www.shropshire-disability.net
Registered Charity No.1148256
AGM 13th September 2012
Minutes
1. Welcome
Sonia Roberts, SDN Chair, welcomed around 40 members who had travelled from across the county to attend the meeting. She had hoped to welcome our Patron Emma Suddaby, but her health had recently been in decline, and she was unable to attend. Our thoughts go out to her.
Sonia particularly welcomed our guest speakers Rachel Wood, who would be our own Ready Steady Cook, and Rob Price, who would be talking about PIP’s (Personal Independence Payments)
She said most members would be aware that our Membership Secretary, Trevor Dickinson, very sadly recently passed away, Trevor was an active member of our Steering Group, and contributed greatly to SDN. He was passionate in his support for people with disabilities. Apart from his work with SDN, he also found the time to support Listen not Label in Telford and Telford LINk. His tenacity possibly came from his avid support of Unison. Trev was a family man and hugely proud of his wife Jenny who often supported him on fundraising events for SDN, and his two sons Lee and Matthew. Trev will be sorely missed, as he truly is one of life’s irreplaceable people.
The meeting then observed a minute’s silence in memory of Trevor.
Dave Hewetson mentioned that Glyn Jenkins had told him that one of SDN’s loyal supporters, Phil Hughes, had passed away a month previously.
Sonia asked that those who are able to get their own refreshments at the break should please consider fetching refreshment’s for those that can’t.
2. Apologies
A number of people had given apologies. In particular, Ruby Hartshorn (Publicity Officer) and temporary Treasurer, was sadly attending her sister’s funeral, and Peter Staples, Your Voice Editor, was also unable to attend. Sonia had received reports from both, which she would share with the meeting.
3. Minutes of AGM 8th September 2011
Minutes of the last General Meeting were adopted as a true record. This was proposed by Phil George, and seconded by James Moraghen.
4. Matters Arising
One matter had been raised by Viv Parry of Ludlow Access Group in respect of parking for disabled at the local Library. Sonia said this issue had been addressed in the Hardest Hit Debate, which SDN hosted on 10th October 2011, which Viv attended. Many issues including the Blue Badge Scheme were debated, and feedback from the meeting had raised the awareness of Local Government.
5. Annual Report from the Chair
Sonia gave the following report:-
We’ve had a very busy year, and thanks to our Management Group members. Particular thanks to Ruby - due to a family bereavement Ruby is unable to be with us this afternoon; her sister, whom she was particularly close to, died suddenly last week, and today she is attending her funeral. Despite her own grief and sadness, she diligently continued to ensure papers for today were printed, and that YV was sent out. Thanks to her for that, and for all the other fantastic stuff that she does. Thanks to Peter, who also can’t be with us today, and does a fantastic job in producing the Your Voice newsletter, (YV has been raised at meetings across the county as a prime example of a journal that welcomes discussion on disability and raises awareness of disability issues), and to Dave, who is here today, for organising all our meeting throughout the year and also for taking on the organising of the Disability Challenge, which Dave will update us on a little later.
I feel this year we have moved further towards the objectives of SDN. Our membership is increasing - we now have a membership of over 700, and it continues to grow. We are getting large amounts of Press & Publicity, and are seen now as the Voice for people with disabilities in Shropshire, not just by the statutory agencies, but also by the media. Last week we had 4 radio interviews. We have an increasing number of followers on twitter - on average, 100 tweets a week and 160 primary followers. To put that into context, and get an understanding of what that actually means for those like me that are not tweeters…. At the VCSA AGM, with 100 in the room, analysis afterwards found that, via Twitter, it reached 16,500 in a county that has a population of 300,000. That’s 6% of the people in the county.
In October last year we held the Hardest Hit Debate. The event, attended by 72 people, was a great success, and SDN has received some very positive feedback from all quarters. Chaired by Jim Hawkins from BBC Radio Shropshire, the event covered the topics requested by the members and delegates, namely, ATOS Assessments, Blue Badge Parking Scheme in Shropshire, and outcomes from the consultation on the Live Life Your Way Personalisation programme in Shropshire. A full report on the event can still be accessed through our web site. On a recent visit to No. 10 Downing Street in another role, I made sure they knew about the messages that came out from our Hardest Hit Debate.
SDN is run totally by volunteers. This can often be overlooked when you see the amount of work we do, the level of commitment that is given, and the quality of service that is provided. In particular I would like to mention and give thanks to Val Lewis and Paul Nash who continue to support the SDN website, Marina Hall who updates You Tube with articles for the visually impaired and non-readers, Grace Hough (the amazing Grace) who attended the Paralympics as a Games Maker, and gave us a real insight to what’s going on through her regular blogs posted on our website, Sarah Starkey who edits articles for the newsletter, and Margaret Barnes who supports the funding sub group and sells raffle tickets at our events.
We have welcomed three new members to the Management Group:
June Jones, has spent the last 15 years working voluntarily in Social Housing and was instrumental in establishing and developing the Consortium of Shropshire Tenants (C.O.S.T.) 8 years ago. The organisation has raised its profile, and now has a network with over 40,000 tenants. June is Chair of the Shrewsbury Branch of Arthritis Research UK and Chair of the Shrewsbury Arthritis Care Group, and Chair of Mount Pleasant GP Practice Patients Group and a member of The Shropshire Patients Group and a member of the Long-Term conditions group and the Medicines Management Team.
Liz Percival has a strong background in community accounts, and is our Treasurer- Elect.
Paul Siroky works for V.I.S.S. (Visual Interpreting Service Shropshire) Paul also works as a freelance BSL/English interpreter and academic interpreter at Wolverhampton University.
The skills and expertise that each of these individuals brings to the table will help strengthen and enrich the Management Committee and we thank them for giving of their time to support SDM members.
(Sonia invited the members to show their appreciation to all our volunteers in the usual manner).
We are officially registered as a Charity. This has meant changes to our constitution, allowing us to review and revise it, which we will ask you to ratify a little later.
6. Treasurer’s Report & Agreement of Accounts
Copies of the Income & Expenditure Account for the Financial year ending 31st May 2012 were circulated to members.
These showed
Reserves brought forward from prev. year £4,386.18
Surplus for the year £4,754.61
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Reserves carried forward £9,140.77
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The Meeting was asked to approve the Accounts. Phil George proposed, and June Jones seconded. The Meeting approved the Accounts unanimously.
The Meeting also voted unanimously to retain Turner Paechey as SDN Auditors.
A copy of the Income & Expenditure Account is attached to these minutes.
7. Changes to SDN Constitution
Copies of the proposed new Constitution were circulated to members. The main changes were:-
§ An overall “Aim” has been introduced
§ The term “Steering Group” has been replaced by “Management Committee” throughout
§ The term “Shropshire” has been replaced by “Shropshire, and Telford & Wrekin” throughout
§ Voting rights at General Meetings have been clarified by adding 2 new bullets
Meeting voted unanimously to ratify the changes.
Dave Hewetson made the point that the Charity Commission would need to be notified.
8. Ratification of Officer Holders
Treasurer – Liz Percival nominated by Trevor Dickenson, seconded by Peter Staples, and endorsed by the Management Committee
The Meeting approved the appointment unanimously.
Secretary – John Simcox nominated by Ruby Hartshorne, seconded by Sonia Roberts, and endorsed by the Management Committee. John has been a member of SDN for years, and has latterly been a member of the Fund-raising sub-group. John works for the Mears Group in Shropshire, which provides a range of services to help older, disabled and vulnerable people to remain living in their own homes and supports Shropshire Handyperson Service.
The Meeting approved the appointment unanimously.
John said he was honoured to become SDN Secretary, and, that if he could do half as good a job as Dave (Hewetson), he would be happy.
Dave Hewetson congratulated John, and said he had enjoyed his time as Secretary, from the time he startedwith Geoff in the early days of SDN..
Vice Chair – James Moraghen nominated by Sonia Roberts, seconded by Ruby Hartshorne, and endorsed by the Management Committee. James is an ex-Army officer and has been a committed member of SDN since its formation, he is chair of Amnesty International (Shrewsbury Branch), Chair of Bayston Hill Parish Council and sits on many boards and committees using his wealth of knowledge to inform and advice organisations throughout Shropshire.
The Meeting approved the appointment unanimously.
9. Any Other Business
Dave Hewetson mentioned the Geoff Forgie Memorial Disability Challenge that was due to take place on Sunday16th September. We will have a marquee pitched above the top car park in Cardingmill Valley, and any volunteers will have soup and rolls. There are 6 teams of 10 – 2 Police, 2 Fire Service, a team led by Jess Forgie, Geoff’s daughter, and one from Bridgnorth Aluminium. They will each carry a Pioneer up the Long Mynd. Dave showed a map of the route. Pioneers include a paralympic gold medallist from Sydney 2000, and a young girl who was a torch bearer for London 2012. Sonia thanked Dave for organising the event, and we hoped for good weather.
Peter Ruberry proposed a vote of thanks for all the work Dave Hewetson has done over the years, and the members gave Dave a warm round of applause.
Margaret Barnes said £36 was raised by today’s raffle. She made an appeal for volunteers to help Fundraising Sub-group with tin-shaking etc. Anyone interested could contact Ruby on
10. Next Meeting
Our next General Meeting will take place on Thursday 13th December 2012, at Meeting Point House, Telford. Guest speakers are
1) Margaret Williams, Limb India
2) Ann Shaw, West Mercia Police – Disability Hate Crime
11. Guest Speaker 1
Rachel Woods – Cooking for People with Disability
Rachel passed round 2 lots of samples of jam on crackers, and asked us to identify the jams. Many guessed correctly the first one – damson – but no-one got the second, which was ginger and apple.
Rachel has started The Windfall Project as a Community Interest Company, which has 2 aims:
§ To make good quality, tasty, innovative preserves and chutneys using, wherever possible, local ingredients
§ To provide work-based training and support to adults with learning disabilities
Rachel has a background as a social worker. When she took leave to bring up her children, she developed her passion for jam making. She tends to use fruit that would otherwise go to waste – fruit that falls to the ground in people’s gardens and never gets used.
Working in a small group, you will spend time picking fruit, working in a kitchen, learning about food and cookery, including food safety, and selling jam on a market stall. Initially, the sessions will run at The Trinity Centre, Meole Brace, Shrewsbury.
For more information, go to the website www.thewindfallproject.wordpress.com
A Flyer about an Apple Day on 6th October is attached to these minutes.
12. Guest Speaker 2
Rob Price - Implementation of PIP’s
(Rob is Team Leader for the Benefit Options Team at Shropshire Council)
PIP’s (Personal Independence Payments) are the replacement for DLA’s (Disability Living Allowance). First time claimants (from next June 2013) will get PIP’s, not DLA’s. Lifetime DLA’s are no longer lifetime. Between October 2013 and March 2016, DLA recipients will be invited to claim a PIP instead.
PIP’s are different, because instead of [low, middle, high] rates with DLA, there will be just [standard, enhanced] rates for both the Daily Living Component and the Mobility Component. Every activity is assigned a points value, and you must score a minimum of 8 points to qualify for a PIP.
It’s estimated that ½ million people will lose out in the transfer to PIP’s.
Consultations have been running for a year so far. The process will be trialled in North West England from April 2013 for 3 months, and then rolled out across the country. The Claim form hasn’t yet been designed. Most people will have a face-to-face meeting before a PIP is awarded. There will be a Centre in Shrewsbury for this. It won’t be a medical examination, and will be carried out by a health care professional who has had special training - this could be a nurse, occupational therapist or, more rarely, a doctor. The client can take an advocate or a witness along. Capita, not ATOS, will have the contract for theses assessments in West Midlands.