The Minutes of the Annual General Meeting have been circulated to all the members already. This report is only going to give a brief account of the meeting on Friday 6th February which was held at Deepcut Community Centre on a very wet night. Apologies were received from Simon Kidd, Jenny Colquhoun, and Brian Hammans.
The Chairman’s Report
Sue Whitehead gave the good news that it had been another successful year for the Society. The main exhibition at High Cross Church saw record sales. The Disability Initiative was well received and will continue this coming year by displaying their artworks again at the Annual Exhibition. The Society maintained strong links with the community by taking part in the Frimley Green Carnival and holding a Pop-Up Exhibition at Longacres Garden Centre, both these events are planned again this year. Sue went on to outline the variety of events in last year’s calendar and went on to describe some of the events and demonstrations planned for 2026 including Rodney Kingston, Sera Knight, Maggie Read, Jonathan Newey and Judit Matthews.
The Honorary Secretary’s Report
Patti Dutton recorded that there had been five committee meetings over the course of the year and 14 Studio Lives, 8 x Artist Demos at Deepcut Community Centre and 2 x Demonstrations via Zooms. She also noted that the Heritage Gallery exhibition area has now changed and FCSA will no longer have a permanent exhibition displayed there.
The Treasurer’s Report
Lesley Kilner explained how the Society had made a good profit this year despite the fact that hall fees and demonstrators’ fees continued to go up. The Income & Expenditure Account and the Balance Sheet for the year was distributed to those present and have been sent to the membership. Lesley expressed her thanks to Peter Tuitt for the sponsorship he continues to bring to the Society. She also thanked Fred Green who has examined the books for the last time this year after giving generously of his time doing this thankless task over many years.
The Membership Secretary’s Report
Craig Whitehead, reported that Membership in 2025 fluctuated between 56 and 98. Thirty-three members have not yet renewed and sadly 2 of our members passed in 2025. A graph that showed that the downward trend since Covid had been reversed.
The Webmaster’s Report
Olga Salgado produced a number of charts to illustrate the website trends and the pages viewed. Average unique visitors per month are 2700, so it is an increase from previous year (2025: 2500; 2024: 1000 average).
Election of Executive Committee
As the current committee members were happy to stand again, it was decided to vote in the whole committee. It was emphasised that new committee members are always welcome to keep the society going.
Post and present holder
- Chairman: Sue Whitehead
- Vice Chairman: Marie Bunce
- Hon Secretary: Patti Dutton
- Hon Treasurer: Lesley Kilner
- Membership Sec: Craig Whitehead
- Committee Member: Natalie Nagy
- Newsletter Editor: Carole Head
Any Other Business
The following themes were suggested for the Annual Exhibition: Dark/Light, Contrasts, Olympics, Urban, Utopia, Joy. These were put to a vote and “Contrasts” was voted and agreed by all.
It was agreed that the Pastel Prize at the Annual Exhibition should include all dry mediums such as coloured pencils.
Patti Dutton asked for paintings for the Windle Valley Exhibitions in Bagshot on 24th/25th February, details of which were sent to members recently.
The Plein Air painting session will be at Tate Modern (outside) and Farnham Art Trail is being looked at for another of calendar event.
The Seward Memorial Trophy
The Seward Memorial Trophy, known as the People’s Prize, is given for the painting that won the most votes at the Annual Exhibition. The winner this year was Carole Head for her painting “London Calling”.
