Minutes Of The General Meeting Of The Lyme Regis Branch. Held At The Woodmead Halls, Lyme Regis, Thursday The 02nd Of October 2014 At 19:00 Hrs.

Minutes Of The General Meeting Of The Lyme Regis Branch.Held At The Woodmead Halls, Lyme Regis,
Thursday The 02nd  Of October  2014 At 19:00 Hrs.

Present:

Mr Cecil Quick	President
Mr David Manners	Vice Chairman
Mr Tony Smith	Honorary Secretary
Mr Martin Jones	Honorary Treasurer
Mr David Humphrey	Membership Secretary
Lt Col Ross Bennett	Welfare Chairman
Mrs Sylvia Marler	Poppy Appeal Organiser
Mr Jon Hunt	Member/Std Bearer
Mrs Angela Manners.	Member
Mr Peter Ward	Member
Mrs Jacqueline Ward	Member

01. Exhortation:

The President.

02.

Apologies:
Mr Kevin Taylor	Member/Parade Marshal
Absent:
Mrs Ania Driver	Welfare Secretary

03.Minutes of the Last Meeting:

The Minutes of the last Meeting held on the 04th of September 2014 were agreed as a true record and signed by The Chairman.

Proposed:

Angela Manners.

Seconded: Ross Bennett

Carried:

Unanimously.

04. Matters Arising:

None.

05. Additions to the Agenda.

None.

06.Chairman’s Report.

I attended a County Meeting, with police representation, regarding road closures. This was a fascinating meeting in that it became apparent that the annual Remembrance Parade is actually the responsibility of local authorities, and not The RBL. By a law passed in 2007, the police no longer have jurisdiction for the highways. In our area, this has now passed to WDDC and The Lyme Regis Town Council (LRTC). This means that we, along with all other branches, have to apply for a Temporary Road Closure Order.

The Secretary and I attended meetings with LRTC to ensure the application was submitted by the 30th of September and I have, today, received the full Road Closure Order for our Branch for Remembrance Sunday. An issue is - how is it to be marshalled. Not our Parade Marshals, but the traffic controllers. It is likely that the police will not be available. With the approval of The Committee, I would like to approach the local Rotary Club and The Regatta and Carnival Committee. Hopefully, by our next meeting I will have more information. The Secretary suggested that Alan Vian should be the first point of contact. The original application paperwork was given to The Chairman.

Martin asked if these developments for Remembrance Sunday have changed any of our procedures, such as the Risk Assessment. The Chairman replied that we should still carry out an assessment in conjunction with LRTC. All the changes are to do with road closure; the rest should stay as it has always been.

The letter to All Members, as discussed at the last GM, have, or will be, distributed by Dave Humphrey to 110 people in the Lyme area.

It was nice to host The County Committee Meeting here on the 10th of September. A very interesting evening, and thank you to those of you who were able to attend.

It is still proving impossible to get The South West Group together. Hopefully, by the next full County Committee Meeting there will be an elected member representing the  six branches.

County Matters. I have received a copy of The RBL Public Liability Certificate. The most recent updates of The Royal Charter; this is no longer issued to Branches but is available on line. I have a copy of The County Plan and the 2015 Manifesto. The Branch Plan will be discussed at the next GM.

07. Vice Chairman’s Report.

(Vacant Post.)

08. Honorary Secretary’s Report.

The LRTC hold regular meetings, to discuss forthcoming events, with the police, Fire Brigade, Coast Guard, Rotary and other interested parties. The next one is on Wednesday the 15th of October and The Chairman and I have been invited to attend. The positive aspect of our attendance, apart from being kept abreast with events, is the increased rapport this will afford with The LRTC and other local organisations.

A new idea, which we have to thank Dave Humphrey for organising, is having some time to socialise after meetings as the bar will be open. I put a poster in our Town NB to inform Members. The Chairman commented that this had worked extremely well after The County Meeting which had been held here, and he thanked Dave for coming up with a good idea.

The County Standard Bearers Competition is taking place on the 11th of  October, at 14:00 hours at Bovington Memorial Hall.

I also have a copy of The RBL Insurance on file. It runs from 1st of  October 2014 to 30th of  September 2015.

Dress Code for Meetings. There does not appear to be one at the moment. I think shirt and tie would be appropriate. After some discussion the male Members voted.

Proposed:	Tony Smith.	Seconded:	Dave Humphrey
For: 5	Against: 1 Peter Ward		Abstained: 1 Martin Jones	Carried: By majority

09. Honorary Treasurer’s Report.

		Last Report	This Report
		04 Sep 2014	02 Oct 2014
The Branch holds	Current Account	£398.89	£343.66
	Branch Funds at Head Office	£13,122.97	£13,122.97
	Total	£13,521.86	£13,466.63

Note:   The BFI amount will be more than is stated above as we do not have details of the interest earned.

Transfer of The Welfare Account monies to The General Account.

The final statement from Lloyd's Bank has been received and The Chairman will close the account. The money will be in a separate column in the main account.

Martin wondered if part of the Branch Funds could be ring-fenced to pay for expenses. Dave Humphrey stated that all the money donated to The Branch should go directly into Welfare, unless specifically stated otherwise. The only exceptions are subscriptions and membership fees.

Dave has worked out the budget required to run The Branch for a year.

There are 29 Members that result in postal costs of  £30.74p, (two letters each at 53p second class). The hire of this Hall – 8 two hour meetings at £8.50 an hour - £136. Total £166.74p. There are additional costs for envelops and wreaths.

At the moment we have 106 DD Members and 48 cash payers. If it is voted in at an AGM to charge £1 per Member it would raise £154. This does not cover all the costs but, as a branch, we will be seen to be doing something towards it. In this case, or if the increased charge is voted out, then The Branch can legitimately use its funds. Dave will have this as an Agenda Point at The AGM.

10. Welfare Chairman’s Report.

NTR. Routine visits continue. No new cases.

Dave Humphrey reported on County welfare matters.

There is no news from concerning welfare training.

Since the 8th of June, £100,000 plus has been spent on welfare cases in Dorset. Within the DP6 area, Bridport and Charmouth, there has been 4 cases totalling £998.95p. One case in the DT8 area, Beaminster, totalling £297.98p. This makes a total for this area of £1,296.93p.

It was agreed that these statistics were most interesting and it would be useful to include updates in future meetings.

11. Welfare Secretary’s Report.

Absent.

12. Poppy Appeal Organiser’s Report.

All preparations have been done for the Poppy Collection and all the wreaths are here. If anyone can think of people for street collections that I have not asked before it would be a great help.

13. Membership Secretary’s Report.

I have just received the Cash Members' Cards.

Dave asked if The LRTC had been invited to the HMS Formidable service in January. The Chairman confirmed that on the 11th of September, The Mayor and Council had been invited to all the Remembrancetide events and for HMS Formidable on the 6th of January. Dave added that it would be a good idea to invite representatives from County as soon as possible. Bridport RNA have shown an interest.

14. Parade Marshal's Report.

Not present.

15. Future Meetings:

The next General Committee Meeting will be held at 19:00hours, in The Woodmead Halls, on Thursday the 6th of November 2014.

AGM Thursday the 27th of November 2014.

Meeting Closed: at 19:44 hours.