A Gentleman's Walk

I attended yesterday’s Poetry Society’s EGM with a fairly open mind. I knew that a Vote of No Confidence was on the cards and that certain corners of the Society were calling for blood.

But I wanted to make up my own mind.

It didn’t take me long as the Board exposed a series of shortcomings that had led to a number of resignations and left me in no doubt that they couldn’t organise a stanza in a poetry class.

I don’t think any of them were surprised by the welcome they received as a group of campaigners within the Society, called the Requisitioners, had already made their feelings known.

So when the vote came, the result – 306 against 69 – certainly reflected the mood of the room. But the Board, on this occasion, were one step ahead. They had already announced their intention to resign en masse at the AGM in September.

This is where I start to feel uncomfortable.

Kate Clanchy, one of the more vocal Requisitioners, suggested that this little ‘surprise’ from the Board was a ploy to wrong-foot the meeting.

In a seven-page document handed out before the meeting the Requisitioners laid out their case for replacing the Board with six new Trustees – each named and willing to step in. This was all new to me, a humble card carrying member who dabbles in a bit of poetry just for the sheer joy of it.

What I was witnessing was better than any Shakespearian play. It was a mix of tragedy and farce but with an underlying tension that somewhere in the room sat an observer from Arts Council England quietly ripping up cheques.

When the final Act came the members proposed four co opt nominees to become Trustees and asked the Board, who they had just declared a vote of no confidence in, to select the three they thought best. You couldn’t make it up.

The future

The next twelve months are going to be critical for The Poetry Society. Lessons have to be learned and, give them their due, the Board recognised that they were, as one member suggested, “out of their depth”.

All this showed that the Board lacked the knowledge and skills required to run a charity of this scale. Something that needs to be seriously considered when selecting the next one.

The key points for the months and years ahead a simple: preservation of The Poetry Society; confidence of the members; assurances to the funders; and a clear strategy on how the Poetry Society’s focus will once again be on promoting poetry.

A poem

I couldn’t miss the opportunity to post a quick poem.

EGM 

I passed a motion at
The Poetry Society EGM
It was Andrew
He said hello