1. Present.

Committee members - R. Levitas (Chair) J Arnold (Treasurer), L Davidson (Acting Secretary) G. Claeys, V. Geoghegan, T. Moylan, N. Pohl, F. Vieira, J. Bastos da Silva, L. Sargent, (committee Members) and 61 ordinary members.
Apologies: Lucy Sargisson, Alex Alban Gomez, Filio Diamanti

2. Minutes of last AGM.

The minutes of the AGM held in held in Porto 8 July 2004. Proposed LS, seconded FV, approved unanimously.

3. Matters arising.

Publications update: Utopia Matters - RL congratulated F Vieira and colleagues on this beautiful publication, which was now available. FV advised that a second volume was planned for the end of the year. No news on proceedings of 2003 conference at Madrid. LD to contact A Gomez, and advise members on situation. FV plans to invite contributions for their E-Journal. L Sargent advised members of new journal focusing on Wm. Morris and his time period - Planned to be published annually, contributors to be invited.

4. Chair's Report.

RL expressed enormous gratitude to Nicole Pohl and Lorna Davidson for their work in organising this year’s conference, and to the Plenary speakers, R. Saage and G. Claeys for their stimulating lectures. She noted that the opportunities for debate and discussion presented by the annual conference were extremely valuable, as well as enjoyable.

5. Treasurer's Report.

a)Treasurer’s Report. JA referred members to enclosed information, invited questions (none) and requested formal approval. HZ moved, FV seconded, approved unanimously.
b) Proposal to open Bank Account with the Royal Bank of Scotland. JA briefly outlined reasons for moving the Society’s bank a/c from Lloyds TSB to RBS, and referred members to terms and conditions of RBS Treasurer’s Account. It was proposed to continue the current arrangement re signatories, i.e. any one of three, Chair, Treasurer or Secretary. Formal approval requested - LS moved approval, NP seconded. Approved unanimously. JA to action.

6. Committee and Office Bearers.

No committee members or office-bearers currently due for re-election, and no vacancies on committee. RL advised members that nominations for next year could be sent in advance to LD.

7. Conference Plans for 2006 and 2007.

a) Proposal from University of Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain , 6th-8th July 2006. RL invited Pere Gallardo Torrano to speak. He expressed delight that the USS Conference was to be held
in Tarragona, and would seek advice from previous organisers if required. After brief discussion of proposed dates, RL ruled that the Society had to accept the judgement of the local organisers, as various factors and constraints had to be taken into account. It would never be possible to find dates that suited everyone.
b) Proposal(s) for 2007. None have been received to date. If anyone would like to
offer a venue, please contact RL or LD initially.

8. USS Mailing List & Website.

LD advised members that the USS website has recently been modestly and inexpensively upgraded to make it more user friendly - www.utopianstudieseurope.org. The website is used principally to give basic information about USS, constitution, committee members, AGM minutes, and abstracts of previous conferences are posted there. LD referred members to the list of email addresses printed in the Conference Programme, and appealed to members to pass on changes in e-mail addresses.

9. Any Other Competent Business.

Annette Magid advised members of the conference of the NE Modern Languages Association scheduled for April 2008 in Buffalo. Papers would be accepted in a variety for languages, up to 1000 papers. Mainly literature related.

L. Sargent advised of plans for a Comparative Western /Asian conference in Hong Kong, mainly literature/art. No date set, but likely to be the end of 2006. Funding being investigated.

Other forthcoming events: Society for Utopian Studies Conference in Memphis 27 Oct 2005, then Colorado Springs, probably October 2006.

Nicole Pohl reminded members of the Utopus Discovered journal as a possible route for publishing papers - send enquiries to Nicole Pohl or Carrie Hintz.

10. Date of next meeting.

This will be held in Tarragona during the 2006 Conference.

Return