The London Fire Brigade Welfare Fund - Southern Area AGM

Thursday 23rd March 2017 at 11:15am

Held at Charlton Park Rugby Club, Broad Walk, London SE3 8NB

Present / Apologies
Adam Andrews-Homerton -Area Secretary / Lee Down-Area Asst Secretary
Paul Capocci-Sidcup -Area Asst Secretary / Paul Renshaw -ret’d-Area Chairman
Barry Kemp-ret’d-Area Treasurer / J. Scudder Ret’d
Carol Connelly - WF BMD / Paul Prizeman - ret’d
David Williams - E22 Greenwich / Darren Hill - H38 Sutton
Bill Ludlow - E22 Greenwich / Andrew Mills – E27
Charlie Beatt - Tooting / Simon Brown – H33 Wandsworth
C.Franklin Ret’d / Mat Rosendale - H24 Brixton
Geoff Scudder - ret’d / Michael Davidson – E43 Beckenham
Paul Reeve - ret’d / Dale Roberts – H40 Sidcup
Paul Woods – E38 New Cross
Anton Murrells - E30 Eltham
Mark Ryan - E23 East Greenwich
John Watson – H40 Sidcup
Alan Magin - ret’d
Terry Hawkey – E25 Plumstead
Gary Smith – E25 Plumstead
Mick Keenan - ret’d
Peter Davison - E23 East Greenwich
Barry Hammond - ret’d
Mick Llinas - Bexley
Alan Ellis - ret’d
Dave Rees - ret’d
Tony Leslie - H21 Clapham
Steven Davis - Ret’d
Claire Davis – E31 Forest Hill
Lyndon Burrell - H41 Kingston
Anthony White - ret’d
Fred Buss - E41 Orpington
Bob Ayerst – Ret’d
Paul Smith

1.  Apologies received, as listed above.

2. Previous Minutes

Paul Renshaw, Chair, was unable to attend, so Adam Andrews opened the meeting in his

absence. He requested approval of previous minutes. Barry Hammond proposed and Anton

Murrell seconded. There were no matters arising from previous minutes.

3. Election of Officers

Paul Capocci to remain as Secretary.

Lee Down to remain as Assistant Secretary

Terry Hawkey to assist as Assistant Secretary

Barry Kemp to remain as Treasurer.

Paul Renshaw to remain as Chairman

Adam Andrews to take over as Retired Members Rep

This was formally proposed by John Watson, seconded by David Williams and agreed

unanimously by those attending.

4. Chairman’s Report

AA said that due to the absence of Paul Renshaw, there was no Chairman’s Report to read

out. He did say, however, that the Area is being run well and many varied activities are taking

place.

5. Secretary’s Report

Paul Capocci - Paul thanked everyone for coming and also thanked the Southern area committee for all their hard work over the past year, which is all voluntary. He also thanked Adam Andrews for his system of emailing Retired Members, which seems to be working well.

PC also urged all Station Reps to ensure that people rejoin the Welfare Fund when they retire and to check that everyone on the station is a member. For Retired Members, it is important that they rejoin as they will not be entitled to the Death Benefit, which is now £3,000. Carole Connolly sadly there had been three people who had died this year who thought they were members and who weren’t, so their families were denied the money.

PC said that year on year, greater restrictions are being placed on what the Welfare Fund can provide for stations, especially with the introduction of PPI stations. He had spoken to Property Services and in 25 years, stations have to be handed back in great condition, so nothing is allowed to be put on walls and there are Health & Safety restrictions regarding radios & fridges etc… and their running costs. An individual from a PPI station has asked Central Office to provide a list as to what each Area/Station has received from the Welfare Fund, but as can be appreciated, this is no easy task. This is because members have been going to other Areas/Stations and seeing things we don’t or can’t provide and asking why they can’t have them!

Dani Cotton is now the new LFB Chief and along with DAC Andy Hearn, they will hopefully lead to a change of mentality regarding station life between the LFB and the Welfare Fund.

Southern Area encourage people to take part in off-station activities, funding 1-2 watch trips per week. The Area will contribute up to 20% of the cost, as long as we are given names & pay numbers and a short report with photos is given in return. These trips alone could cost us the majority of our budget, so we have to be a bit sensible with money.

Lee Down is responsible for consumables. As usual, all requests for large items still need to come from your SM, this is to confirm that a risk assessment has been carried out and that they are happy for you to have this item of equipment.

One change that PC introduced was that all station equipment orders from all stations/departments within the Southern Area are to be sent direct to Lee Down via e mail.

All TV requests and claim forms for events/trips are to be sent direct to Paul Capocci.

Last year, we once again booked several family caravan weekends at Selsey, all of which sold out. We also booked the Christmas train and a Christmas dinner. We are also still giving £130 towards hall hire for retirement functions and £100 for pitch hire. All that is needed is a Claims Form and a receipt for hall hire.

Adam Andrews has stepped down to become the Retired Members Rep. While he is away, his daughter will continue to send out his emails. Also, Terry Hawkey will help the Committee out, so we are not short on manpower.

Some Areas now have quarterly meetings to keep people better informed. We would be willing for this to happen if people thought it would be beneficial. Also, the Central Welfare AGM was very well attended.

Carole Connolly said that at the Central Welfare Fund AGM, the results of the questionnaire that was sent out to all members was discussed. The responses received showed that people like the name of the Welfare Fund and that we should not change it. They also said that they liked the way that the Lottery was run. Also, each Area now had its own identity within the magazine.

Carole also said a Working Party had been set up to try and standardize what happens across Areas. This would help to get everyone working together for core things that everyone recognizes i.e £130.00 for hall hire.

Communications were also mentioned and Carole urged everyone to let Central Office know of any change of address and to give us a personal email address, as the Brigade often prevents emails going through their Firewall. She also urged people to add the Welfare Fund as a Facebook Friend because last minute ticket offers are usually distributed this way.

6. Treasurer’s Report

Barry Kemp referred to financial report. Expenses were listed, with a carryover sum of £10,213. He urged people to complete Claims Forms correctly and to attach proper receipts, along with the names of ALL people participating in an event, not just the person claiming. Also, all claims must be made within 8 weeks of the event. AA said that names would be checked with Central Office.

Questions from the floor:

Charlie Franklin asked if the money given from Central Office was split equally between the Areas or given with regard to the number of people in each Area. CC said that paying each Area per head was brought up at a previous Executive Meeting, but this had not been passed. CF asked if this motion could be put forward again if Southern wanted it as if another large Area wanted it, surely the vote would be carried. BK pointed out that each Area only had one vote, so it didn’t matter about the size. Adam Andrews said that if members wanted them to raise it at the next meeting, they would ask Central Office for the appropriate figures and PC could take it to the Executive Council if required.

Charlie Beatt asked if there was a cap on the amount of money a watch could claim. AA said that some Areas allocate a certain amount of money to each station, but Southern Area doesn’t. However, as the popularity of trips increases, the amount given will be lower. PC said that no reasonable request had ever been turned down and if every station was given £100 per watch, that would mean ringfencing half of our budget for this. Fred Buss asked if PC could refuse multiple claims from certain stations, watches or individuals. PC said no claims would be refused but their subsidy may be less.

Paul Smith commented that by funding watch trips, this wouldn’t make others want to do trips themselves. Both Steve Davis and Bob Ayerst said that some watches just can’t be bothered to organize anything. PC said that word was spreading that a contribution could be made and it just needed just one individual to take the lead. BK said that in previous years, the Santa Train had been full as it was booked and all people had to do was pay and turn up. This year’s Santa train was booked in a different way. Members booked the times and dates they required, this meant that it was opened up to all watches over the Christmas period. It was still well attended, booking over 2 coaches, 120 plus members and families in total. However only 5 members claimed back the subsidy they were entitled to.

Gary Smith said that the Welfare Fund forms couldn’t be downloaded from the LFB website. CC said to give the Office a call for forms. GS said he had and they had arrived promptly.

7. Retired Section Report

Adam Andrews said that a regular newsletter is sent to retired members with notices of deaths and retirements. He said that when he returns from his trip away, he would try to organize quarterly or bi-annual meetings for retired members.

Question from the floor:

Anton Murrells asked if retired members were attending a serving members event, could they both claim. AA said to just give him the names and he would check. He also said this is a good way of checking if people are rejoining after retirement.

AM also asked if people who leave the Brigade can still be a member of the Welfare Fund. CC said unless they draw pay or pension from the LFB, they can’t be a member as we are unable to collect direct debits. She also said that most people who would want to rejoin once left would just want to use the subsidies available. Gary Smith asked if there was a time limit for people to rejoin and CC confirmed there wasn’t.

8. AOB

Sports grants – AA said that grants for the Rugby Section was now given centrally. There were still Golf and Climbing sections, but they had not claimed any money. He said that golf was very popular and Eastern Command had given £16,000 to their sections. He said that PC and BK would decide what Tony Leslie would get for Golf.

Questions from the floor:

Fred Buss asked if there was a minimum number for trips. PC said that there should be minimum four people involved for a one appliance and more than 6 for a multi .

FB also asked what the subscription rate was for retired members and CC confirmed it was £3.00 per month.

CF asked if the age for the Death Benefit payment could be raised to keep pace with the rise in the national retirement age. CC said that this would mean an increase in costs because there are less new recruits to subsidise retirees. This could only happen if something else was cut from budgets.

Paul Smith asked if more could be invested in getting new recruits to join. CC said this is already being done, with the Welfare Fund visiting training centres at Harrow, Park Royal and Becton. PC said that station reps should check that any new recruits that join them are members of the Fund as some can slip through the net. AA said reps could also send a screenshot of their STARS to central office and they would check if people are members. PC said the Welfare Fund does not generate money, so we need to retain members to carry on and help is needed with this on stations.

Paul Reeve said he would like to thank Adam Andrews for all his hard work over the years. This was unanimously agreed by everyone.

CC reiterated that it was important to ensure your personal details are up to date especially if you move, especially personal email addresses. Also, if you are on Facebook you can send a friend request to the Welfare Fund.

PC closed the meeting at 12:15.