July 2016
Dear Member
WE NEED YOUR HELP!
This is my 1st letter as President, and I have to already ask for your help!
As you all know, we are extremely fortunate to have a beautiful listed building, which is a major part of the Medical Society. Unfortunately, we need to spend a considerable amount of money on the building. The roof over Flat 5, the section of the building above the lecture theatre and library requires fairly urgent repairs and maintenance. This will cost around £65,000. The society has sufficient reserves to cover this but it will leave us with very little in the bank. And there is always on-going maintenance of the rest of the building, which has to continue. A recent structural survey in 2015 has revealed that considerable maintenance and repairs are required to the rest of the building over the next few years. The cost of all this is difficult to estimate, but may well be around £150,000. The last time any substantial maintenance of this sort was carried out was apparently in the 1970s. We are advised that grants, such as lottery funding is extremely difficult to get, and comes with considerable strings attached.
Therefore we need your help to raise money.
The board discussed this recently.
· We propose to raise Subscriptions for at least the next 2 years to £100 per working member (who can claim it back against tax), and £60 per retired member. We will review this after 2 years and see if they can be reduced again. This may be unpopular and will need members to change their individual standing orders, but will give the Society some additional funds. Whilst the subscription is tax deductible for Doctors who are working, it is not eligible for Gift Aid.
· We are going to investigate whether we can sell part or even all the library of books held on our behalf by York University. This is apparently worth a considerable amount, but whilst it is accessible to members, it is not in regular use, as far as we know.
· We are going to offer Associate Membership to local Dentists for an identical annual subscription. They would not have voting rights, although that may come in time. The local Dental Society has collapsed and we hear there are local Practitioners who would like to join.
· We wish to consider other fundraising methods
o One off donations
o A ‘100 club’: If 100 members contributed £100 per annum, and every month there was a draw for 1 member to get his/her money returned, in 12 months that would raise £9,000.
o Sponsor a tile at a set price
o Fundraising meetings, which are outside the usual programme
o Obviously, if any member wished to remember the Society in their will, that would help in the years to come.
· We would welcome other ideas from members.
As your President, I will start off the donations with a pledge of £1,000. This donation would be eligible for Gift Aid apparently, which would help boost the value to the Society.
I hope you will agree that we owe it to both our predecessors, who enabled us to have this great building, and our successors to try to maintain it in as good state as we can. Sadly, if we cannot raise the money, the Society would have to consider selling it. That is something the board does not even want to contemplate.
Therefore, let’s see how much money we can raise. In the meantime, we are going ahead with the urgent repairs.
I know some of this may sound heretical to some members, but we do need to raise money and we therefore need to explore all options.
Programme for 2016/17
The programme of lectures is almost complete. We need to set a date for the Founders Day Presentations. Also, as you may know, we have a theatre group in residence from 30th January until 13th March and we have an option of the Society having one Friday evening when we can be the audience. We need to confirm which Friday that will be. The Theatre Group is writing and producing a play called ‘Frankenstein at the York Medical Society’
I hope you will find the programme interesting and enjoyable. The first meeting is on 23rd September when Professor Brian Ferguson will be talking about Investing in Prevention. Brian is Chief Economist for Public Health England, having previously been Director of the Yorkshire & Humber Public Health and Quality Observatories since 2004, and Co-Director of the Northern and Yorkshire Cancer Registry & Information Service since April 2010. He was a member of the National Public Health Career Scientist Award Panel for five years and was a PCT non-executive director for four years.
On Friday 30th September, there is a guided tour of Selby Abbey, including, I hope, a tower climb to enjoy the views from the top. Selby Abbey is over 900 years old, is a hidden Gem of Yorkshire. It is a beautiful building and well worth the trip to Selby. It has a fascinating history and I think it will make a very enjoyable and interesting evening.
The Oration is on Friday 14th October when Prof Philip Cachia, an old friend of mine is going to discuss ‘Delivering Person-centred Care through Human Factors Science’. Following this will be the Annual Dinner in the Merchant Taylors Hall, Aldwark at 7.30 for 8.00pm.
Philip was a Consultant Haematologist at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, and later became Post Graduate Dean for East of Scotland Deanery. He has now retired from this post. He is currently Director of Training and Assessment, Royal College of Pathologists
The other important date is the Burns Supper and Ceilidh again at the Merchant Taylors Hall on Saturday 28th January 2017. This year, we are having less time for addressing the haggis and the reply, and more time to enjoy the Ceilidh, by popular request!
As I write this, 23 members/families have just had a very successful and interesting visit to Drax Power Station. I think we were all amazed at the size and complexity of the whole process and it was fantastic to see some young family members asking great and insightful questions. The Staff who showed us round were excellent and very helpful. They did say they would be delighted to show others round if they were unable to attend last night.
Other items:
President Elect and his Successor
As many of you will know already, Gus McLaren, an Edinburgh Graduate like me, is the current President Elect. Gus has retired from his Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon’s role and at the Burns Supper this year he gave a very entertaining address to the haggis. He also gave a talk on the history of joint replacements.
Following him, Sarah Watson, a GP at Priory Medical Group, and again a Scottish Graduate from St Andrews and Manchester, has agreed to be President. Unlike her recent predecessors, Sarah has a long career ahead of her, being considerably younger than the rest of us. She hopes this may help making the Medical Society more interesting to colleagues who are still working in Primary and Secondary care.
Honorary Chairman
The Board have agreed to advertise for an Honorary Chairman to provide better continuity in terms of the business of the Society and the buildings. The post would be for 3 years, and we hope there will be some interest in the position. There will be more details about this later.
Defibrillator
The Society has recently purchased an idiot proof Defibrillator which will be attached to the wall in the entrance hall by the display cabinets. The machine gives instructions as to what to do, and is the same as those in public places. Lets hope it never needs to be used!
Garden Wall
The excess soil has been removed form the garden wall and a small area of paving created between the existing, smaller flowerbed and the repaired wall. It was hoped this could be used as a bike park for several bicycles, but it appears there is only enough space for 2 at a time. It was planned to put a wall-bracket to which bikes could be secured, but this may need to be considered again.
Stairs to flats
Some tenants have commented that visitors will often go up the outside stairs to view the garden or even look in the flats. Therefore you will notice that chains will be place across these stairs indicating that they are private areas.
Home email addresses and mobile numbers
It would be helpful if members could let Jane/Sharron have their home email addresses and mobile numbers. Many members have their contact details as their workplace.
Gift Aid Forms
If anyone wishes to make a donation and Gift Aid it, a form needs completing, unless one has been signed previously.
Standing Order Forms
Following the decision to put up the subscriptions to help fund the building maintenance, members will need to adjust their standing orders. Please do, we do not want to lose members. There will be more details later but annual subscriptions are due at the start of October.
Can I wish you all a good summer and look forward to seeing you again in September.
John Reid
President