Minutes of Rotary Club of Gloucester Council meeting on Monday, May 11th 2015
Club number 19313 | Charity number 274097
1. PRESENT
Clive Hannis (president), David Seed, Martin Henshaw, Angela Seddon, Sue Smith, Jeremy Keck, John Smith, Ian Stuart, Jan Layton-Smith and John Lovell (secretary).
2. APOLOGIES
John Weygang, Amanda Chamberlayne and Sarah Powell.
3. MINUTES
Minutes of the April meeting and those of the club’s AGM were signed without amendment.
4. MATTERS ARISING
All matters under this head were dealt with elsewhere on the agenda.
5. PRESIDENT’S REPORT
- The President said a final meeting of the current Gloucester Rotary Presidents had been organised. It had been agreed that the incoming presidents would also be present to discuss matters of mutual interest.
- Following a brief discussion it was agreed that small teams from this club would visit other local clubs to advise them of our plans for our centenary with a view to possibly enlisting their support at some stage in the future.
6. SENIOR VICE-PRESIDENT’S REPORT
- Ian said a charity concert to raise money for mobile chemotherapy units in the county was to take place at the Cathedral on 27th February 2016. The concert would feature the London Welsh Male Voice Choir assisted by the Churchdown Male Voice Choir. Our club was being asked to organise the event. Ian sought the advice of council members. Concerns were expressed over (a) the cost of underwriting the event (b) our ability to sell tickets (c) the proximity of another Cathedral concert being sponsored by five local Rotary clubs on Friday March 18th (d) possible lack of support in Gloucester where the units do not operate. Ian said he would raise the issue with the other local clubs at the forthcoming meeting of presidents.
7. JUNIOR VICE-PRESIDENT’S REPORT
No report
8. IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT’S REPORT
- The secretary had circulated members with a comment from John Weygang which had drawn council’s attention to the fact that on a recent visit to Yeovil he had experienced all four Yeovil Rotary Clubs working together on two separate occasions. John hoped local clubs might similarly co-operate on a project in Gloucester. Members agreed with the sentiment and suggested the centenary (or Community awards) might provide an appropriate opportunity.
9. SECRETARY’S REPORT
The secretary reported one important business item had been decided at recent club meeting on Friday April 17th when club members had approved without dissention the following proposal: ‘That council agrees that £600 be provided from the General Account to support the Rodez programme for which money is available.’
10. TREASURER’S REPORT
In a brief report treasurer Martin Henshaw reported
- That in addition to the agreed club donation of £500 to be sent to support Rotary projects in Nepal following the recent earthquake, members had individually donated a further £650.
- Martin was confident that by the end of the financial year the club would be able to carry forward £5,000 into the next presidential year as well as having £5,000 to distribute as Rotary Community Awards.
11. COMMITTEE REPORTS
MEMBERSHIP:
No report
FELLOWSHIP AND HOUSE:
Jan reported that 57 members/guests and visitors from Rodez had signed up for the coming Friday evening’s meal to mark our French friends arrival in Gloucester.
INTERNATIONAL/FOUNDATION:
John Smith said that there were continuing concerns about the cost of the project at George in memory of Colin Eynon. £9,800 was needed of which £6,000 had been found. He had hoped that other clubs in district might be willing to subscribe but this was increasingly unlikely in view of the disaster in Nepal. Negotations were still proceeding with the Rotary club of George over costs.
COMMUNITY/YOUTH:
David Seed reported (a) that he had received 23 applications asking for a total of £17,000 from the Rotary Community Awards. An adjudicating committee would start sifting through the applications shortly. (b) He had received an unexpected phone call from a Podsmead councillor congratulating the club on its work in the community (c) David said it had been agreed to donate a further £150 to Abbeymead Rovers, which had been initially sponsored by our club, and had now reached the Rotary football finals. A coachload of players, parents and supporters were going to attend (d) David added that a sum of £155 had been agreed to go to the Salvation Army to buy start up equipment for a soup run on a Monday night to those in need. There was no commitment to ongoing costs. His committee was still seeking ways of feeding the homeless over the weekend.
SPORTS/SOCIAL:
Sue thanked Angela and her team for their excellent work in organising the Rodez visit. However her committee had decided not to run a Horticultural Cup competition this year nor would there be any friendship meals in view of the large amount of hosting needed for the Rodez visit. Sue also thanked Jeremy Keck for organising all the administration of the Senior Citizens Party which was a very successful team effort. He has offered to do this again next year.
COMMUNICATIONS:
Jeremy said that he was now able to analyse the interest being shown in various items on the website. This indicated more than 300 hits on the item on Neets and 76 on the Community Awards. It was suggested by the secretary that the president’s end of year report should include bullet points of club projects which could then be included on the site. A letter should also go to the Citizen informing and thanking local people for making these projects possible. It was also agreed that Jeremy could spend £20 on a new application to help him manage the club website.
FUNDRAISING:
In Amanda’s absence Sue reported on the production of raffle tickets in connection with the Tall Ships Festival. The raffle was being arranged with the help of Marketing Gloucester and its CEO, club Rotarian Jason Smith. Further details still had to be agreed but she was now confident that Rotary could man the event.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
(a) Centenary. Martin reported progress. Nicholas Bury had been asked to liaise with the Cathedral over a service and reception afterwards. This would enable the club to invite a large number of civic and Rotary guests at reasonable cost. There would also be a centenary dinner but mostly for club members. Another committee was also researching the cost of a permanent memorial in the city recording Rotary’s work over the past 100 years.
(b) Martin said that Steve Upshall had indicated that a shed and pull along trolleys would be extremely useful for car parking. This was currently being investigated.
(c) Jan Layton Smith said she was still working on a Rotary banner complete with roundel.
(d) John Smith expressed concern that Rotary was not represented at a number of significant city events. It was agreed to have a word with the current mayor and Chris Chatterton – a former mayor who is also a club member.
The next council meeting in June will be a dinner in Painswick. The next formal meeting will be in July at the start of Ian Stuart’s presidency. The secretary will liaise with Ian and inform members of suggested dates and a venue nearer the date of the first meeting.