Minutes of Rotary Club of Gloucester’s Council meeting on Monday, October 9th, 2017
Club number 19313 | Charity number 274097
1. PRESENT
President Sue Smith, David Seed, Amanda Chamberlayne, Jeremy Keck, Peter Nesbitt, Matt Cass, Ian Stuart, John Weygang and John Lovell.
2. APOLOGIES
John Smith, Rob Hall and Martin Henshaw.
3. MINUTES
The minutes of the September meeting were signed without amendment
4. MATTERS ARISING
At the September meeting it had been agreed that Leaves of Absence need not be sought in future although members would still need to make their apologies or be charged for their meals. However in the light of Rotary rules received since that meeting formal applications for Leaves of Absence will still have to be made for absences of more than 4 weeks.
5. PRESIDENT’S REPORT
In her report President Sue reported:-
She had received an e-mail from Martin H raising a query about the identity of trustees for the club’s charity account. It was decided that Jeremy Keck and John Weygang would resolve this issue with Martin and report back at the November council meeting.
In the light of the Extraordinary General Meeting which has to held in December to decided club officers for 2018-19 Sue agreed to approach various club members to ascertain their interest in becoming club president in 2020-2021 and subsequent years.
6. IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT
In the absence of Martin H, Ian Stuart reported on the progress of centenary arrangements. He reported that:-
Centenary dinner:- Following a visit to both Hatherley Manor Hotel and the Officers’ Mess at Imjin Barracks, Innsworth, it had been agreed that the Centenary Dinner will be held at the Officers’ Mess on Friday May 1st 2020.
Public event:- Martin had taken over temporary chairmanship of the committee arranging the Cathedral service and that recommendations for this service and other Cathedral based events will be made at the committee’s next meeting on October 23rd.
Permanent memorial:- The committee was now working with a firm of landscape architects to design a ‘wishing well’ at the Docks which might be sponsored by Peel Holdings.
Publicity:- Following an excellent presentation of proposals by committee chairman Caroline Topping it had been agreed that the suggestion for an over arching website for Rotary in Gloucester should be progressed. This will require financial input from all participating clubs since the site would reflect the work of all Rotary clubs in the city and have links with the same.
Ian raised the question of finance for centenary events. It was agreed that since it was the Rotary Club of Gloucester’s centenary our club should bear 50% of the costs of the centenary dinner, the public event and the permanent memorial with other clubs paying the remainder.
However since the website and other publicity projects were being designed to benefit all the city’s Rotary clubs costs should be shared equally between all participating clubs.
Both suggestions were approved unanimously.
7. PRESIDENT ELECT’S REPORT
No report at this meeting
8. SENIOR VICE-PRESIDENT’S REPORT
Matt reported on the Santa Fun Run to be held on Saturday, December 9th and said that permission was being sought to hold the event in Gloucester Park. Money will be raised by charging individuals and families to enter. It is hoped that participants will dress in suitable festive costumes. Participants will then make their way to the Tree of Light in Eastgate Street where medals/prizes will be awarded. The team involved in the organisation is Matt, Helen Chidgey, Richard Wright, Martin Henshaw and Chris Rawlings. This will be a precursor to a much larger event next year.
9. SECRETARY’S REPORT
Nothing to report
10. TREASURER’S REPORT
Jeremy said he and Martin H were due to meet re- last year’s accounts shortly but all accounts were ‘fine’ and with two exceptions all individual subscriptions had been paid for the current Rotary year.
11 COMMITTEE REPORTS
Membership
In a brief report Peter Nesbitt said four new members were in the pipeline.
Community/Youth
In another brief report David Seed said he had had a conversation with Mark Gale, chief executive of Gloucestershire Gateway Trust, the charitable partner which initiated the Gloucester Services, who told him that the services had already distributed around £100,000 through the Gateway Trust. Four of these grants had been in the region of £20,000 and had gone to depressed areas in the city and adjacent areas such as Stonehouse.
Fundraising
Amanda reported that to date around £2,000 had been raised by rugby car parks and that progress was being made on the Christmas events. She also reminded members of the proposed meeting on Friday, November 17th at the International School (formerly Recliffe College in Horton Road) when the speaker will be club member Richard Graham MP whose subject will be ‘Around the World in 60 years.’
Sports and Social
The minutes of the Sports and Social committee had been circulated prior to the meeting but mention was made that work on the Boulle Court on the Wall’s site was now under way and that it would be available for use in the New Year. This year’s walks, theatre trip to Twelfth Night at Rodborough, Presidential incoming party and dining out had all been very successful. Work was now proceeding on the Kids Out Christmas Party at GL1
International
In John Smith’s absence the secretary read an e-mail John had sent with international news. There were three points:-
The club had donated £500 towards the Shelterbox hurricane emergency. This was supplemented by an anonymous gift aided donation.
100 Aquaboxes had been delivered to the Derbyshire depot with thanks to Downton’s for their continued support.
News from District. There are more applications for District grants this year and the amounts requested would be reduced. This would clearly affect the amount of money available for the Fiji project. John then queried whether all clubs in District 1100 contributed to Foundation since this would have a bearing on the amount available to District to hand out.
No one knew the answer to John’s query and we await the outcome of our grant application which will probably not be known until after Christmas.
Fellowship/House
No report
Communications
No report
Any Other Business
There were no items under this heading.
Date of next meeting – Monday, November 13th at 6pm at John Weygang’s house in Barnwood Road, Gloucester. (Apology from Matt Cass)