Item Description. Minutes AGM by Zoom 19 Nov 2020
Annual General
Meeting
19th
November 2020
Venue by Zoom
Present – Committee
Tony
Darbyshire
Chairman
Pete Bunting
Vice Chairman
Ian Hooper
Secretary
Ray
Whitehouse
Social Secretary
Valerie
Darbyshire Treasurer
Steve King
Membership Secretary
Danny Du Feu
Displays and Special Events.
Hilary King
Newsletter Editor
Julie
Richardson
Recruiting Officer
Members
Mike Lee,
Ray and Angela Pogson, Mike Gilbert, Spike Lee, Brian Jackson, Roger Forbes,
Keith Taylor, Stuart Wood, Maurice Larcombe, Roy and Elizabeth Penny, Karl Webb,
Bob Stanyard, Dave Cutler.
The meeting
was opened by the Chairman at 17.00 with a welcome to everyone, to our very
first Zoom meeting.
1. Roll of
Honour. Pete Bunting advised that since our last AGM, unfortunately, three ex-phots
that we know of have crossed the bar. Charles H Thompson, Bill Porter and Paul
Wellings.
A period of
silence was observed by all those present.
2. The
minutes of the 2019 AGM were approved as a true record. Proposed by Pete Bunting
and seconded by Spike Lee.
3. There
were no matters arising from the minutes.
4. The
secretary reported that he had not received any correspondence.
Apologies were received from Rick Birch and Bob Pearce.
5. The
Accounts were circulated prior to the meeting. The Treasurer highlighted that
under 2020 Reunion, no expenditure is shown although an amount of £1543. was
paid out to cover deposits etc. Due to the current pandemic situation forcing a
cancellation, the money was transferred to the 2021 reunion.
The
Treasurer also stated that the only income received this year was from members
subscriptions.
The
Accounts were approved. Proposed by Ian Hooper and seconded by Steve King.
6. Officers
Reports. All officer’s reports were circulated prior to the meeting (attached)
and taken as read. No queries or comments arose. The Chairman added that he will
be standing down following the 2021 Reunion.
Steve King
reported that at present the membership stood at:
72. single
members.
24. joint
members
2. honorary
members
Making a
total of 122. With 5 potential members in the pipeline.
Hilary
stated that she had not received any articles for the Christmas Newsletter yet.
Steve King
pointed out that Hilary has been producing the Newsletter since 2009 and the
next issue will be number 64. (well done Hilary!!)
Ray
mentioned that he was in the process of putting an article together about
memorials and cenotaphs up and down the country that have a particular relevance
to the Fleet Air Arm. He requested any photographs or contributions that would
aid him in producing this article should be sent to him.
The Social
Secretary added to his report that an email will be sent out shortly with a
booking form for the 2021 Edinburgh reunion and requested that members book as
soon possible so that he can have a good idea of numbers. He is at present
holding 20 rooms at the hotel.
7. The
committee has recognised the need for a recruitment officer and Julie Richardson
has been appointed to this role, proposed by Danny Du Feu, seconded by Ian
Hooper and subsequently agreed at this meeting. She has already been active with
a number of potential new members in the pipeline.
8. Election
of Officers. All current officers have agreed to stand again for another year.
With no challengers this was accepted by the members.
Tony stated
that Danny has put himself forward to take on the role of Social Secretary to
take over from Ray who will be standing down immediately following the 2021
Reunion. This was accepted by the committee and approved at this meeting. Danny
will be working closely with Ray throughout the year. This will create a vacancy
for someone to take over looking after the Displays which are stored presently
at RNAS Yeovilton phot section. Danny gave an indication of the dimensions of
the display boards and said that the photographs need updating. A request for
new photographs was made.
9. The
members agreed to re-appoint Hilary to audit the Accounts.
10. AOB.
Tony gave a presentation of how, courtesy of his daughter Kirsty, the Archive,
managed by Jan Larcombe, is being integrated into the RNPA website. This is an
ongoing project that will take sometime to complete. By sharing his screen, he
gave a demonstration of how the system worked. Tony also drew attention to the
“Swing the lamp” section of the website where members can add posts and
photographs.
Julie
Richardson asked if the new member joining form and process could be streamlined
to make it more user friendly. Tony suggested that she liaise with Steve King to
review the procedure. Both Steve King and Maurice Larcombe pointed out that the
present system supplies all the information that is required. The secretary
suggested that the subject should be discussed amongst the committee at the next
meeting.
There being
no further business, the Chairman closed the meeting at 17,28.
Approved
________________________________________ Chairman
Chairman’s Report 2020
This
year has been on the edge of bizarre. Covid-19 has seen the world turned upside
down and our own plans for the reunion thwarted because of it. There’s little
we can do but grin and bear it and hope, sooner rather than later, that the
negative effect it’s had on our society and economy is ended.
Despite
what’s been happening the committee have continued to communicate and attempt
to work out plans for our next reunion, now planned for October 2021.
Our
social secretary, Ray Whitehouse, has been working hard to make arrangements for
this event and we’re grateful that all of his efforts on our behalf will
enable us to come together next year. Ray has indicated, after more than ten
years of organising our reunions, that this will be his last year in the role.
On behalf of all our members I thank him for his incredible commitment to
planning and organising the reunions, and the other social events for us all.
All we need now is for a new social secretary to replace him from October 2021!
So please let us know if you’d like to join the committee and take on this
role.
We
welcomed a new member to the committee this year, Julie Richardson. Julie has
taken on a new position of trying to recruit new members to the association. She
will need help from all of us and as much as we can provide. If any member does
have contact with ex-phots who aren’t currently a member then we need to let
Julie know please. Welcome Julie!
After
our last reunion in 2019 we said goodbye to our outgoing secretary, Jan Larcombe
who has served the association for many years. Jan continues to work as the
branch archivist and we’re grateful for the work he does in this regard. Thankyou
Jan!
I’m
delighted to say that Jan’s replacement, Ian Hooper, has made a seamless
transition for us as our secretary and is now provided us with excellent minutes
of the committee meetings. He’s very good at ensuring the things we commit to
doing actually get actioned! Ian’s appointment has proven to be
excellent. Thanks very much Ian!
I’d
like to thank our other committee members, Pete Bunting, Danny Du Feu and Steve
and Hilary King, and my wife Val, for their own work on the committee. Meeting
remotely has been a bit of a challenge but, for the most part, it’s been
successful.
During
the last twelve months we’ve lost more of our members who’ve crossed the
bar. Sadly, It’s always hard to lose people we may have worked alongside, and
made great friends with. I’m sure that we shall remember all of them with the
affection and respect they deserve.
Finally,
I should now mention that this will be my own last year as your chairman. Back
in 2012 I took on the role with the intention of serving for a couple of years
and, by the time I formally step down, I will have been chairman for nine years.
But I now feel that it’s time for someone else to take on this role. It’s
been an absolute pleasure to be your chairman and I thank every one of our
members for the support you’ve given to me during the time I’ve been in the
hot seat. (It’s not that hot really!)
I
hope to continue to serve on the committee though, in the role of looking after
the RNPA website. Currently there are so few members who’re accessing the
website which does disappoint me. We do need more contributions from members to
make it more of a resource that all of us can tap into and enjoy. I do get an
occasional email with some fresh news but I’m conscious that we need more news
from members. So, please, if you have stories and memories to share then let me
have them so we can put them on the website.
I
look forward to seeing as many of you next year in Edinburgh.
Best
wishes,
Tony
From the
Secretary.
I hope you
and all your families are keeping well.
Well, what a
year for my first year as the RNPA secretary! The last time I saw any members
was at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday. Many thanks to Danny for all his hard
work to make the day the success it undoubtably was. At the time of writing
this, we are still waiting for confirmation from the Royal British Legion that
this year’s event will still take place. If it does, I hope to see some of you
then.
I have had
to sharpen up my computer skills to get to grips with the “virtual world”.
Because of the lockdown and latter restrictions, the committee has had to hold
meetings by video “Zoom” calls and I am pleased to say that we have been
successful in this. Hopefully, holding the AGM by “Zoom” will also be a
success. To test this out, we will be holding a Dummy run beforehand. Details of
this can be found in the notice to members.
On the
administration front there isn’t much to report. Sadly, some former phots have
crossed the bar over the last year and Tony will mention them during the AGM.
Hopefully,
next year will be something like the normal we used to know and that we can go
ahead with the social events that Ray is planning.
My regards
to all of you.
Ian.
I think we all have to agree this has been a very
difficult year and, if you are like me, you will be glad to see the back of it
with the hope that life in 2021 will improve and we will get back to some level
of normal activity.
As I a result of Covid-19 it was necessary for us
to cancel the 2020 Reunion in Edinburgh. However, the hotel played ball and
cancelled the booking without any penalties, the committee agreed to remain
positive and transfer everything to next October.
So, as I outlined in the recent newsletter, next
year’s reunion is confirmed at The Doubletree by Hilton Hotel, North
Queensferry, Edinburgh from Friday 8th to Monday 11th
October. The good news with this change is that
we will be able to hold our Reunion
Dinner in the hotel on the Saturday which would not have been possible this
year.
As previously mentioned, the hotel is not in the
centre of Edinburgh, something we were keen to avoid, expensive, parking,
congestion etc, it is situated in a lovely location, overlooking the Forth with
excellent views of the river and all three bridges connecting the north side to
the historical centre of Edinburgh. During the weekend we will be using coach
transportation to all our programmed social
events as parking is both difficult and very expensive anywhere in the
city. The hotel has an extensive free carpark and is accessible from the
motorway across the new road bridge.
I will be sending out further details of the
weekend after the AGM with all of the booking details. I pleased to advise that
you will be able to book without any deposits or a firm commitment, until next
summer, but I do recommend that you book as early as possible as this is a very
popular hotel. I am holding an allocation of rooms, exclusively for the RNPA,
but it will be very helpful to know as early as possible if you wish to
participate so that you will not be disappointed.
The committee are still keen for me to also
organize an additional “day social event” during the Spring next year and I
am considering several possibilities but, under the present circumstances, I am
reluctant to go firm on anything just yet.
Finally, I have decided to make next year’s
reunion my last as the RNPA’s social secretary; I will be resigning as of the
2021 AGM.
I feel that after twelve years in the job it is
time for me to bow-out and let someone else with new ideas bring a fresh
approach to our annual get-togethers. It has been a very rewarding few years for
me and a privilege to serve this Association;
I can honestly say I have thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.
I will be taking away many, fond memories of each
and every event, and the experiences we have enjoyed together.
Ray Whitehouse
October 2020
Membership
Secretary’s Report.
Members. Numbers are
up on last year. A few said that would join but not confirmed
Single
84
Joint
43
Honourees
2
Total
127
I have printed next
years cards and will send out in January.
Those here for the
weekend I will hand out to you.
Some accounts are
still on low payments but mainly members who have passed on and the families are
happy to continue subs.
Merchandise
Sales
I have three ties
for sale new design at £24 each.
I also have some
green old phot badges £3.50 each.
Ray if badges for
100 years are given out, I will have some left over and I suggest we sell then
at £4 each. We might be able to recover some of the costs.
Any member requiring
clothing please see me after the meeting.
Hilary
RNPA Remembrance
Sunday Cenotaph Marching and Exhibition & Display Coordinator
Dear
Members,
I hope you
are still ALL Well and managing to Keep Safe in these challenging times!
The Royal
British Legion finally sent out a communique at the end of June stating that
there will be a decision made later regarding Associations marching at the
Cenotaph Ceremony. Reading between the lines, I was beginning to think there
might be a ceremony but it could be an event much reduced in numbers, and then
we received the instruction that only 8 marchers were permitted per Association.
An
invitation was sent out to the 25 marchers looking forward to marching this year
within the RNPA contingent, to decide whether they wanted to march in these
circumstances and I ended up with the final 8, even after Brian Jackson had to
drop out at the last moment with a Hernia.
It was
difficult to see how a mass event on the scale of the past ceremonies could have
gone go ahead, although people would be outside. Even with social distancing,
marchers within the group might be considered to be ‘at risk’, still
presented itself a challenging risk assessment, and to that effect the RBL
informed me that the Government had taken the final decision to cancel the
Veterans March.
One item the
RBL was keen to promote, albeit on a reduced scale, was the VJ Day celebrations
on the 15th August. The RBL were keen that as individuals and with
neighbours within our communities, that we should make as much an effort as we
did for VE Day in May, again keeping social distancing but enjoying the day.
This brings
me on to the Remembrance Sunday and the 2 minutes silence at 11.00 on Sunday 8th
and Wednesday 11th November. I hope you were able to stand on the
doorstep to mark this poignant moment., Tina and I plus a few neighbours who are
Ex-RAF Veterans managed the Union Jack and Ensign at half mast, accompanied on
loud speakers, the BBC commentary and additional rousing military music,
followed by generous tots of ‘Pusser’s Rum’.
I will be
sending out a message in the Xmas Newsletter to invite the RNPA Members to
consider ticking off another item off their ‘To Do List’ and join us for a
hopefully enlarged platoon in 2021.
RNPA Photo Exhibition Display
The photo
exhibition display is currently being stored in the Phot Section at RNAS
Yeovilton. It will be on display at the next reunion in Scotland, so if you have
any good photos of yourselves with colleagues, please send to me for inclusion
on the boards. It would better to send me a digital copy to be printed up,
rather than sending hard copies. My email address, - ‘ddf.photography@gmail.com’
Best wishes
to you and your family’s please keep safe and try to keep in contact with
former naval colleagues less fortunate, who may be suffering in these trying
times.
Danny du Feu
RNPA Cenotaph Marching Representative & RNPA Exhibition &
Display Coordinator
07711 083465