Minutes for SAA Frome Valley Art Group Winterbourne
Annual Meeting – 26th September 2025
held at the Greenfield Centre, Winterbourne @4:15pm
The Chair, Sylvia Dyer, welcomed everyone and confirmed this was the 32nd registered Annual Meeting for the group.
Apologies: Des Colechin, Jackie Day, Jane Lohman, Glynda Harding, Gill Cater, Panna Patel, Gill Parker, Jackie Day, Sal Hall, Julie Ley, Marguerite Bourne, Mary Taylor.
2024 Annual Meeting Minutes: The minutes had been sent to all members on 23rd September 2025 and a hard copy provided upon request. These were agreed as correct by all members present at the meeting.
Matters Arising
Reports
1. The 2025 Exhibition – Eric Date
Eric thanked all those members who put their name down to help at the exhibition. It is not possible to hold the exhibition without the assistance of members. The following members deserve particular thanks:
Andrew Alsopp for looking after the stands and hooks.
Louise Burns-Jones, Vat Gunawardena, David & Karen Smith who hung spare paintings that were stacked on tables in previous years.
Sue Dean for looking after the all-important drinks on the preview night.
Finally, a thank you to sisters Gill & Val who turned out twice over the weekend to serve teas and refreshments.
Eric gave out 54 entry forms and had 52 back, entering 222 pictures of high quality. 27 paintings were sold, 8 during the 2 hours at the preview evening, 10 on Saturday and 9 on Sunday.
Another successful exhibition.
2. Treasurer – Susan Phelps
Treasurers Report 2024-25
You should all have received or seen a copy of this year’s accounts.
The bank balance is now £5808.79 which is substantially higher than last year, subscription income is up from last year, also income from demos because more workshops were in house hence no artist fee. We have also received £200 from NatWest as a result of Susan’s complaint about their procedural slowness!
Our bank in Yate has now closed, making it more difficult for Susan to pay in cash, so we would urge everyone to pay their subs online or by card. We will not accept coins for subscription payments. This term, 44 out of 71 members have paid online, Thank you.
Susan requested approval of the financial statement.
Proposal of approval of Financial Statement – Elaine Stinchcome Seconded – Jackie Stephenson
Appointment of auditor/examiner for 2024/2025 – Members gave authority to submit the accounts for auditing next year.
3. Programme Planning & Workshops – Louise Burns-Jones
Louise confirmed that in the last 12 months we have had 5 demonstrations and 3 workshops.
Our art programme got off to a challenging start. In September 2024 we had to cancel Barry Herniman because both carriageways of the M5 were flooded due to heavy rain. We did manage to rebook him and he did a really good demonstration, such an excellent watercolour artist. He painted a bridge and did lots of ‘flicking’. Unfortunately, we had a technical blip so couldn’t watch him on the big screen.
In November Mary Shaw did a demo of one of her floral meadows in acrylic. Mary is very commercially successful; Paul Jess saw one of her paintings on a cruise being sold for thousands of pounds. Mary was very generous sharing her tricks of the trade and was a great speaker. Jane Lohman arranged her visit, so thank you.
David DJ Johnson was our next artist in February. He is a true force of nature; he climbs the mountain, secures himself and his easel with ropes to stop being blown away in the wind and then paints plein air. Despite a broken leg, he travelled down to do a demo for us and did a lovely painting in oils of part of the Snowdon range. We had our top audience of 55 that afternoon.
Orianne Pierrepoint came to us in March having just featured in the Bill Bailey portrait programme. It’s not often that we have a TV star to demo for us. Orianne paints and draws beautiful life-like portraits; she did a fantastic portrait in charcoal for us. Following this, Ann Styles organised a portrait afternoon and it was a huge success as well as making us all realise how difficult live portraits are!
Steve Hall visited us in June after our sangria and tapas reception. For those of us who were struggling to stay awake after Sylvia’s alcoholic sangria (best I’ve ever had), Steve Hall painted at the speed of light. Now to do a tree! He hadn’t even decided what he wanted to paint beforehand. From a germ of an idea to three completed paintings, in frames, in under 2 hours – that has to be a record. Eric was very happy because Steve donated all three paintings to our fund raising
Our workshop programme was one full day workshop with DJ and two half days with Paul Weaver. Both were well attended and here Louise pays tribute to the friendly, lively group we are. DJ was really getting heckled by Jenny, Trudy, Byron and Andrew (in a nice way of course) but he seemed to enjoy it, so well done all.
In the coming months we are hoping to offer 4 professional workshops. Two during the first term, pastels and lino printing, Catherine Beale watercolour next term and perhaps DJ Johnson in the spring if he is available. This should give a nice range of art for everyone. As always, we aim to run these workshops at cost. The first 2 this year only cost members £25, and we were actually able to return £5 to each member for the DJ Johnson workshop. Louise is happy to organise workshops but they are labour intensive. Louise aims to make the organisation hassle free, streamlined and transparent. The committee is therefore in the process of purchasing a card reader that can be used to pay for workshops to avoid the use of cash or cheques. Louise continues to appreciate your support in applying for workshops in person at club rather than on WhatsApp as this is difficult to manage. Louise always aims to keep the process as fair as possible including both afternoon and evening members.
With your continued support we can do more in the future. Keep letting us know your ideas, it is your club after all.
4. Membership – Trudy Branton
We are pleased to confirm that we have welcomed a significant number of new and returning members this year and have been able to accept new members into both the afternoon and evening groups, following some existing members leaving. We currently have 71 members across both groups.
Demos are also well attended with both members and non-members attending. Our range of workshops are usually over-subscribed. With the success of our website, and advertising across social media, Frome Valley Voice and in the Local Handbook, enquiries are regular. The afternoon group is currently full, but we still have capacity in the evening group. Thank you to everyone who makes our new members welcome.
5. Secretary – Trudy Branton
Our 2024 Christmas bash saw a few less numbers than usual, however the buffet as always was supplied and enjoyed by all who attended. We are keen to understand if you would like this celebration to continue or if you would prefer a different format, so please add any suggestions to the box, and we will finalise in the next couple of weeks. Believe it or not, there are only 9 more Fridays before the last Friday of term which is usually our Christmas Celebration.
During the wonderful summer we had this year we had not only a fish & chip supper hosted by our evening members, but we also had a Sangria evening where Sylvia made both alcoholic and non-alcoholic sangria. Both were well attended and not only were they a fabulous opportunity to socialise, but also to practice our still life painting or sketching. Thanks go to Susan & Andrew for organising the fish & chip supper and to Sylvia & Louise for the Sangria evening.
We also had a life drawing event. A big thankyou to all our ‘models’ who sat for our artists, this event was a huge success. There was some fabulous work being done.
Trudy extended some personal thank you’s:
‘As you are aware I have gradually taken over the secretary role from Lesley following her decision to stand down. I have also taken over the membership side of the role. Lesley has continued to support me whilst I have got used to the many facets of the role, so thank you’.
‘I would also like to thank Louise, who has not only fully embraced the role of Programme Leader, but who has provided an ongoing variety of artists, demos, workshops and ideas. Both of us have settled into these roles, quickly realising how much work Lesley, who did all of this, had to do. Thank you both’.
With artists’ permissions, I have managed to record the last few demos and have learned how to edit the videos so that we can post on our website. If you haven’t viewed the videos yet, remember these are a fabulous resource
Finally, following the decoration of the hall we were asked not to hang paintings on all the walls. However following discussion with the office, we have managed to secure three spaces rather than the original one proposed by the office. To ensure fairness, we ask that if you want to hang a painting, we will limit it to a maximum of two weeks. Please add your name to the list available on the table and we will let you know when a space becomes available.
6. PR, Publicity & Website – Sylvia Dyer
The Website continues to prove its worth. Over the last 12 months alone the site has achieved over 7,000 views and visitors. Referrals to the site have come via Facebook, and 22 via Winterbourne Parish Council, leading to new members finding us, which is excellent.
Last year, the Artist of the Month feature was shelved due to reluctance of members to come forward but would remain open should anyone wish to appear. That offer still applies. If any of you wish to showcase some of your paintings, which needn’t be for sale, please send quality photos with details and a bio of your painting life to me via the website email address. (Winterbourneartgroup@gmail.com).
Thanks to the hard work and hours put in by Trudy and myself, we are now able to record demos for members to watch on our own Frome Valley Art Group channel on YouTube as an extra resource. In addition, a Facebook and Instagram page were set up to expand our social media presence and is gaining interest. This is one of the many ways we get word out locally as well as through the SAA and Cass Art about our exhibitions and demonstrations. Again, for those of you who use social media please share these posts with others.
During the summer a separate website gallery of photos for reference and inspiration for members’ exclusive use was set up. Any artwork created from these photos are free from copyright. To expand this resource, if anyone has any photos of any subject you or your family have taken you are willing to share within the group for members to use, please send them to me at the website email address.
At our May exhibition, links were forged between several committee members of Thornbury Art Group with the intention of helping to promote each other’s events. Promoting our Exhibition is a time-consuming but necessary task. Whilst it is advertised on many social media platforms locally, in the SAA Paint magazine, and details included in an article written for Frome Valley Voice, we need to increase our coverage to get word out. Advertising in the press is expensive and usually outweighs any gain, and there is no guarantee if and when an advert appears, often being published after the event.
In this respect any help by members is appreciated and needed, be it putting up a poster in a local shop, library, school or club, and by word of mouth. If you have a painting being exhibited it is in yours and every member’s interest to promote the event, likewise with our demonstrations which are open to the public.
7. Chairs Report – Sylvia Dyer
Our 2024-2025 painting year proved another challenging, exciting and successful one despite the start of 2025 being marred with shock and sadness, but I believe we did Jeanette proud in our tributes to her, so thank you everyone involved. She will be fondly missed.
The workshops and demos were excellent, well supported as always and enjoyable. The task of booking professional artists, often having to be done a few years in advance, can be exceedingly frustrating and stressful and takes a great deal of time and effort. I would thus like to sincerely thank Louise for all her hard work and patience in co-ordinating such a varied and inspiring programme. Your efforts are greatly appreciated.
I would also like to thank Anne Styles for organising the portrait session, arranging volunteer sitters, including myself. It was hard work sitting still for two hours whilst members painted and drew us, but it certainly made for an interesting and entertaining afternoon. Well done all who took part.
The Christmas festivities was again an enjoyable event thanks to the efforts of all who attended, organised and supplied the delicious food. The fish & chip supper and sketching evening at the end of our painting year was also fun. Thank you Andrew and Sue Dean for organising and to those who provided the still life arrangements. Our Sangria & Nibbles get-together before the final demo of the year was fun and different, providing an opportunity for afternoon and evening members to get to know each other a little more socially.
Our Annual Exhibition back in May proved yet again successful. As well as the number of paintings sold and money raised for our chosen charity, it brought in visitors from other art groups and raised interest from possible new members, several of whom have since joined us. A huge thank you Eric, Val, Dave and Karen for your tireless efforts in running this event and behind the scenes work making this another successful Exhibition for Frome Valley Art. Thanks also go to all the stewards and volunteers, those who provided such lovely cakes and savouries throughout the event and the endless cups of tea and coffee. Next year will be our 30th Exhibition with plans afoot and in hand to mark the milestone.
Several of our members also took part at other exhibitions and shows, including the Severn Vale Art Trail and Yate Open, which saw Paul Jess achieve his first ever painting sale. Well done, Paul, I knew you could do it.
A great deal of work goes on behind the scenes to keep the group running smoothly, not only from the committee but from everyone who helps, including Andrew, who puts out the tables and chairs – thank you Andrew, we do appreciate it, and all those who help to put everything away of a Friday evening, and not forgetting the teams who make the teas and coffees and help with washing-up afterwards. Without support and help, no matter how minor from members, this group could not run as successfully as it does in providing a welcoming and friendly atmosphere in which to create our art, and art is what we are all about so my thanks go to each and every one of you.
It goes without saying many heartfelt thanks go to all the committee members for their valiant efforts and support in keeping the club running. To Susan for accounting matters. To Sue for catering management. Eric and Vat for the exhibition. To Louise for programming. And it goes without saying to Trudy for the invaluable and important role she plays in with the group. Trudy had large shoes to fill when she took on the role of Secretary and Membership Secretary on top of all other thing she does for the group.
Presentation to Lesley Sharman – Sylvia Dyer
‘As you are aware, Lesley is standing down and it is my privilege to say thank you to her on behalf of everyone for all the years of commitment she has given the group in her various roles on the committee. An excellent and an invaluable art tutor, running in-house workshops, guiding, helping and encouraging new and beginner artists, as well as afternoon steward and organising activities including setting up the WhatsApp group during the pandemic to keep members inspired and connected.
So in appreciation of your hard work, dedication and unwavering support and friendship you have given everyone, we hope you will accept this special thank you.’
Presentation of a £50 voucher for afternoon tea, flowers and lifetime membership was made to Lesley.
Adoption and Election of Officers – Proposed: Sue Punton Seconded: Lesley Sharman
New Co-opted committee members, Mary Taylor & David Smith
Committee Roles
| Role | Elected |
| Chair | Sylvia Dyer |
| Treasurer | Susan Phelps |
| Membership Secretary | Trudy Branton |
| Programme Secretary | Louise Burns-Jones |
| Club Secretary | Trudy Branton |
| Exhibition Organiser | Eric Date/Vat Gunarwardena |
| Web Site & PR | Sylvia Dyer |
| Catering | Sue Dean |
AOB No further points were raised by committee or members
FROME Valley Art Group Accounts 2024-25 (final)
Income( 2024 in brackets)
Subscriptions. £4670. (4310)
Demos. £1016. (677)
Cash sales. £540. (511)
Cash donations. £140. (290)
Exhibition. £1962.30. (1842.11)
Christmas raffle. – (138)
Bank complaint £200. (-)
Total. 8528.30 (7768.44)
Expenses
Rent. £3105 (3079.44 inc photocopying)
Photocopying. £17-44
Demos. £1580-48 (1460)
Website. £137.34. (954.64)
SAA Insurance. £122. (122)
SumUp charges. £24-23. (22.61)
Refreshments. £142-78. (129-34)
Subs refund £75. (100)
AGM gifts. £73
Total £7315 .78. (7768.44)
Surplus this year =£1215.52
Bank account balance on 14/8/25. £5805.79
Certified by Bridget Astley 26th August 2025
FROME VALLEY ART GROUP 