Minutes of The General Meeting of The Lyme Regis Branch. Held at The Woodmead Halls, Lyme Regis, Thursday the 5th of March 2015 at 19:00 Hours.

MINUTES OF THE GENERAL MEETING OF THE LYME REGIS BRANCH.HELD AT THE WOODMEAD HALLS, LYME REGIS,THURSDAY THE 5th OF MARCH 2015 AT 19:00 HOURS.

Exhortation:

The Chairman.

Present:
Mr David Manners	Chairman
Mr David Humphrey	Vice Chairman/Membership Secretary
Mr Martin Jones	Honorary Treasurer
Mrs Ania Driver	Welfare Representative
Mrs Jacqueline Ward	Poppy Appeal Organiser
Mr Jon Hunt	Member
Mrs Sylvia Marler	Member
Mr Kevin Taylor	Member
Mr Peter Ward	Member
Apologies:
Mr Cecil Quick	President
Mr Tony Smith	Honorary Secretary
Mrs Angela Manners	Member

Minutes of the Last Meeting:

The Minutes of the last Meeting held on the 8th of January  2015 were agreed as a true record.

Proposed:	Jacqui Ward
Seconded:	Sylvia Marler
Carried:	unanimously.

Matters Arising:

It was confirmed that letters of appreciation had been sent to the former Chairman and to Ross Bennett. The HMS Vivid plaque will be fixed into position on the return of the hall chairman from holiday. AGM guests to be discussed at this meeting.

Additions to the Agenda.

None.

Chairman.

Much correspondence from Head Quarters was briefly noted. These included information regarding membership arrangements, VE Day 2015, County Newsletter, standard bearers attending event at Arnhem. Afghan Veterans parade in London, committee expenses and the comradeship and almonisation project.

The Branch now has its own facebook page to assist in communicating with our members. It has attracted much interest.

The chairman apologised for any confusions occurring from the visitors at our last Annual General Meeting. It was agreed that at our September meeting, any proposed visitors for the 2015 AGM would be agreed by vote.

The Royal British Legion are planning many events to commemorate VE Day on 8-10th May.  The committee agreed that with such short notice we continue with our plans to commemorate VJ Day instead.  This weekend also coincides with the RNLI’s Blessing of the Boats Service.

Efforts continue to arrange a meeting with the other five branches in West Group, but two branches still remain disinterested hindering our progress.

Vice Chairman.

Information from Welfare: £28,035:00 has been spent on cases in Dorset between July

and October 2014.

The Vice Chairman asked about the future of the Presidents position within the branch, due to the fact that Cecil is no longer functioning as the President, and it was agreed that it would be discussed at the next meeting in May.

Honorary Secretary.

Application Forms  for The Branch Management Course in Shaftesbury, on the 11th and 12th  of July 2015, for Ania and Jacqui, were completed and sent to Bob at County, who submitted them to HQ.

Honorary Treasurer.

		Last Report 08 Jan 2015	This Report 05 Mar 2015
The Branch holds	Current Account	£366.95	£389.95
	Branch Funds at Head Office	£10,772.26	£11,658.06
	Total	£11,139.21	£12,048.01

Notes: Three donations have been received, via Wakelys:

In memory of Edgar Hillyard	£23.00(included in the above figures).
In memory of Violet Gosling	£140.00 (yet to clear).
In memory of Beatrice Hill	£186.15 (yet to clear).

Welfare Representative.

Four home visits have been achieved. Ania now has paperwork for CRN checking for Caseworkers and visitors.

Ania is in contact with a further two members requiring assistance.

Poppy Appeal Organiser.

The handover to Jacqui from Sylvia has not fully been completed.  Sylvia announced it would be done soon.

The Vice Chairman announced that our branch had won the Isle of Purbeck Medium Branch Certificate 2012-13 at the County AGM which was presented to Sylvia by the Chairman This too will be on display at the Woodmead Hall.

Membership Secretary.

We have lost four members since the last meeting in January, I have however managed to recruit two new members to The Branch.

The Membership stands at: 153 members:

111 Pay by Direct Debit, an increase of one from May.

38 Pay by Cash,

2 are Life Members.

2 are Youth Members.

From the 150 paying members 95 have chosen to use the gift age option, in accordance with the Branch Three Year Plan. I hope to increase this amount over time. (There are members of The Committee who need to address this).

As you are aware I issued MS4 membership application forms to all committee members at the January meeting. Well done Kev for using the form to good use and recruiting a member, I will process him this evening.

All letters and menu's have been sent out to the membership regarding The Branch meal on April 25th at The Golf Club.

Parade Marshal.

Thought that we should do something for VE Day, but it was agreed again to be impractical.

Standard Bearer.

Jon will attend an Armed Forces Day Service at 11.00 in Weymouth on 21st June.  This service will be led by the Royal British Legion.

Members.

NTR.

Future Meetings:

The next General Committee Meeting will be held at 19:00hours, in The Woodmead Halls, on the Thursday the 14th of May 2015. [SECOND Thursday due to Elections].

Meeting Closed: at

19:58 Hours.