The National Association of Disability Officers Limited
Annual General Meeting
Monday 11th July 2005
COMPANY SECRETARY REPORT
I think it is fair to say that over the past year, NADO has faced both challenges and
changes.
In the months following last year’s annual conference and AGM, the health of our
Administrator and Company Secretary, Jane Pawluk, continued to deteriorate. Jane had
been diagnosed with secondary cancer earlier in the year but had been determined to
continue in her role at NADO.
However, eventually Jane had to admit that some additional support in the office would be
wise and Andy Weissenberger was recruited to the Administration Office to ensure that
membership renewal notices were kept up to date.
At the beginning of September, it was clear that Jane’s condition was getting worse and
with the Autumn Conference just around the corner, Beverley Fraser stepped in for two
days a week to ensure that the event went ahead and ran as smoothly as possible.
Jane sadly died at the end of September. Those of you who knew Jane, or had contacted
her at the NADO Administration office, will, I am sure, remember the enthusiasm and
professional way in which she ran the office, often working much longer hours, without
pay, than she was employed for, she strived for NADO to represent its members in the
best way it could.
Although NADO had been looking to re-locate the Administration office, Jane’s illness
meant that this move had to be made much quicker than planned. New offices were
located at Moulton Park in Northampton and in mid-September the NADO Administration
was put into boxes and transported to a new home. This in itself presented its problems –
the address had changed, the telephone and fax number had changed, but with the help of
re-directed mail and telephone calls, we hope there was minimal disruption to our
members.
Andy continued to keep the membership up to date as best he could, but at only 20 years
old was really ‘thrown in at the deep end’ at times being the only member of staff in the
office. Beverley gave support up until the Autumn conference, and was recruited into the
position of Administrator from 1st January 2005.
Unfortunately Andy was offered another job, giving him further career opportunities and he
left NADO at the end of March. The Board of Directors would like to express their thanks
to Andy for everything he did over a very difficult period and wish him well in his future
career.
Lily Harris has joined the office on temporary contract and we hope to appoint a
permanent replacement for Andy in the next few months.
NADO Conferences have continued to be a success, The Autumn Conference in
Manchester, which was run as a repeat of the over-subscribed Spring Conference was just
as successful as the London event, with all delegate places filled and I would like to thank
the Speakers who agreed to come back in November to do it all again.
At all of our conferences, we ask delegates to complete an evaluation form, and following
the Autumn conference we used the information provided to plan the theme of this year’s
one-day conferences. The Spring Conference ‘Supporting Students with Mental Health
Issues’ took place in London on Wednesday 9th March and will be repeated in Manchester
on Wednesday 2nd November. Again, my thanks go to the Speakers who presented in
March and who have agreed to travel to Manchester in November.
We looked at the evaluation forms from this years Spring Conference and from your
feedback we are planning that next years one-day conferences will cover Asperger’s
syndrome. These conferences are of course only in the early planning stages, and further
information will be sent out in the next few months.
In September this year, NADO in partnership with Bond Pearce Solicitors and the
Disability Rights Commission, will be running an additional conference – Implementing the
Disability Equality Duty in post-16 education and update on the Disability Discrimination
Act 1995. This will take place in Birmingham on Thursday 8th September. Places are
already filling up, so early booking is recommended.
There is information and booking forms in your conference packs about both the
September and Autumn one-day conferences. If you wish to complete the booking forms
while you are here, please take it along to the NADO Office on the ground floor.
I hope that you find this conference helpful and informative and that we can add it to our
list of successful events.
NADO want to make our conferences successful for you. Our aim is to provide you with
opportunities for learning and information, so please let us know what we do well, or not so
well, by completing the evaluation form, and most importantly, let us know what you would
like to see covered by future conferences, and please let us know about any Speakers you
feel could make a helpful contribution.
As we move ahead from this AGM, there will be changes to the NADO Board of Directors.
Deb Viney, Iris Corfield and Steve Russell are retiring. I would like to thank them for their
support and time – you will be missed. Steve will not only be leaving the Board of NADO,
but is leaving the country - emigrating to New Zealand. We wish him and his family well.
Please keep in touch, Steve.
I am delighted to announce that as the only nominations received, Vicki Jackson will be
joining the Board as FE Representative, and Catherine Badminton as Ordinary Director.
We had 4 nominations for HE Representative and following a ballot of members, Karen
Robson has been elected to the Board.
I will not be responsible for delivering this report next year, as following the AGM, the
Board would like to appoint Beverley Fraser, our Administrator, as Company Secretary.
NADO is a growing organisation and the Board of Directors look forward to welcoming new
members during the next year with whom we can work together.