Minutes – The Royal British Legion Chiang Mai Sub Branch BR3625

Annual General Meeting

20^th August 2010 – The Olde Bell, Loi Kroh Rd.

Present: Trevor Dobson, Chairman; Rex Baggaley, Secretary; Rob Kelly, Treasurer; Pedr Fawkes, Social Secretary; John Newsome; Derek Higgs; Bob Machin; Gary Newitt; Bob Elkins; John Burnett; David Watts; Alan Hall; Russell Barnes; Peter Dawson; Kari Sirelius; David Hardcastle; Charles Gross; Roy Kidwell.

1. Act of Remembrance –
The Chairman invited Bob Machin to lead us in the Exhoration and Kohima Epitaph which was done in due form.

The meeting opened at 7.30 p.m.

2. Apologies – apologies were received from Victor Hayes.

3. Chairman's Opening Remarks –
The Chairman observed that a turnout of 18 members on an evening of inundation and serious street flooding was remarkable and thanked everyone warmly for making the effort to ensure our first AGM was a success. The meeting would be conducted as outlined in the agendum and would be completed as speedily as practical, to enable everyone to get home safely at the same time ensuring that all members had an opportunity to exchange views on the topics under discussion.

4. Minutes of Previous Annual General Meeting –

These having been previously distributed and no amendments suggested the Secretary asked that they be taken as read. This was proposed by John Burnett, seconded by Russ Barnes and carried.

5. Matters arising from previous meeting -

5.1 Bank Account; The account now has three signatories, Trevor Dobson, Rob Kelly and John Newsome, of which any two are required for withdrawals. The bank Book was circulated for inspection.

5.2 Contacting Members; would members please ensure any changes of Postal or Email Address or contact phone numbers are passed promptly to the Secretary. It is intended that when we elect a membership Secretary that each member would be contacted to verify the current information

5.3 Next Social Events; The events referred to in the minutes had all taken place successfully, the events arranged for the immediate futures were: -

30^th Oct. – Golf Tournament & Dinner in Support of The Poppy Appeal.
5^th Nov. – Date changed to Friday from our usual Wednesday Social to enable us to celebrate Guy Fawkes Night with Pedr.

11^th Nov. - Remembrance Day Service at the Foreign Cemetery followed by refreshments at the Chiengmai Gymkhana Club.

17^th Nov. – Visit to Air Museum followed by a meal at The Olde Bell.
1^st Dec. – A visit to O’malley’s Bar, a follow up to our successful trip to The Pub.
15^th Dec. – TRBL Xmas Dinner – our second annual get-together in the festive season.

5.4 Membership Recording; We intend to activate the Initiative from Chonburi which enables members to leave instructions & information in confidence to be opened only in the event of injury or death

5.5 Remit of Branch Subscriptions; We currently have 45 members of which to date 25 have renewed. We expect further renewals before we make our returns to Chonburi and the current memberships lapse. The Branch Affiliation Fee for 2010-11 is 600 baht.

5.6 Forthcoming Events; already dealt with under 5.3 and more will follow when the 3 year plan is discussed.

5.7 Poppy Appeal & Remembrance Day; Pedr has the distribution of Posters, flyers, and Collection Boxes in hand and has two volunteers who will assist in their distribution on 29^th Oct. and subsequent Collection on or about 12^th November. Bob Machin also offered to assist and was warmly accepted. Rex will take care of the Box for the Honorary Consulate.

The Postcard/Receipt is available this year and Pedr now has these. It was also suggested that the Xmas cards be offered to the various outlets. The cards are now ready, packs of 4 different high quality cards for 100 baht and packs of 8 (2 of each) for 190 baht. For those who would like a bulk supply a print on demand service is offered.

6. Chairman’s Report –
Many items of the report would also be covered in the 3 year plan to follow. One important request was mentioned. Pedr has redecorated the Legion Room at The Olde Bell, he was warmly thanked for this, but it has made it apparent how bare the room looks with only a few items of Militaria or of Legion interest on display.

The chairman called for members to donate items, pictures, crests Legion emblems to add interest to the room. Bob Machin kindly offered to approach his wide range of contacts on his next trip to UK in the spring.

7. Presentation and adoption of Branch Three Year Plan –
The Chairman began his review by indicating that he would deal with matters under various headings.

Membership. There would inevitably be some fall off following the changes that has occurred in this first year of sub branch activity, but we were pleasantly surprised that they may be less than feared. One member asked how many members had transferred to Chonburi as a result of “poaching”, the Secretary answered that we did not know and an enquiry would be made. The observation was made that personal contact and word of mouth was the best means of recruiting and all members were urged to talk about the Legion and to bring their friends to meetings. The target would be to have retained and recruited 50 members by the next AGM.

Welfare. We should take broader view of welfare and deal not only with those cases requiring a caseworker’s report and financial or other assistance, but to see what could be done to help those in the broader community of ex-service men and women who were perhaps lonely or simply growing older far from home and offer then support and comradeship and to act as a communications channel to assist in a wider sense. Members are to be encouraged to bring such cases to the attention of the Welfare team.

Fundraising. Whilst our activities are limited somewhat by the constraints of the culture within which we live there are opportunities, starting with the humble football card to raise funds both within the membership and by outside activities. We are fortunate that a member has recently joined the branch who has experience of fund raising and knows the local opportunities well and a suitable programme will be developed. Meanwhile members are urged to let any member of the committee have their ideas on the subject so they can be added to the plans.

Functions and Events for members. The benefits of a structured programme such as that devised by the Social Secretary have been apparent in the second half of this year, following the elections this evening the new committee will devise a similar plan for 2011. This will certainly include further “Legion Lectures” and we must prepare for the 90^th Anniversary Celebrations of TRBL which should embrace not just members but the whole of the interested expat & Thai populations.

Training. Following intense lobbying by the dedicated Officers of our sponsoring branch, to which we have lent enthusiastic support, it seems possible that the UK Training Dept may send a trainer to undertake courses in Thailand, probably at a facility close to the Chonburi branch facilities. Should this be the case then there will be courses for officers, welfare & caseworkers and of course these will be open to anyone interested in taking up this type of activity for TRBL.

Everyone standing for office this evening would welcome this type of training within Thailand. In addition Bob Machin reminded us that he had offered his services as a caseworker to the former chairman and was willing to be trained either here or at TRBL training facility in Salford Manchester, where he spends several months each year.

8. Presentation & adoption of accounts –
The Treasurer presented the interim accounts, using TRBL format, which are attached to the minutes. He explained that there were certain timing and allocation variances to be taken into account and a need to review back to the formation of the branch and indicated that this work would be completed prior to 30^th October for onward transmission to Chonburi. Hence it was inappropriate for these accounts to be adopted, however he sought the approval of members on this basis and this was agreed.

9. Proposals from Members – The secretary introduced both proposals.

Agendum 9.1 (Officers to serve a 3 year term from the 2011 AGM) in answer to a question from Peter Dawson it was confirmed that this applied only to the tenure of Officers, the AGM would continue to be held annually, this was then seconded by Russell Barnes.

Agendum 9.2 (adoption of TRBL standard Bye-Laws) was seconded by Derek Higgs. Both motions were carried unanimously

10. Election of Officers and Committee Members. –

Chairman:

The chairman announced the ballot for the election of Officers and Committee Members and stood down to allow the Secretary to announce the nomination for Chairman, which was proposed by John Newsome and seconded by David Hardcastle.

The Chairman then resumed and the candidates were nominated as:-

Vice Chairman: No nominee.

Secretary: Rex Baggaley; proposer Kari Sirelius; seconder John Burnett.

Treasurer: John Newsome; proposer John Burnett; seconder Bob Elkins.

Membership Secretary: Charles Gross; proposer Pedr Fawkes; seconder Alan Hall.

Poppy Appeal Organiser: No nominee.

Social Secretary: Pedr Fawkes; proposer Roy Kidwell; seconder Bob Machin.

Chairman, Welfare: Rob Kelly; proposer Russell Barnes; seconder David Hardcastle.

Vice Chairman, Welfare: No nominee.

Secretary, Welfare: Jay Thirst; proposer Rex Baggaley; seconder Alan Hall.

Treasurer, Welfare : No nominee

The nominees having previously indicated their willingness to serve, a ballot was held by show of hands and carried unanimously.

11. Closing Remarks by the Chairman –
Trevor once again thanked everyone for their attendance on an evening of such bad weather. He went on to say that many members deserved thanks for their efforts over the past few months, he intended to name some, but those who had helped knew who they were and even if not mentioned they would have our appreciation.

He thanked the Secretary, stating that without his contribution there would have been no sub branch. Then members Kari Sirelius, without whom there would have been no Golf Tournament and John Burnett and David a graphics designer, without whom there would have been no Christmas Cards.

He referred to the sterling work of those members involved in Branch communications, David Hardcastle for his PR work, including the feature for the Golf in this week’s edition of the Chiang Mai Mail and Victor Hayes, who keeps the website running smoothly and was so helpful in helping locate the missing naval man, who was quickly located with our combined help. This vote of thanks was greeted with applause.

The Chairman then closed the meeting at 8.45 p.m.

 

Rex Baggaley, Secretary. 21^st Oct 2010