TRBL Chiang Mai Thailand

Archive for the ‘MINUTES 2012’ Category

Minutes – The Royal British Legion Sub Branch BR3625

Branch General Meeting

18^th January 2012 – Raminglodge Hotel, Loi Kroh Rd.

Present: Trevor Dobson, Chairman; Kari Sirelius, Vice Chairman;

Rex Baggaley, Acting Secretary; Gill Dodson, Treasurer;

Tony Archer, Welfare Representative, Richard Prouse, Poppy Appeal Organiser;

Pedr Fawkes, Social Secretary.

Carol Archer; John Burnett; Bob Elkins; Beer Fawkes; Victor Hayes; Bernie Houlden;

Rob Kelly; Nancy Lindley; Ronald Rea; Geoff Tolley; Barry & Pam Williams.

• 1.             Act of Remembrance.  All stood whilst Bernie Houlden read the Exhortation and Kohima Epitaph in due form.
• 2.             Chairman’s Opening Remarks.  The Chairman opened the meeting at 7.30 pm and offered Bernie the traditional “Many Happy Returns’ on the occasion of his recent birthday. The business of the evening was straight forward but some items on the agenda would show the need for participation within the branch. The success that the sub-branch had enjoyed in the recent past has been sustained during the vital membership renewals period and we must now target the strengthening of the commit and set a target of 100 plus members for this year.
• 3.             Apologies.  Derek Higgs; Martin Eley; David Watts; David Walker;  Niall Burns; James Johnstone-Hall; Frank & Vanetta Sethi; Luangtangjai Preeyakorn; Mathew Oddie.

• 4.             Introduction of new members. Barry & Pam Williams introduced themselves to the meeting & were cordially welcomed.
• 5.             Minutes of Previous Meeting. The minutes having been circulated & there being no additions or amendments suggested the Acting Secretary proposed they be taken as read, seconded by Victor Hayes and passed unanimously.
• 6.           Matters arising from previous meeting.

6.1     Poppy Appeal & Golf Tournament. Thanks were first extended to Richard Prouse for his work on the Poppy Appeal and to Kari Sirelius for his role in ensuring the success of the Golf Tournament. Whilst more consideration needs to be given to the location of our efforts with collecting boxes we doubled last year result and with the sums raised from the Golf Chiang Mai made a notable contribution to the nationwide fundraising campaign. TRBL raised over One Million Baht for the poppy Appeal & also contributed 250,000 Baht to the Thai Veteran’s Hospital.

6.2     Remembrance. Again Richard Prouse was thanked for his efforts,

Over 120 people attended the service at the Foreign Cemetery and afterwards at the Gymkhana Club. Ron Rea advised that the Foreign Cemetery Committee had plans to move the memorial to land they hope to regain from an encroacher and would like to acquire a statue of a (1914-18?) soldier as a focal point, the branch were asked to help, the matter will be taken forward to committee,

6.3     ANZAC Day Visit to Kanchanaburi. John Burnett outlined this 4 day visit and advised that so far 18 members had expressed interest in the visit. Transport would be resourced on this basis and 11 rooms had been booked. It was also agreed that the trip be publicised to friends and other interested parties, particularly Australian & New Zealand expats living locally. The Chairman gave first news of an initiative to raise funds by organising a an event to travel the full length of the Burma railway, perhaps involving contingents from serving military from the regiments associated with the building of the railway as well as locals, expats, families, friends and visitors. More details will be available shortly, please contact the chairman if interested in participating.

6.4     Frequency of Social Meetings. See agendum 13.

6.5     Support for TRBL Chiang Mai Website. Everyone is encouraged to visit and use the website which has been considerably upgraded by webmaster Victor Hayes, to whom much thanks. In particular articles and pictures are welcome, should members not know how to upload please contact Victor via the website, he will be pleased to help.

6.6     Sales of branch & Other Christmas Cards. The remaining stock of 2010 cards were almost completely sold out, 4 new designs were introduced & a lot of 100 each sold to Chonburi. Additional cards of the new designs were printed so we now have a stock to begin sales for the 2012 Xmas season well in advance. Pictures & details of the cards will be added to the website.

• 7.            Update by Chairman. The chairman’s message concerning the need to fill the vacant offices of Branch Secretary and Membership Secretary received one response from Maurice Phelps who offered to help as time & circumstances permit, Maurice was thanked for this offer of assistance, it may well be taken up in the future. However ideally these Committee Posts must be filled. Since current officers have taken some of the former burden of the Secretarial role the workload has lessened and both positions are now function specific so members are again asked to consider if they would be able to undertake either of these posts. Richard Prouse indicated that it may be possible for him to combine the Mem Sec job with his current roles, this will be referred to Committee. The Acting Secretary advised that whilst he was happy to assist fully in the short term he would not be willing to stand for office.
• 8.            Report from Secretary. Having only recently offered to act as Secretary and not yet being in possession of the records the acting sec could only report that he been able to put together an Agendum for this meeting and hoped to issue minutes over the weekend, he would then liaise with the Chairman to bring himself and the records up to date and hoped to be able to hand over to a successor in the near future.
• 9.             Report & Financial Statement from Treasurer. The Sub- branch float has been increased to 10,000 baht to better reflect the cash flow needed for expenses, particularly related to the increased activities of the Welfare Representative and his team. The current balance in the General fund stands at 10,740 baht, copies of the accounts are available after the meeting, members are welcome to review them and to discuss them with the Treasurer.
• 10.           Report from Welfare Representative. This has been a comparatively quiet quarter, there has been one request for assistance which has been referred to London. Trevor Dobson and Bob Machin have completed their case worker course and John Burnett will participate in the next course to be organised in Thailand, Khun Jah has again provided local back up & knowledge.
• 11.           Report from Membership Secretary.  As no one currently fills this office there was no report.
• 12.           Report from Social Secretary. The Social Secretay read his proposed outline of activities, this will be reviewed at the next committee meeting.

The Chairman indicated that Events co-ordinator, Sally Ward will return to the UK for an extended period and meanwhile will be revising Fund raising events in a way better to attract donations and profits. This is important as it not only raises funds for TRBL but enables the branch to subsidise it’s activities.

• 13.           Questionnaire re. Members Interests & Requirements. The Chairman explained that the idea of circulating an email to assess member’s interests & suggestions had been put forward by a member and asked for views from the meeting. There was a wide range of opinions expressed, now bullet pointed:

•      That the committee has been appointed, that they should discuss, agree and implement their plans and be judged on them.
•       The questionnaire should guarantee anonymity.
•       Rather than an email it should be put on the website and members asked to visit and complete a return.
•       The members should be circulated and asked if they welcome this approach before proceeding.
•        That informal discussions be held at Wednesday Socials across a broad base to see what ideas are put forward.
•        Such a questionnaire requires professional assistance to compile to avoid offence to members or bias appearing in the answers.                      The Vice-Chairman may have such a document.

The issue should be reviewed in committee, agreed & presented to the members before proceeding.

• 14.           Points for the Next Meeting. No Points were proposed.
• 15.           Date of Next Branch General Meeting. This should take place on Wednesday 18^th April, as this falls immediately after Songkran a final date will be agreed and circulated in good time.
• 16.           The meeting closed at 20.42.

• 17.           Presentation and Auction.

17.1.      Geoff Tolley presented two shields to the branch, on behalf of himself & John Burnett. These beautifully painted shields depict:-

*  18^th Field Squadron R.E.      *  Services Sound & Vision Corporation

The Chairman accepted them with thanks on behalf of the branch, they will hang in the Legion Room of The Olde Bell.

17.2.      Barry & Pam Williams donated a gift voucher from Chic Jungle Resort for accommodation with a face value of 3500 baht and this was offered for auction. After some fierce but friendly bidding Rob Kelly took the prize as the hammer fell.

Both these activities were followed by applause.

              Rex Baggaley, Acting Secretary.                                                     23^rd  Jan 2011

Post Script – for the information of contributors to the Veteran’s Fund.

During Item 7 the Chairman read a letter from the Thai Burma Railway Association advising that they plan a sponsored Bike Ride of the railway and soliciting a donation from the branch. It was proposed that we contribute the equivalent of US$50.00 from the Veterans Fund and seconded by the acting secretary. The motion was passed unanimously.