Minutes of Rotary Club of Gloucester’s Council meeting on Monday, July 10, 2017
Club number 19313 | Charity number 274097
1. PRESENT
President Sue Smith, David Seed, Jan Layton-Smith, Amanda Chamberlayne, John Smith, Jeremy Keck, Peter Nesbitt, John Weygang, Matt Cass, Jason Smith and John Lovell.
2. APOLOGIES
Chris Soane, Ian Stuart, Rob Hall and Martin Henshaw
3. MINUTES
The minutes of the May meeting were signed without amendment
4. MATTERS ARISING
There were no matters arising.
5. PRESIDENT’S REPORT
In her report President Sue:-
Thanked Matt for the use of his office. She also thanked Rob Hall and Amanda Chamberlayne for arranging her incoming party
Reminded members there would be no council meetings in August or January.
Commented on the provisional programme which had already been distributed to club members and to members of Inner Wheel. Spare copies would be given to prospective members and visitors by Peter Nesbitt.
The Mayor had sent Sue an invitation to attend a 10th anniversary service to mark the 2007 floods. Sue had asked for – and been offered – additional tickets for Rob Hall who was Rotary president in that year.
Purple for Polio. The club had been offered boxes of crocuses (5,000 for £95) as part of Rotary’s End Polio campaign. It was agreed that Sue would raise the matter at the upcoming business meeting to ascertain other interest before ordering and would circulate an e-mail alerting members to the offer.
She had invited Jason Smith to be a co-opted member of council to advise on marketing both during her year and into the future.
6. IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT
No report at this meeting
7. PRESIDENT ELECT’S REPORT
No report at this meeting
8. SENIOR VICE-PRESIDENT’S REPORT
No report at this meeting.
9. SECRETARY’S REPORT
John reported that following an e-mail around council it had been agreed to a request from Chris Chatterton who had suffered a back injury for an open ended Leave of Absence. It had also been agreed that Lorraine Dancey be given three months Leave of Absence for business reasons. Both House and the treasurer had been informed.
10. TREASURER’S REPORT
Jeremy K said both the general and charity accounts were ‘in the black’.
He was now in the process of preparing individual end of year statements for members indicating money owed or money to be repaid.
Jeremy said that auditing the charity account might be difficult in view of Nigel Halls’ present circumstances. An alternative auditor would be sought if Nigel was unavailable.
11 COMMITTEE REPORTS
Membership
Peter Nesbitt said:-
There were now 46 members with an average attendance of 59% during the past 6 months.
There were two prospective new members in the pipeline (Lily Power and Neil Hamilton)
There were 12 ‘Friends’ of the club including three Inner Wheel members
A copy of the results of a Member Satisfaction Survey had been circulated and his committee were addressing some of the issues which had been raised. He and Ian Stuart who had analysed the responses were thanked by President Sue and the report was unanimously accepted by council.
President Sue said that only two Thursday evening meetings would be held during her year – one at the end of this September and the other on Maundy Thursday in 2018.
Community/Youth
David Seed highlighted the following:-
Kids Out – Winter event. Helen Chidgey had undertaken to organise a swimming pool party at GL1 early in December for 150 local disadvantaged children. The Kids Out national charity had offered £5 a head towards costs.
Young Voices – This is a national event for primary school choirs and after a term of rehearsals there would be an event at the NEC next January involving up to 5,000 children. The cost was £90 a child and David’s committee had agreed to offer to pay for five children from each of Coney Hill and Carlton Road schools since some families would be unable to afford such an outlay.
Young Voices individual competiton – David said that in addition to supporting the choir competition it had been agreed to organise a local Young Voices for individual soloists. However an organiser was needed and he hoped a club member would respond.
Community Awards – David thanked all those who had helped in any way to make the awards event such a success. He said he had received several complimentary letters. Among these was one from the Lord Lieutenant congratulating the club on its ‘bold and forward thinking’. He was already compiling a list of possible improvements for next year and welcomed any further suggestions. In turn David was thanked for his sterling efforts in growing this event in the past few years.
Fundraising
Amanda C said that in 2016-17 the club had fundraised in excess of £40,000 with more expected – a tremendous result. Of this car parking had netted well over £14,000 with a further £3,600 from Christmas collections, £6,700 from the Tree of Light, £2,750 from Tall Ships Festival (to date) and £13,750 from the Homeless and Vulnerable sub-fund.
Amanda also reminded members of a fundraising evening at Highnam Court on Friday, September 1st when the speaker will be Judge Jamie Tabor. Space – and therefore tickets – will be limited and will be sold on a first come first served basis.
Sports and Social
There was no report although it was understood that planned events were proceeding satisfactorily.
International
John S reported:-
Aquaboxes – During this year John anticipated that the club would top the 1,500 mark for filling aquaboxes (an amazing achievement thanks largely to Ken Watson). However his committee would be considering whether this was still the most effective way of helping with emergency aid.
Colin Eynon Memorial Project – John said that both our own club and Gloucester Quays had bid for £1,000 district grants but although approaches had been made to both Gloucester Severn and Rotary at Kingsholm there had been no response while Severn Vale had already made application for a district grant (which is restricted to one per club).
Fellowship/House
Jan said that only 12 members had so far responded to her inventory questionnaire about club equipment and paraphernalia.
She was also still researching the market to acquire a lockable cupboard on wheels in which to store items for Friday meetings. She was in contact with both Bob Short and Rob Hall who might be able to help.
Communications
Jason Smith spoke about how to improve the club’s presence on social media (Facebook/ Twitter/Instagram). Items, particularly video clips, could be used but would need to be carefully edited. It was agreed that he, Martin Henshaw, Jeremy Jeck and Matt Cass should investigate further and then report at a club meeting.
Any Other Business
President Sue said that a proposal for the club to be involved with the city’s carnival parade had been deferred until next year.
The secretary had passed to her details of the Gloucester Day procession on Saturday, September 2nd in which the club was taking part. Jan L-S had a banner.
David Seed said he had visited Swindon Phoenix Club and had received a cheque for £4,000 for the Jaipur Limb project – an event had been held earlier this year attended by several of our club members.
Amanda C made a plea that in future July council meetings should avoid clashing with Wimbledon.
Date of next meeting – Monday September 4th at President Sue’s home at 247 Stroud Road at 6pm