The 2012 Annual General Meeting of the Dalton Genealogical Society was held in Yorkshire, England in July. The minutes of the meeting, together with the annual accounts for 2011, are published here. These will also appear in the forthcoming issue of the DGS Journal, Volume 57 for December 2012, due to be published at the end of the year.

THE DALTON GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY

Minutes of the ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

held at the Mercure Hull Grange Park Hotel, Willerby, Hull, Yorkshire, UK
on Saturday 28th July 2012 at 10.00 am

1) Welcome and Opening remarks by the Chairman

Michael Neale Dalton welcomed members, amongst them those from the USA and Australia and those descended from Yorkshire Daltons, including the Hauxwell Dalton family descended from the Dalton Mayors of Hull. He referred to the Official Welcome by the Lord Mayor of Hull followed by the most interesting talk from local historian Helen Good on the “Dalton Mayors of Hull”, assisted by City Archivist, Martin Taylor, on the previous afternoon at the Hull History Centre. An informal buffet dinner had later been enjoyed at the hotel followed by the opportunity to watch the historic Olympic Opening Ceremony in London.

He looked forward to an exciting weekend of events including a second visit to Hull, and visits to Beverley, Garton-on-the-Wolds, and South Dalton. He thanked Howard Dalton, past DGS treasurer and committee member, for organising the weekend and looked forward to his talk on Garton-on-the-Wolds and his Dalton blacksmith forebears, and the talk by Charlie Cradock, of the East Yorkshire Family History Society.

2) Apologies for Absence

Apologies were received from Millicent Craig, Ciaran Dalton, Mel and Dairne Irwin, Karen and David Preston, Chris Pomery, Martin and Sarah Fitzgerald, Antony Cox, Pat and Geoffrey Robinson, Joy Goater, Gerald and Margaret Milner, Margaret Deyes, Bill Dalton (Gig Harbor), Mike Dalton (Oregon), Sir Richard Dalton, Jilly Warren, and others. The meeting sent best wishes to Dairne Irwin who had suffered a fall just three days before and wished her a speedy recovery.

3) Minutes of the 2011 Annual General Meeting and matters arising

These were unanimously accepted, and the Chairman signed them as a true record. There were no matters arising.

4) Chairman’s report

Michael Neale Dalton referred to the 60th DGS Committee meeting held the previous day. He congratulated John Dalton on his FFHS Elizabeth Simpson Award for the DGS Journal.

It had been decided that an "Above and Beyond" recognition award should be made annually and the first recipient was to be announced at the DGS Annual Dinner later that day.

The Dalton International DNA Project continued to be a trail blazing project and he commended Chris Pomery, DGS DNA Consultant, for his expertise and advice in this work. A new report was planned for publication later in 2012 highlighting the geographical origins of each participant as well as genetic family links.

The possibility of Lottery funding opportunities would be further investigated.

5) Treasurer’s report

With the absence of Mel Irwin the Chairman informed the meeting that no report was to hand and the Accounts for 2011 would be published on the DGS website and in the next issue of the Journal. He thanked Mel for his dedicated work on behalf of the Society. The balance carried forward was healthy and Gift Aid was increasing. After a detailed discussion by the committee it had been decided that the present membership subscription rates would remain unchanged for the coming year.

6) Secretary’s report

Pam Lynam reported a membership base of 228 members worldwide with 81 members in the UK including two new members; 90 in the USA; 5 Canadian members; Australia with 39; New Zealand 4; Eire 8; and Brazil 1.

She thanked David Preston and Dave Lynam for their dedicated work in updating the membership database and making it available online, and she urged members to advise her of any changes in address, email, and telephone contact.

The Chairman thanked Pam for her enthusiastic work for the Society.

7) Election of officers and committee

The present officers and committee had all offered themselves for re-election with no additional nominations received. The meeting was therefore asked to re-elect everyone en bloc and this was proposed by Alicia Riley, seconded by Audrey Dalton and unanimously approved by the meeting.

8) Reports by the Editors of the DGS Journal and of "Daltons in History"

John Dalton was proud of the recent Elizabeth Simpson Award from the FFHS for the excellence of the Journal and commended all those who had contributed to it as a great team effort, together with his local printer and the helpful advice of his brother Anthony. He urged present members to supply articles and paragraphs, and particularly requested that new members submit a summary of their known Dalton family history. The continuing success of the Journal could only be maintained with constant input and the furthering of family contacts.

The Chairman, on behalf of the indisposed Dairne Irwin, reported on the success of "Daltons in History" in 2011 and urged members to send in more contributions. Each edition was a sizeable document and the newly instituted correspondence section was proving popular. He congratulated Dairne on her wonderful work on behalf of the Society, putting together this monthly online newsletter and ensuring its timely publication.

The Chairman reported that the committee had agreed to set up an "editorial board" comprising himself, the editors and two others to assist the editors in encouraging contacts and managing contributions from a wider public.

9) Report on the Dalton International DNA Project

Michael Neale Dalton reported on another year of expansion for this important project as previously mentioned in the Chairman’s report, and was looking forward to a short update from Chris Pomery, who would be attending the DGS Annual Dinner later that day.

10) Report on the DGS websites

The Chairman commended David Preston and Martin Fitzgerald for their co-ordinated work in extending and constantly improving the DGS websites, and gave a report on behalf of David Preston highlighting DGS internet activity for January to June 2012. The Dalton Databank had proved very popular with approaching 150,000 visits in this 6 month period.

Social networking sites such as Facebook, YouTube, Linkedin and Google+ were increasingly popular, and the DGS should embrace these as a method of reaching out to a wider public.

The Dalton Forum and the Databank continued to be successful and had attracted new members.

With the expansion of the websites the committee has discussed whether to restrict certain sections of them only to those who are members of the Society. This needs further careful consideration and a sub-committee is to be set up to investigate further.

11) Australian/New Zealand Secretary’s report

Maureen Collins was happy to welcome three Australian DGS members to the AGM from two different States. Membership in Australia and New Zealand which had peaked in 2002 had declined slightly in recent years. However, membership loyalty had continued unabated and a healthy total of A$675 for subscriptions had been handed over to the Treasurer. She paid tribute to Gerry Dalton as an excellent Australian Librarian in recent years and was searching for a suitable replacement. The 2011 AGM in Hampshire and the Gathering in Salt Lake City, USA, had proved most enjoyable and she was personally pleased to now be visiting the East Riding of Yorkshire, an area connected to her own Dalton family.

The Chairman thanked Maureen for her enthusiastic contribution to the Society.

12) North American Secretary’s report

The Chairman, on behalf of Karen Dalton Preston, reported the great success of the 2011 DGS Gathering in Salt Lake City, Utah, in September. There had been 41 attendees for the conference sessions and 46 attendees for the Banquet. A diverse group from the USA, Canada, Australia, and the UK with the American attendees spread over 13 different States had resulted in two new DGS memberships.

Karen Preston’s report included reference to the Dalton International DNA Project and the appointment of Melanie Crain as the coordinator for Genetic Family A, and went on to emphasise the value of social media and the presence of the DGS on Facebook.

North American membership stands at 89, plus 6 members who joined last year but have still to renew their memberships. US$2,000 was transferred to the DGS in the UK, leaving a balance of US$2,523 in hand at the year end. It is necessary to maintain a balance in excess of US$2,500 in order to qualify for the waiving of bank charges. DGS North America retains its status as a non-profit, tax-exempt corporation.

Michael Neale Dalton praised Karen and her husband David for their fantastic work on behalf of DGS.

13) Irish Secretary’s report

The Chairman, on behalf of Ciaran Dalton, looked forward to the forthcoming visit to Dublin in 2013, five years after the last gathering in Ireland, and eight years since the last visit to Dublin. Planning was in progress with an attractive programme in view. DNA Genetic family groups are particularly well represented in Ireland and it was hoped this will encourage overseas members with Irish roots to attend. DGS membership in Ireland has remained static, but there is interest in family links and the Chairman thanked Ciaran for his work on behalf of the Society.

14) Forthcoming gatherings and AGMs

After the great success of the Salt Lake City gathering in 2011 and the exciting programme of events planned for the Hull gathering, Michael Neale Dalton confirmed that the 2013 gathering would be centred in Dublin, Eire, over the weekend of Friday 26th to Monday 29th July. The venue for the event will be the Ashling Hotel where the 2005 gathering was held.

For 2014 – there is a suggestion for a further USA visit, possibly to Virginia. For 2015 – the possibility of a visit to France is being investigated. And for 2016 – a suggestion has been made for a return to South Wales.

All of these are being actively pursued and it is hoped to make further announcements about locations and dates soon.

15) Any other business

There being no other business the Chairman thanked those attending for their kind attention.

16) Close

The meeting was formally closed at 11.15 am.