Kingston Society AGM was a downer

Having become more involved in the Kingston upon Thames Society over the last couple of years I guess that it was only a matter of time before I plucked up the courage to go to one of their Annual General Meetings, and last week I did.

Being an AGM some of the time was dedicated to the business of the society but fortunately the officers' reports were brief and the committee made the election of the new committee by simply nominating themselves and having one vote for all positions. I guess the irony of the need to appeal to members to get more involved that was made later in the meeting was lost on them.

We should have had the mayor there to give a speech but he was unavailable through illness. I was not looking forward to a bland political speech so the absence may have been a good thing.

The meeting then fell into a general discussion about what the society should be doing next year and this is where I started to get depressed as all the debate seemed so negative. The Society is very clear on what it does not like but much less clear on what it does.

For example, we had a long discussion on housing (on the pretext of trying to think of speakers for future meetings) and it seems that we don't want houses infilling between other houses or in open spaces, so I am not sure where we do want them.

Indeed the Society has now made being negative it's mission and the new recruitment leaflet (which I am sure will be just as (un)successful as the last one) appeals for people who are unhappy with their surroundings. I find this odd as I joined because I am interested in my surroundings (good and bad) and the Society is a good way of keeping informed.

Incidentally, we were also reminded in the meeting that the Society covers the whole borough, including the local centres Surbiton, New Malden, Tolworth and Chessington, but the new leaflet has drawings of seven local landmarks all of which are in Kingston town centre.

I have been mostly happy with the Society for the many years that I have been a member but this meeting has made me question why I am a member. It looks as though I should either leave or try and change it. I don't like quitting so that's an easy choice!