Royal Air Forces Association
Minutes of the North Costa Blanca Branch BRANCH Meeting
held 12.00-13.00, 9th November 2015 at Los Arcos Restaurant, Pedreguer,
1. Present
Bob Hunt (Chairman)
Colin McNae (Vice-Chairman)
Brian Flowers (Secretary)
Maggie Dennis (Treasurer & Welfare)
Alan Gill (Social & Entertainment)
Shane Martin (Wings Appeal)
Stephen Lemon (Flyer Editor)
- Apologies
Gaby Ferenczy (President)
3. Minutes of the Previous Meeting
· Approval of the minutes of the previous meeting was proposed by Len Hewitt, seconded by Alan Page and approved unanimously.
4. Matters Arising
· The Branch President had sent apologies for his and Margaret’s absence, (due to a cold following a visit to the UK).
5. Chairman's Report
5.0 Introduction
· The Chairman welcomed 46 members plus 2 guests, David & Sandy Barnes, (the Chairman and his wife from the Costa Blanca Branch, Torrevieja).
· Sue McNae then read the RAFA Dedication in honour of the men and women who had died whilst serving in the Royal Air Force and Commonwealth Air Forces.
· Father Steve concluded this remembrance dedication by singing ‘The Bomber’s Moon’ with his own guitar accompaniment.
5.1 Debriefing of the European Area Conference
· Bob Hunt reported that the European Area Conference, which was held in the Radisson Blue Hotel, Jersey, had been a successful and enjoyable event. The Jersey Branch had provided a subsidy of ₤50 per participant as it was their 90th anniversary.
· A bid by the Costa del Sol Branch to host the 2017 Autumn Conference in the Tamisa Golf Hotel, Mijas, had been approved.
· Reports on the Jersey conference, by Bob Hunt and by Stephen Lemon, would be included in the December edition of The Flyer.
5.2 RAFA-CHQ computer problems
· The Chairman reported that a new RAFA Head of Finance had been recruited, so branch account details should be available from RAFA-CHQ in the near future.
· The required information for the transfer of the NCB’s Wings Appeal donation to RAFA had been received, so the Treasurer would make this ₤3,000 transfer on 10th November.
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· The Chairman confirmed that RAFA-CHQ had now opened a bank account in Euros, although details were still awaited.
5.3 Flyer Editor
· The Chairman was pleased to report that Steve & Maria James had agreed to take over the job of editing The Flyer from January 2016..
6. Vice-Chairman's Report
· The Vice-Chairman reported that he had received a total of €1,150 from sponsors of his recent parachute jump, of which €750 had been donated to the NCB’s Wings Appeal and €400 had been donated to the North Costa Blanca Area Chaplaincy.
· Colin reported that the piper whom he had hired for the Burn's Night event was unwell, so he was endeavouring to hire another piper.
7. Secretary's Report
· The Secretary reported that he had cross-checked a recent print-out of RAFA-CHQ’s NCB Membership List with our current List of Members. He was pleased to find that there were only two discrepancies, i.e. on RAFA-CHQ’s list, Peter Sharp was shown as a Full Member although he had passed away on 21st February 2015. The Secretary sent an email to Simon Martin on 22nd February advising him of Peter’s passing. Secondly, Mrs Margaret Hunt was shown as Mrs Simon Hunt on RAFA-CHQ’s list. The Secretary would follow up these anomalies with Sarah Waugh, RAFA-CHQ, in due course.
· The Secretary reported that there had been no changes to the List of Members (Rev.308a).
8. Treasurer's Report
· Maggie reported that the NCBB's financial situation was as follows:
Bank Account: €14,655·99 Cash: €113·95
· ₤3,000 (about €4,200) would be transferred to RAFA-CHQ on 10th November for the NCB’s Wings Appeal donation.
· NCB membership fees for 2015 were due to be deducted from the NCB’s RAFA account, but details of this transaction were awaited from RAFA-CHQ.
· The Treasurer had taken the coins from members’ RAFA collection boxes to the bank. Unfortunately, there were some UK pennies mixed up with the 1 cent coins, so Maggie had to spend some time sorting this out.
9. Welfare Officer's Report
· The Welfare Officer reported that in October she had completed 3 reviews for ex-RAF personnel or dependants requesting assistance from the RAFBF. .
· Maggie reported that Terry Jessey had had a bad fall on 7th November and had been hospitalised, but Ray Harris informed the meeting that he was now OK.
· Maggie also reported that Bill Beaumont was suffering with leg pain.
· The Chairman reported that there would be a training session at the UK Consulate in Alicante on 2nd December dealing with expat problems, including advice concerning what must be done when returning to live in the UK.
10. Social and Entertainment Officer's Report
· The Chairman thanked Alan for organising a Quiz Evening at Bar Nou, Senijas, on 28th October.
· Alan gave the following list of events:
- 24th November, 19.00/19.30, meal at Rusty's Restaurant, Moraira.
- 17th December, Pre Christmas dinner at Satari's Restaurant, music by Barry Peter.
_ 17th January, 19.30/20.00,Panto Careline, (Aladdin), Alcalali Theatre,,
pre-pantomeal at Torre Bar, 18.00
- 23rd January, Burn’s Night at Los Leones Restaurant, Moraira, (€20)..
11. Wings Appeal Officer's Report
· The Wings Appeal Officer reported that the 12th October Branch Meeting raffle had raised €165 for the Wings Appeal, the Quiz Night had raised €120, and the Iceland supermarket, Benissa, Battle of Britain collection had raised €83.
· The total raised so far in 2015 allowed the transfer of ₤3,000 to the Wings Appeal for 2015.
12. Flyer Editor's Report
· As reported in Section 5.3 above, Steve and Maria James had agreed to take over from Stephen Lemon as Editor of The Flyer, starting with the January 2016 edition.
13. Chaplain's Report
· The Chairman thanked Father Steve for his singing/guitar playing at the start of the meeting.
14. Webmaster's Report
· The Webmaster reported that there were 199 hits on the NCBB website in October.
15. AOB
· The Chairman explained that this was the last meeting with Ray and Joy Harris present as they would be returning to the UK in early December. They were both founder members of the NCB in June 2004 and Ray had been the Branch Standard Bearer for many years, carrying out his duties in an exemplary manner, sometimes under difficult conditions. Also, Joy had provided piano accompaniment on various occasions. The Chairman thanked Ray and Joy for their commitment to the branch and presented them with a RAFA-NCB banner.
· Alan Page reported that he had recently attended a funeral conducted by Father Steve and Alan paid tribute to Father Steve’s competence, noting also that Father Steve had worked as a carpenter before becoming a priest.
16. Date and place of next meeting.
The next meeting will be held 12.00-13.00 on 14th December at Los Arcos Restaurant, Pedreguer.
(Brian Flowers - Rev.1 - 18th November 2015)