Minutes of the Toddington Branch of The Royal British Legion

Committee Meeting 7:30 pm

Tuesday 16^th July 2024

1. Present

 Debbie Gibbons, Graeme Kelly, Bil Levinson, Lee Stone, Glen Gadsden, Kelly Grumoli, Melanie Parker

 Apologies

John Wood, Linda Washington, Nigel Washington, Pippa Brazier

3. Silent Tribute.

4. Exhortation

 They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;

age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

we will remember them.

5. Previous Meeting – Committee Meeting 18^th June 2024

The minutes were read and agreed to be a true report of the last full committee meeting. 

Proposed –  Glen Gadsden

Seconded – Debbie Gibbons

6. Chairmans Report

Toddington Village Fete.

Toddington RBL attended the Toddington fete again this year with our merchandise stall, we also held another prize raffle with the funds this time going to the Poppy Appeal, Melanie will give details of these in her report.

The silent Auction for the Coronation Blanket was also very successful with £100.00 being raised for Branch Funds, our thanks again go to the Toddington Knitting Group for their hard work making the blanket.

Wingfield Car Show.

We also attended the Wingfield Car show on Sunday 14^th July with the Poppy Merchandise stall, this was very well attended with funds raised again for the Poppy Appeal.

We have all agreed that we will keep an eye out on future events in Wingfield so we can go with the Poppy Merchandise stall.

Fee Increases

We discussed the fee increase as a committee, We are going to find out why and what the increased funds are for.

Details of Proposed events in May 2025 for VE Day 80 from Graeme Kelly.

7. Reports

7.1 Treasurer – Debbie Gibbons

Accounts

Year End Accounts: - All accounts were discussed and voted to be a true and accurate.

Proposed –  Bil Levinson

Seconded – Melanie Parker

7.2 Poppy Appeal Update – Melanie Parker

Recent events raised the following funds:

• Childs all year-round pot - £55.00
• Village Fete - £242.73
• Car Show at Wingfield - £153.14
• Foreign Exchange Currency - £55.00

This makes the figures for this year at:

• Local Figure - £14,781.49
• Luton Schools - £19,449.21

Overall Total - £32,648.51

This will be the final funds before the end of the poppy appeal year at the end of September.

7.3 Membership Secretaries Report – Bil Levinson

Membership Secretaries Report

From the membership list on 15^th July 2024, we have 61 members.

Web Site Report

The web site is up to date as far as I can tell, including June Minutes.

• Standard Bearer – Pippa Brazier

Our Standard Bearer, Pippa Brazier, continues to go to various Funerals, events, and parades that she is requested to attend, the most recent of these since the last meeting are set out below.

5^th July 2024 – Funeral of Gwyn Evans @ Bedford Crematorium

6^th July 2024 – Capel Militar Show in Dorking

• Support Officer

Our Support Officer has had a request to be a telephone Buddy, we have passed this to the Bedford branch, if they cannot get any service from them, we will have a look if we can support.

BSC Training – Our Support Officer is about to start the training course and will finish by September

8. Any other Business.

• Graeme Kelly has put together some suggestions regarding Toddington RBL holding events in May next year to celebrate the 80^th Anniversary of VE day, please see the attached correspondence item, which will be discussed more in the next few weeks.
• The RBL has written to all branches regarding increases to the membership fee to be phased in over the next few years, please see the attached correspondence item for more information.
• New Gazebo to replace the ones we lost at D-Day – Glen is going to communicate with our original supplier – Investigate if it could be a grant request

9. Correspondence

All items of correspondence are now sent out via email to the committee members prior to the meeting taking place, so that they can be read beforehand and discussed as necessary during the meeting. If any member would like a copy of any correspondence item, please contact John Wood or Kelly Grumoli (details at the top of these minutes) and we will get copies to you.

• Details of the proposed increases to the RBL membership fee from HQ.
• Bedford River Festival

10. Future Events – Memorable Dates

• 26^th October – Coffee Morning, Toddington Methodist hall.
• 10^th November – Remembrance Sunday
• 11^th November – Armistice Day (Monday)

Next Meeting

The next meeting will be at 19:30 on Tuesday 17^th September 2024

(There is no August meeting in 2024)

This will be in the top bar of the Social & Services Club, High Street Toddington.

If any member would like to attend a committee meeting, please contact John Wood or Kelly Grumoli and we can send you the details.

The meeting was closed at 8.23pm