2019 AGM

Army Apprentices National Memorial Trust

(Registered Charity 1137924)

Minutes of the Tenth Annual General Meeting

Held at the National Memorial Arboretum. Alrewas, Staffordshire

1300hrs Saturday 11 th May

Members Present:

Johnny McGahan (Deputy Chairman and NMA Liaison – Harrogate)

Steve Joyce (Secretary -Carlisle), Bill McGinn (Events Organiser – Carlisle)

Roger Traves (Arborfield), Gordon Bonner (Arborfield), Paul Sieloff (ACC Aldershot)

Robert Cross (Harrogate), Noel Drew (Harrogate / Chepstow), Len Morland (Harrogate)

Terry Hanman (Harrogate), Ken Carver (Carlisle), Rev. Garry Kelly (Carlisle),

James Smith (Harrogate).

1 Welcome:

The meeting was opened at 1300hrs. Johnny McGahan welcomed everyone to the meeting and thankedthem for attending. He then explained that he will be chairing the meeting in the absence of David Schofield, who has sent his apologies.

Johnny McGahan requested that his thanks be recorded to Colin Taylor for stepping in and producing the minutes from the 2018 meeting, and to all those who have volunteered to take on new positions within the trustees.

He also explained the reason why he was chairing the meeting instead of David Schofield, and that David has given notice that he is stepping down from his post as Chairman due to his ill health.

2 Apologies:

Maj Gen John Stokoe, David Schofield, Anthony Waite, Glyn Marsh, Morris Snooks,

Bill Duncan, David Hambridge, Roger Cross.

3 Minutes of the AGM dated 12 th May 2018

These had been circulated to members in advance and discussed; those present agreed them to be an accurate record of the meeting.

Proposed: Ken Carver

Seconded: Robert Cross

Carried unanimously

4 Matters Arising:

The Entertainment sub-account has still not been officially set up, although the account is being managed separately to the charity account. This action will be carried forward.

5 Trustees:

A discussion took place regarding the position of Chairman resulting in Garry Kelly volunteering to take on the task.

The list of trustees being:

Garry Kelly – Chairman (Carlisle)

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

Steve Joyce – Secretary (Carlisle)

Glyn Marsh – Treasurer (Harrogate)

Bill McGinn – Events Organiser (Carlisle)

Robert Cross (Harrogate)

Ken Carver (Carlisle)

James Smith (Harrogate)

Roger Traves (Arborfield)

A question was asked regarding an even representation from each of the schools / colleges on the trustees. Gordon Bonner explained that it was not a requirement.

Johnny McGahan explained that we do not need to vote on each member. All present agreed to those listed becoming trustees for the year 2019/20.

Johnny McGahan said he will send a letter of thanks to David Schofield for his service to the AANM.

NB. A letter has been sent by Johnny McGahan to David Schofield, thanking him for his service and leadership of the AANM.

6 Secretary’s Report:

Steve Joyce (Secretary) had nothing to report other than the difficulties experienced contacting members prior to the memorial weekend. Particularly Standard Bearers. Clearly not everyone is on Facebook and looking at some of the websites, they appear not to have been accessed for some considerable time. This will be the task over the coming months, and to establish an accurate contact list. Members are reminded to please notify the secretary of any changes to their own contact details. Paul Sieloff (ACC Aldershot) asked if the ACC standard would be welcome, which was confirmed that it will be.

7 Treasurer’s Report:

In the absence of Glyn Marsh, the secretary stated that the treasurers report had been sent to all trustees along with the agenda but read it out for the benefit for those that may not have received it. The report is also attached to these minutes. Johnny McGahan also added that he has sent the report along with our annual return to the Charity Commission on 9 th April and has heard no more other than the receipt.

The secretary read out an email sent to him from the treasurer.

Glyn has been sent an email form the Charity Commission stating that his (Glyn’s) details have been removed from the register of charities by someone using the ‘update charity details digital service’.

As no one present had any idea why this should have happened, Johnny McGahan stated that he will contact the treasurer on his return and attempt to resolve the issue.

8 Webmaster’s Report:

A long discussion took place regarding the absence of a webmaster and the long term aim of having a role of honour on the site amongst other things. Both Len Morland and Ken Carver will enquire within their associations to see if anyone is willing to become our webmaster and the Steve Joyce will make contactwith the secretaries of Arborfield and Chepstow.

Bob Cross reinforced the need for our website as he is one who does not use Facebook and had great difficulty getting details for this weekend event.

NB. Since the AGM, David Schofield has contacted Johnny McGahan and has offered to be our Webmaster for the time being. David has now been added onto the list of trustees with the agreement of the other trustees.

9 Events Organiser’s Report

Bill McGinn explained the difficulties determining the numbers attending the evening dinner, even when he asked on our Facebook page that people attending let him know, many declined, suggesting it was a scam!

Thankfully, Natalie in the Hotel did let Bill know the names of those booked in, something she is not supposed to do. We still have no idea of the numbers that may be attending the Sunday memorial event. Bill went on to explain about the arrangement with the hotel, who currently give us the function room for free, on the understanding people are booking in for the meal.

Unless we can rectify this problem it is highly likely the price will go up and we may have to pay in advance for the function room.

We need to increase the numbers attending and using the hotel and in the future we need to keep the event’s organiser / secretary informed of who is attending.

Johnny McGahan suggested that these minutes and the date of next year’s event is sent to each of the association secretaries for them to send to every one of their members. This should be followed with a reminder in January.

10 NMA Liaison Officer’s Report:

Johnny McGahan presented the NMA Liaison report

The memorial fund stands at £40,784 as at September 2018, which is the NMA’s year end for their finance department. This is a little higher than the £40,760 of last year. There has been no need for structural maintenance, only cleaning.

The NMA suggested changes to and costs for the PA system have been partly introduced. No organisation is allowed to use their own system and must use equipment belonging to the NMA. Therefore, the PA system for this year will be supplied and operated by the NMA. However the briefly discussed charge of £125 has been waived for the Army Apprentices.

Last year the NMA considered introducing a need for Public Liability Cover and Risk Assessments for our Sunday event, these for the time being have been shelved.

Johnny advised the meeting that the agreement with the NMA included cleaning of the memorial twice a year. Once in the spring time and once at the end of the season, in the autumn.

11 The future of the Trust:

Johnny McGahan explained that the charitable trust had been set up with the aim of funding an Army Apprentices Memorial. This objective has been achieved and therefore the Trust is no longer relevant.

A lengthy discussion took place regarding the possible transfer of existing funds to a new organisation. It was confirmed that the agreements already in place with the NMA would remain unchanged.

Any new organisation would need an Executive Committee, consisting of a President, Chairman, possibly aVice Chairman, a Secretary, Treasurer, Event’s Organiser, NMA Liaison Officer and possibly one representative from each school / college associations.

Also any member of one of the associations would be welcome to attend as part of a General Committee.

A vote was taken to dissolve the AANM charity.

Proposed by Gordon Bonner

Seconded by Bob Cross

Carried unanimously

The secretary will contact each of the four secretaries, Arborfield, Chepstow, Harrogate and Carlisle, asking for comments and feedback.

The suggested name for the new organisation is:

Army Apprentices National Association (AANA)

Johnny McGahan agreed that he would contact the Charity Commission to seek guidance regarding the transfer of funds from the AANM to another organisation (AANA).

The committee requested that Johnny McGahan contact Maj Gen John Stokoe and ask him if he would be the President of the new association when it is formed.

NB. Johnny has now done this, and explained the rationale behind the committee’s decision, which he fully understands and supports. He readily agreed to be the President of the new association when the time came. Johnny also suggested to John, that in the absence of a Webmaster, we should consider out-sourcing the post, although this would be more expense. He thought it worth investigating, although as David has volunteered to do the job for the time being, we have some breathing space to investigate this.

Garry Kelly said he is happy to work on a new constitution as he has some experience of doing this.

It was also agreed that our annual meetings should continue to be held at the NMA.

12 Any Other Business:

Ken Carver raised his concerns over the error made last year by starting the Sunday service half an hour earlier than had been agreed at the AGM, resulting in him and others missing the service. It was pointed out that this was because of legitimate mistake made by the then Events Organiser, resulting in him resigning immediately after the service. Johnny McGahan reiterated that mistakes are sometimes made despite what has been previously agreed at an AGM or any other formal meeting.

Garry Kelly pointed out that he has chosen the hymns for our Sunday service, for the past two years, and he feels that the various colleges / schools should take it in turns each year to select the hymns to be sung. Likewise the reader of the Exhortation to the Fallen and the Kohima Epitaph

It was agreed that it should be Chepstow that selects the hymns for 2020.

The Eleventh Annual General Meeting will be held on Saturday 9 th May 2020, commencing at 1300hrs, at the National Memorial Arboretum, Alrewas, Staffordshire.

There being no further business, the meeting closed at 1445 hrs.

Appendix 1: Treasurer’s Report

Appendix 1

Treasurer’s Report

This is my first report as Treasurer of the Trust, having taken over from Mike Davis at the 2018 AGM.

Firstly, can I apologise for not being able to attend the AGM this year, due to long-term family commitment, if the meeting desires it I am very willing to continue as a Trustee and as the Treasurer.

Secondly can I thank Mike for all his hard work and diligence as Treasurer – a hard act to follow, I will endeavour to do my best.

Please find below the Income and Expenditure Statement for the Trust, if there any questions or if you would like more detail on an item, please contact me at [email protected] (it is an underscore between my names not a hyphen and a single ‘n’).

The contributions made on the evening, of the dinner, for the entertainment etc. are separate from the Trust’s funds. Any surplus in one year subsidises the following year and are therefore not included in these accounts which form part of our Charity Commission (CC) Annual Return.

There was a discussion at last year’s AGM regarding de-registration of the Trust as a charity. As the Trust is now in ‘on-going’ phase, I can see no advantage of continuing be register with the CC, which was advantageous during the memorial ‘build’ phase with donations benefiting from Gift Aid. If the Trust were not a registered Charity setting up a bank account in the name of the AANM would be less onerous.

During this year (2019), not the year being reported on below, I have received the donations from BOBA and AOHA. Despite contacting AOBA and HOBA through their websites, on a number of occasions, neither has made their annual donation to the Trust. Could I please ask Trustees from the latter two associations request their Treasurer contact me on the above email address urgently. The bank account details have changed from when Mike was Treasurer.

If Trustees or members would prefer this information presented in a different way, again, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Funds as at 1 st January 2018

Total Funds £1,023.49

Income Expenditure

Donations from Assoc. £ 400.00 Web Hosting £ 17.95

Refund from Storage £ 14.30 Pipes & Drums £ 100.00

NMA Chairs etc. £ 80.00

Total Income £ 414.30 Total Expenditure £ 197.95

In Year Surplus/ (Deficit) £ 216.35

Funds as at 1 st January 2019

Total Funds £1,239.84

Glyn Marsh

Treasurer

Army Apprentice National MemorialEdit

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.