HERTFORDSHIRE CENTRE OF THE CARAVAN CLUB
Minutes of Committee meeting
Tuesday14thJuly 2016
At The Civic Centre, Welwyn
Present:
Chairman:Sean Littlechild (SL)
Vice Chairman:Geoff Taylor (GT)
Sports Officer:Geoff Taylor (GT)
Treasurer:Vanessa Cannon (AH)
Secretary:Teresa Moss
Rally Equipment:Gordon Pearcy (GP)
Audio EquipmentColin Brockwell (CB)
Catering Officer:Billy Furlong (BF)
Attendance Officer:Jenny Vardon
Social Secretary:Jenny Vardon
APOLOGIES: –
Sandie Evans
MINUTESOF THE PREVIOUS MEETING:
Proposed and approved by: Sean Littlechild and Jenny Vardon
Matters Arising
Sandie by Letter
Matters arising from the June meeting minutes.
1. The last time admin was increased was over nine years ago whilst Linda was the Hon. Treasurer
2. Vat is now at 20% it was 15% when the last increase was made, this give us less of every admin charges are to be discussed at the AGM in October, I feel we need to be ready for the onslaught from the members.
Please could these notes be included in the minutes for a later date. £1.00 we get as vat has to be paid out to the government first.
3. There has been increases in petrol, printing costs, catering and replacement of equipment as such signs etc.
4. Other Centre's are much dearer than ours, some having a fixed rally fee plus site fees per weekend.
5. The costs of sending out rally books every year to all members increases each year. I know we are looking at ways of bringing the costs down on this but there will be some costs still per year.
CHAIRMAN’S REPORT:
Sean
Thank you all for the hard work you put in at the Chairman’s Rally.
The entertainment was brilliant
Capel |Manor went ahead Andrew said they all enjoyed it.
Rally programmed launched not at the Chairman’s complaints were received perhaps it we should not do that again.
I did not attend the Regional Meeting.
VICE CHAIRMAN
Thank you to everyone who came down to Exmore. Everyone had a nice time. I came 4th but could have been second but stopped to help a young lady with her bike.
TREASURER’S REPORT
Vanessa
The bank balance at the beginning of June 2016 was £7,880 and at the end of June it was £7,440.
The Air Ambulance fund currently stands at £1,105.82p which is excellent as it is only about 9 months that we have been collecting this time round.
I have been invited to aTreasurers seminar for our region in September which is being run by head office which I will be attending. If anyone has questions of a financial nature they wish me to ask please let me know.
With regard to the proposed increase in the admin fees, I have some rough figures to support this. Last year our admin income was £1,752, which together with the centre grant of £1,200 should cover our miscellaneous outgoings such as committee meeting and various expenses, stationary, postage and the like, which came to roughly £3,000, so our miscellaneous outgoings were almost covered.
This year so far we have collected in admin fees £754, there have been less nights rallied this year so there will be less incoming so we are unlikely to cover our expenses.
It should also be noted that we have to pay 20% VAT on our admin income. The extra 50 pence we will be asking for will actually generate 40 pence. I therefore think that 50 pence increase in admin is very reasonable.
The amount of £480 was spent on the committee meetings rental.
Committee’s response
A proposal from W G Furlong and seconded by Colin Brock well was handed to the Secretary to be put on the Agenda at the AGM. This was agreed by all committee members present.
It was decided that we put the social tickets up to £8.50p for two nights.
SECRETARY’S REPORT
Teresa:
Email received from Martin Stringer on the 4th July 2016.
Rules Governing Centers/Centre Rules
a.The document has been re-titled ‘Centre Rules’ which is a more succinct that ‘Rules governing Centers’
b.The ‘Honorary’ title for Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary and Treasurer has been removed with the use only of the ‘officers’ title for any elected Committee member. The rationale is that an Honorary officers is voluntary unpaid officer of an organization, which could equally apply to any of those elected to Committee; moreover, the term has, arguably become dated, hence its removal. It is appreciated that some Centres will have badges of office that use the word ‘Honorary’ and it is quite acceptable for these to continue to be used if so desired.
c.A requirement for the Centre Committee to appoint two delegates to Divisional/Regional Council. This is not a new requirement to the extent that is has already been taking place, but not written down. Its inclusion is to bring it into line with what has always been in the Division/Region Constitutions.
d.the insertion of quorum numbers for AGMs/SGMs
3.in disciplinary cases, a member now has the opportunity of just making a ‘statement’.
The change allows the Centre to determine whether that is an oral or written statement.
All revised rules will take effect from 1st August 2016. In turn, their introduction will require some changes to the reference in General Letters to Centre, which are also in the process of being amended and which are also ion the process of being amended and which will be re-issued in their entirety in the next few months. The new Rules will also appear in the next issue of the Sites Directory and Handbook and on the Club website.
Email from Martin Stringer received on the 6th July 2016.
Martin felt that personal information printed in our rally books, such as names, addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses and so on the committee should give some thought to. It is necessary that this information printed should be first agreed by the rally officers etc. There have been incidents where a pdf copy of one Centre’s Rally Book was published on another Centre’s website this gave a wider audience to there dates and whereabouts and has been a concern as many members felt that it showed when their properties would be empty.
Email from Chantelle McLaren, Insurance Marketing Manager of the caravan club dated 11th July 2016
She informed us that the service page for 2017 are now available to download from the below link which will be passed on to Sandie by Teresa. She stated that as always she will pay £100 for these pages to be included in our rally guides.
Rally Secretary Report
I do hope the Chairman's Rally went well, I have heard the walking football was well received. As only our dogs were in attendance for the weekend and they can't write yet, could someone put together a write up for the Newsletter, also could someone give Alan some photos for the website as this is the Herts premier rally of the year we must get it on the website.
Also I need the winners of the team events, Boules and Concourse de Elegance trophies please
Capel Manor
This rally went ahead with a small attendance, but I am glad to say thank you to Margaret & Andrew for carrying on as this was the last time we can go there.
Willington
Only had one booking at the time of leaving for our holiday so I cancelled that rally before I left. I do know two members called Linda to book on at the last minute. Again we need to get members to try and book on earlier.
Lye End Farm - Sandon
I do hope this rally went ahead even with low numbers; also I need the winners of the Darts Competition please for the Newsletter.
Foxton Locks Rally
The venue have increased the fees 50 pence per night for this year, notification only arrived at the end of June, but we do have a over rider in the rally book to cover this happening. Also they have asked me to undertake a Risk Assessment for them, so I need to visit them asap.
Programme 2017
I have successfully changed the programme to suit the South Coast break, The Chairman's rally now will be on the weekend of 23rd - 25th June the Hinxworth Rec is available and is now confirmed the only thing that needs changing now is the Hall booking, fingers crossed we can get the hall for the changed weekend.
Also I have tried to change the Graveley Golf weekend but the venue is booked the following weekend for the North London Centre.
I suggest we both could rally there as the venue will take 40 units plus. I need to contact Peter Smith N/London Rally Sec on my return to see if they would mind us both being there at the same time. Also we could have an intercentre golf match if players were in agreement to this.
Numbers for the Golf rally have been low for a couple of years so I donot think that the Chairman's rally and a holiday rally being either sides would make much difference, I see no other way of dealing with this at this late stage.
Taken Rallies
I hope you were successful in obtaining rally Officers for some of the rallies in 2017. Please could you forward names to me? Some I have covered but don't want anyone to be disappointed when asking if my information is not up to date.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Geoff
I will need some money for Henlow Dogs as I need a deposit for the meal.
Billy
Handed a proposal for the increase in admin charges to Teresa for the Agenda at the AGM it was signed by Billy and Colin.
Jenny
Blue Nose is booked, Sean Langley a guitarist 25th anniversary party
Sean requested that this be changed. Jenny agreed to this.
Gordon
Email from Andrew Heil and there is only one set of manhole keys.
Colin
Feels that we should have two sets of keys and asked Gordon if he wanted me to buy anymore – it was agreed that he should
Meeting closed at 9.30pm
Signed.…………………………………………………..
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