2018 AGM Minutes

Army Apprentices National Memorial Trust (Registered Charity 1137924)

Minutes of the Ninth Annual General Meeting

Held in the External Marquee, National Memorial Arboretum, Alrewas, Staffordshire

13:00hrs Saturday 12th May 2018

Members Present:

Johnny McGahan (Deputy Chairman & NMA Liaison – Harrogate), Colin Taylor (Interim Secretary – Carlisle), Mike Davis (Treasurer – Arborfield), Colin Weir (Events Organiser – Chepstow), Gordon Bonner (Arborfield), Max Warwick (Arborfield), Robert Cross (Harrogate), Glynn Marsh (Harrogate), Len Morland (Harrogate), Paul Sieloff (St Omer), Ken Carver (Carlisle), Mal Davison (Carlisle), Roger Cross (Carlisle), Ken Stout (Chepstow), Mike Donne (Carlisle).

Apologies:

Maj Gen Gerry Berragan, Maj Gen John Stokoe, David Schofield, David Chapman, David Cooper, Tony Fullerton, James Smith, Tony Waite.

Welcome:

The meeting opened at 13:00hrs. Johnny McGahan welcomed everyone to the meeting and thanked them for attending. He explained that he would chair the meeting in the absence of David Schofield who had sent apologies.

1          Minutes of the AGM dated 6th May 2017

These were read and agreed as an accurate record of the meeting.

Proposed: Colin Weir

Seconded: Mike Davis

Carried unanimously.

  • Matters Arising:

The Entertainment sub-account has still not yet been set up. Colin Weir pointed out that the aim of this sub-account was to separately account for money raised at the Annual Dinner from the remainder of the finances. After a short discussion it was unanimously agreed to carry this action over until the position with the Charity Commission has been resolved, see under AOB.

Proposed: Len Moreland

Seconded: Colin Taylor

Carried unanimously.

  • Trustees

The following were unanimously elected to serve as Trustees for 2018/19:

David Schofield – Chairman (Arborfield)

Johnny McGahan – Deputy Chairman & NMA Liaison Officer (Harrogate)

Steve Joyce – Secretary (Carlisle)

Glyn Marsh – Treasurer (Harrogate)

Bill McGinn – Events Organiser (Carlisle)

Anthony Waite – (Chepstow)

Robert Cross (Harrogate)

Tony Fullerton (Carlisle)

Ken Carver (Carlisle)

James Smith (Harrogate)

Mike Davis (Arborfield)

Proposed: Mal Davison

Seconded: Roger Cross

Carried unanimously.

A vote of thanks is to be passed to Mike Davis for all his time as treasurer.

N.B. Subsequent to these minutes being confirmed, Colin Weir has tendered his resignation, both as the Events Organiser and a Trustee. A vote of thanks goes to Colin for all of his hard work during his time as a founding Trustee.

  1. Tony Waite stood down as webmaster last year, but wishes to remain as Chepstow rep.
  2. Bill McGinn – (Carlisle 67C) is very happy to be a trustee and has also

agreed to take over as Events Organiser.

  • Secretary’s Report

Colin Taylor as stand-in Secretary had nothing to report except that it had been a quiet year and there was nothing to report.

  • Treasurer’s Report

Mike Davis presented the Treasurer’s report:

The account has not been examined by a chartered accountant for year 2017 because there are too few transactions to justify the expense. They will be examined after the 31 Dec 18 which will include years 2017 and 2018. All four of the Associations have paid their annual subscription.  The balance of the fund as at 31 Dec 17 is £1693.85 with an expenditure of £670.36 which left a balance of £1023.49 with all invoices paid to date. There is no further business.

The Treasurer’s report was accepted.

With Mike Davis tendering his resignation we can confirm that Glyn Marsh has volunteered to take over from Mike as Treasurer.

The newly appointed treasurer, Glyn Marsh, was requested by the meeting to open a communities account in the name of the ‘Army Apprentice’s National Memorial Trust’. The account, should be operated by him as a single signatory. He will report annually on the status of the account to the AGM and as required by the committee to them.

Proposed: Max Warwick

Seconded: Gordon Bonner

Carried unanimously

6          Webmaster’s Report

Anthony Waite had sent apologies as he could not attend, but it was pointed out that the costs for hosting the new site were considerably reduced.   (N.B. See AOB)

7          Events Organiser’s Report

Colin Weir presented the Event Organiser’s report:

The only reported, organised event, held at the memorial since the last AGM was the now very well attended annual service held by the Arborfield Old Boy’s Association, as part of their Annual Reunion Weekend which is now celebrated in the midlands, since the demise of the Corps home at Arborfield and their new home at Lyneham.

Rob Cross brought to the attention of the meeting that the old PA system had now been scrapped and for this year we have been allowed to use the Arborfield PA System. In future the only PA systems that will be permitted for use will be the official National Arboretum system which will available for hire. Johnny McGahan will look into the potential costings.

We are however making a donation of £100 to the Pipe Band Fund, to help with equipment to enable them to establish themselves.

Our thanks go to all those taking part in this years’ service. In the coming year, provided we can keep the event publicised,

It was agreed to encourage the associations to use the Memorial as much as possible.

The cost of the entertainment for the AGM Dinner has increased and it was requested that a levy of £10 per head be asked for from all those attending the dinner.

The meeting was informed that due to the 100year anniversary of the RAF that was taking place on Sunday there would be a delay in starting our own service at the request of the Arboretum, as such the AGM agreed our service at the memorial would start at 12:30 hours

The Event Organiser’s report was accepted.

Proposed: Roger Cross

Seconded: Mike Davis

Carried unanimously.

8          NMA Liaison Officer’s Report

Johnny McGahan presented the NMA Liaison report:

The memorial fund stands at £40,760 which is down from the £41,704 of last year. This was due to some maintenance repairs, mainly re-grouting, and the insurance.

The NMA have introduced some policy changes that will affect us. No organisation will now be allowed to use their own PA system and will have to hire from the NMA. A cost of £125 was mentioned but not confirmed.

Also, we will need Public Liability Insurance cover for the occasion but no costs are known at this stage. It is hoped that we may be able to use the NMA Insurance umbrella.

Another point introduced, is that we will have to provide Risk Assessments for our ceremony next year. These new points will be resolved before next year’s ceremony.

The new Events Centre being built will be completed in October 2018. It will seat 350 for a meal and 500 in a theatre configuration. We have been promised a room for next year’s AGM.

We were warned that the RAF Association were holding their centenary dedication service which would clash with ours and, therefore, the NMA asked us not to play any music until after 1200 hrs.”

The NMA Liaison Officer’s report was accepted.

Proposed: Colin Taylor

Seconded: Colin Weir

Carried unanimously.

9          Letter from the Chairman

“I can now confirm the Charity Annual Report has been submitted, please see attached report for details.

Regarding the website…

The move to the new platform has gone very smoothly, after one or two members regarding the content.

The majority of the old site has been added specifically regarding the development of the Memorial.

Now the focus of the site remains on promoting both the Trust’s activities and those of the member Associations and to that end we ask once again for input. Please send details of events and any stories / history you might like to see added, in particular we ask the members from the ACC and RAPC to get in touch again with their history as these would be wonderful additions to the site.

The new platform is a fair bit cheaper to run, with a cost of circa £10 pa for the domain and circa £15 for the dedicated hosting.  The system is now running on WordPress, which is an intuitive blog base, simple to use and easy to navigate.

Should anyone have any comments regarding the website please don’t be shy in coming forward and if you want to run it and understand WordPress.

The Facebook group continues to be a place of fun and comradeship with some 750 members from several different apprentice organisations including the usual 4 plus ACC , RAPC and others.”

David Schofield

10        Any Other Business

As stated earlier in these notes the existing PA system has been scrapped.

Gordon Bonner questioned the requirement to remain as a Charity and we should consider closing it down. This raises all types of questions, such as the current fund and how to deal with it. To help clarify this Johnny McGahan and Colin Weir will investigate different avenues to try and clarify the situation and come up with a plan that can be discussed at the next AGM.

Proposed: Mal Davison

Seconded: Rob Cross

Carried unanimously.

In view of the costs of having an external audit carried out it was proposed that a Review of the account be carried out by a nominated member once per annum.

Proposed: Roger Cross

Seconded: Colin Weir

Carried unanimously.

It was proposed that the webmaster look into the feasibility of adding a new page to the site as a Roll of Honour that Apprentices that have passed away could be added, e.g. Full Name, Intake, School / College, Date of Death.

Proposed: Roger Cross

Seconded: Ken Carver

Carried unanimously

It was requested that Paul Sieloff (St. Omer – ACC) look into producing a report on the history of the ACC Apprentices.

The Mickleover Hallmark Hotel has been provisionally booked for the 11th May 2019 for us. They are able to keep the same rates as this year for us, as follows :-

Single occupancy dinner, bed & breakfast £100.00 per room per night

Double occupancy dinner, bed & breakfast £138.00 per room per night

As usual, guests can call Reservations to book their rooms on 01332 521234. Rooms will need to be guaranteed with a credit card and should be cancelled at least 48 hours prior if not needed.

The rate for anyone attending just dinner will be £28.00 per person.

A confirmation email from the Hotel is held on file.

The Tenth Annual General Meeting will be held in the new function room, National Memorial Arboretum, Alrewas, Staffordshire, at 13:00hrs Saturday 11th May 2019.

There was no further business and the meeting closed at 1405 hours.

Appendix 1:

Charity Commission Annual Return

 

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