Cork Textiles Network AGM

Date : 1st  October  2022

Cork Textiles Network

AGM 01-10-2022

Hybrid Meeting: Zoom and in person at Bishopstown Library

Present in person: Dara Healy, Avril Lomasney, Lorraine Parker, Rosemary Burke, Fiodhna Ní Bhaoill, Mary Goggin, Gerda Merz, Eileen O Brien, Dianne Payne

Present on Zoom: Carmel Creaner, Una Ní Shé, Claire Lynch, Amanda Hogan, Kiely, Kathy Kirwan, Aisling Walsh, Leslie Stothers, Tadgh Quill Manley, Karin Kempf, Tracey Wardle, Margaret Thuillier, Maeve Hunter, Imelda Connolly, Veronica Santorum

Apologies: Mary Ffrench, Mary Palmer

Chairperson’s Report: On behalf of the Committee Fiodhna welcomed all on Zoom and in person at Bishopstown Library. Thanks were offered to all members of the committee who give of their time to fulfil the various duties in hand. Recent Thread Talks  and Workshops ably organised by Carmel Creaner included Fiona Hutchinson, Arlene Shawcross, Vanessa Marr and Mo Kelman. Dara Healy continues her great work with the CTN Newsletter and social media presence. All members are invited to let Dara know by mid-month of any upcoming events, new exhibition venues etc to be added to the Newsletter. The monthly overview calendar of events included in the Newsletter, suggested at our Member’s Survey,  is warmly welcomed giving a snap shot of Textile related events. New graduates were welcomed to the Network and we look forward to a talk from Myfanwy Frost-Jones who was presented with the CTN Award 2022. Dee Sweeney has lead the committee organising the upcoming Fanfare exhibition in the Cork School of Music- All details in our Newsletter. Participation in this year’s August Craft Month event – Crochet workshop lead by Dara- has made CTN eligible for a grant  of €500 to be drawn down shortly. Many thanks to Mary Palmer and to Dara Healy for making this possible. Participation in Autumn Fest, Douglas Street Festival by CTN with a Kumihimo workshop gave us another opportunity to meet with the wider public.

Treasurer’s Report: Avril Lomasney gave the Treasurer’s report which was prepared with our new access to on-line banking which gives automatic visibility of all transactions broken down month by month. Since our last AGM on 5-03-2022 Income is recorded as  €423.75 with  Expenditure as €1716.03. Income reflects some late membership fees and money from book sales. Expenditure covers speakers fees, Bank and Government Stamp Duty charges, Insurance, fee to the Craft Council of Ireland and the CTN Graduate Prize 2022. The Report was accepted by the meeting.

Welcome to new members: New members were particularly welcomed and reminded that we welcome participation in many ways-  through our talks and workshops, by giving ideas to Dara for our Newsletter, to Carmel for possible speakers that interest you, working as new committee member alongside the current committee – new committee members are always welcome and by attending AGMs. New ideas and new voices will keep our Network growing.

Upcoming Exhibition Fanfare : Many thanks toDee Sweeney, our Events Co-ordinator, who has put the necessary steps in place for our upcoming exhibition at Cork School of Music  FANFARE. We were reminded that drop-off of exhibition work is between 10:00 and 11:00am on Wednesday 30^th November. The Exhibition runs until January 9^th, 2023. All details are provided in our September Newsletter (issued on 7/09/2022) where Dee has outlined the brief in detail.Many thanks from all.

Upcoming Exhibition RE-EMERGING Feb 2023 – Item deferred to November Committee meeting with all information going to our Members in our upcoming Newsletters.

CTN Website: Carmel was congratulated by all members present for the stellar work she has shown leading and managing the CTN Website since 2008. Carmel gave a comprehensive overview of two issues pertaining to our website, firstly using PayPal for our Membership Fees and secondly adding a Security Certificate to our website. The PayPal link works but PayPal takes a 3% commission from each membership fee entry. We can continue to pay directly into the CTN AIB account as we have done previously but the PayPal option is there.

Our CTN Website was built using Joomla Edition 1.5 which is now out of date and difficult to find software support for same. During installation of SSL Security certificate our site has become corrupted. Carmel proposed dealing with The Digital Department in Cork to attempt some “life-saving” techniques to get our site fixed (possibly a 2 hour intervention) while we commence sourcing and building a new website. All agreed the need for Carmel to follow through with this recovery plan and to action a new site going forward. Carmel is investigating whether a grant is available to support building a new site. A new site, similar to https://www.corkprintmakers.ie/  A huge thanks is due to Carmel for the hours she has spent in the last week addressing this issue. Going forward, once a new site has been built, CTN will be looking for an administrator to help add content.

Upcoming Thread Talks: Following on from our first International speaker Mo Kelman last week, Carmel has organised Part 2 of Vanessa Marr’s Workshop on October 13^th, followed by Zoom Thread Talk with Mandy Pattulo on 27 October. Carmel continues to welcome suggestions for new speakers at our monthly Thread Talks and is completing the list of upcoming Thread Talks until June 2023.

AOB: Carmel informed us of an excellent exhibition titled Restless Objects by Siobán Piercy at the LHQ Gallery, County Hall, Carrigrohane Road. The Exhibition continues until 28^th October, 2022. Not to be missed.

Amanda Hogan, CTN member, a resident of Youghal has offer to lead a possible event in co-operation and supported by a wider group of CTN members- a possible workshop/exhibition in an empty shop space in Youghal as part of the Iron Man event- This year it was run around 14^th August. Many international visitors attend this event and CTN would have an opportunity to get some profile/ sales etc. All ideas or offers of help are welcome from members to see if this is a possible event – support from the wider membership will be vital. This item is added to our November 5^th Committee meeting for discussion and we will keep members updated.

The meeting concluded with Members in person at Bishopstown Library taking part in an informal Kumihimo and Crochet workshop and lots of exchanges of news and catching up.