The Royal British Legion
Cumberland & Westmorland
County Patron: HM Lord Lieutenant Mrs Claire Hensman
County President: Mr N Howard OBE
Treasurer Chairman Membership Support Officer
Lt Col. MR Rowney MBE Mr Tony Crane Clive Sumpter
Mountjoy, Ballplay Road 13 Hawesmead Avenue TRBL County Office
Moffat Kendal Eden Rural Foyer
Dumfriesshire Cumbria London Road
DG10 9JX LA9 5HB Penrith. CA11 8ET
07912 885250 07739 900650 07805 281168
30 October 2017
Minutes of County Committee Meeting on Saturday 7th October 2017
Present: Mr T Crane (County Chairman), Miss E Willacy (Arnside), Mrs M Wadsworth (Carlisle), Mr R Hutchinson (Penrith), Jane Brown Membership Council Rep. D Cradduck Bransty, Mr Alan Turing, Miss J Reay (CFR). R Glenister Windermere, D Ballantyne Carlisle, Mr J Muir Egremont, Mr J Henderson Carlsile.
The Chairman opened the meeting at 10.30 hours with the Exhortation and Silent Tribute.
Apologies for absence were received and accepted from C Sumpter MSO.
Minutes of Previous Meeting Held on 8th August 2017
The Chair read the minutes of the previous County Committee meeting held on 8th August 2017 and they were accepted as a true reflection of the meeting Proposed by I Fisher Seconded by E Willacy, Carried
Matters Arising
CFR on behalf of MSO raised the issue of the production of a small credit card size recruitment aid and this matter has been passed by the Committee and MSO will take this further and order initially 1000 cards. To distribute throughout the County to gauge response..
Kells Branch Closure a discussion was held around the closure of Kells branch and it was agreed that the branch has been discussed in the past re closure but the correct procedure for whatever reason has not been followed at that time. It was decided that MSO would follow the system that was to take place after getting advice from the Membership Council Rep. T Crane agreed with the meeting that he would liaise with MSO to take this matter forward and sort the closure. The meeting agreed that this should be done as a matter of urgency
Hawkshead Branch Closure
Hawkshead AGM and Special meeting minutes were shown to the County Mtg and following a short discussion it was reluctantly agreed to accept the closure of the branch. Unanimous vote
IF from Bransty raised the issues of how we are going to go forward with regards to a treasurer for the County and the MSO setting up a Linkdin account and seeing if the setting up of this and writing to local accountant settings to see if they could help. The question of payment was discussed and it was suggested that we could offer expenses but not a payment for those services. MR is content to remain in post until a new treasurer is found. With regards to IF discussion around the issuing of FOR tickets IF feels that if there was a criteria set down it would help the MSO in his allocating of those tickets. There is a letter of invitation on the system and there is also a written system for the MSO to follow. IF wanted a discussion around the SB dress code for GP90 TC stated that if the SB is acting for the branch they would have to wear SB dress code. If a Cadet or other organisation is the SB for the event they would wear their organisation uniform. IF stated that it was important that the SB dress code is strictly enforced as it should be. TC has agreed to discuss this with the MSO. JB membership Council told the group that each SB would be invited to a meeting to discuss SB dress code for the GP90 event. A discussion was held around GP 90 travel dates. TC has told the County Mtg that funding is available from legacies etc.
TP from Carlisle Branch has asked for a motion to be discussed at County level and I have attached his discussion point to these minutes. TP has agreed that the motion from TP can be discussed at County Conference and TP has the option to put this forward for discussion.
JH Annual Remembrance event Rickerby Park Carlisle JH has asked for County involvement at this event and MRS Howard women’s section has been suggested as a possible representative. JH has also been invited to discuss the 2018 event as the local Council want to put in place a large event on the day and JH is happy to take forward to the meeting the help of the County. A general discussion was held around what other branches were planning for 2018 and that if at all possible the RBL would get involved with any service of remembrance.
From MSO Reintroduction of SB Competition. TC has agreed for MSO to explore this by contacting branches for input.
Jane Brown Membership Council
Started by saying that it was nice to be back in Cumbria and that she has now been voted into Office for 3 years. JB explained that she has been very busy due to unforeseen circumstances that involved the Northumberland County and how she had been placed in charge of the County following the County being put into Administration for a period of time. She offered an apology for not being in Cumbria as often as she would have liked. JB will be visiting all the Cumbrian Branches to discuss any issues that branches have with the MC. JB identified the two items being pushed by HQ at this time involved Branch Community Support. GP90 and she identified that she is working with MSO to get the information out to all the branches on both these subjects. JB has agreed to discuss with MSO SB training and felt that it was important to get this training and this would enable the county maybe to have a pool of SBs that could be called upon for GP90
Correspondence
No correspondence has been received at this time.
Chairman’s Report
TC discussed the treasurer issue and suggested that there may be an individual may have been identified and he will discuss that with Membership Council JB. TC did suggest that if we can not solve the Treasurer issue we may have no alternative other than to amalgamate with another County. JB suggested that this would not be the best way forward and the avenues for getting another treasurer be followed first.
Treasurer’s Report
Lt Col MR has agreed to keep an eye on things at this time and the MSO and MR are currently working with HQ over the County Accounts.
MSOs Report
Good Morning here is my report for the County Meeting. I would like to start with an apology for my absence today but this was a pre employment booking that I had to attend, With regards to this last two months as the MSO I have now allocated all the seating for the Festival of Remembrance and if you have any monies for me then I would appreciate a cheque as soon as possible. As I write this report tickets have not yet been sent to me. With regards to annual accounts reruns I think this year was pretty successful with only 2/3 branches defaulting on the end of September completion date. I will contact those branches individually and I would like to express my thanks to all the treasurers who got their accounts in on time. The next milestone for consideration is the collection of branch MS1s and this is to be completed by the end of December 2017. Please remember to complete at your AGMs or before if there is going to be no name changes. With the resignation of Mr David Bell the MSO for Northumberland I have taken on the role as GP90 coordinator for the Northern area and as such in conjunction with the membership council Rep Ms Jane Brown I am planning to hold a GP90 Information and Q and A session in the coming Months before Xmas. If there are any branches out there that are wavering over GP90 I urge you to consider all avenues of us seeing your Branch Standard at this very prestigious event and I have very kind offers of financial help from local branches if branches are struggling to raise the £1000 needed I urge you to contact me.
Community Fund-Raising Officer’s Update
JR reported that we have broken all our previous records and the3 appeal currently stands for the County at £492. 776.60 and when you add in the IOM totals we have raised over £640 305 26.
JR thanked all the collectors PAO and volunteers for all their hard work and effort as this is an amazing total. Nationally there is a move to getting all year round fund raising. This years Poppy Appeal launch is planned to take place at the Lakes School and plans are well advanced for the very first City Poppy Day this year to be held in Carlisle on the 2nd November. JR has said that she does have a small stock of poppy stores if anyone needs anything in the short term.
AOB:
Elaine Willacy asked if the affiliation of Kirkby Lonsdale to become a sub branch of Arnside is endorsed and although the Membership Council has discussed this and passed that amalgamation MSO has not been told of the outcome at this time.
Meeting Closed
There being no further business to discuss the meeting was closed by the County Chairman at 11 45hours. He stated that the next meeting will be at the same venue from 10.30 hours on Saturday 2 December 2017, AGM followed by the County Conference.
