60s 16ers
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
held at
OXFORD SPIRES FOUR PILLARS HOTEL
at
1.
Apologies, Welcomes and Bereavements
Apologies
were received from Colonel & Mrs Pope and Noreen Dixon. Marlene O’Hagan was unable to attend due to problems
with health, Ted and Gwen Theis were also unable to
attend this year. The meeting was
chaired by Peter Weedon, Vice Chair.
Sadly
John (
2.
Minutes of the Previous Meeting
The previous
minutes were distributed with February’s Mercury and placed on the Website to
enable everyone to see them.
Pete Weedon asked if everybody present had read the previous
year’s minutes and if so were there any comments they would like to make. None were received and he therefore took the
minutes as a true record of the Meeting.
3.
Matters Arising
There
were no points arising.
4.
Chairman’s Report
·
Pete Weedon began his report by passing on Noreen’s thanks for
the support she’s received since
·
He thanked
Ø
Tom Watt for all his hard work in organising this
year’s venue and liaising with the hotel staff who provided us with good food,
service etc;
Ø
The Committee for their continued input;
Ø
Ted Theis for his work on
the Mercury;
Ø
Ted Hebden for the website,
which is seeing continual improvement for example, the Chippendales;
Ø
Dave Aldous as Entertainment Member who had rushed
back from holiday to ensure final details were put in place;
Ø
Wayne and Brenda for helping to set up the function
room;
Ø
Sheila for taking the minutes of the meeting;
Ø
Nicole and Peter Crane for organising the raffle which
went well.
5.
Treasurer’s Report
·
Peter Crane began
by talking about the Budget sheet for 2011 which he had hoped would allow the
club to break even. 2010 had resulted in
a £300 surplus after three years of deficits, because we had worked to a budget.
·
The 2011 budget
included a provision that the raffle would raise £300 – the actual sum achieved
was £298.40.
·
The baby
photograph competition raised £25 with £20 going to the winner. If we hold a similar completion in future it
will be held for fun, not for raising funds.
·
Sue
Firth very kindly donated the 5pence on each book together with the price of
one book, totalling £11.05.
·
The cost of
producing the Mercury is going down due to a larger number of members receiving
the publication via emails and subsequent display on the website.
·
The amount
collected from subscriptions is going down due to falling membership. Peter informed us that we need to have 70 –
80 paying members to make the club viable.
Bill
White thanked Peter for his good clear statement of accounts.
6.
Secretary’s Report
·
Sheila Abbott was
pleased to report that four new members had recently joined the Reunion Club
namely:
Ross Cobban
Roy Reynolds
Paddy (William) Conroy
Beverley Robb
·
Ross was unable
to attend this year due to work commitments and the dates for this weekend were
unsuitable at short notice for Paddy. Roy
and his wife, Lorna, and Beverley joined us on Friday and Saturday and hope
they enjoyed themselves and will want to attend future reunions.
·
Following on from
last year’s report regarding the search for Heather Wootton,
Sheila had manage to track down Heather and wrote her a personal letter,
following which she received a telephone call from her daughter, Lisa. Unfortunately Heather passed away from cancer
in May 2009 but Lisa informed Sheila that Heather and Dave Pike, who met and
married at 16 Sigs, had remained married until her passing. She also talked about Dave having suffered a
severe stroke 14 years ago which has resulted in him having difficulties with
his speech. She realised that this would
be old news to those members who regularly visit our website. Sheila informed us that she had been asked by
some members to pass on their contact details which she had, in her capacity as
Secretary, in the form of a formal letter on 60s 16ers letterhead, and that she
had directed Dave to our website to look at photographs etc. in the hope that
he felt he would be able to join us at one of our reunions but unfortunately no
response has been forthcoming and from this we can only assume Dave and Lisa
wish to be left in peace.
·
Noreen Dixon’s
Christmas newsletter was snail mailed to those members for whom we do not have
e-mail addresses, likewise Dave Aldous’
“Order of March” for this weekend.
·
Sheila told the
meeting that she had enjoyed her two years as Secretary and thanked everyone
for their support. She explained that
the position of Secretary hadn’t been an arduous task but felt it’s now time to
hand over the reins and hoped someone else would volunteer to take on the role
as it is important for new committee members to come on board to prevent
complacency and apathy within the club.
·
She ended her
report by requesting members to ensure their database details were up-to-date,
stressing the importance of current e-mail addresses in keeping costs down and
that forms were available to enable members to do this.
7.
Entertainment Report
·
Dave Aldous told
the meeting that he had kept the weekend format the same as in previous years
with live entertainment on Saturday night and a disco/karaoke on Sunday, but if
members wished to change the format it would always be open to discussion.
·
He informed the
meeting that he had managed to keep the entertainment costs down to within the
budget but that the cost of live entertainment on average works out at around
£300, with Sunday’s entertainment being in the region of £150 for the
evening. These costs are increasing each
year.
·
The theme night
is also open to discussion.
·
He told members
that Reme (Gordon Harper) had offered to have his
beard shaved off on the Sunday evening in order to raise funds for the club and
that a minimum of £50 would need to be raised before this event would go ahead.
8.
Web Master’s Report
·
Ted Hebden spoke about the changes he had made to the website
this year and of how the “News Update” included the date to make visitors aware
that there had been a new update, also:
Ø
that it had only been possible archive copies of the
Mercury from 2006 but that the page change function had improved ease of
reading;
Ø
the live “Chat Room” is not being used much and he
reminded members of the password required to enter and participate;
Ø
members advertisements were a source of income and
that £25 covers the cost of running the website (Peter Crane confirmed that the
costs were being covered);
Ø
that the morbid background of the “Absent Friends”
page had been changed to the show the Northern Lights which was accompanied by
music;
Ø
the click counter had been extended to allow more
numbers to roll over;
Ø
the “Future Venues” page had got off to a slow start with
only one venue until a last minute addition from Ted Theis. (Ted Hebden asked
members to forward articles for this page directly to him for addition);
Ø
the anagram “Crossword” is a relatively new addition
and Ted hopes members will enjoy trying their luck at solving it;
Ø
the “Chippendales” were real bodies but with heads of
some or our members and Ted was asked if we could have the real thing instead;
Ø
and finally, access to the website via Google has been
simplified and now appears at the top of the page simply by entering 16ers into
the search box.
9.
Mercury Editor’s Report
·
Reme Harper reported on The Mercury at the request of Ted Theis in his absence as he and Gwen were unable to attend
this year due to the expense of a family wedding and their commitment to
helping look after their grandchildren and, under these circumstances, Reme asked if anyone would be willing to take over the
production of the magazine as Ted was finding time tight.
·
He reported that
Ted felt the last few magazines were not as good as previous issues due to the
lack of input, and last minute submissions of material did not leave sufficient
time to produce good quality editions.
It takes 3 – 4 weeks of work to put the magazine together – longer with
last minute submissions. Reme pointed out to members that the production date for
the magazine was shown on the back page of each edition to enable members to
submit material early enough for Ted to work on.
·
Ted has requested
more varied material such as stories, facts and figures, photos (both past and
present) anecdotes etc.
·
Ted is only able
to send out a few printed copies due to the costs of postage. Emails help to keep the cost down but if
anyone does not have access to the internet, please could they inform Ted.
·
The Mercury is
available on the website 3 – 4 weeks after it has been sent out to paid-up
members to enable them to read it first.
Nicole Crane suggested that those
members who do not have internet access could set up a buddy system whereby they
could receive a copy via friends who do.
Iain Haldane volunteered to take
over the production of the Mercury. This
was proposed by Yorkie Layton and seconded by Brenda
Edwards.
10.
RSA Update
·
Bill White
commented on information received from the SOinC of
the Royal Signals and reported that these are times of great change within the
armed forces. One significant change is
the position of CoC is to be downgraded from
Brigadier and replaced by a Corps Colonel.
This information is posted on the Corps website which can be accessed
from ours.
·
Peter Cuckrow from the RSA had informed Bill that work had been
carried out on the Corps Memorial which had been enhance by the outward
extension of the base, this has been surrounded by a low wall and it is hoped
that the next stage of improvement will be the planting of a box hedge to
soften the look of the wall.
·
Bill spoke of the
importance of the Corps online Memorial Book but reported that currently
details can be submitted but are not able to be read.
·
RHQ are working
on a list of “Corps personalities” in three categories i.e.
Ø
Gallantry awards
Ø
Sporting heroes
(Geoff Duke, Kris Akabusi etc.)
Ø
Those that have
done well in the public eye such as Norman Wisdom and Geoffrey (Lord) Howe.
·
7 Signal Regiment
plan a farewell parade in March 2012 – further details are awaited.
·
Bill was sad to
report that Major General Tony Boyle is terminally ill and is not expected to
last the year but he does not want any fuss or to receive letters.
·
Seven members of
the 60s 16ers attended the RSA meeting in
11.
Election of Officers
.
·
Treasurer – Peter
Crane volunteered to continue in his position as Treasurer. This was proposed by Lorraine Moore and
seconded by Carol Birch. The motion was
carried.
·
Secretary – Beverley
Robb volunteered for the position of Secretary which was proposed by Reme Harper and seconded by Bruce Graham. The motion was carried.
·
It was agreed at
a committee meeting on Friday, 14th October that Dave Aldous should be invited to join the Committee as
Entertainments Member. This was proposed
by Chris Abbott and seconded by Martin Boizot. The motion was carried.
12.
Venues and Format for 2011
The
following four venues were presented:
|
Venue |
Dates |
Cost |
Comments |
No. Of Votes |
|
Three
Counties Hotel, |
26 – 29 Oct |
£55 pp DB&B (Fri &
Sun) based on 2 sharing double £40 pp BB + £26 pp Gala
Dinner (Sat) £10 supplement per night for
singles Total 3 nights - £326 per
couple £206 single person |
Deposits by March to be
negotiated (£30 – £40) Carol & Bill Birch are
willing to organise this venue. |
14 |
|
|
19 – 21 Oct |
£89 Single - £99 double per
room B & B Dinner £20 pp if booked
with room Gala Dinner £25 pp Hire of room with dance
floor £120 Parking £6 per day Total 3 nights - £445 per
couple |
|
0 |
|
Central
Hotel, |
19 - 21 Oct |
£95 per room per night Gala Dinner £32.50 pp Parking £8 per night Total 3 nights - £469 per
couple |
Based on this year’s prices
but stet if booked before Jan 2012 |
0 |
|
|
12 -15 Oct |
£95 per night double or
twin DB&B Total 3 nights £285 per
couple |
Based on 70 persons
attending |
28 |
A
vote was taken with the results shown above.
It was agreed that Moorside Grange would be
the venue for next year’s reunion.
13.
Any Other Business
13.1)
Carol Birch
informed the meeting that a memorial service had been arranged for Brigadier Anne
Field. Carol would be attending and
volunteered to represent the 60s-16ers and make an entry in the remembrance
book. It was agreed that she should.
13.2)
Iain Haldane told
the meeting that he would be putting the reunion photographs on three sites and
links to these would be made available on the website.
13.3)
Dave Aldous read a letter from Paul (Tweet) Nightingale to the
membership on behalf of Reme. Tweet suggested that we make next year’s
reunion a special 50th to represent the 5 decades that have passed
since the 1960s and made a plea to everyone to try to make it to the next
reunion and hoped that he and Ann would be able to join us. The consensus was that every year was a “special 50th” to each and every
person who served at the regiment depending on the period of their time there,
and that we try to make every reunion “special”. Laurie Moore asked what our reply would
be. It was decided that, as it was an open
letter to the club which had been sent via Reme, Reme would ring and speak to Tweet.
13.4)
Seating Plan and
changing tables during the Gala Dinner.
Ø
Lyn Aldous brought up the subject of moving to other tables
during the Gala Dinner and was very much against the idea.
Ø
Brenda Edwards
was also unhappy about having been told where to sit. She had no problem generally with a seating
plan but she and Wayne travel from
Ø
Jo Teague did not
have a problem with a seating plan but was against moving during dinner.
Ø
Sheila Abbott felt
the same way as Jo about seating plans and having to move.
Ø
Terri Crow,
although she hadn’t been asked to move, was upset because she had had to
explain her current medical condition, how she was feeling and coping etc. to
the first diners at her table and then had to keep repeating herself to the
newcomers because of the move.
Ø
Pete Weedon thought that a seating plan was needed to prevent
couples having to sit apart if they arrived late at the function room.
Ø
It was mentioned
that upon arriving at the Blackpool 2009 reunion, members were asked which
table they would like to be assigned to and that this method had worked well.
Ø
Laurie Moore said
that seating plans which were done with great consideration could work well.
Pete
Weedon asked for a show of hands from those in favour
of moving during the meal – only six hands were raised therefore the decision
was taken not to move during future Gala Dinners.
13.5)
Sheila Abbott informed
the meeting that there were still plenty of 60s 16ers pens available for sale
at 50pence each – four pens were sold raising £2 for club funds.
13.6)
Audrey Grainge said there were still a limited number of badges
available although she did not have them with her and that members should
contact her if they wanted to purchase badges.
13.7)
Dickie Grange told the meeting that Terri Crow was to be a
torch bearer for the 2012 Olympics, with her wheelchair being pulled by her two
huskies. Bill Birch will provide Terri
with a Signals pennant for the front of her wheelchair and it was asked if it
would be possible to obtain a WRAC pennant.
13.8)
Dave Aldous said that the format for entertainment would remain
the same.
There being no further business,
the meeting closed at