Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held at the Afton Hotel, Eastbourne, East Sussex, on 12 May 2007 commencing at 1330 hours.
1. CHAIR'S WELCOME AND OPENING REMARKS:
The Chair Cordially welcomed everybody to the meeting and thanked them for attending.<.p>
2. CHAIR TO READ AGENDA:
The Chair read the agenda, and this formed the basis for discussion at the meeting.
3. NOTIFICATION OF ANY OTHER BUSINESS:
Notification was received from Garry Wiggins, Charles Peck.
4. ROLL CALL:
Martyn Wilson (Chair);
Charles Peck (Vice-Chair);
Richard Harrington (Secretary);
Colin Howard (Assistant Secretary);
Alec Bridgewood (Treasurer);
Jeanne Jackson (Appeals Officer);
Paul Chinnery;
Paul David;
Irene and David Knowles;
Pat Jordan;
Phil Troll;
Garry Wiggins.
5. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE:
Brian Collier (Vice-President);
Kulvinder Bhogal;
Chris Biles;
Marie Collier;
Stuart Jones;
Jane Sellers;
Alex Shannon.
6. MINUTES OF 2006 AGM:
The Chair stated that as these had been posted on the Website only, it was necessary to have them read for the benefit of those present at the meeting.
They were read by Alec Bridgewood.
(a) - Both Paul Chinnery and Phil Troll are not electable officers, but are contractors.
(b) - Delete "In the absence of the Appeals Officer" and substitute "In the absence of the Publicity Officer".
With these corrections, the minutes were approved.
Proposed by Colin Howard and seconded by Charles Peck.
7. MATTERS ARISING:
Phil Troll stated that the permanency of the office did not materialize.
8. OFFICER'S REPORTS:
(A. CHAIR:
The main emphasis of our work over the past year has been fund-raising.
It was always the intention to obtain grants to further develop NTE with the eventual aim of setting up a radio station.
During the past we have received three grants.
Martyn expressed his sincere thanks to Paul Chinnery who has applied for countless grants, and to our fund-raising expert, Mark Gerbaldi, for assisting Paul along the way.
He also expressed thanks to Charles Peck for raising £736 for the charity by organizing the cloakroom at the Pig's Ear Beer Festival back in December. We also had collections at tube and main line railway stations, and thanks to all collectors who helped.
All editions of the magazine were produced during the year, despite our Development Officer having to go into hospital for a short time in December.
Thanks were expressed to all volunteers who helped at the office including our new reader, Barbara.
Last September the Civic Ambassador of Newham visited the office and was given a guided tour of the studio and shown how the office setup works.
This resulted in a donation of £100 which was given by him on behalf of the borough.
Our current position:
In March we were informed via Radio South-East that we had to vacate the premises by 25 May as the Landlord wanted the building for their own use. After persuasion that date was postponed to 22 June. A search then ensued to find appropriate premises.
The coming year may be a difficult one, but Martyn intended to remain as Chair and strive to meet that forthcoming challenge which we all face.
(B). VICE-CHAIR:
Charles Peck reported that in his second year as Vice-Chair, he had helped in the office and assisted on several collections.
He had been in negotiations with other organizations to find out if they could help with fund-raising.
CAMRA had provided the venue for the Pig's Ear Beer festival where over £700 was raised for the charity.
He thanked several people for their assistance in this work.
We have had a grant from "Awards for All", London, for new computer equipment.
There has been an increase in the number of people listening to our Internet stream which produces a higher quality than tape.
Charles apologized for not including Phil Troll's name on the thank you list for the Pig's Ear Beer Festival.
C. SECRETARY:
Richard Harrington said he had enjoyed the past year as Secretary for NTE.
He had booked the Afton Hotel for this weekend and the subsequent AGM, ably assisted by our Chair.
He had recorded each meeting before writing and distributing the minutes.
We had complied with the rules of the Charities Commission by holding a face-to-face Committee meeting during the year.
D. ASSISTANT SECRETARY:
Colin Howard stated that the NTE list had not been particularly active. He recommended we should be having more discussion regarding NTE material.
E. TREASURER:
Firstly, Alec Bridgewood read a letter he had received from Chris Biles stating that he did not wish to be considered for nomination for next year's Committee line-up. This letter included his thoughts concerning the future course that NTE could take.
The meeting thanked Chris for his letter and donation of £50.
The Annual Treasurer's report and balance sheet for the year ended 31 March were read.
The income and expenditure accounts were also read.
The Chair congratulated the Treasurer on a successful year's work.
The report was adopted.
F. PUBLICITY OFFICER:
Due to Steve Ward's recent resignation, no report was received for presentation at this meeting.
G. APPEALS OFFICER:
Jeanne Jackson had sent out four hundred letters to various clubs in and around London.
H. DEVELOPMENT OFFICER:
Phil Troll said that Dave Durber had made a lot of enhancements to the website and helped us to get the network set up.
However, all this is now under threat because of having to relocate the office owing to the lack of security of tenure.
We are now looking for a room, and there is a possibility of one at a community centre in east London.
We may go into partnership with a sensory team in Newham in providing the resources centre for visually-impaired people.
We will pursue the possibility of getting the magazine back on air as soon as we technically can.
Fill Troll thanked the collectors for working on a regular basis.
A question was asked about our service with ACB Radio.
It was stated the opportunity for this was still open. We require more time to pursue this.
I. ASSISTANT DEVELOPMENT OFFICER:
Paul Chinnery reported the past twelve months had been busy in the office.
Phil and myself have had to contend with a reduction in working hours which had put a strain on our ability to run the office and produce the magazine to the usual schedules.
We have been able to produce a single tape magazine giving forty seven minutes to each magazine during the year.
I have also converted the magazine to MP3 files ready for the website which has now been kept far more up to date thanks to the Webmaster, Dave Durber.
Mark Gerbaldi gave me over twenty potential grant funders to contact, along with fifteen more that Jane Sellers kindly sent to me. We have limited financial results from these. There are still several outstanding, and perhaps we will hear from them.
Mark Gerbaldi is still working with us on the fundraising, even though his initial consultancy is now finished.
I have contacted local East London newspapers at the time of the Pig's Ear Beer Festival to try to gain publicity for NTE. Unfortunately, nothing came from these letters.
Finally, he thanked the Committee for their continued support, and he has enjoyed working for NTE.
Paul was thanked by everybody present for doing an excellent job.
9. REPORT FROM WEB MASTER:
This report was read by Paul Chinnery.
Dave Durber sent his sincere apologies for not attending the meeting.
During the past year the Website has been an exciting one for the charity and its members.
He then explained that when he took over as Webmaster, accessibility to the site was proving difficult.
He then went on to comment on the fonts, headings and links.
Now that the basic layout of the site has taken shape, it will be possible over time to add new features and functions to the site.
He thanked everyone for their suggestions and comments which have helped him in reorganizing the site.
10. ELECTION OF OFFICERS AND COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
The following officers and committee members were elected:
Alec Bridgewood read a letter from Jonathan Fisher, written on behalf of Jane Sellers, seconding Charles Peck for the post of Chair.
This letter was rendered invalid because no letter had been received proposing him as Chair.
There were no other nominations, as the result of which Martyn Wilson was elected as Chair.
Prior to the election of Vice-Chair, a letter was presented nominating and seconding Paul David as Vice-Chair.
An election was held for this post between Paul David, proposed by Richard Harrington and seconded by Colin Howard, and Charles Peck, proposed by Garry Wiggins and seconded by Pat Jordan.
The vote was Charles Peck 3 and Paul David 6 with 1 abstention.
Secretary: Richard Harrington, proposed by Colin Howard and seconded by Paul David;
Assistant Secretary: Colin Howard, proposed by Phil Troll and seconded by Richard Harrington;
Treasurer: Alec Bridgewood, proposed by Irene Knowles and seconded by Pat Jordan;
Appeals Officer: Jeanne Jackson, Proposed by Alec Bridgewood and seconded by Garry Wiggins.
Committee members:
Garry Wiggins, proposed by Phil Troll and seconded by Colin Howard.
11. MOTION:
The following motion was submitted by Garry Wiggins and amended by Phil Troll; "There should be an increase of money paid to collectors to £3 at peak times (7.30 to 11 am. and 5 to 7 pm) and to £2 between 11 am. and 5 pm." The amended motion was carried by 5 votes to 4. The original motion was carried by 7 votes to 1 with one abstention.
12. ANY OTHER BUSINESS:
There was no any other business.
13. DATE AND VENUE OF NEXT MEETING:
After some discussion, it was agreed the first choice of hotel will be the Cliffden in Teignmouth, while the second choice will be the Ambassador Hotel in Llandudno.
Richard Harrington
These minutes are subject to ratification at the 2008 AGM.
This page was last updated on March Nineteenth, Two Thousand Eight.