MINUTES OF THE 94^TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE

CUMBERLAND AND WESTMORLAND COUNTY

5^th DECEMBER 2015 THE ROYAL BRITISH LEGION CLUB PENRITH 

Conference Opening:  The County Chairman Mr Tony Crane opened the conference and welcomed all those attending.

Exhortation and Silent Tribute:  This was given by the County President Mr Neville Howard OBE.

Prayers:  These were led by the Reverend Colin Sands of Penrith.

Introduction of Platform Party:  The chairman introduced the platform party, Her Majesty’s Deputy Lord Lieutenant Mrs Jane Hasell-McCosh and her husband, the National Chairman Mr John Crisford, County President Mr Neville Howard OBE, the conference padre Rev Colin Sands, Area manager Mr Marcus Hawthorn, the county community fund raiser Mr Alan Whitmore, county treasurer Lt Col Mike Rowney MBE and the acting membership support Officer Mrs Linda Johnston.

Members attending and apologies:  The list of members and apologies is at Annex A, there were a large number of last minute call offs due to the very strong wind and flooding.

Minutes if the 2014 conference:  The minutes were circulated prior to the conference and a copies available on the day.  They were proposed by Mrs Phyll Bolton as a true record and seconded by Mr John Muir.  The conference carried the motion.

Matters Arising:  There were no matters arising from these minutes.

CountyPresidents Address:  The county president Mr Neville Howard OBE gave his address a copy is at Annex B.

CountyChairman’s Annual Report:  Mr Tony Crane gave his report a copy is at Annex C.

Adoption of the CountyTreasurers Report:  The county treasurer Lt Col Mike Rowney MBE gave his report a copy is at Annex D.  He also gave the conference the current financial position of the counties funds these are at Annex E.  The accounts were proposed for adoption by Mr Ray Hutchinson and seconded by Mrs Margaret Wadsworth the adoption was carried.

Adoption of County Plan 2015-2018:  Copies of the county plan 2015-2018 had been circulated and copies available on the day.  The adoption of the plan was proposed by Mr A Jackson and seconded by Mr John Muir, conference carried the adoption.

Annual calendar of events:  The annual calendar of events had been circulated and the county training Officer Lt Col Mike Rowney MBE explained that this is a live document and any events that branches wish to take part in should be notified to him and the MSO for insertion to the plan, this allows for budgeting and maximum utilisation of resources.

Guest Speaker:  The guest speaker for this year’s conference was the National Chairman Mr John Crisford, a copy of his speech is at Annex F.

Area Managers Area Report: Mr Marcus Hawthorn gave his area report a copy is at Annex G, in addition he has also submitted the Northern Area draft plan that is at Annex H and the Cumberland & Westmorland Case and Incidents statistics 2015 at Annex I.

Community Fundraiser and Poppy Appel Update:  Mr Alan Whitmore gave his report and the figures: 

Poppy Appeal 2014-2015

There are 53 PAO’s covering the whole of the county who oversee over 1489 volunteers collectors. 15 Cadet Youth Groups help with the collection. We operate in 1749 static points as follows: (increase of 102 from 1651 last year).

Last Year       Differential

382 Retail Outlets and Shops                   (374)               (-4)

250 Pubs and Clubs                                   (261)               (-11)

291 Post Offices                                           (293)               (2)

315 Schools                                                  (289)               (26)

171 Garages/Filling Stations                     (173)               (5)

135 Hotels                                                     (127)               (8)

128 None Specified/Other                         (122)               (6)

68 Banks and Building Societies             (73)                 (5)

33 Supermarkets                                          (31)                  (2)

5 Motorway Services                                   (5)                    (0)

1 Power Station                                            (1)                    (0)

1 Shipyard                                                     (1)                    (0)

Observations and Objectives.

• Banks, Building Societies and Pubs and Clubs need improving.
• Schools are improving but need further work. School boxes are helping.
• Analyse all the above categories to ascertain how many outlets we actually have and how many are being reached. E.g. there are many more than 105 hotels in Cumbria. The objective is to reach all available hotels.

There are an estimated 2905 houses and farms visited for house to house collections. This is a decrease of 98 from last year.

Cumbria currently falls second behind the Isle of Man in the whole Country for money raised per head of population. Cumbria is £0.86.3p per head, Isle of Man £1.46.

Fundraising – other:

• Throughout 2014 Royal British Legion attendance at events and shows raised funds for the County Benevolent Fund, County Events Fund and County & Branch Poppy Appeals. In addition, WW1 Commemorative events including poppy picnics, exhibitions and concerts have raised further funds.

He also produced a power point presentation this is 90 slides and is available on request.

Election of new county committee:  As set out in the management hand book members of the committee have to stand down in route every 3 years but are eligible for re-election this year it was; Miss Elaine

Willacy, Mr Ian Fisher and Mr Ray Hutchinson all had agreed to continue and were duly re-elected.  Mr Ian Fisher was appointed as the CountyVice Chairman.

Location of County Conference 2016:  The conference will take place at the Penrith TRBL Club on Saturday 3^rd December 2015 commencing at 1.30pm.

Presentation of Awards:  The awards were presented by Her Majesties Deputy Lord Lieutenant Mrs Jane Hasell-McCosh, the list of winners is at Annex I and is also on the countyweb site.

Donations to Byng House, Lister House and the Cumbrian Benevolent Fund:  The chairman requested that donations by branches should be passed to the county treasurer. 

Vote of thanks:  The county chairman gave the vote of thanks as the vice chairman was unable to attend the conference.

The conference closed at 3.20pm

Signed:                                                                                                            Dated:

Annexes 

1. Members attending and apologies
2. CountyPresidents Address
3. CountyChairman’s Annual Report
4. CountyTreasurers Report
5. Update of financial state of county budget
6. National Chairman’s address
7. Area Managers report
8. Norther Area Plan
9. C & W Case and Incident Statistics 2015
10. Presentation of awards