Petersfield Society Annual General Meeting 2025
Thank you to those of you who joined us for the 2025 Petersfield Society AGM, which took place on the evening of 18th September.
Each year the Trustees of the Society are required to deliver an annual report, outlining activities undertaken by the society during the previous year together with a financial report, duly audited. If you are interested in finding out more about the Society’s activities for the previous year you can find the report here.
During the AGM, chaired by the Society’s vice president, Christopher Napier, we were pleased to welcome two new trustees to the Society; Faye Hughes and Jon Allen. Jon has already been active in the background with the existing trustees as we work to strengthen the Society, whilst Faye brings years of knowledge and experience within the Arts and charity sectors. We look forward to their future input.
We would like to thank those of you who helped at the event, especially Val Hart who provided refreshments and Anne Stephenson who ably assisted in their delivery.
We would also like to thank Malcolm Farrow for his talk on ‘symbols that bring us together’; flags. In his delivery he spoke passionately as he showed the development of what we consider to be our National Flags, and spoke about how they have come to be considered such, and how they have been used and perhaps misappropriated over the years. The lasting impression from his talk was that we should all fly our flags more often to celebrate their existence and show national unity under them.
Petersfield Society Awards 2025
During the meeting we also made our annual ‘Owl’ Awards. Formally the Presidents Awards, these celebrate significant projects within the town.
The Kings Arms Youth Project
The Owl award itself was given to The Kings Arms Youth Project; Awarded for their dedication to the support of ‘the next generation. Working with local schools and youth organisations, the Kings Arms o]ers support for situations in education or social life that young people find di]icult or overwhelming.
The Owl award recognises that for 25 years this youth project has been providing young people in the community with a safe place to learn, have fun, and fulfil their potential.
You can find out more about the Kings Arms here
The Physic Garden
A Commendation was also awarded to the Volunteers and Trustees of Petersfield’s Physic Garden, this year in its 35th year. The citation read: “Presented in recognition of the Trustees and volunteers whose efforts keep Petersfield’s Physic Garden available for public enjoyment.
This green oasis has been a unique feature of the town centre for 35 years, offering tranquillity for visitors as well as family activities based on trees, plants and wildlife.”
You can find out more about the Physic Garden here
Finally, our thanks to Cllr Chris Paige, Petersfield’s mayor, and also Cllr David Podger who joined us as visitors for the evening, for fielding questions about the Festival Hall and Trees in the Central Car Park respectively.
