of the Newsletter, as this would be cheaper to post than the current A4 size. The smaller format was felt to be acceptable with suitable text size. It was important to maintain regular contact with members, especially for news of current events. JG said that IOP are given the current membership list, and they also print sufficient for AL’s and spare copies. JS has no spare copies left. JG wondered if the AL list was up-to-date. AMG offered to provide a new list after checking that it was ok to divulge AL details. JG suggested asking ALs if they would like a copy. SR proposed sending a batch of Newsletters to staff tutors for forwarding on. AMG and NB thought this a good idea. JG invited the submission of articles from AL’s.

ACTION: AMG to provide revised list of OU staff recipients of newsletter (if possible).

(d) Events

MG hoped to present some photos of recent events, but unfortunately the technology did not allow this! MG presented her report of the six events organised during the past year, and said the next event would be a visit to Bletchley Park on 2nd March 2008. Suggestions for possible sites to visit were requested. Dave Clapham (DC) extended an open invitation for visitors to the Centre for Amateur Astronomy near Manchester, website astronomycentre.org.uk. AMG suggested the “Think Tank” in Birmingham. DC inquired about the geographic spread of Fusion visits. MG said that Fusion tried to organise visits in different areas of the country, but it has proved difficult to get members to attend. JG cited the poor attendance at a visit to Sellafield and Windscale. Visits to other nuclear power station sites were also suggested. MG said that visits were normally arranged for Saturday/Sunday. BW felt that members would require “value for distance” to justify travel and accommodation expenses. JG said that sometimes Friday visits were arranged to allow for a weekend break, which might make the travelling more worthwhile. FM advised that Berkeley Power station has a number of local attractions. DT suggested nominating an e-mail contact. JG thought a forum to establish members’ interest in a particular visit would be a good idea. SR wondered if Fusion could make use of the IOP connection by inquiring if their industrial membership could offer visits. JG, who has involvement in his local region of IOP, said it is difficult to find locations to visit: the Science Museum in Swindon was a possibility. Jason Hill (JH) suggested Magna in Rotherham.

(e)S207 Preparation Weekend

JG presented a budget report, which was not quite completed. A subsidy was received from the Physics and Astronomy Department. The weekend relies financially upon running alongside the Fusion AGM. This year 19 students were attending, so it might be self-financing. Publicity for this year’s event had been aided by AMG, and by an advertisement in Sesame. Even so, the number of attendees was disappointing. AMG said approximately 450 students had signed up for S207. NB hoped the weekend would survive, as he felt it helped to retain students on the course. MG felt she had benefited from attending the weekend in a previous year. AMG had e-mailed students when they registered for the course. JG announced that owing to the change in date of presentation, the preparation weekend would run on the 26-27 September 2008 (at Yarnfield) together with the revision weekend. In future years it will not be possible to run the AGM with the Preparation weekend. So there is uncertainty about the future of the Preparation Weekend, although it was supported by those at the meeting.

(f)Science Revision Weekend

DT said that from the students’ point of view the Revision Weekend was very successful. DT explained the historical background to the organisation of the weekend; he expressed concern over the financial arrangements, as the weekend may now be running at a loss, and there may only be enough money in the “kitty” to run for 2 more years. AMG wondered if by cutting the costs, perhaps by holding the event at Walton Hall, it might be viable. DT said that accommodation would be needed, SR suggested Kents Hill. JG stated that he and DT would be meeting 2 representatives of OUCS the following week to formalise the arrangements. Approximately 250 students attend the event, 45% studying Physics courses. JG wondered if more funding might be available from the OU itself; AMG expressed her reluctance to ask for too much funding at once. DC asked whom should be e-mailed if members could suggest a cheaper venue; JG nominated himself.

(g)Merchandise Report

Chris Seaman (CS) presented her report; she invited suggestions for new merchandise e.g. mugs (expensive to pack and post), and freebies e.g. bugs, pens. CS had brought a catalogue for t-shirt styles to the meeting, and this was passed round. JG mentioned the t-shirt design competition in the newsletter: no entries as yet, but he suggested that if anyone had an idea for a design, this could be drawn up by someone else. MG liked the polo and rugby style shirts. CS asked if a ladies style was desired: overwhelming “yes” from those present. JH suggested adding the Fusion logo to a calculator suitable for OU courses. AMG said memory sticks could also be sold. JH added a soft toy cat-in-the-box to the list.

ACTION: committee to investigate other merchandising options.

(h) Website

DT and JG were editing the current version of the website, and were aware of the problems with the e-mail forwarding process. MG said this had caused some problems when arranging visits. Some discussion ensued as to how to get round the problem without laying the committee members personal e-mail addresses open to unwanted spam. JG nonetheless encouraged members to visit the website.

ACTION: DT to pursue ISP to correct error, and to investigate a new provider.

(i) OUSA

DT said there were two applications for OUSA conference available. JG inquired if we would have a stall at conference, and DT queried whether a sufficient number of interested or relevant students would be attending Conference to make the stall worthwhile. JG said there had not been much success in the past.

(j) Nexus

JG stated that the IOP student liaison officer (Samir Dawoud) had now left, and the replacement person has yet to be appointed.

(k) OU Liaison

AMG had joined Fusion as liaison in February 2007, and she aims to help Fusion see how the OU works. She hoped she would continue to be useful to Fusion. JG thanked AMG and said that her work with the committee was much appreciated. BW asked about the prospects of physics within the OU. NB replied that it looks strong, as evidenced by a large number of applications for a recent vacancy. Although the recent news of the funding reduction in astronomy and particle physics was a blow, NB remained positive about the department. If this position were to change, he would look to the student body for support. Although the IOP reported a better uptake of physics by 18 year-olds, this was not apparent within the OU.

7 Elections

>>

Position	Nominee	Nominated	Seconded
(a) Statutary Officers
Chair	Jim Grozier	BW	SR
Treasurer	Graham Foyle	JG	CS
Secretary	Digby Tarvin	JG	MG
(b) Functional Officers
Newsletter	Maria Griffiths	JG	DP
Membership	John Small	JG	DT
Events	Dwyn Padfield	JG	MG
Website	Digby Tarvin	JG	BW
Merchandise	Christine Seaman	AMG	JG
Science Revision Weekend Representatives	Digby Tarvin and Jim Grozier	DP	FM
OU Liaison	Anne-Marie Gallen	JG	DT
First Class Conference Moderator	Christine Seaman	JG	MG
S207 Preparation Weekend Coordinator	Jim Grozier	DT	SR
(c) Additional Committee Members
	Sandra Keen	JG	CS
(d) Other Positions
Nexus Rep	Jim Grozier	BW	MG
OUSA SSC delegate	Sybil Richardson	BW	JG
OUSA Conference delegate	Sybil Richardson	BW	JG

All were elected unanimously.

8 Motions

(a) That joint Fusion/IOP membership subscription rates are increased by £1 to £19.00 for 1 year, £30.00 for 3 years, and £37.00 for 5 years (the IOP portion being increased from £11 to £12 to reflect the IOP increase in its student membership fee from £13 to £14).

Prof Nigel Mason said that many undergraduates at other Universities are signed up to IOP en-masse; it was also rumoured that IOP may drop student membership fees altogether.

Motion proposed by Dave Clapham, seconded by Fred Muirhead. Carried unanimously.

(b) Proposed constitutional change: Insert new clause 5 (vii):

“To be eligible for nomination for a key post, members must have occupied a committee position for at least one year, and demonstrated a willingness to attend committee meetings regularly.”

JG advised that this clause was intended to recognise the need for commitment to Fusion in those holding responsible positions. JH inquired what the definition of “key post” was. The discussion that followed indicated some difficulty in deciding appropriate wording for the required intention. Finally DC suggested letting the committee discuss the issue, and deciding on a motion to present before the AGM next year.

ACTION: Committee to readdress this issue at a future meeting.