Apologies Apologies were received from the following members:- Ann Atkinson, Christine Barrett, Jon Chadwick, Tony Clear, Ruth Dalziel, Sandi Elers, Fay Gordon, George Merriman, Bri Stewart, Philip Straker, Tefera Tarekegn, Yvonne Weir, Dominic Westcott.

Minutes of Previous AGM It was proposed by Lynette Hughes, seconded by Cecily Finucane that the minutes of the previous Annual General Meeting held on 26 March 2007 be confirmed - carried. There were no matters arising.

Annual Report 2007 This was available to members present to read. The chairman stressed a number of points high-lighting changes over the year in presenting the report to the meeting -

• Student numbers - 2007 saw a slight increase in numbers from 134 to 143, but this made up for only a small part of the major down turn in 2006.
• Web site - The society web site has been set up and is continually being developed to help raise ALPN profile in the community.
• Planning - The committee spent a full day in November in discussing possible long term objectives and medium term initiatives to work towards these. Encouraging more students and tutor training/qualification are the principal medium term initiatives needed.
• Encouraging Students - the Chairman noted that he and the Manager were working on a plan to involve community radio and a community newspaper together, combining the printed word and a corresponding radio broadcast to encourage students by a combined audio-visual approach. The meeting was asked whether it considered this initiative worth pursuing since it is a major departure from existing practice. General agreement supporting the idea was received.
• Training Tutors - the Manager reported that only that day had news been received from Literacy Aotearoa of definite dates for joint tutor training with the Feilding society in June this year. This was warmly welcomed by the meeting.

Proposed by Megan Harding, seconded by Lynette Hughes that the Annual Report be accepted - carried.

Financial Report 2007 This forms a separate part of the annual report. Noting that the auditor's comments indicated our financial state was correctly reflected by the balance sheets, the Chairman made a number of points in presenting this for approval -

• Income Sources - Over half of the year's income of some $58,000 was received in the form of a capitation fee for each student taught in the preceding year.The remainder was in the form of grants and a number of welcome small donations.
• No contracts - it was pointed out that in the next couple of years or so, it would not be possible to obtain contracts officially without fully qualified tutors. The absence of contracts this year may have been partly due to the perceived need for formal qualifications as a result of contract courses.
• Just Balanced - With thanks to the care of the Manager, our accounts balanced with a $53 surplus. Such a surplus is to be welcomed, but represents less than a tenth of 1% of the total income.

Proposed by Megan Harding, seconded by Lynette Hughes that the Annual Report be accepted - carried.

Thanks from Chair The chairman thanked -

• the previous committee for providing him with a good starting point,
• a supportive and enthusiastic committee with which to work,
• the society's Manager (Frances Hemara) - without whom everything would have fallen apart,
• our donors and, last but not least
• our tutors who are the real workers, keeping everything together.

Having delivered his thanks to these many helpers, the Chairman announced that he had been advised on medical grounds not to stand again for election as chairman this year - although he was willing to stand for election to the committee.

Election of Officers in inviting nominations from the floor for the 2008 committee, the Chairman announced that he was sad to have to report that Christine Barrett, so long a staunch member, had indicated that she felt the need to leave room for new blood. No words could satisfactorily express the gratitude of ALPN to her for many years hard work.

The table below gives the details of nominees for election to the committee of 2008.

Nominee	Nominator	Seconder
Gwenna Finikin	Lynette Hughes	Megan Harding
Dominic Westcott	Keith Hopper	Frances Hemara
Lynette Hughes	Cecily Finucane	Megan Harding
Yvonne Weir	Keith Hopper	Frances Hemara
Keith Hopper	Frances Hemara	Megan Harding
Ngaire Hemara	Lynette Hughes	Keith Hopper

It was noted that Dominic Westcott and Yvonne Weir had indicated in tendering their apologies for the meeting that they were willing to be nominated for committee membership.

Since the nominations above are less than the eight names required, all nominees were declared elected. The meeting agreed to authorise the committee to co-opt at least two additional people from other ALPN members outside the AGM. The committee is to elect its own chairman at its first meeting on 16th April.

Appointment of Auditor After some discussion about auditing fees and the amount of work involved, it was proposed by Elizabeth Hopper, seconded by Missy Hemara that Darryl Pinny be appointed auditor for the financial year 2008.

Any Other Business No further items of business were proposed from the floor.