Clowns International 
                                               Annual General Meeting Minutes April 10, 2022, 
                                                     Time 9 am London Time, 3am US CST
                 Call to order – 9:01 London Time
                 Attendance: Deanna Hartmier, Peter Aubery, Ron Johnson, Rob Bowker, Ian Thom, Christopher 
                 Stone, Mattie Faint, Ron Johnson, Peter Aubery, Wendy Gibson, Leonora Knott, Matt Indge, Martin 
                 Ensom, Jacky Ensom, PJ Pilcher, Phoebe Gibson, Susi Maxwell-Steward, Andy Davis,
                 Regrets: Revd Laura Luz, John Cooper, Wendy Gibson, Neil Wilkins, Hazel Wilkins, Martin Burton, 
                 Peter Malindine, Jeffo Malindine, Paul Goddard, Jonathan Jester,
             I.   Chairperson opening remarks  – Deanna welcomed and thanked everyone for joining the meeting. 
                 She reminded that we are all volunteers and there will be errors and thanked everyone for their support
                 during the restructuring.  Reminding it is how or what we do to correct which matters and moves us 
                 forward.  Please know the current committee is working for the best of the organization. Both Peter 
                 and Deanna reminded about zoom etiquette. Deanna thanked each committee member for their work, 
                 input, and assistance. 
                                                                                       th                                     nd
           II.    Approval of minutes from last meeting from February 6    , 2021-  Rob motioned, Wendy 2  to 
                 accept the 2021 Minutes into our files.  Motion passed 
          III.    Annual Reports 
              Name: Deanna Hartmier 
              Office: Acting Chairperson
              Date: 19 February 2022
              . 
              1. constitution – is ready to vote on.  Worked with Chris Stone.  Thank you, Chris.
              2. Handbook – indicating positions and responsibilities.  I noticed only 1 person seemed to do 
              the work as no one else knew what to do. So, this provides guidelines. Will complete after the 
              AGM
              3. Manuals – to help the people in the position some guidance on how to tasks.  Will also aid in
              understanding and training new people. Will complete after the AGM
              4. Digital Membership cards- Are being sent to people as they renew.
              5. Membership list – Updated the list and corrected information.  Sent emails, mailed letters, 
              put notice on Face book and the website for members to contact and update.
              6. Egg Registration – increased rates to cover the costs, to pay the artist and leave 5 pounds 
              for administrating. Created order forms, advertising and hopefully an easier way to process. 
              Processed orders. Worked with Debbie, Thank you Debbie.
     7. Website – updated it as much as I can.  Added Egg registry, Clown ID, Meet the committee, 
     and Dignitary pages.  Once the constitution is voted in, I have a section to upload the 
     documents. Still working on the payment structure. Thank you, Joe.
     8. Minutes – re-watched the meeting videos and wrote up the minutes of all the meetings.  We 
     haven't had a meeting in a while as it takes me away from doing what needs to be done. Most 
     meetings were all talk, and I ended up doing the work.
     9. Grimaldi Service – Sent out advertisements for information to add to the video, researched 
     those that passed and collected photos and information. Prepared and sent to Peter to put 
     together to complete the video. Thank you to John Cooper for his help. Thank you to Peter for 
     the hours put into the video. Thank you to all that submitted pictures, videos, and information. 
     Thank you to Rev Laura Luz and the Trinity Saints.
     10. Memberships – sent out emails, letters, phone calls, Facebook notices and private 
     messaging to get members to submit their correct information, created registration forms, 
     collected applications, processed the payments, sent out thank you emails with the 
     membership cards. 
     11. Newsletters – created the newsletters and notices to send to the members. Thank you to 
     Norm Barnhart for providing Madmimi at no cost to us and for his help on the newsletters.
     12. Finances – compiled statements and invoices etc to ensure compliance and compared 
     transactions to the Stripe transactions. Review invoices and sample budgets. Once I know all 
     the expense, we will have a working budget. Prepared motions to ensure people get paid and 
     instructed the Treasurer for payouts.  Thank you, Phoebe.
     13. Fundraiser – Idea for Character Driver licenses, prepared order forms and advertising. 
     14. Webmail – created new webmail so we can keep control of all emails.  If one person 
     leaves, we still have access. Monitor and respond to emails, forward ones to others as 
     needed. Thank you to Joe.
     15. Mad Mimi – program to send newsletters, communications and updating contacts. As no 
     one shared the Mailchimp password (eventually got the password but still using Madmimi).
     16. Organizational Chart – created a chart to understand the committee structure in order to 
     repair the constitution.
     17. Forms – created Conflict of Interest, Child Protection Document (Some help from Jonathan
     Jester), General Data Protection Regulations (Some help from Chris Stone), Whistleblower 
     document. Thank you to Jonathan and Chris for their help.
     18. Grants – Martin Burton mentioned about a possible grant. Attempted to research, I could 
     not find from Canada. Unfortunately missed the deadline. Deanna asked if anyone would know
     someone or be interested in researching grants for future festivals etc.
     19. Nominations- sent out notices and tried to find volunteers to take on positions.
     20. Stripe – unlocked and updated the Stripe application.
     21. Website Simple Pay Pro – enables to accept credit payments from other countries.
     22. Paypal- was locked, attempted to repair.  in the hands of the Treasurer. 
     23. Facebook- replying to messages and updating information.
     24. Created a contest/draw to get members involved with writing for the magazines.
     25. Made numerous attempts to communicate with the Chair and tried to get him involved 
     again.
     26. Hopefully I thanked everyone that has helped me.  I appreciate any help a volunteer 
     provides.
     27. Assisting the Treasurer when needed.
     28. AGM – Need to figure out a time and date to hold the AGM.  Need at least 1 month notice 
     to send out the Constitution and Nominations.
     29.  Although not having a meeting, I did try to communicate with each committee member on 
     a variety of topics at different times. I am sorry the times I tried to call a meeting didn't work. 
     Unfortunately, until certain things were completed, we were stuck and there was not much to 
     discuss or progress on. I am happy to see progress again.
     29. Wrote and submitted articles for the Joey.
     30.  FOC Vs Full membership.  Working with Chris stone to figure out best way to write up as I 
     have had a person say that they are a clown but to save money could he just renew as FOC. 
     Has been solved. FOC will no longer have a vote.
     31. Awards – contacted Conk and got a list of all awards.  Need to update with better written 
     criteria. Need to set up a sub committee to work on this. 
     32. I'm tired and can’t continue to do everything. I'm pretty sure there is more I've done but 
     have forgotten. I'm hoping with the restructuring people will be able to start reading the 
     manuals, handbooks and take some initiative moving forward for the next committees.
     Name: Rob Bowker
     Office: PRO
     Date: 19 February 2022
     .PRO report ~ I continue to serve CI in any way I can in the last year I have appeared on TV talking 
     about how parents forcing young children to approach a clown can be a bad thing and to let the child 
     discover the clown at their own pace and time. I have represented CI in a positive light on all media 
     platforms and have when appropriate refused interviews or access to CI clowns when I’ve felt a possible
     story is coming from a negative slant that’s pre decided. I am happy to continue in this role if the club &
     members so wish. I have proposed at committee level that club formulates a long-term strategy to grow 
     the membership particularly younger ones so that the art of clown and ci can continue.
     Name: Augusto Cabrera
     Office: Education Officer
     Date: 17 March 22
     As in charge of education in CI I couldn't do much, in part due to the pandemic and also because of the 
     number of other projects I have here in Sweden which is also the reason why I won’t be able to continue
     in the CI committee.
     Hope the next person in that post will be able to accomplish more.
     Thank you
     Augusto Cabrera.
     Wendy Ann Gibson 
     Friends of Clowns
     19 March 2022
     We haven’t had many events over the last two years, so I have been trying to assist where else needs 
     help.  I have been supporting the Secretary where help was needed by helping to find members 
     information to update, sending out letters to members we had not emailed and thank you cards as needed
     etc., the Joey Editor by enveloping the Joeys and posting them to the members and looking for people to
     write articles, the Treasurer by transporting to the bank many times, helping with gaining access to the 
     physical bank, online banking etc.  I have been kept very busy, which is just the way I like it.  I would 
     like to re-stand as Friends of Clowns at the AGM 2022.  I look forward to expanding this role if I’m re-
     elected when we get back to attending physical events again and supporting the members and helping in 
     any way that is needed.  
     Name: Ian Thom
     Office: Committee Member
     Date: 19 February 2022
     . Nothing to report during this pandemic.
     Name: Ron Johnson
     Office: Ambassador
     Date: 19 Feb 22
     My appointed position does not really bring much to report.  I have been happy to help guide CI with 
     my thoughts, opinions, ideas, etc. I did post on the Facebook page often and contributed articles for The 
     Joey. 
     Mattie Faint
     Chair/ Co-Director 
     Clowns Gallery Ltd.
     As you know the Clowns Gallery and our museum closed at Holy Trinity before all the lockdowns and 
     Covid took over our lives. 
     All the treasures from our collection are still with me in my basement in Clerkenwell and the larger 
     items are still in store at Newbury Park, East London.
     It has been good having all the important things with me in these times.  I've had the time to go through 
     our vast DVD collection, everything from Mr. Bean to Chaplin. I've had a 'field day' during all the 
     lockdowns, in a room surrounded by clowns and our history.
     My basement is not large enough for the public.... alas!  However now Covid restrictions are less, I have
     had some visitors and done some zoom talks and Podcasts in there, along with hiring props and 
     costumes, I've been able to make some money to help pay some of the ongoing expenses. Even without 
     premises we still have bills of around £1000 a year for insurance and storage.
     There is still a lot of interest from people for our collection and asking if we will open again. Having the
     museum in our church was perfect for us. 
     Finding, setting up and paying for premises, it's just not possible currently although I'm still looking 
     around at possibilities.
     One bright piece of news, we will be having a small display from our collection in the new Blackpool 
     Museum which is opening late because of Covid but will be open this year. Something to look forward 
     to!