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| Jim Gowans, Chairman | Mick Hamer, Vice Chairman | Corinne Atwood, Hon. Secretary | Chris Jackson, Hon. Treasurer |
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| Graham Towers | Michael Fisher | Ian Thornburn | Alan Legg, Membership Secretary |
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| Gabi Tubbs | Pauline Messum |
How we work
The charity is governed by a committee of ten trustees. The current committee was elected at the Annual General Meeting held in St Michael and All Angels on Thursday 21st June.
The committee meets every six weeks. If there is any issue that you think the committee should discuss, please get in touch to let us know.
For the dates of upcoming meetings, please check our Coming Soon page.
Groups of committee members also meet on an ad hoc basis to discuss more detailed matters. A number of MCHA members are taking part in the constitutional forum, which is discussing how to modernise our ancient constitution.
The last newsletter was published in July, the next issue will be published in November. The association also has a planning forum, which meets regularly to discuss significant planning proposals. The organiser of the planning forum is Graham Towers, who until recently was chairman of the council’s Conservation Advisory Group.
The 2012 Annual General Meeting
THE MCHA has expanded its area to include the medieval church of St Nicholas and its churchyard after members at the Annual General Meeting voted unanimously to adopt a new constitution.
The MCHA’s 41st Annual General Meeting was held on a blustery night at St Michael’s to the accompaniment of rattling stained glass windows. Members voted unanimously to approve the new constitution, by 30 votes to nil. There were no abstentions.
The new constitution is based on the Charity Commission’s model constitution for charities of our size and it replaces the old constitution, which dates from the days before there was even a conservation area.
The most important change is in the definition of the MCHA’s area. Under the old constitution our eastern boundary was Dyke Road. Now we include those parts of the conservation area that lie to the east of Dyke Road, notably the church-yard and part of Church Street as well as Wykeham Terrace.
There is also a significant change in the wording of our objectives. Under the old constitution we were only concerned with planning developments in our area–although in practice we frequently stretched a point. The new constitution makes it plain that the MCHA is concerned with any proposal that affects our area, and not just those that are physically within the area.
In the elections for the committee all those standing were elected unopposed. The only change on the committee is that Lori Pinkerton-Rolet has had to stand down because of the pressure of work. She is replaced by Michael Fisher, who lives in Wykeham Terrace–houses that are now formally part of our area. He is secretary of the Wykeham Terrace Residents’ Association and on the Regency Society’s committee.
The 2011 Annual General Meeting
THE executive committee faced an unprecedented challenge at the annual general meeting from a slate of candidates promoted by Roger Amerena, a previous chairman. The contest prompted a high turnout with about 120 people attending the meeting. None of the candidates on the Amerena slate was successful.
The AGM, which was held in St Michael’s, was attended by Dominic Travers, a solicitor and expert in charity constitutions with DMH Stallard, to deal with a number of legal issues that had been raised.
Mr Travers ruled that Patrick Lowe, who was standing as chairman and secretary for the Amerena slate, was not eligible to stand because he lived and worked outside the area. So Jim Gowans was elected as chairman unopposed and Corinne Attwood was also elected unopposed as secretary.
In a secret ballot Mick Hamer, the outgoing chairman, beat Francis Tonks for the position of vice chairman by 45 votes to 31, Chris Jackson beat Martin Foster for treasurer by 46 votes to 30 and Alan Legg kept the job of membership secretary, fending off a challenge from David King by 46 votes to 32.
The remaining five committee places were won by Pauline Messum, Lori Pinkerton-Rolet, Ian Thorburn, Graham Towers and Gabi Tubbs. The committee has subsequently co-opted three additional members: Carol Dyhouse, David King and Jane Osler.
Following the AGM the committee has supplied a list of the 33 members who requested a Special General Meeting to Mr Travers. The SGM, which was held in March, decided to set up a constitutional forum to overhaul the MCHA’s dated constitution, with the aim of producing recommendations for constitutional changes in about six months.