Dear Members,

Money, money!
First, many thanks to all of you who worked so hard, and gave so generously, to make the auction a success. This is our major fundraising event, and it was very pleasing that we broke the previous record, making a net (after room expenses and artists’ shares) of about £4,300 – and giving our attendees the opportunity to acquire some outstanding artworks, including several by Kathleen McFarlane, a stunning Susan Gunn, a Duncan Grant, sculptures by Derek Morris, Ros Newman, Chris Wade and Neal French, and many others. Particular thanks go to our three auctioneers, Keith Roberts, Paul Simmonds and John Woodhouse, who stood in at short notice after the nasty cold that has hit so many of us downed Robert Short.

In general we felt that the experiment of offering artists a 50:50 deal and enabling them to set reserves worked well. Some of the more expensive work didn’t reach its reserve, but we’ve learned lessons for the future, and we hope that next time we arrange an auction we’ll be able to solicit work, and set a deadline for submissions, a little further in advance, and also arrange more extensive publicity. The Assembly House was generally liked as a venue, although we shall make sure there are sufficient bar staff next time we use it!

Sunshine in Sussex
We were also very fortunate in our autumn excursion, particularly in the weather: no one can rely on brilliant sunshine in November even in these days of improbable weather, but the sun shone throughout, and it was warm enough to picnic outdoors at Goodwood. The expedition was a sell-out, and also added usefully to our funds. Our coach driver even managed to find us a pleasant coffee stop on the way down.

Only a few of us had visited Pallant House previously, and all were impressed by both the permanent exhibits and the special exhibition. For me the highlight was Michael Andrews’ 'The Estuary', but I’m sure everyone had their own favourites. There was also time for a quick look around Chichester Cathedral for those who chose not to relax at the hotel, and in the evening both of our supper venues were voted a success.

2 November was the very last day of the year for the Goodwood Sculpture Park. We were particularly grateful that Paul and Hester King had arranged for Wilfred and Jeanette Cass to greet us personally and introduce us to their collection. The massive works in their wonderful woodland setting were nicely complemented by the maquettes in the reserve collection which we were also able to explore.

Most of the organization was done by Janey Bevington, and the thanks of all of us who had such a great time go to her for her efforts.

Popular trips
This was our first overnight trip in recent memory, and the turnout showed that many members enjoyed the opportunity to meet each other and socialise at more length than our lectures usually permit. It bodes well for our spring trip to Holland, although I fear we need to apologize to those of you who found that it had sold out even before your mailing reached you.

The Holland trip was deliberately chosen to be a small-group trip, and we don’t feel it will be realistic to extend the numbers, but we shall certainly try to repeat it in the not too distant future – and if any of you would like details of planned venues so that you can visit yourselves, we’d be happy to provide them. We’ll also try to ensure that there is another event in the May programme.

Our two autumn talks were inevitably a little overshadowed by the auction and the Chichester trip, but both provided interest in their own way. I wasn’t able to make the James Putnam talk on ‘Art as museum: museum as art’ myself, and I think that in spite of the eminence of our speaker, the subject was perhaps of too minority interest for many members. However, Katarzyna Coleman drew a very good audience to hear her trace a fascinating path from Prunella Clough’s work on display at the Castle (a must-see) to her own dramatic drawings of Great Yarmouth’s industrial landscape. It was particularly good to see Katarzyna supported by many Yarmouth members and friends.

Talks in the spring
Our spring programme usually majors on talks, and we have lined up three for you, all of which we hope will be popular. Your events committee felt we’d be rather light of late on attention to European art, a failing which our January talk on Anselm Kiefer, a giant on the scene, should do much to remedy. We’re back at the popular venue of the King of Hearts for this event. Then we’ll look forward to visiting the revamped NSAD Learning Resource Centre for a February talk on R B Kitaj.

We’d been discussing for some time inviting Kathleen McFarlane to talk to us, and her presence on the Chichester trip helped us to finalize arrangements. We’re particularly happy to have set the venue at UEA, where one of Kathleen’s major works can be seen in the Elizabeth Fry building. Veronica Sekules, a long-standing friend of the NCAS, will be discussing Kathleen’s work with her, and we welcome the Friends of the Sainsbury Centre as co-sponsors of this event.

Exhibition plans
The Exhibitions subcommittee are in the planning stages for a major exhibition of NCAS artist Members’ work at the Forum from 2 to 18 August 2008. Full details including information on applications will be sent to all members by separate mailing. This show is being funded by the Forum Trust with a small financial input from NCAS

We have also applied to the Wellcome Foundation for a major grant to fund a photographic exhibition at the Forum in the summer of 2009 on the theme of identity, entitled ‘Photo ID’. Our partners for this show are the Norwich School of Art and Design and the Forum Trust. The result of our application will be known in April 2008.

Marketing and admin
Marketing plans are never as exciting as events to most of us, but we’re conscious of the need to keep developing the Society, and much recent effort has been focused on planning a way forward for the next few years. The main conclusion of a special meeting on marketing we held in the autumn, enhanced by the presence of committee expert Nicola Ovenden and guest adviser Nigel Orme, was that we need to revamp our admin before we embark on a new membership campaign. Regular newsletter readers will know that we’ve been hampered for some time by the lack of a secretary, and although Jane Edwards has done sterling work on the membership side, and Brenda Ferris has turned out minutes for us, we agreed that it was time to confront the need for more admin support in future. Nicola is working now on drawing up a job specification for a part-time administrator, who will probably be asked to handle both core admin and publicity, and whom we hope to be able to pay a modest honorarium. We hope that inducement will make the job more appealing, and although we’ll be in contact later with more details, we’d be delighted to hear now from anyone who would be interested in discussing the position.

Finally, on behalf of the committee, I’d like to thank all our members for your support during 2007. We look forward to seeing you at our events in 2008.

Susan Curran