Minutes of the RNPA committee meeting held at the RAF Museum Cosford

 on Friday 6^th October 2017 at 1055

Those Present

Tony Darbyshire                     - Chairman

Peter Bunting                          - Vice Chairman

Jan Larcombe                         - Secretary - Historian 

Valerie Darbyshire                  - Treasurer

Raymond Whitehouse              - Social Secretary

Stephen King                          - Membership Secretary

Hilary King                             - Newsletter Editor

Danny du Feu                         - Exhibitions

Item 1.

Approval of minutes of last meeting.

As there were no objections Tony signed the minutes as a true record

Item 2

Matters arising - covered below

Item 3.

Officials

All members of the committee said that they were willing to serve for another year and Jan said that this did

Require the approval of the AGM.

Item 4.

Chairman's report.

Tony said that his report would be brief and ran through the names of those who had crossed the Barr since the last AGM and thanked the committee members for the hard work over the same period.

Item 5.

Secretary's/ Historians report.

Social Media Survey.

Jan reported that following the last AGM he had sent out a questionnaire to 290 email addresses and got 58 replies consisting of 22 “read” notices, 12 who said they follow the RN photographers pages, 34 who said they would read an RNPA page if there was more on it and 25 who said they would not use it at all. He added that the current RNPA webpages has 38 active members some of whom have not viewed the site for over two years. It was agreed that no further action should be taken with a Facebook page and Jan said that he would try to make some contacts via the serving photographers page.

Cenotaph March

Jan said that he had forwarded the details of our 18 marchers to the RBL and that he had just received the tickets which he would be sending out to individuals shortly. Danny agreed to make all the arrangements for the day and provide the necessary wreaths.

Joint reunions – progress

Jan said that the joint reunions were still planned with the SEs down to arrange the 2020 event in Bristol

100th Anniversary Events updates.

Jan explained that he had made numerous attempts to make contact with WO Dua and Hilary Roberts but had not heard back. He had spoken to Rob Harding who said that as far as he knew it was still planned to hold a ball in HMS Excellent in June/July 2019. Ray was concerned that time was getting short and had a feeling that the RNPA would be side-lined in the allocation of tickets. After some discussion it was agreed that Jan and Ray would arrange a meeting with WO Dua to check on the progress if only to get a date so that the RNPA could arrange a reunion around the ball. Jan also agreed to continue to try to make contact with Hilary Roberts to find out what the IWM were planning

Progress on history of photography in the RN

Jan reported that he was having real problems with the history project after 1984. Despite three freedom of information request and the intervention of the last First Sea Lord (Admiral Zambellas) he had not gained access to any “modern” official papers. Some information had been gained from old newsletters and various people but there were still significant gaps which needed to be filled. He had had no response to his appeal for information and a proof reader in the last newsletter and his next move was to go out to all of those who were involved in running the branch since 1984 in the hope that their collective memories would fill some of the gaps. Jan continued that he was not sure that the FOI people were telling the whole truth but that there was a slight chance that Scooby will be able to sponsor him to gain access to old RN files held by the TNT archive service.

Val said that she had inherited some old treasurer’s files and Jan agreed he would add these to the historical archive

Item 6.

Social Secretary's report         

Update RNPA Reunion 2017.

Ray said that the take up for the reunion had been slow at first but that with late applications we had forty nine people for this years event in spite of some regulars not attending and that we had moved away from the South of England.

It was agreed that Tony should brief members on the arrangements for the draw and the various visits before the start of the Dinner.

Cost of Sunday evening at RNA

Peter had emailed to say that he would pay the cost of hiring the room at the RNA but it was agreed (despite Peters objections) that this would be unfair and that all costs (£180) for the evening should be borne by the Association.

Ray briefed the committee on the draw and had asked for prize donations from the members and reported that the Hotel had given a voucher for a full board two night stay.

2018 Reunion Plymouth

Ray worried that a reunion in Plymouth would not attract sufficient support from the members but after discussion it was agreed that Plymouth should remain as the venue. Ray then undertook to investigate the possibilities for a Plymouth reunion in early October 2018.

Peter suggested that it might be a good idea to have the March committee meeting in Plymouth so that the committee could see the possibilities but it was generally felt that it was more important to keep the contact with the uniformed photographers and agreed that Ray and Danny should visit Plymouth to make arrangements.

It was generally hoped that some uniformed photographers would be able to attend and suggested that local section members should be treated as guests of the Association.

Item 7.

Treasurers report.

Val produced her report for the financial year to 30^th June noting that the association had a healthy balance. The committee agreed the accounts should be presented to the AGM for approval.

Item 8.

Membership Secretary's report

Update and Membership fees

Steve reported that the number of members has slightly increased from last year. There were 89 members and 42 spouses plus 1 Honorary. He was happy that membership subscriptions should remain the same.   

The problem of email bounces was discussed as Ray said he was getting lots of bounces from the Jan’s list. Jan said that anyone receiving bounces should have sent the bounced names coupled to email addresses to him and undertook to have another attempt at verifying his list using a Mailchimp account

.

Photographers on ships project.

Steve said that he was still working on the project and had several folders listing most of the ships with photographic billets and was in the process of making CDs for the Archives.

Item 9.

Newsletter editor’s report

Hilary said she had updated the front page and that the many extra pages in the last newsletter was because it was the 50^th edition but that subsequent newsletters would revert to the normal eight page format. She was still receiving articles and photographs from members and was also getting lots of current information from the Navy Media organization. It was agreed that prior to publication the newsletters would be sent to Tony for proof reading.

Item 10.

Website progress

Noting that the website was not used very much Tony said that he had not been able to update the site as much as he would wish and added that his request at the last AGM  for records of service and ship details had produced no takers and that he intended to renew the request in the next newsletter.

Item 11.

Clothing Sales

Steve said that he had only sold one or two items, mainly ties, and that he would repeat his advertising in the next newsletter. Danny suggested that all marchers the Cenotaph should wear a RNPA blazer badge but it was agreed that time was a bit short for this year and Jan undertook to raise the subject before next years march.

It was agreed that the next committee meeting should be in March at the FRPU(E) and Jan undertook to liaise with Rob Harding to book a date when the lecture room was free.

Tony closed the meeting at 1256