THE ROYAL BRITISH LEGION
“Y” Services (Garats HaY) National Branch
(BR 3502)
President: Col (Ret’d) E Sambell OBE
Chairman:
Mr D Weir MBE
Vice Chairman: Mr N Berry
Secretary:
Mr J K Neal
Treasurer:
Mr J R Farrell
www.garatshay.org.uk
MINUTES OF THE ROYAL BRITISH LEGION “Y” SERVICES (GARATS HAY) BRANCH
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING HELD AT THE GREENFIELDS SOCIAL CLUB,
LOUGHBOROUGH, LEICESTERSHIRE ON SATURDAY 8TH NOVEMBER 2014
COMMENCING AT 1400 HOURS.
MEMBERS PRESENT – 35
1.
ACT OF REMEMBRANCE:
The Chairman remembered those of our Branch and community, including Branch Members Peter
Merritt and Alan Kilby, who had passed away in the past year, and recited the Act of Homage.
2.
TO CLOSE THE AGENDA:
There were no additional items and the Secretary closed the Agenda
3.
CHAIRMAN’S WELCOME AND OPENING REMARKS:
The Chairman welcomed all those attending the Meeting and commented on the very good turnout.
He then introduced our new President, Eric Sambell, and his wife Kay and referred to Eric’s service at
H Troop in the 1970s and his charitable work for the Rotarians which he felt would be invaluable to the
Branch in the future.
4.
MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
The minutes of the previous Annual General Meeting held on Saturday 9th November 2013 had been
made available to members through our website. The Secretary asked if there were any comments,
and as none were forthcoming, he requested they be accepted as a true record. It was
Proposed by: Ted Roberts
Seconded by:
Pete Derrick
That the Minutes be accepted as a true record
Carried Unanimously
5.
Action: Secretary
MATTERS ARISING FROM THE PREVIOUS MEETING
The Secretary referred to Minute 17 of the 2013 AGM Minutes, specifically a resolution to Annual
Conference:
THIS CONFERENCE URGES THE ROYAL BRITISH LEGION TO
CHANGE THE NAME OF ‘MILITARY MEMBERSHIP’ TO ‘MILITARY FRIENDS OF THE LEGION’.
Our delegates had proposed this resolution, which had the support of National Branches District, but
which was LOST. It was considered that Conference had failed to grasp the objective of the
resolution.
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6.
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
The Secretary stated he had received apologies from: Ian Piears, Peter Westwell, John Brown, Terry
Whittles, John Masterton, Gordon Rust, John and Cathie Clark, Mike Hill, Ted Haslam, Les Davidson,
Derek Boyle, John Swann, David Whimpenny, Bob Etherton, Ian Neal, and Tom Hardingham.
7.
PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS
Eric Sambell gave his first address as President of the Branch:
‘I would like to say from the outset how much I enjoyed this weekend last year and my utmost surprise
when I received a letter from our chairman inviting me to be your president. A daunting task on many
accounts firstly because although I have known about the Legion throughout my Army career, I knew
little about its internal structure and workings.
Secondly, I would be taking over from past President David with all his knowledge and experience of
the Legion.
And thirdly as OC H troop, I had to quickly learn about the operations and the technical and
engineering side of the business but my career did not take me back to direct involvement with the
units that many of our members have spent a career serving, although I remained briefed on the
organisation and worked closely with the Government Department we all know well.
Very briefly, my career after Dannenberg took me to the MoD for a number of tours and also to
SHAPE Belgium.
Since leaving the Army I have spent much of my time as a volunteer principally as a Rotarian. Rotary
has many similarities to the Legion. Its motto “Service above Self” makes it one of the world’s primary
non-governmental service organisations with 1.2 million members in over 200 countries and regions.
It is often said that regrets in life are usually what you did not do rather than what you did. I have
always followed the principle of saying yes when asked, which is probably why I am standing here in
front of you today. Two years after joining Rotary I was asked to be President of my club and
assumed the office two years later. From there I was asked to be District Chairman of our charity and
after filling that post for 3 years I was asked to stand for District Governor. Our district covers
Somerset and part of Wiltshire and Dorset.
Next summer I will be completing a 3 year stint as a national committee chairman and I then intend to
stand down and revert to being a normal club Rotarian. Rotary has kept me busy but there have been
benefits, Kay and I attended District Governor training week in San Diego along with 530 other District
governors from across the world and earlier this year we were asked by our International President to
represent him and his wife at a District conference in Sweden. What I have learnt is that Rotarians
across the world share the same values and interests and so it is also with the military. Whilst serving
in NATO, I learnt that the common bond of military thinking and approach overcame any differences
due to national culture of the 11 nations represented at SHAPE.
I tell you this not because I feel you might be interested in my Rotary CV but because I hope that you
might accept that my lack of knowledge of the Legion is in some way offset by the experience I have
gained in another charitable service organisation.
I see the role of becoming your President as one of service to you, your committee and the Legion.
For you to use me as a resource or sounding board as you see fit. This branch is unique in that we all
have a common interest of a particular type of military operation and that is what brings us together.
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Our mission is principally fundraising and welfare but we should not forget the fellowship we enjoy,
being in the company of like-minded individuals.
I look forward to working with you, getting to know you and enjoying your company in service to those
in need.’
8 a) CHAIRMAN’S REPORT AND OBJECTIVES:
The Chairman reviewed the past year and set objectives for the next 12 months:
Increase awareness of welfare needs and welfare support available
I believe we have measured up well to this objective, given the limitations placed upon us as a
National Branch. We have made ourselves available to act as a conduit to counties should we
become aware of any welfare cases, but I expect Peter will tell us that once again – and thankfully –
we have had no direct welfare problems within our membership.
Promote Comradeship and Communication and a more active participation by the broader
membership in the business and social activities of the branch.
Well in this respect, Sarah has worked hard throughout the year to build up our website and the rest of
us have done our best to get people to visit it. I adopted a belt and braces approach whereby I got
Pete, our Membership Secretary, to e-mail the membership every time something new was put on the
website, but have now come around to Pete’s way of thinking which is that that is a pointless and time
consuming activity. The website is there and all the membership should now know of its existence and
utility.
As far as getting more people involved in our social activities, I believe the summer gathering in
Cheltenham this year was a great success, but suspect the numbers who attended would have been
a lot less if it had not been for the Golf tournament. Perhaps, we can look at doing things a bit
different next year when we discuss a summer gathering for 2015 later in the agenda.
Achieve a 20% increase in Branch Membership
Pete will give us the exact figures on membership later, but I am
afraid we have not achieved a 20% increase. I believe there has certainly been an increase but
certainly not 20%. I can only ask that you all look back at your own recruiting efforts over the past
year and ask yourselves if you have done as much as you would like.
Achieve a 20% increase in funds raised for the Poppy Appeal
Once again – we will hear some figures from John Farrell and from Steph Harris for our fundraising
efforts over the past year. I doubt that the figure of a 20% increase has been achieved. As far as I
can recall – and I would be delighted to be corrected – the Lincoln 10km was the only true fundraiser.
I should not fail to mention that once again the Poppy Appeal benefited from a magnificent
anonymous donation from one of our members.
Looking ahead to next year
I believe we should maintain the same general objectives because they speak for themselves. They
state what we as a Branch are here to do.
Welfare is clear
Better communication is on-going as we develop both the website and Face Book page.
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An increase in membership would be splendid. I really thought that it was realistic to achieve a figure
of 500 during the three years of my tenure as chairman, but we are not progressing at the speed
which I had hoped for. Recruiting is a proactive business. New members do not fall off trees.
The Poppy Appeal – I would dearly like to see some new initiatives in this respect – please put your
thinking caps on.
8. b) THE FUTURE OF THE BRANCH
Chairman’s Statement:
There are obviously going to be some changes within the committee in the next couple of
years.
We will deal specifically with this matter at item 12 in this agenda.
But since it is now too late for any candidacy submissions we can safely say that all the elections will
be unopposed.
That is all very good news and I am confident we will continue to have a strong committee.
Ted Roberts is not standing for re-election and so at this point I would like John to formally minute our
gratitude for the years of outstanding service which he has given to your committee.
Thank you Ted.
I was initially very concerned about what happens next year when John Farrell stands down as
Treasurer. But the good news is that we have identified a replacement, Lynda Smith (Lyn Green to
most of you) who will double bank John over the coming year, do the necessary training course and
take over, if elected, at next year’s AGM.
Further to this – John Neal’s tenure has secretary will end in 2015 and he has indicated to me that he
would like to stand down from the post of Secretary then. So we must now start looking for a suitable
volunteer candidate to take over. John has assured me that he will be on hand to mentor and advise
the new secretary.
Now you may be aware that my 3 year tenure as chairman will also end at the AGM in 2015.
However, I do not believe it would be good practice for the Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer to
leave the committee at the same time. Nor do I think that I would be being fair to Lynda or to John’s
successor, if, having persuaded them to take over, I were to do a runner and leave them on their own.
So – and I have discussed this with the Vice Chairman elect, Nick Berry – I am willing to stand for reelection in 2015, if the committee wishes me to do so and the membership elect me. It would not
necessarily be my intention to do another three full years, but I would remain in office long enough to
ensure the transition between the new and old committee officers has gone smoothly.
Please understand – I am not pushing myself forward for re-election in 2015, I simply believe this
would be the best solution. If anyone has a better one, I would be delighted to hear it now and I
certainly will not be offended if you indicate to me that three years of my chairmanship will suffice
thank you.
Does anyone have anything to say on this matter at this point?
There were no observations or objections from the floor.
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9.
REPORTS
a.
Secretary:
John Neal reported as follows:
Communications had been mainly routine with reports from the national Trustees and the Membership
Council where John Clark represents us and other branches which make up the non-geographic
National District. Dave Street is the District Chairman and we are represented on the District
Committee by Jim Mc Dermott. Linda McDermott has served us as District Delegate. We are
represented at national level by Terry Whittles as Vice-Chairman and David Whimpenny and Martyn
Tighe are members of the ruling body, the Board of Trustees.
We had a number of applications for Festival of Remembrance tickets. In accordance with national
policy we could only apply for 4 tickets, and in accordance with Branch policy priority was given to
members attending last year’s AGM. A ballot was held and the lucky recipients were Art and Jan
Weaver and Les and Lizzie Davidson.
Unfortunately Art and Jan were unable to attend due to family issues at the last minute and due to the
timing the tickets were quickly transferred through Head Office to Tom and Brenda Hardingham who
live in the same village and could make immediate arrangements.
John apologised to Linda and Jim McDermott, who met the criteria of attending the last AGM but
whose application was mislaid and thus was not included in the ballot. To avoid future problems
John requested that in future all applications for Festival of Remembrance tickets be made by
email or letter to the Secretary (details on the website).
As we are aware that the four tickets per branch rule has not always been applied throughout the
Legion, Jim McDermott had made representation on our behalf to District.
Following the Secretary’s report there was a discussion about the ticket issue anomaly. Dave Street,
in his capacity as District Chairman, agreed that the matter needed to be revisited at District level. He
stated that there were more tickets than four per Branch within the District and that larger branches
than ours were issued more tickets.
It was AGREED by the membership that the current branch policy on ticket issue be continued,
but a sub-committee be formed specifically to review the general Legion ticket issue policy
and make recommendations. Art Weaver, Bob White, and Jim McDermott agreed to undertake
this task.
Our President voiced his concerns about keeping members in touch with one-another, and suggested
that a Branch Members Handbook could be produced. This would hold the basic contact details of all
members and enable visits to be made to meet any welfare or comradeship needs or desires, and
would also perhaps aid recruiting. Data Protection issues had to be looked at and addressed as
necessary, and Eric Sambell offered to check out the legal ramifications and report back. This
initiative was welcomed by the floor and Eric agreed to look into this project.
b.
Membership: Pete Derrick presented his report:
We have 435 confirmed Members.
Since the Nov 2013 Report, we have gained 10 Members.
366 of our members are male and 69 are female.
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431 pay by Direct Debit and 4 by Cash.
c.
Welfare:
NTR. Welfare matters are dealt with by professional staff
d.
Branch Standard Bearer:
Tom Neal stated he had attended Armed Forces Day at the NMA
and Peter Merritt’s funeral. Tom was congratulated on his excellent turnout and bearing.
e.
National Branches District:
Jim McDermott reported on District activities including the
debate on Festival of Remembrance tickets which concerned several other branches and had been
referred to John Clark, the District’s representative on the Membership Council, and the introduction of
new Branch Bye-laws and e-voting. He had also drawn attention to our concerns regarding the waste
of funds in sending hard copy forms and notifications out to branches where e-copies had already
been sent.
f.
Poppy Appeal: In the absence of the Poppy Appeal Organiser, Stephanie Harris, the
Secretary presented her report and explained the breakdown of figures.
Poppy Appeal (SBC10) Report – Annual General Meeting 2014
Receipts and payments for the Poppy Appeal for year ending 30 September 2014.
SBC1
0
RECEIPTS
Lincoln 10k
Direct
Sponsorship
(Just Giving)
PAYMENTS
S
Direct into PA
account
(Awaiting
payment)
£739.80
£739.80
20/11/
2013
Kerry Clark London
Marathon branch
sponsorship Non gift aid
F
S
£739.80
£739.80
£500.00
£1,239.80
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20/11/
2013
Bob Stather Lincoln 10k branch
sponsorship Non gift aid
20/11/
2013
Kerry Clark London
Marathon Cash Raised Gift Aided
20/11/
2013
Bob Stather Lincoln 10k Cash raised Gift aided
F
20/11/20
13
£500.00
Banked (V3)
S
£1,000.0
0
£1,739.80
F
£1,739.80
£355.00
£2,094.80
F
20/11/20
13
£172.67
Banked (V4)
Gift Aid
S
£527.67
£2,267.47
04/12/
2013
Promotional
items income
D
£2,267.47
04/12/20
13
£40.00
Banked (V5)
D
£40.00
£2,307.47
30/05/
2014
Lincoln 10k
Branch
donation
30/05/
2014
Lincoln 10k
April 2014 Cash raised Gift Aid
30/05/
2014
T Neal Donation - Gift
Aid
F
£1,088.6
4
£2,307.47
27/06/20
14
Banked (V6)
£1,088.6
4
£3,396.11
F
£3,396.11
£195.00
£3,591.11
D
27/06/20
14
£700.00
Banked (V7)
Gift Aid
£895.00
£4,291.11
£4,291.11
Thank you to everyone who has helped raise funds for the Poppy Appeal, both for the branch and nationally.
The 2013 Poppy Appeal raised an amazing £39 million. The target for the 2014 Appeal (October 2014 to
September 2015) is £40 million.
Steph Harris
Poppy Appeal Organiser
Branch Treasurer John Farrell confirmed the figures agreed with his.
10.
COMMENTS ON THE REPORTS AND ADOPTION OF OBJECTIVES:
Concern was expressed from the floor in respect of the District report indicating the proposed changes
to the election of District Committee members, whereby they could come from any Branch within the
District and ultimately could all come from one branch.
Members requested the Committee report their concerns back to the District Committee and sought
assurance there could not be a takeover of all Committee posts by one branch.
The Chairman requested that the reports and objectives be accepted.
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Proposed by: John Farrell
Seconded by:
Carried Unanimously
11.
Art Weaver
Action: Secretary
PRESENTATION AND ADOPTION OF ACCOUNTS:
The Treasurer presented a detailed explanation of the audited accounts for the 12 month period
ending 30 June 2014. (Note – the audited accounts for this period are appended to these Minutes.)
He advised members that although the accounts had been examined and submitted to Head Office
electronically, it was necessary for the AGM to formally adopt them. John Farrell then presented his
Financial Statement
FINANCIAL STATEMENT AS AT 4 NOVEMBER 2014
HSBC Bank
£404.75
RBL Branch Funds Initiative £4049.33
The Chairman asked for the adoption of the accounts which was:
Proposed by:
Gerry Kane
Seconded by:
Carried Unanimously
Bob White
Action: Treasurer, Secretary, PAO
David Street congratulated the Treasurer on his presentation which was warmly received by
members.
12. a. ELECTION OF BRANCH COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Pete Derrick (Committee and Membership Secretary), Jim McDermott, and Linda McDermott had all
been duly nominated and seconded and were elected unopposed. There were no further
nominations. As no further nominations had been submitted the Committee could co-opt members
until the next AGM.
Action: Secretary / Committee
(Note: Branch policy is that Members who wish to stand for election to the Committee must firstly
submit a nomination and CV)
12. b. ELECTION OF BRANCH VICE CHAIRMAN:
Nick Berry, outgoing Vice Chairman, wished to stand for a new 3 year term and had been nominated,
seconded, and had submitted his CV. He was elected, unopposed.
13.
ELECTION OF NATIONAL DISTRICT CHAIRMAN
Dave Street’s tenure as District Chairman ends January 2015. The Branch Chairman explained that
any branch within the District could nominate a candidate to succeed him and – if necessary – an
election would be held at the District Annual Meeting. David had indicated he would accept
nomination for a new term and submitted his CV which had been published on the website. He had
been proposed by Martyn Tighe and seconded by John Clark. Dennis invited comments before
putting the candidature to the membership which unanimously AGREED to the nomination.
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David thanked the Chairman and Secretary for their cooperation in this matter and for the
membership’s support. Updating District issues he advised that Skill Force Branch had been closed
as it failed to uphold the Legion’s objectives but that a new Cyclists Branch had been opened. District
and County Secretaries (ours is Lara Dobbie at Head Office) would be known as Membership Support
Officers from next year.
Action: Secretary
MEMBERSHIP COUNCIL NOMINATION
The Chairman advised that John Clark’s tenure as the District Representative on the Membership
Council would end in 2015, and that our Branch could put forward to District a nomination for a
candidate to fill this post for the next 3 years. John had indicated in writing his willingness to serve for
a further 3 years and had submitted a CV which had been published on the website. After Dennis
asked for nominations John Clark was
Nominated by Nick Berry
Seconded by Dave Etherton
As the Branch Nomination to District for the Membership Council elections.
Action: Secretary
14.
APPOINTMENT OF DISTRICT COMMITTEE AGM DELEGATES
The role of a delegate was explained and following discussion
Linda Mc Dermott and Art Weaver were APPOINTED delegates to the District AGM on 10
January 2015 in London.
Action: Secretary / Linda Mc Dermott / Art
Weaver
15.
APPOINTMENT OF ANNUAL CONFERENCE DELEGATES
Following discussion
Art Weaver and Jim McDermott were APPOINTED to represent the Branch as delegates to the
Annual Conference at Southport 16-17 May 2014.
Action: Secretary/Bob Oldfield/Pete Derrick
16.
ANNUAL CONFERENCE MOTIONS
There were no Conference motions.
17. CHANGE OF BRANCH NAME
The Chairman reminded members that the Branch was originally called Garats Hay Branch to reflect
the fact that the Branch was formed there in the early nineties. Since then Garats Hay had closed and
the business in which we served has become very much tri-service. Consequently, the words ‘Garats
Hay’ in the Branch title mean little to anyone in the Army who joined after about 1995, nor do they
mean a lot to potential Royal Navy and RAF members.
This was considered an obstacle to recruiting new members from the serving Y Services community
and at the AGM in about 2007 it was proposed to change the name to Y Services Branch. This
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proposition met with a certain amount of opposition so a compromise was reached and the branch
was renamed Y Services (Garats Hay) Branch.
The change had not been a complete success and there still seems to be some lack of enthusiasm
from potential recruits. So do we drop the Garats Hay now?
Dennis continued by asking members to consider a new name if they thought it necessary, not
forgetting the financial impact of purchasing a new middle panel for the Standard and the substantial
work which would be needed on the website.
Members debated the pros and cons of a proposed name change. Nick Berry felt that the title did not,
in fact, affect recruitment from the RAF. At Annual Conference some delegates thought the ‘Y’ stood
for ‘Youth’. Others felt that Garats Hay was still part of our heritage and history, and this should be
explained to potential members even if the Branch was generally referred to as the Y Services
Branch.
Following the discussion it was
Proposed by Dave Gear
Seconded by Charles Speed
That the Branch title remain Y Services (Garats Hay) and this was AGREED.
18.
SUMMER MEETING 2015
The Chairman remarked that it had been a long time since we last visited Bletchley Park, the spiritual
home of Y Services. The museum and other facilities had been substantially improved and the new
Director was Ian Standen, formerly CO of 9 Sig Regt and Commander JSSO, and he recommended
this venue for our 2015 Summer Meeting. A Committee Meeting could be held in the morning and a
guided tour later in the day, with members who wished to meeting in a local hotel in the evening.
Dennis offered to take on the organisation which would be divorced from the annual Golf Tournament
which would possibly be organised at a different time in the East Midlands area by Steve Jarvis.
Ted Roberts, who had recently visited Bletchley, endorsed the Chairman’s proposal and other
members commented favourably. Following indications of support from the majority of members, it
was AGREED that Dennis should follow-up on the proposal with a view to the Summer Meeting being
held after the end of the school Summer term 2015.
(Note: Arrangements are now in hand for the event to take place on 8 August 2015)
19.
CLOSING REMARKS AND DATE AND PLACE OF AGM 2015
The Chairman thanked members for their attendance and contribution, reminded them how to apply
for Festival of Remembrance tickets for 2015 and suggested that the 2015 AGM take place on the
Saturday of Remembrance Weekend at the Greenfields Sports and Social Club as it was ideal and
easily accessible.
The date and choice of venue was AGREED.
Action: Committee
At 1545 the Chairman thanked everyone for their support and declared the Meeting closed.
Chairman:
……………………………………………………………………
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Secretary:
……………………………………………………………………
Dated:
……………………………………………………………………
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