On a glorious spring day on Colwyn Bay seafront, our 2017 Annual General Meeting served as a celebration of our organisational spirit as well as it being an exercise in our mandatory yearly procedure.

With music from Blues Face (pictured top-right), a 6-piece band formed through our work with Emerge Community Arts, photographic images from a course run by Mick Scraggs, and inspiring words from former learners turned tutors and collaborators Ann Woods and Scott Jenkinson, there was much to be celebrated.

Kathryn Robson and John Graystone provided overviews of the past year and of the organisation’s future direction, and the afternoon finished with debates on four motions. Support was perhaps understandably strong for the ones encouraging more active participation in our organisation by our members, and on reaffirming commitment to a social purpose for our work in
creating a participative democracy.

And the two motions relating to Coleg Harlech and the future of our site in the town provoked strong points coming from the floor as well as the lectern about what was desirable and what was practicable in terms of maintaining our presence there after 90 years. This was linked to our last item, which confirmed that we would house our Music Technology course in the Harlech theatre building for the coming year.

Motion / Vote Results
1. Active participation of our membership – F 92 Ag 1 Ab 1
2. Social purpose – participative democracy – F 84 Ag 8 Ab 0
3. Coleg Harlech Wern Fawr use – F 46 Ag 24 Ab 19
4. Against closure of Coleg Harlech Campus – F 17 Ag 58 Ab 15