Phil Creek spoke encouragingly to us as OVAS President.. He has supported OVAS for several years. He is now able to paint every day, as no longer working on other matters. He feels he is obsessed by painting. He thanked the committee for all their work who give the rest of the group the opportunity to create art and the chance to share their work with others.

Committee Membership

Outgoing chairperson Penny Lamb welcomed all present to the meeting. She explained that she was standing down from her position of chairperson, but would continue doing the demo and workshop diary.
For lack of a volunteer to take on the role full-time, the job will be shared between committee members on a rotating basis.

Mike Bird is also finishing as treasurer. She thanked him for all his work and presented him with a gift. He will be replaced by Simon Grey.

Cynthea Gregory has taken over from Jackie Ward as secretary and has also agreed to deal with the group’s selection of books.

Chris Poole will no longer be dealing with the OVAS web-site. He was thanked for his work. OVAS are looking for a replacement. Fiona Gale explained that Sue Hodges from Lyme Regis has been contacted to help redesign the site. The view has been expressed that it is currently out of date - although support for it in something like its current format has also been expressed.  At the moment Chris is continuing to update this site pro tem and is waiting to evaluate any suggested redesign.

Stan Browning has had to leave the committee for health reasons. We are very grateful for all his and Jackie's hard work. We have a vacancy in our publicity officer post as a result.

Fiona Gale will continue as membership secretary.

The Tuesday group at the Cricket Club is still thriving, with 17 members. Chris Poole will continue to look after the running of this.

Last year’s exhibition was very successful and Penny thanked Mathew Davidson for judging the entries. Robin McIntyre won with his portrait of Terry Tomas.

Membership numbers are rising in OVAS.

Accounts – were presented by Mike Bird.

OVAS has continued to just about break even financially during a difficult period during ther pandemic.

The group purchased a Sumup device to accept payments on line. 

The accounts have been audited by Hugh McGregor and is asked to continue in this role.

​

Membership 

Fiona Gale reported that OVAS had lost members by the end of 2021—down to 62. It is hoped that this will improve if, as hoped, we continue to emerge from the pandemic years.

Programme 

Penny Lamb explained the programme of demos and workshops which had taken place in 2021. The first part of the year had been on Zoom. However, she stated she had been disappointed at the uptake of the workshops. 12-14 members are required to breakeven for the demos; and she had had to ask members of other associations to make up the numbers.

​

Hidden Gem by Fiona Gale