Good morning
Yesterday evening, emails were sent to all current members of Wikimedia UK with more information on this year's AGM in Bristol, which you can sign up to here https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/wikimedia-uk-2019-agm-tickets-62303110280.
Volunteers who aren't members are also welcome at this event, although we would encourage you to become a member https://donate.wikimedia.org.uk/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=4 (for only £5 a year) to enable you to participate fully in the day. If you believe that you are a member but did not receive this message yesterday, please let me know.
*Notice of Wikimedia UK’s Annual General Meeting**Saturday 13th July 2019 at Watershed, Bristol*
The next AGM for Wikimedia UK will be held on Saturday 13th July at the Watershed in Bristol. As a member of the charity this is an important opportunity for you to have your say about how we work, influence how we are run and potentially stand for the board, so we would encourage you to attend.
The AGM itself will start at 2.30pm, however we have planned other activities from 11am including talks and workshops, a photography walk of the local area, and the presentations of our Wikimedian of the Year awards as well as our inaugural Honorary Memberships. We are using eventbrite for AGM registrations so please sign up here https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/wikimedia-uk-2019-agm-tickets-62303110280 if you are able to attend.
*Invitation for candidates for election to the Board*
There are *five trustee vacancies* at this year’s AGM, with three existing trustees likely to stand again. We are particularly keen to have more people from the Wikimedia community on the board, so please do consider standing for these elections. Any member fulfilling the criteria has a right to stand, although we’d particularly appreciate anyone who has experience in Legal, Fundraising, Communications or HR. If you wish to stand please follow the procedure here https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Board/Becoming_a_trustee and submit your application to the teller no later than *Friday 28th June*.
*Voting Papers*
All current members of the charity will be sent AGM papers by post, including voting papers and proxy forms. We would encourage you to make use of your voting rights, whether or not you are able to come to the meeting itself. If you are unable to attend, you can appoint another person - including the Chair of the Board of Trustees - as your proxy to attend and vote on your behalf.
If you have moved house in the past year, or you are not sure if we have your correct postal address details, please do email membership@wikimedia.org.uk with any updates by Monday 1st July. You can also use this email to contact us if you haven't received your voting papers by Monday 8th July.
*Annual Report and Accounts*
The draft annual report and accounts are in the process of being signed off by the board and the Auditors, and will be published online prior to the AGM. To save paper, we won’t be sending hard copies of the annual report to all our members this year however copies will be available at the AGM. The Strategic Report will also be available in hard copy or in a PDF online by the time of the AGM.
*Lightning Talks*
Lightning Talks have proved a popular feature at past meetings and give members the opportunity to hear about a wide range of projects and activities related to Wikimedia and open knowledge more broadly. If you would like to give a talk, please email membership@wikimedia.org.uk and a member of staff will follow up with you directly. We would love to see as many of our members, volunteers and other stakeholders as possible at Bristol’s fantastic Watershed https://www.watershed.co.uk/ for our AGM https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/2019_AGM on 13th July, so please sign up below!
Kind regards Katie