There was a good attendance at this meeting. Lucy McCall of DCA Consultants gave a brief presentation explaining that the proposals had two purposes: bringing our constitutional arrangements up to modern standards for charities and realigning the organisation to enable it to perform more effectively in both its Buildings and Civic roles. She also summarised the constitutional changes which had been notified to members beforehand and can be seen here. She then answered members’ questions before a vote was taken on the motion:

“This meeting authorises the Trustees of the Friends of Abingdon to take the necessary steps to prepare the governing documents for two new Charitable Incorporated Organisations (CIOs) in the terms notified to members and discussed at this meeting and apply to the Charity Commission for their registration.”

The motion was passed with a large majority.

Work will now continue on this, and other aspects of our preparation for our application for Heritage Lottery Funding for enhancements to the Abbey Buildings. We will update members via this website, emails, newsletters and at our Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 13 June.