Alan Watson, our president, has now retired from teaching. He is succeeded as head teacher of the Bliss Charity School at Nether Heyford by Mr Christopher Scanlan to whom we extend a friendly welcome.
The AGM of the Bliss FHS was held at Bliss Charity School, Nether Heyford at 2.30pm on Sunday 23rd April 2006. 13 members were present and apologies were received from another. In the absence of Debbie Bliss, the chairman's wife Jenny's offer to take the minutes was gratefully received by the meeting.
The minutes of the last meeting were approved subject to two corrections of names.
The treasurer reported that the Society was in a healthy financial position (see accounts oveleaf).However the accounts are at presaent unaudited and it was agreed the appointment of an Auditor is essential and urgent. The treasurer, assisted by other members of committee to take steps to appoint someone as soon as possible.Chris recommended that in future overseas membership subscriptions should be denominated in local currencies broadly coresponding to £10 sterling (eg 25 Australian dollars, 22 Canadian dollars, 15 Euros and the 20 dollars currently charged to US members). This was agreed. The treasurer said, that there was no need to increase the membership fees as printing and distribution costs are still accomodated by our present annual income, although future rises in postal rates will have to be carefully monitored.
The Treasurer recommended that the Bliss FHS should join the Federation of Family History Societies as it would help publicise our existence to Federation members. This was agreed subject to examination by the Chairman and Committee.
John Bliss, the deputy chairman, thanked everyone who helped to make the Oxford Reunion weekend a success. It was the first time the event had lasted three days; the weather had been good and the visit to the Oxford Press especially interesting. The Chairman thanked John for planning an excellent event.
The President reported that the trustees of the Bliss School had given six thousand pounds to overhaul the grounds at the rear of the school and parents have donated a 'storyteller's tree' so now the mulberry tree dedicated in memory of the founder of the Bliss FHS, Bob Bliss, is thriving in a very nice environment. It has now grown to a height of 12 foot 10 inches (please don't ask what that is in metric!).
It was agreed that a letter of appreciation should be sent by the Chairman to Christine Woodward for the eight years plus that she had worked for the Society. Tom Bliss had received the various publications from Christine.
The Chairman reported that his duties during his first year had not been as demanding as for his predecessor, as Tom was still our record keeper, GOONS Bliss Name contact and magazine editor. Permission had been granted to the GOONS Library to put editions of the Bliss Magazine on-line when over 5 years old. Keith Bliss, our web-site manager, had resigned due to the pressures of his day job and the chairman's son Andy had taken over as webmaster pro tem. It was noted that the internet message board only allowed sporadic access to some at the present time and efforts are being made to solve the problem.
Michael reported that since becoming Chairman, he had tried to encourage more members to become involved in the work of the Society and he has asked members to let him know what they would like from the Society- with little response so far, which may mean that members are satisfied with what the Society is doing.
Tom Bliss said that he was very relieved that someone else now had the responsibility of leading the Society. He reported that there are nearly 30,000 individual records on the database. The English and Welsh census records from 1851 to 1901 are now included in the Bliss Genealogical Database and the 1841 should be included by mid summer. Twentieth century birth, marriage and death records up to 1920 haver also been added to the BGDB. Tom is always pleased to receive ideas and contributions for the Bliss magazine.
Tom proposed that the Society join the Sir Arthur Bliss Society, as he is the most famous of all Blisses. Lady Bliss is an honorary member of the Bliss FHS and there could be a two way exchange of information from the website. This was agreed, subject to investigation by the Committee.
There were no new nominations for the Committee so the existing team was re-elected. Andrew Bliss was appointed as Website Manager.
John Bliss outined proposals for this year's reunion and it was agreed that he should go ahead with plans for the event to be held in Gloucestershire. Events would include visits to the Roman villa at Chedworth, St Mary's church at Fairford with its fine display of medieval glass windows ( Mary Bliss MBE will also try to arrange a demonstration of bellringing on St Mary's fine peal of bells). On Sunday John hopes to organise a guided tour of Gloucester Cathedral and a visit the Roman City of Cirencester and the Corinium Museum.
The 2007 AGM will take place at 2.30pm on Sunday 22nd April 2007 at the Bliss Charity School, Nether Heyford.
The Chairman invited members to take part in an open forum at the conclusion of the AGM. Chris Bliss-Jones proposed that small advertisements be placed at national and Bliss areas Record Offices. The local press and library should be contacted in the Gloucester area before the 2006 reunion, members of the Gloucester Family History Society could be invited to join the Bliss FHS outings.John Bliss outlined some ideas for mailshots to people named Bliss. Inclusion of a copy of a Magazine was considered too expensive, but a smaller information pack, possible the website pages was supported.
The Treasurer suggested that new members who join the Society after the issuing of the May magazine should pay only half the subscription for that year, with effect from 2006.
John Bliss said he was considering the possibility of organising a second informal get-together (possibly in Normandy, France) in 2007.
Currently the Society has a database of over 30,000 Bliss events - mainly of events in England - going back some 500 years. It includes births, baptisms, marriages, deaths, burials, probate details, census entries, armed service details and many other happenings. We know that within this list, there are many relationships to be explored - sibling to sibling, parents/ children, etc..
We would like to start compiling a new series of Bliss Family Trees, which will show the known family relationships between Blisses around the world. There will probably be three main collections of trees, for the UK, USA and Australia. But clearly, many new connections will become apparent between them as the collections grow.
If any Society members are interested in contributing their own family tree information to this project, please contact the Chairman, Vice-Chairman or Records Secretary.
Before we can properly embark on this project we need to agree on a standard genealogical software package to store and present the information. Legacy appears to be a suitable package but there are others in the marketplace.
If anyone has comments or suggestions on this point, please also contact us.