Registered Charity No: 504535

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Minutes of Annual General Meeting23July 2013

United Reformed Church Hall, Market Place, Whitehaven at 7pm.

  1. Present: Linda Wilson [Vice-Chairman), Eric Urquhart (Treasurer),Jim Pullin [COSC], Philip Pattinson, IanMcConnell, OssieCoyles, Bryan Wilson, Alison Walton, John Bowman, Peter Steele, HeatherMorrison [Access Officer], Mayor Cllr Jeff Garrity,, Cllr Elaine Woodburn [President of CDF and speaker for the evening],

As Chairman, Anne Bradshaw, was still not 100% recovered from her recent illness, LW took the Chair.

  1. Welcome: LW welcomed everyone to the AGM, and especially welcomed Mayor Cllr Jeff Garrity and also Cllr Elaine Woodburn who is President of CDF and would be the Speaker later in the evening.
  2. Apologies: Anne Bradshaw, Lynne Craig [DACE], KateSmith [CBC] Ian Rankin

3. Notes of 2012 AGMwere Proposed and Seconded as correct andsigned by LW as a true copy.

4. Chairman’s Report: In the absence of a written report, LW gave a verbal report outlining the main area of activities throughout the past 12 months ie AB and LW continued during the summer of 2012 to give disability awareness presentations to PCSO’s, schoolchildren and also to a group of children at Mirehouse Community Centre; AB and LW had attended a full day training course on the completion of Personal Independent Payment [PIP] applications and that of course we had had two visits from Judith Wilkinson from the Benefits Agency, the first to outline the changes from Disability Living Allowance [DLA to PIP and the second to put more meat on the bones as more information became available; we had continued to be very involved with the West Cumberland Hospital new build having meetings with the Architects and Project Manager; and LW reminded the meeting that we had lost one of our stalwart members, Cllr Cam Ross, who had passed away earlier in the year.

5. Treasurer’s Report:EU handed out the financial report for year ending December2012, then went onto highlight some key points on our income and expenditure.

6. Access Report:Before HM went through her report, she informed the group that she had gone to collect Ian Rankin but unfortunately it was just too difficult for him to transfer into the car. HM then reported on consultations throughout the year eg the new licensing of on-street cafes and A-boards, the Supplementary Planning Document for Whitehaven, the continuation of EU, LW and AB to be involved with plans at the hospital. She then proposed two dates for an Access Working Group meeting, either 6 or 7 August depending on availability of members, in order to look at the Sustrans plans for cycle-way between Seascale and Gosforth, and also the plans for a large housing development on the old Marchon site. EW asked if it was possible for the Council to pay a fee for each consultation to CDF, but EU explained that our access training meant we could give user advice only, and that if we were to ask for a fee this would have significant insurance implications.

7. Election of Officers:LW asked the Mayor if he would take the Chair in order to carry out the election of Officers.

The following officershaving been nominated were individually proposed, seconded and duly elected unopposed, there being no alternative nominees:-

Chairman:Anne Bradshaw,

Deputy Chairman:Linda Wilson,

Treasurer:Eric Urquhart,

Secretary:Anne Bradshaw, pro tem

These nominations were then proposed and seconded, and duly elected.

8.Presentation EW’s presentation was brought forward before the refreshments, as she had to get away to attend another commitment. She gave a very interesting and informative talk about the running of the Copeland Community Fund.

- Refreshments: Members then helped themselves to the buffet provided.

9. Vote of Thanks: LW thanked the Mayor, Cllr Jeff Garrity for his attendance and help with the election of officers. It was hoped he had an enjoyable evening. LW asked if he would like to take the centre flower display for his Lady Mayoress, his wife Sandra. LW also expressed thanks for the presentation by EW.

LW asked the Mayor if he would undertake one further task for CDF and this was to present the Mayor Willis Metherill award, to someone in the group who was a constant help to the Exec, who fetched, carried, acted as driver and generally helped in any way possible. The award was presented to Bryan Wilson who expressed his thanks.

Members were reminded that membership fees of £5 per member were due and that the next meeting of CDF would be on Tuesday 20 August at 7pm in the URC hall.

OC thanked not only the Mayor,but also the Officers of CDF for the hard work they had undertaken over the past 12 months.

The meeting then closedat 8.15pm