MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Held on 20th November, 2025 at Holy Trinity Parish Centre
Meeting opened at: 14.00
Committee present: Kay Lamb (President), Robert Jones (Chairman), Freddie Daniel (Treasurer), Simoné Bonner (Secretary), Wendy Mercer (Exhibition Organiser), Lyn Rackley (Outdoor Painting), Sue Sepehri (monthly meeting and workshops), Gill Griffith (monthly meetings and workshops), Pam Cullinane (Tuesday painting), Satu Vartiainen (Artistic advisor).
Approximately 20 other members were present.
1. Apologies:
Apologies were received from four members.
2. Reading of 2024 minutes:
Sent via email to all members prior to AGM. Read and approved.
3. Chairman’s opening remarks:
Good afternoon, everyone. I hope you have enjoyed the events which Cookham Arts Club has brought to us all this year.
I remember commenting last year that it certainly takes a lot of time and dedication from our 10 committee members to organise all the events and keep things running smoothly. Again, I would like to thank them all for their loyal support – in addition I thought it would be a good time to thank the many other members who give of their time so willingly to help at club events. I will risk naming some of the people who are always there to help – risk? Well, I hope I don’t offend anyone by missing them out!
On a Tuesday at Cookham Dean Village Hall, John and Barry and Roy and Rachel and Peter have been stalwarts in preparing the room and refreshments for our members.
At a Monthly Meeting, John and Peter are always there to help with the equipment, and Sue and Rachel for the refreshments – there always seems to be a good supply of tea, coffee and biscuits which magically appear at the right time!
When it comes to exhibition setting-up there really are too many excellent helpers to mention, but I would like to acknowledge the administrative help which Amanda has given to Wendy for some time now.
Wendy (a committee member) was very much involved in initiating the set-up of our website, but for some time now Karen has been the main person for the website maintenance and improvement.
Thank you so much… we need people to step-up and assist, as there will come a time when us oldies (dare I say that) on the committee will want to hand on the baton.
The club membership remains strong, with over 150 members. Pleasingly, lots of new members have joined recently, so thank you all for your support and loyalty.
I will now hand over to our Secretary, Simone, who will offer a few thoughts and introduce our reports on the year’s events.
4. Secretary’s Report
Secretary’s opening remarks, followed by reports on monthly meetings/workshops, Tuesday Painting, outdoor painting, exhibitions/website & social media and club holiday
Another year of fun, food & painting…Christmas and summer parties, yummy cakes on alternate Tuesday (with biscuits in between)..no wonder I can’t lose weight! Not that food improves one’s painting – maybe helps – a little! A fun packed year with regular Tuesday painting, monthly meetings with demos and critiques, workshops, outdoor painting, exhibitions, newsletters, websites & social media and of course the club holiday. We are so lucky to have such an active and encouraging club. Shortly we will have reports on our activities and would like to take this opportunity to thank our Chairman, Robert for steering us in the right direction. We, as a committee, meet once a month to discuss our activities and to plan ahead hoping to keep the interest high and maintain a good standard for the club. If there is anything our members wish to do that we don’t already do, please contact us with your ideas for discussion. Over to Sue to report on our Monthly Meetings and Workshops.
4.1 Monthly Meetings; Workshops. (By Sue Sepehri)
There has been a full calendar of events this year with 2 critiques, 7 demos, 4 workshops and of course the talk which follows our AGM today.
These are a few of the highlights:
In March, MARK WARNER, an artist we know well came to demonstrate painting a woodland path scene in acrylics. He is a master of mixing colours and showed us how he achieved his vibrant range of colours and tones. It was another super demonstration from Mark and we always look forward to welcoming him back to our Club.
In April, NICKY HUNTER demonstrated a water colour painting of flowers. Her approach was very loose, using lovely ‘clean’ colours. A few members suggested that they would enjoy a workshop with Nicky and we are pleased to report that this has been arranged for October next year.
JENNY WHALLEY was our May artist. She gave us a watercolour painting which was evocative of the hot and dusty African plains. It was inspirational to see how she loosely applied her marks and achieved a wonderful painting of zebra, giraffes and other wild animals
We always like to try artists who are new to our Club and in September IAN MCMANUS, came to demonstrate a marine landscape in watercolour. His expertise made the painting of a harbour scene look effortless and it was another interesting afternoon
This is a brief resume of our workshops;
In February, we enjoyed our Club workshop day which involved pouring acrylics which was a technique new to some of us. It was a fun day and many thanks go to Wendy for leading the workshop .
In April we welcomed JO HARRIS a Henley based artist. Jo was abstracting florals, using a wide range of mixed media. This was a workshop where everyone worked right up until the last minute. Jo was so enthusiastic and energetic that she spurred everyone on. A very successful day
In October PAUL ALCOCK ran our workshop, based on an ‘urban scene with figures’ using oils or acrylics. He gave lots of advice and throughout the day he was busy chatting with members and helping them with their paintings. Altogether another very enjoyable day’s painting.
Brian Smith ran our last Workshop of the year just a few days ago. This was helping us achieve light and atmosphere in our paintings. Brian is a very established Watercolourist and a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours based in the Mall Galleries. He is a very sought after artist and we were delighted he was able to fit us in and share his knowledge and experience.
Our Workshops are popular and we have very few which are not fully subscribed. So please get your request in early. The workshops are detailed in our Newsletters and on our web site including how to apply for a place.
For the future we are always looking for artists who are new to us to demonstrate or run
a workshop so if you have any thoughts as to who you may like to see in the future whether it be old faces or artists who may be new to us please get in touch. Our events diary for 2026 is already in place but later next year we will start to think about artists for 2027 so do get in touch.
Finally we hope you have enjoyed our calendar of events for 2025 and a big thank you to all our members who have taken part and supported our workshops and demonstrations during the year.
4.2 Tuesday Painting. (By Pam Cullinane)
We are pleased to welcome new members to Tuesday afternoon painting sessions from 1.40pm to 5.00pm in Cookham Dean Village Hall. Artists may work on projects in progress or take inspiration from suggested topics provided.
We break at about 4.15pm for tea and a snack. Work produced in the sessions is displayed and any club news is brought to our attention. To finish we have a brief summary of the work displayed.
4.3 Outdoor Painting. (By Lyn Rackley)
This year it has been a real pleasure to be involved in organising & attending the 6 outdoor painting events for the club, as the level of interest from members has risen, with increased numbers of painters coming along, ranging from 5 up to 12 at one location. It has been especially nice to welcome a few members who had not painted on location before, and it was noticeable how long we all stayed at the end of the afternoons, enjoying refreshments and chatting at various pleasant pub gardens and well stocked tearooms. This year’s weather was exceptional, with only one day being slightly cold and windy- August midsummer of course, and not a drop of rain.
Before I mention where we went, I must thank several members, among them, Ann King, Tess and Rachel, for suggesting locations to consider. I am especially grateful to Rachel for helping to research places & for visiting some with me at the beginning of the year to finalise arrangements.
We may not produce masterpieces on every occasion but I am convinced it really helps develop observation & painting skills. We covered a range of challenging subjects starting with beautiful Hambleden village in April – always a favourite of painters & walkers . In May we painted in the grounds of Stubbings House, on a rare open day, which was extremely hot and saw us relocating to the shade of the trees as the sun moved round. 12 Painters took part – our largest group for some time. June found us at the picturesque Queens Head pub in Little Marlow, tucked away down an attractive lane , where we were visited by a beautiful Red tailed hawk, out taking his owner for a walk-( as you do !.)
In August we painted at White Waltham airfield, a little chillier & a bit windy. Planes were landing & taking of all day including 3 vintage planes- A Hurricane, Messerschmidt & a biplane. For September, we arranged to paint in the private grounds of the oldest boatyard on the Thames in Hurley, where we had the grounds to ourselves apart from a few boat owners. The village has a particularly nice tearoom close by. Lastly in October, we were at the fascinating “History on Wheels” transport museum in Eton Wick, last visited by the club in 2006. It was a good indoor location for October and is full of many classic cars and military vehicles and memorabilia, and its own nostalgic tearoom. So- we found boats and planes, just trains missing- perhaps something for next year? Without the help of Rachel and other more agile members I would probably have difficulty sorting out some locations but in the absence of anyone wanting to take it over, I want to continue outdoor painting for as long as possible. Many thanks to all those who help organise this activity, or who have joined in this year. Please keep the ideas coming and we hope you enjoyed the challenges.
4.4 Exhibitions; Club holiday; Website (by Wendy Mercer)
Exhibitions
Another busy year for CAC, with our exhibitions
Spring , 39 members, sales up on previous Spring sales, good footfall.
August, 65 Members, 3, less than 2024. 13 non-members, 5 more than 2024
First time exhibiting members 8
Footfall approx. 1016 visitors down on last year (1726)
Lowest priced framed painting sold was £50 with the highest selling at £450. (A request from Wendy during the meeting was to keep your prices above £50).
This year we had an amazing selection of larger sized and colourful paintings submitted. 305 in total. We managed to hang 267, a couple of the screens were a little crowded, but the overall exhibition was admired and commented on by our visitors.
As we had 38 paintings waiting for a relevant space, we trialled using the entrance area of Pinder Hall to display a few of the paintings that would otherwise have been on the stage in reserve. We had varying feedback. We would like to ask members if they would like us to utilise this area for future summer exhibitions.
Sales were good, as Freddie has explained the exhibition didn’t cover all the costs but as a club we do have a healthy bank balance that can support these events.
As more artists are entering cards, we have reduced the number you can submit from 30 to 20. Buyers will be able to choose easier.
Under stage storage has been cleared and cleaned, A Big thank you to Robert and Freddie. At least the 2 days they chose, the weather was a little cooler.
A massive thank you to all those that gave up their time to support this event overall approx. Stewarding 156 hours man hours, setting up and take down over 200 man hours, without all your help the exhibition would not happen.
September, Cookham Dean Village Fete, we had a lovely display that was well visited, and a couple of sales. Demonstrations in the craft tent by Lyn Rackley and Aiko Hester
From October until January 2026 19 Tuesday painters have a small exhibition at Elizabeth House. Do pop in, the opening hours are on our website.
May 2026
Cookham Arts Club will be supporting the Cookham Festival with an exhibition in the Holy Trinity Church Cookham from 1st May-17th May 2026. 20% of any sale will support the festival.
The theme this year will be scenes of Cookham in all Seasons. Club members will be able to submit paintings, details will follow. Please get painting.
https://www.cookhamfestival.co.uk/
The festival is offering art workshops from January to May, culminating in the weekend 9th-10th with an En Plein Air competition, adult watercolour workshop and children’s fun workshops. Tickets for these will go on sale from Nov 2025, spaces are limited.
All information for any of the exhibitions is or will be on the website. https://cookhamartsclub.com/
Holiday 2025
10 of us stayed to Harrington House, Bourton on the Water, Cotswolds. Friday 6th June-Friday 13th June 2025. Once again HF holidays offered excellent accommodation, food and entertainment. Offering our group exclusive use of a room due to the severe weather warning on our 1st day.
For the rest of the holiday were really lucky with the weather and had some glorious days visiting and painting: Hidcote Gardens, Broadway tower and Stanway house grounds which has the tallest fountain in Europe.
On Wednesday we went to Upper and Lower Slaughter where we were joined for the day by Lyn, Gill, Tess and Jenny and a very good day was had.
Want to join in the fun next year? For rural calm in the Shropshire Hills National Landscape, the location of the characterful country house which we have chosen for 2026, the Longmynd Hotel in Church Stretton, is hard to top. See our holidays page for details.
Website & Social Media (written by Karen Comber)
The website has had no issues over the past year. General updates have been made monthly for sliders, newsletters and updates on pages such as Workshops, Monthly Demos and Sunday Painting.
For the date range 1st October 2024 – 1st October 2025, Google Analytics show the ten most popular page views to be: The Home Page (2,207), July Newsletter (857), Annual Exhibition Page (609), Spring Exhibition Page (350), Newsletters listings page (212), Membership (187), Contact us (154), Monthly Demos (145), Online registration (116), Workshops (109).
One other aspect of the website maintenance is the entry of the CAC events to the Events page. Currently managed by Karen we have been looking for a volunteer to help with this task. Huge thanks to Rachel for volunteering.
Social Media has made steady progress over the year. Whilst there is no extra volunteer support available to consider initiatives and grow our presence, a slow growth has occurred supported by regular updates on events, monthly demos, workshops, and Sunday painting. Alongside videos, a template has been established based on the Website graphic style and is available and editable (with training) on the CAC drive.
The total number of followers for Facebook is 60. For the date range 1st October 2024 – 1st October 2025, we have accrued 13 (included in the 60) new followers on Facebook. On Instagram the total number of followers is 46. There is no growth data available for Instagram. The most popular posts (for reactions, comments, shares) are generally the Summer Exhibition posts, followed by other exhibitions, and Sunday painting being slightly more popular ahead of demos and workshops.
5. Treasurer’s report (by Freddie Daniel)
The Balance Sheet shows our total funds decreased by £1,286.86 in the latest financial year, but the club remains in a sound financial position with £22,187.27 in our Current and Deposit accounts and Cash in hand.
Most of the reduction in our funds is due the early payment of two Q4 CDVH invoices totalling £550, and to the increases in storage and hiring costs of Pinder Hall at a further £550.
In August we made a loss of £494 on a very successful Summer Exhibition in another difficult year, having made a profit of £234 on the Spring Sale. Sales and commission earned were better than last year, but the cost of Pinder Hall storage increased by £280. However, as the year-end financial position shows, we are able to accept that result.
Subscription income fell by £50.
General Account & Cash in Hand – these show a year on year decrease of £1,086.77 and currently stand at £1,918.43.
Reserve Account – this has reduced by £200.09 to £20,268.84, after £1,000 was transferred to the current account earlier in the year.
Auditor –The accounts have once again been audited by Mrs Sue Le Page, to whom I am very grateful.
6.1 Election of Committee:
- Election of Chairman Proposed: Kay Lamb, Seconded by the majority of those attending.
- Election of Committee: All (except Pam Cullinane see item 6,4) are willing to stand again. Proposed by Tess Marsh, Seconded by John Eckhart.
- Two new members are proposed to join committee: Karen Comber and Amanda Purrington. Proposed: Wendy and Satu, seconded: many members present. Their duties will be to help with the website and social media.
- Pam Cullinane has retired from the Committee. She has been a long standing member of the club for more than 40 years and spent the last 20 years or so on the Committee. Pam was presented with a plant and Life Membership of the club. Satu Vartiainen and Simoné Bonner have taken over her responsibilities for selecting the topics for Tuesday Painting.
7. Any other business:
7.1 Jacqui Ward (sent prior to AGM)
‘With the increasing halls cost, I wondered if the Club could offer some zoom demos interspersed by live ones. It would give the opportunity to paint alongside the demo during the winter months.
What’s App group. Could/should the Club have a WhatsApp group in order that ideas are shared on art related topics. It would certainly inspire all painting activities. It isn’t difficult to set up and would help artists to keep in touch.’
In reply, the general consensus was that Zoom demos would be a good idea but we need someone who would be willing to take on the task and we will discuss this at a committee meeting in due course. The idea of a general WhatsApp group for the club did not gain much support, but it was suggested that smaller sub-groups like Outdoor Painting might benefit by setting up their own group.
7.2 Kay Lamb (CAC President) wished to express her thanks for the continued hard work and commitment of the Committee as a whole.
8. Chairman’s closing remarks and introduction of our guest speaker. (Rob) Thank you to the committee for your reports. We will now stop for some refreshments, after which Ann Danks, our guest speaker, will address us with a talk about a famous painter of whom you may have heard, Stanley Spencer – the talk will be ‘The Women in Stanley Spencer’s Life’.
Time Meeting closed at: 14. 55pm