Minutes of 2025 AGM

Colchester County High School for Girls - Old Girls'/Alumnae Association

Minutes of Annual General Meeting,

CCHS Dining Room, Norman Way, Colchester,

6th September, 2025, 11am

1. APOLOGIES - Joan Gurney
2. MINUTES OF THE LAST AGM AND MATTERS ARISING
Minutes of the last AGM have been provided to members in the newsletters sent out earlier this year.
There were no comments or matters arising and the 2024 minutes were agreed by a show of hands of all present and signed as correct by Liz.
3. CHAIR’S REPORT – Liz White
All relevant matters have been covered in Jo’s report (see below).
4. SECRETARY’S REPORT – Jo Edwards
Well, we are still here, which, in my case, I find quite remarkable! One might, of course, be forgiven for thinking that the OGA is now reduced to a tiny organisation with a membership consisting wholly of ‘women of a certain age’ but do not be deceived. This is not the case. These days, few leaving girls stay in Colchester. They go off to University and then pursue their chosen careers which take them far from the city. However, hundreds retain their OGA membership, despite social media helping them to keep in touch with their friends and with the school.

This year, we have stuck to our tried and tested programme of local events - coffee mornings at the Officers’ Club and at Grey Friars, Chinese lunch at the Bamboo House (the quantity of food was extraordinary, it just kept coming and it was wonderful), breakfast at the Lexden Crown and Liz’s legendary garden party, which I was so sorry to miss.

We also tried a couple of new opportunities to meet. The first was a casual invitation to meet at Grey Friars for coffee on the terrace. That, by coincidence, was on my birthday and it was a delightful way to celebrate. We all decided to stay for lunch, too, as the weather was so lovely. The second was Jean’s invitation to her home for coffee - and Greggs’s sausage rolls (plus other delights). It was another lovely day and we sat in her garden, much to the annoyance of the local wren! Coffee was served and two colossal boxes filled to the brim with warm sausage rolls appeared, as did plates of absolutely delicious cakes. Mary does make exceedingly good cakes,
we have discovered.
Our thanks go particularly to Liz, Jean, Di and Mary for all their efforts on our behalf. It was so kind of Liz (and her husband, Alan) and Jean to host such delightful events.
Liz attended the Leaver’s Assembly as usual to present the OGA’s School Leaving Award for 2025 to Maisy Brookes. More of Maisy, a worthy recipient, in a moment. Liz has also produced a couple of very interesting Newsletters this year. Incidentally, we lost our Newsletter printer, Kathy, last year. She has retired and moved to Norfolk. We wish her well.

I say it every year - yes, I admit to sounding like a broken record - but Liz does need contributions and it would be particularly good if we had some from younger Old Girls. Memories of your schooldays, details of your life since leaving, your path to your current job - we know that many of you are doing the most extraordinary things and we would love to know more!
Speaking of memories, some of us have recorded our memories of our time at the school and we would encourage you to contact Kate Stubbs at the school about doing this yourself. Kate is amazing. Apart from all her other responsibilities, she is really throwing herself into her role as the school’s archivist. At our last AGM she produced so many interesting documents for us to look at. I know that the School Inspection Report (now Ofsted) dating from the very early 1960s was a revelation to some of us. Suffice to say, it did not glow!

We know that many records were lost during an overzealous clearance some while ago and so we are amazed by what Kate has found. But she is not just finding stuff. She is doing something with it! I am not going to steal her thunder as I am sure she will update us in her report. Thank you, Kate, for all that you are doing for us - yes, she even sorted our printing issue! You really are something else!
Our committee meetings have been challenging to arrange! It should be easy to get such a small group of people together, especially as several of us have retired, but it is a nightmare. What is the saying about asking a busy person?! We are all incredibly busy but we do, eventually get together and we do get things done! We should thank Liz, our Chair, Newsletter Editor and Caterer in Chief who works so hard for the Association, Jean, our Treasurer and Events Organiser, Tina, who looks after our Membership, Website and Social Media, Mary, who looks after the School Leaving Award and makes those exceedingly good cakes and, of course, Kate, for whom nothing is ever too much trouble!
Finally, we are, again, in awe of the success of those who took their GCSEs and A levels etc this year. We are proud of them! The opportunities the school now provides are extraordinary. I look back on my time here in Norman Way and find it difficult to believe that it is the same school. However, sitting in the School Hall earlier this year, watching my 5-year-old granddaughter dancing on the stage in her ballet school annual show, I realised that the only things that had changed were a few more names on the Honours board - and different spotlights. I can remember sitting, rather uncomfortably, above the ceiling, operating the lights for a school play! Great fun! I hope today’s girls will have such happy memories. I am sure they will.
5. TREASURER’S REPORT, 2024–2025 Accounts – Jean Johnson
I find that because the accounts are presented in the middle of the year, but our events run from February to possibly November, it is very difficult to see at a glance how our expenditure equates to the income for each event. For instance the only events that show this true equation are the Coffee Morning at the Officers’ Club and Chinese Lunch and this is because of their timing in the year. On the other hand an event like the AGM shows money in for the 2024 AGM as well as this event today. If we have a good attendance at events when Liz is doing the catering we can usually show a profit (for which we are very grateful to Liz) and as agreed
previously we can then slightly subsidise the cost of the nostalgic Greyfriars Coffee Morning.
The good news is that on 1st July 2024 the Association had a total of £2196.92 in our two bank accounts and on 30th June 2025 the sum was £2197.23.
I’m not quite sure if this final paragraph ought to be minuted.

I find on looking at the account books that it is my 30th anniversary as Treasurer. I have a feeling this might not be legal so if anyone would like to take on this post please let me know!
There were no questions raised by members at the meeting.
6. OGA MEMBERSHIP AND WEBSITE – Tina Powell
There are 1,612 names on the membership database (although, technically, all new leavers automatically become members of the OGA). 408 records have no email details. We try to keep the database up to date when we are made aware of any changes, or when paper copies of the newsletters are returned.

Comments - Monica asked if we could include a form with the posted newsletters, asking recipients to confirm if they still wished to receive the newsletter and that if we did not receive confirmation, we should stop sending by post (given the costs involved). The committee advised that this had been done previously, without success: some of the committee were aware of members who had not responded but did still wish to receive the newsletter.
Actions -

It was agreed that, at the next AGM, members should be asked to advise if they are aware of anyone who could be removed from the postal list.
Liz was asked if she could remind the student leavers at next year's assembly to update the OGA with their contact details when appropriate, e.g. when leaving university.

7. SCHOOL LEAVING AWARD 2024/25 – Mary Softley (Rickard)
As of 19th May 2025, the award fund stands at £1950.52. Every year, the school is asked to nominate a student who has made extra effort outside of heir studies, or has who supported fellow students, overcome personal difficulties, or displayed some similar qualities of merit – this is not an academic achievement award. T he Association currently awards £100 to the chosen student, presented by Liz White at their end-of-year Leavers’ Assembly. This year, the school chose Maisy Brookes and the OGA received the following
letter of thanks from her:

Dear Old Girl’s Association,
I am writing to thank you very much for presenting me with the OGA Leaver’s Award. I am so pleased to have the time and effort that I have put into my extracurricular activities acknowledged, and to know that I have made a positive impact. It was wonderful to meet Mrs White when she came to represent the OGA at our Year 13 Leavers’ Assembly. I hope that past students will continue to have strong links with the school as this can be such a valuable support the current and future students.
I really appreciated the wide range of musical opportunities at CCHSG and loved leading the orchestra when I was in the Sixth Form. I also enjoyed representing the school at external events, as guitarist in the rock band. This was so much fun and always a great break from academic subjects. While I am taking a gap year after exams, I am hoping to find some more opportunities for volunteering, in addition to the volunteer role that I have at the Essex Wildlife Trust. I am especially interested in animal conservation as that is what I hope to pursue as a career. I am also planning to improve my first aid skills as part of my current part-time job.
Thank you once again for the award.
Best wishes,
Maisy

The OGA members wish Maisy well in her future life and studies.
8. REPORT FROM THE SCHOOL Presented by Kate Stubbs, Marketing & Communications Manager, CCHSG
I’d like to begin by saying how pleased we are to be able to welcome the Old Girl’s Association to the school again this year. On behalf of the staff and students I would also like to thank the OGA for continuing to present the annual Leaver’s Award and to thank Liz for speaking at the Leaver’s Assembly and making the presentation. You have already heard from Mary how much the award meant to this year’s recipient, Maisy Brookes.
This has been another busy and successful year here at CCHSG. The recent GCSE and A level results were very pleasing and over 90% of Year 13 students progressed on to higher education or advanced level apprenticeships. On average 60% of students progress on to Oxbridge or other highly selective Russell Group universities.
Admissions - The school continues to be heavily oversubscribed. There are 6 forms of entry, with 192 students in each Year Group from Year 7 to Year 11, totalling 960 in the lower school. Places in Year 7 continue to be applied for through the Local Education Authority and allocated to students based on performance in the 11+ selection test. Tests continue to be hosted here at CCHSG with this year’s test taking place on Saturday 20 September.

In 2024 630 candidates were tested over 3 sittings. CCHSG actually had 697 applicants for the 192 places last year, with some candidates having taken the test at other centres. All appeals are heard by the Independent Appeals Panel. There were 8 appeals heard in 2024, none of which
were successful.
As mentioned last year, the changes to the admissions policy now give priority in part to students living within 25 miles of the school. This applies to 154 of the 192 places. The remaining 38 places are then allocated in descending score order from the Rank Order of Merit List, highest scoring first, regardless of where the girls live.

The school remains committed to fair access and there are favourable access arrangements for students who quality for free school meals, pupil premium payments, or who have a parent
in the armed forces. The full policy is available on the website.

Building Work - With the school now at over 1,200 students, we had reached capacity in terms of classrooms and last year the Senior Team managed to secure capital funding for a significant building project. Currently underway is the addition of a second floor over the ground floor extension. This huge undertaking has been underway since Easter, with break during the examination season. When complete, in January, the build will provide 3 additional classrooms, additional toilets and office space.

Over the past year the site has also seen, among other things, the renovation of 3 sets of student toilets, the provision of a fitness suite with gym equipment, a new lighting and sound system in the hall, floodlighting for the netball and tennis courts and installation of solar panels on the school roof.
Past Students - Last year I talked about our plans to involve past students in the delivery of our careers programme, to support students with their progression post-18 and potentially as mentors for current students. We have made significant progress with this, with a number of lunchtime talks organised across the year, past students providing Oxbridge advice sessions and a full programme of speakers offered during Careers Week. Some 500 past students are now on our CCHSG Connect alumnae database and a quarterly CCHSG Connect newsletter has been established.
A display of progression posters, in which past students outline their pathways since CCHSG, are about to be installed in the main corridor. These are also featured on the website. Examples of the posters are available to view and members of the OGA are very welcome to participate.
CCHSG Archive - We are keen to celebrate and share the history of the school and a large scale piece of wall art using archive materials is currently under design. I would like to thank members of the OGA who have supplied photographs and other historic items for the archive. We are keen that the design reflects the student perspective and the ethos of the school. Drafts of the current wall art design are available to view at the meeting, and feedback is very welcome.
Comments

Monica complimented Kate on the archiving achieved to date. She asked what will happen to the three recordings recently made by herself and a few other Old Girls. Kate advised that these would be available in their entirety for research purposes (i.e. not redacted), although they would not be placed in the public realm on the website.
Jean has been in contact with Beryl Whent, and has been given some old photographs, including sports day from the roof of the North Hill school! These were made available to look at during the meeting and would be forwarded to Liz for inclusion in the newsletter. Jean suggested that the school archivists might like to contact Beryl to record some of her memories.

9. MOTIONS
None received.
10. ELECTION OF OFFICERS
There were no new nominations or expressions of interest. The existing Officers confirmed that they were all willing to stand in their current posts for another year if the members wished.

Chair: LIZ WHITE (BAILEY) (1960-66)
Secretary: JO EDWARDS (MABBITT) (1960-68)
Treasurer: JEAN JOHNSON (CUTHEW) (1951-56)
TINA POWELL (1968-75)
MARY SOFTLEY (RICKARD) (1969-76)

This was unanimously agreed by show of hands from all present.
The members present thanked the committee for all their hard work over the last year.
11. ANY OTHER AGM BUSINESS
Monica – noted that there were only about 15 members attending the AGM, and fewer each year. She suggested that in future years the OGA could combine the AGM with the annual garden party, to reduce the workload for all concerned. A discussion followed and the following points were raised:

It was easier to hold the AGM at the school
Liz has very kindly hosted a garden party every year, for many years, but may wish to retire, at some point!
To reduce the catering workload at future AHMs, attending members could assist by bringing refreshments.

Action: The committee to discuss options for future AGMs, at the next committee meeting, and report back, to the next AGM.

12. DATE AND VENUE FOR THE 2026 AGM

It was agreed that the committee would discuss suitable oprions, at their next meeting, and agree a final date with the school. Members will then be notified.

All present thanked Liz and Di, for all their hard work, preparing lunch, and the school, for hosting (via Kate). The meeting concluded at 12 o'clock.

Signed by (Chair) Dated:

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