Minutes Of The General Meeting Of The Lyme Regis Branch. Held At The Woodmead Halls, Lyme Regis, Thursday 09 May 2013 At 19:00 Hrs.

Minutes Of The General Meeting Of The Lyme Regis Branch. Held At The Woodmead Halls, Lyme Regis, Thursday  09 May 2013 At 19:00 Hrs.

Present:
	Mr Cecil Quick		President
	Mr Ken Whetlor		Chairman
	Mr David Manners		Vice Chairman
	Mr Tony Smith		Honorary Secretary
	Mr Martin Jones		Honorary Treasurer
	Lt Col Ross Bennett		Welfare Chairman
	Mrs Ania Driver		Welfare Secretary
	Mrs Sylvia Marler		Poppy Appeal Organiser
	Mr David Humphrey		Recruitment Advisor
	Mrs Angela Manners.		Member

01. Exhortation:

The President

02. Apologies:

	Mr Keith Austin		Member
	Mr Mike Lloyd		Member
	Mr Kevin Taylor		Member
	Mr Peter Ward		Member
	Mrs Jacqueline Ward		Member
Absent:
	Mr Jon Hunt		Member

03. Minutes of the Last Meeting:

The Minutes of the last Meeting held on the 7th of March were agreed as a true record and signed by The Chairman.

Proposed: Angela Manners         Seconded: Ross Bennett      Carried:Unanimously.

04. Matters Arising:

The Chairman had no idea why The Area Manager did not attend the Meeting.

05. Additions to the Agenda.

Armed Forces Day.

CCF Affiliation.

06. Chairman’s Report.

NTR.

07. Vice Chairman’s Report.

Remembrance Day Parade. The meeting in the church been successful. However, at the meeting with the other denominations The Reverend  Skinner reports that they, and now she, are against the idea.

The Secretary will draft a letter for the Chairman to send to The Reverend Jane Skinner inviting her and the other churches to a meeting to resolve this issue.

The Town Band are incredibly busy during the summer but it is hoped a convenient date may be found for them to hold a concert on our behalf.

The Masonic Hall is happy to host a breakfast; dates need to be confirmed.

08. Honorary Secretary’s Report.

A letter of thanks was sent to The Golf Club following our dinner there.

I would like to propose a vote of thanks to Dave Humphrey who worked extremely hard to make this evening such a success.

Seconded: Ross Bennett. Carried: enthusiastically unanimous.

A draft letter was agreed for The Chairman to send to Keith Austin.

Courses: John Hurst is now The County Training Officer. Haig House has been approached to run Branch Management and Branch Treasurer Courses. If their staff cannot do so can County run them? An answer is awaited.

The Area manager, Christine Kitchener, deals with caseworker training and can be contacted direct.

Jillian Hurst will be in touch regarding Standard Bearer and Parade Marshal training.

Armed Forces Day, 29th of June 2013.

This will be a civic parade. The Salamanca Band from The Rifles and The Lyme Regis Town Band will play in the shelters. The parade will march from The Guildhall/Gun Cliff to the shelters, where there will be an exchange of gifts.

As this will be taking place before the next meeting, I will send an email after the meeting with The Town Clerk to confirm details. Please give this wide publicity and encourage people to take part in the parade.

Inventory.

It would be advantageous if we held an inventory of The Branch assets. The following items were identified by the meeting:

• The Standard, Frog and Gauntlets.
• The Plaque on the wall of The Woodmead Hall.
• The Chairman’s Medal of Office.
• The Goblet and Certificate in The Town Museum.
• The Quiz Trophy with Sylvia.
• The Jack Loveridge Trophy with David Humphrey.

The Chairman said there used to be a cup for the Best Member of The Youth Club; he will try and trace this.

The inventory will be checked annually and County will receive a copy.

The Final Agenda for The Annual Conference 2013. This held by The Chairman and a  copy was given to Ross Bennett.

09. Honorary Treasurer’s Report:

The Branch holds:	Last Report 06.03.13	This report 09.05.13
Current Account	£69.29	£256.33
Branch Funds at Head Office	£13,847.00	£13,015.00
Total	£13,916.29	£13,271.33

Notes: Figures include donations of £230.33 made at Jim McMurty's funeral service.

Membership fees of £832 have been collected by Head Office.

A copy of The Policy Statement concerning the legitimate use of Branch funds was given to each member present.

As a former member of the CCF, Martin feels it would be beneficial to explore the possibility of them becoming affiliated to The Branch; he will liaise with the school.

10. Welfare Chairman’s Report.

Welfare visits continue to Care Homes and also people's homes if requested.

11. Welfare Secretary’s Report.

I have missed two meetings, but Ross and I have chatted and I will visit any female cases as required.

12. Poppy Appeal Organiser’s Report.

Nothing except that I have banked £211 from the raffle held at the Dinner.

13. Recruitment Advisor’s Report:

We have lost one member, Mr McMurtry, since the last meeting.

• The membership now stands at 164 members.
• 105 Pay by Direct Debit
• 57 Pay by Cash
• 2 are Life members.

I am pleased to say we should soon have our first youth member, who is keen to wave a Legion flag.

The Welfare Form Alpha.

Dave explained the various pages that have to be completed on the form. There are sections for details about the proposed recipient and family, earnings, assets, income, expenditure and savings. To be eligible, candidates must have capital of under £10K.

This is a very thorough procedure and takes about two hours to complete. The final stage is the caseworkers report which is sent in for consideration.

14. Standard Bearer’s Activities:

No one knew why The Standard Bearer had not been at The Blessing of The Boats.

The Chairman will investigate and inform the next meeting.

15. Future Meetings:

GM	Thursday the 5th of September, at 19:00 hours in The Woodmead Halls.
AGM	Thursday the 28th of November 2013.

Meeting Closed: at 19:58 hours.