BOURNEMOUTH NATIONAL TRUST VOLUNTEERS
Annual General Meeting – 31 January 2016 at 14:00 at Currendon Farm
1 Present
Phil Stuckey (Chair), Lizzie Burton, Helen Firth, Lesley Godfrey, Michael Godfrey, Helen Houlston,
Peter Jameson, Alison Lawrence, David Lawrence, Ann Oxford, Teresa Turner, Kaye Watson, Jane Wellwood, Joe Ahvee (NT), Rachel Rodman (NT), Andy Wright (NT), Andrew Turner
2 Apologies
Reuben Hawkwood (NT), Sarah Atkinson, Ruth Beasant, Duke Benfield, Paul Exton, Claudette Foster,
Chris Lynott, Lesley Morton, Marcia Peters, Nigel Chalk (NT), Rob Rhodes (NT)
3 Minutes from AGM – 25 January 2015
The minutes were agreed and signed by the Chair.
4 Matters Arising from AGM – 25 January 2015
Matters arising from the 2015 AGM were addressed at the first committee meeting held after the AGM.
5 Correspondence
The following messages were received:
Nigel Chalke (Outdoor Manager, Kingston Lacy): “Unfortunately due to the farm opening we are involved in, I don’t think anyone from my department will be able to make it. But I would like to pass on the thanks from all at KL for the work which is achieved by BNTV, especially with the help we get with work within the Garden or Wider Estate. Having a group of people come in and help with some of the bigger jobs is excellent and so much always seems to be achieved”.
Rob Rhodes (Countryside Manager, West Dorset) “Sorry I can’t make it, but I would once again like to thank the group for their hard work during 2015. Many thanks”.
6 Committee Reports
i) Chairman’s Report – RH was unable to attend. However he had sent an e-mail to committee members giving his thoughts on the past year and his hopes for the future of the group.
ii) Treasurer’s Report including Presentation of Accounts (copy attached)
The Honorary Examiner confirmed that the accounts are accurate.
The accounts were accepted. Agreed by all. Signed by the Chair.
iii) Membership Secretary’s Report (copy attached)
iv) Work Party Co-ordinator’s Report (copy attached)
v) Hours Co-ordinator’s Report (copy attached)
vi) Web Master’s Report (sent in SA’s absence, copy attached)
7 Election of Committee
The elections were conducted by Phil Stuckey:
i) Chairman – Phil Stuckey was elected, as an interim measure.
Proposed by Peter Jameson, seconded by Jane Wellwood.
ii) Treasurer – David Lawrence was elected.
Proposed by Helen Firth, seconded by Lizzie Burton.
iii) Membership Secretary – Teresa Turner was elected.
Proposed by David Lawrence, seconded by Ann Oxford.
iv) Secretary – Alison Lawrence was elected.
Proposed by Kaye Watson, seconded by Teresa Turner.
v) Newsletter Editor – Kaye Watson was elected.
Proposed by Helen Houlston, seconded by Lesley Godfrey.
vi) Hours Co-Coordinator – Lesley Godfrey was elected.
Proposed by Lizzie Burton, seconded by Peter Jameson.
vii) Work Party Coordinator – Ann Oxford.
Proposed by Jane Wellwood, seconded by Kaye Watson.
viii) Web Master – Sarah Atkinson was elected.
Proposed by Ann Oxford, seconded by Alison Lawrence.
ix) Assisting Member – vacant, no volunteers.
8 Appointment of Honorary Examiner
Ruth Beasant agreed to continue as Honorary Examiner.
9 Annual Review of Subscriptions
Annual subs remain unaltered at £5 single or £8 for two people at the same address. Subs reduced for new members starting after 1st October to be £3. Subscriptions are due on 1 March 2016.
10 Dates: Updates and changes to the newsletter
KW requested new photos to be included in future newsletters. Action: ALL
LG to provide KW with details of hours for next newsletter. Action: LG
Thanks to HH for despatching the newsletters.
Deadline dates for newsletter articles:
by 1st April for Summer, by 1st August for Winter, and by 1st December for Spring editions.
KW to re-e-mail leaflet to PS for printing. Action: PS
9 Rangers’ Reports
Joe Ahvee, Assistant Ranger, Studland thanked the group. He has been very pleased with all the work done, and was impressed with those who offered lifts to new members.
Phil Stuckey, Lead Ranger, West Purbeck was pleased with how work has progressed at Middlebere. Well done.
10 My Volunteering - Expenses
Rachel Rodman advised that My Volunteering had been running since March 2015, which, amongst other things allows expenses to be claimed, and recruitment to take place. However, at the present time it is still possible for Supporter Group members to claim expenses by using the printed claim form, although this will shortly have to be done electronically via My Volunteering. Rachel provided us with some documentation relating to the online system.
In order for BNTV to be sure of how to use My Volunteering, in particular expenses, AL agreed to contact Maria Vicary, the NT regional contact to clarify. Action: AL
11 Brownsea Island Voluntary Wardens (BIVW)
Tony Allen, Chair of BIVW, was unable to attend the AGM to give a presentation about the organisation, but provided some written information which was read out to the meeting. During the open season they patrol the walkways on the Island, and sometimes assisting in the Visitor Centre. In the closed season they are carry out maintenance and conservation work. It was agreed that AL would find out more about their recruitment methods. Action: AL
12 Any Other Business
Work Parties/Recruitment – The use of social media sites to recruit potential members was discussed. A number of people have, or are likely to join via Gumtree and Meetup. However the job of administering this recruitment has become quite time-consuming for the Work Party Co-ordinator. This was agreed to be discussed at the next committee meeting, together with a decision whether or not to continue to pay for Meetup after April.
It was agreed that the use of Facebook (FB) (which is also linked to other FB groups) would continue as a method of keeping FB “members” up to date.
It was agreed that new volunteers need to be made fully aware of the requirement to contact the task leader of their attendance at work parties by the Thursday prior to the event. Action: ALL
Committee - Reuben Hawkwood resigned as chairman and advised that he assumed Val Imms, Rachel Lamb and Lin Renvoize from Brownsea would no longer stand for committee. It was agreed that the new Committee would discuss various issues described in the recent e-mail from RH.
Committee Meetings – It was agreed to hold 3 committee meetings each year, to be re-dressed at 2017 AGM.
White Mill – Lizzie Burton advised that Colin Cope had died in March 2015 and that a black poplar tree was replanted in his memory. His widow Christina is to continue to stay on and work on the site for 2 years, the present project being to set up benches in the grounds. Christina thanks the group for all their work.
13 Presentation of Long Service Awards
The long service awards were presented to:
Helen Houlston - 20 yrs
Gary Manning – 30 yrs (not present – arrangements made for it to be delivered by hand)
14 Close of Meeting
All AGM business was concluded at 15:45 hrs.
Treasurer’s Report - 2015-16 AGM
As can be seen from the Summary of Accounts, income for 2015 has been derived from £168.00 in subscriptions plus £3.95 in interest.
Expenditure for 2015 amounts to a total of £101.32 which includes £40.12 for an initial 6 months subscription to Meet-Up. Expenditure is detailed in the Accounts under various headings. A charge of £29.00 has been made in connection with renewing the website for the next 3 years and this will be included in the following year’s Accounts.
The Committee will need to review the success of Meet-Up, it has certainly publicised the group with a large number of “members” recorded on the Meet-Up site. However, it will have to be seen how many of these actually attend Work Parties and eventually seek membership, initial results are promising.
With expenditure being less than income for 2015, I have been able, once again, to advise the Committee that the subscription rates should remain unchanged at their 2000 level.
With new members joining throughout the year, a discount has been applied in the past to those joining part-way through the year. I would like to formally request the membership’s approval to formalise this approach with a reduced membership rate of £3.00 per member for new members who join after 1st October.
The accounts have been checked by the Honorary Examiner, Ruth Beasant, who has confirmed that she could find no irregularities or errors.
Finally and once again, I would like to thank Teresa for collecting the subscriptions in my absence and I recommend that the Accounts be accepted and agreed by the Meeting and would naturally be happy to answer any questions concerning the accounts.
David Lawrence
Membership Secretary Report – 2015-16 AGM
BNTV membership today stands at 28 individuals, (an increase of 2 on last year) and Bournemouth University have renewed their group membership. 8 people made enquiries regarding the group during 2015; I have re-contacted them, but so far, have not had any replies.
All the enquiries came either via our website, our email account () or through the Bournemouth and Poole Volunteer Centre. I have confirmed our advert with conservationjobs.co.uk. I understand several people have attended workparties to see if they enjoy working with us.
(Housekeeping issues – new content on Registration form. Need to sign to give permission regarding use of photographs. Health Info cards need to be kept up to date too.)
Teresa Turner, January 2016
Work Party Co-ordinator 2015-16 AGM
Between Helen and myself, we booked some 30 conservation events, most of which went ahead.
Again a few cancellations, 5 were lack of numbers, 1 bereavement, 1 the uni had forgotten to put in their diary and 2 because of high winds.
I booked most Sundays running up to the end of April in the hope that variety would attract more members from Meetup and Gumtree, One can only wait and see.
Weekends, only Stourhead still has good attendance, Slindon and Golden Cap won’t be booked unless we can guarantee a good turnout, deposit required in case of cancellation. We could only muster 4 at Slindon and Golden cap, which isn’t really viable for the host estates.
Meetup and Gumtree brought in quite a few new faces, especially to events running up to Christmas.
Lee Hulin, Lead Ranger at New Forest Northern Commons, NT, finally got in touch on the 22nd January, apologised for the time taken, floods had caused some problems. Jacob White will be in touch to see if we can organise some work parties together, which would be good for prospective volunteers (meetup) further inland.
Thank you to Helen for a very helpful handover, with good documentation.
Thank you to all those that have volunteered to be task leaders and contacts for work parties.
Also thank you to Lizzie for all her work at Whitemill.
Thank you also to the members from Meetup & Gumtree who have attended events and have subsequently joined BNTV.
Ann Oxford
Hours Co-ordinator’s Report - 2015-16 AGM
I have been able to total the hours up to the end of December.
This year so far, I have made 26 entries in the Hours Record Book, 9 fewer than last year.
Week-ends have been written as one entry. It also sadly includes 9 cancellations, 7 due to lack of BNTV numbers and 2 cancelled by the Ranger due to adverse weather conditions. The numbers are now thankfully looking more positive. Let’s hope lack of support is a thing of the past. Numbers at most work parties have increased. The average attendance was 6, not counting the associated group members or times where an individual worked on their own. ( Double that of last year)
Highest 12 (Brownsea), lowest 4 (Last year- highest 12, lowest 2)
Using the criteria of having completed more than 10 hours so far, we have had 15 active volunteers, two more than last year. We also have several new names that are beginning to ‘clock up’ the hours.
We have again been unable to break the 1,000 hours barrier, currently standing at 714, slightly up from this time last year. Last year’s final total was 875, so hopefully we are going to beat that . Our best year was in 1996-7 with a final total of 1,847.
At the moment 6 people have completed over 50 hours. With the planned work parties several others could make it to 50. Please check with me if you want to know your individual totals.
I have the file with me if anyone is interested in looking at the various venues and type of work done.
Thank you for listening!
Lesley Godfrey, Hours Co-ordinator
Web Master Report – 2015-16 AGM
As for the year report, it is as follows;
The website is continuing to run, with the forms for membership joining and the minutes from the previous year on their to download.
Ann has started to help in the latter part of the year to ensure the events pages are kept up to date. The events page is no longer a members only area, so potential new volunteers can see what we are up to and where they can come along to see what we are like.
The name for the website came up for renewal at the start of this year and this has been renewed for the next 3 years at a cost of £29.
If Ann wants some more help on the back of the website updating let me know and I can get on the phone one evening
Sarah Atkinson, January 2016