60s 16ers
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
held at
THE PARK INN,
at
1.
Apologies, Welcomes and Bereavements
Apologies
were received from Carol & Bill Birch,
The
Chairman welcomed back some old faces who had been absent at recent reunions.
Sadly
Steve Dunderdale and Wendy Wood (wife of Brigadier
Nigel Wood) passed away during the year.
A minute’s silence was held in memory of them and other departed
friends.
2.
Minutes of the Previous Meeting
The previous
minutes were distributed with February’s Mercury and placed on the Website so
all should have seen them.
Bill White
informed the meeting that he had received many comments but no formal points
and therefore took the minutes as a true record of the Meeting.
3.
Matters Arising
All
points raised have been resolved or will be covered elsewhere, although Point
13.7 requested the procurement of name badges which are now available.
4.
Chairman’s Report
·
Bill White began
his report by thanking Jo Teague for her hard work in securing the venue and
co-ordinating and liaising with the hotel staff in order to ensure a successful
reunion. He also thanked Dave and Reme for the wonderful job they had done providing the
entertainment.
·
He informed us of
the safe return of 16 Signal Regiment from operations in
·
Bill encouraged
the continuance of recce groups and occasional
get-togethers by members.
·
He spoke of
formal guest invites to reunions i.e. John Fradley
and Sean Wedge, currently serving with 16 Signal Regiment, who attended in
2009. There had been costs involved in
this but he believed their presence added to the occasion and they in turn can
spread the word. Further guest invites
would be something to consider in the future.
·
He continued by
thanking Ted and Gwen Theis for continuing to produce
The Mercury, which improves each year, and asked that we all help to increase
the scope of articles for inclusion by providing contributions. He also thanked Ted Hebden
for his work with the website and Syd Wilson for
producing the photograph albums each year.
5.
Treasurer’s Report
·
Peter Crane
requested members to pay their subscriptions.
·
He spoke about
the declining membership causing a decrease in the number of subscriptions
received which has, therefore, necessitated a reduction in the budget for the
coming year. This has now been based on
the assumption of 50 members.
·
He suggested
members pay a levy of £10.00 for guests.
·
The Saturday
evening raffle raised £220.00.
·
The Mercury is
being e-mailed to many members enabling postage costs to be kept to a minimum.
6.
Secretary’s Report
·
Sheila Bracey
explained that the Committee had agreed to try to encourage the return of lost
members by producing a Christmas card and newsletter which would be sent to all
contacts on the database. A “one-off”
amnesty was offered to members with lapsed subscriptions providing they paid
them for the current year. Peter Crane
produced a Standing Order form and Jo Teague supplied the Park Inn Booking
forms for the 2010 reunion which were included in the mail-shot. To keep the costs down Sheila tried to send
them out electronically but unfortunately only 31 e-mail addresses were current
and therefore had to send 239 by post.
The total cost of the exercise was £130.88 but it has resulted in 9
members returning and paying subscriptions.
·
As a result of
the mail-shot, correspondence has been received from Carol Armstrong, Nick
& Denise Nicholas and Major Alex “Lex” Leitch who no longer wish to continue their membership. Major “Bill” Bailey e-mailed to thank us for
sending the information but, as he had never been at 16 Sigs, didn’t know why
he was on the database. Sadly, we have
been notified by the current property owners that Graham Baker passed away in
2000 but fortunately the mail-shot had caused no distress to his family as they
no longer have any connections with the address to which it was sent.
·
2009 – 2010 has
been a difficult year for recruiting new members as Laurie Moore searched the
obvious avenues for possible leads during her tenure as Membership Secretary
which leaves limited scope for future searches.
Contact has been made from leads received this year but, unfortunately,
without any response. A further search
has been made to try to find Marlene O’Hagan’s 4th 16 Sigs. bridesmaid, Heather Wootton, again
without success.
·
Lorna Windmill
hopes to be able to swell our ranks as she is in touch with Frank Partington and Stuart and Ginty
Reid who may be able to attend our 2011 reunion.
·
Correspondence was
received from Rob and Gwen Walker (nee Myerscough),
after they visited the website, requesting contact details for John Hodkin. John was
given their details and communication has been made between them. Having both served at 16 Sigs, Rob and Gwen
would like to become members with the intention of joining us at next year’s
reunion.
·
Sheila ended her
report by requesting members to ensure their database details were up-to-date,
stressing the importance of current e-mail addresses.
7.
Entertainment Report
·
Dave Aldous thanked Reme for his help
organising the weekend’s entertainment.
·
He explained the
total cost incurred this year was £450.00.
The live artiste on Saturday evening being £300.00 and £150.00 was spent
on the Sunday night disco/karaoke. In
previous years, this figure had been in the region of £600.00.
·
As he had
received no input from members with respect to new ideas for entertainment, he
felt that the format was tried and tested and becoming predictable. He encouraged volunteers to come forward with
their own thoughts and ideas for entertainment, which he would be pleased to
receive.
·
Dave thanked
Nicole Crane for her new idea for running and organising the raffle this year
which had raised more money than previous raffles. As there were surplus prizes a further raffle
would be held on Sunday evening.
8.
Web Master’s Report
·
Ted Hebden spoke about the changes he had made to the website
this year, having simplified the layout (icons) to facilitate easier navigation
of the site.
·
The “News Update”
now included the date to make visitors aware that there had been a new update.
·
Members can now
access The Mercury on-line as this has been produced in pdf
format. Back-copies have been archived
and can be accessed as far back as August 2006.
·
Ted has introduced
an on-line chat room for members – the access password is “Jimmy16” for anyone
wishing to join in the chatter and it is possible for 10 people to be on line
at any one time.
·
He referred to
the “Contents” section and asked if anyone had clicked onto the “We didn’t
Start the Fire” video.
·
Ted talked about
the possibility of providing a facility for members and their relatives to
advertise their businesses using links via the website. A small charge could be levied thereby making
it self-funding.
·
Ted suggested
updating the “Absent Members” screen in order to celebrate the lives of those
we have lost.
·
The website has
received more than 95,000 hits and Ted informed us that when it reached 100,000
the counter would roll over and revert back to zero.
He
asked for any suggestions for inclusion on the website and Martin Boizot suggested the addition of options for future reunion
venues.
9.
Mercury Editor’s Report
·
Reme Harper reported on The Mercury at the request of Ted Theis in his absence.
·
He began by thanking
members for their input but said more articles of interest were needed for
future issues.
·
Ted would like as
many e-mail addresses as possible in order to deliver the magazine
electronically.
·
Reme asked if there were any volunteers to take over the
production of The Mercury from Ted – none were forthcoming as everyone was
grateful for the effort and good work produced by Ted and Gwen.
10.
RSA Update
·
The Chairman
commented on a report he had received from Peter Cuckow. The RSA membership is increasing.
·
The next RSA
reunion dates are 18-19 June 2011 and details should appear on the RSA website
in February.
·
There would be an
opening of the Field of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey on
·
A few tickets
were still available for the Corps contingent at the Remembrance Day Parade at
the Cenotaph – names ASAP to Peter at Association HQ on a first come, first
served basis.
·
The RSA Area 2
Carol Service is to be held in Liverpool Cathedral on 3rd December
beginning at
·
The RSA AGM will
be held at the VSC London on
·
The General
Secretary has expressed concern regarding the location of the Corps Memorial at
the National Arboretum, Alrewas and is investigating
a possible move to a more prominent and less flood prone location.
·
Brigadier Tim
Watts took over from Brigadier Ted Flint, who retired as SOinC,
at the end of August.
·
There was still
no news regarding the possibility of the training of our soldiers being moved
to St Athen in
·
A “Forward
Observation Base” is now based at Blandford which
provides more realistic training to our soldiers in readiness for conditions in
·
The SOinC has initiated “Campaign Regiments” which are capable
of deploying as a whole to
11.
Election of Officers
.
·
Reme asked to speak to the meeting before the election of
officers. It had been brought to his
attention that there were bad feelings from some members who felt the club had
become a clique with favoured members being elected to the Committee. He stressed that there is no clique and that
the Committee was open to all volunteers.
·
Bill White, as
retiring Chairman, reported that repeated attempts to make contact with the
current Vice Chair, Frank Del Pinto, had proved unsuccessful and, therefore, in
his absence asked if there were any volunteers for Chair and Vice Chair.
·
Syd Wilson proposed Noreen Dixon as Chair,
this was seconded by Dave Aldous and agreed
unanimously.
·
Syd proposed Dave Aldous as
Vice Chair. Pete Weedon
also volunteered and was unanimously accepted for the position.
12.
Venues and Format for 2011
The
following five venues were presented:
|
Venue |
Dates |
Cost |
Comments |
No. Of Votes |
|
Three
Counties Hotel, |
21 – 24 Oct |
£53 pp DB&B (Fri &
Sun) £10 supplement for singles £37 pp B&B + £26/£27
for Gala Diner 3 nights - £169 per person |
Carol & Bill Birch are
willing to organise this venue. |
9 |
|
Ardsley
House, |
21 – 24 Oct |
£50 pp per day with a £25
non-refundable deposit |
Based on a minimum number
of 70 – full balance 2 weeks prior. |
3 |
|
Four
Pillars, |
14 – 17 Oct |
£79 pp DB&B 3 nights £336 per couple £168 Single room |
Based on 80 people |
26 |
|
Holiday
Inn, Farnborough |
14 – 17 Oct |
3 nights - £300 per couple
DB&B + Gala Dinner £168 single room |
|
0 |
|
Rembrandt,
|
21 - 24 Oct |
£380 per couple or £362 per couple based on 60 |
Hotel will give 1 free
place for every 20 people booking |
14 |
It
was proposed to give votes at the evening do in order to give couples the
opportunity to discuss the options. Bill
White organised a questionnaire in order to record members preferences – The
Four Pillars,
13.
Any Other Business
13.1)
Bill informed us
that 16 Sigs had been on operations and were now back
home. The low point of their tour was
the ash cloud which interfered with their plans for R & R. The
13.2)
Margaret Shaw’s
birthday was celebrated by the members singing “Happy Birthday” to her.
13.3)
Syd said members’ contributions to the photo albums were
welcomed. Regarding departed friends, he
had received a card of thanks from Moyra Pickering (Tom
Thornton’s partner) and asked for it to be included in the next issue of the
Mercury. Syd
had offered an invitation to Moyra to attend the
reunion.
13.4)
Reme proposed offering an invite to Peter Cuckow and his wife.
This proposal was accepted.
13.5)
Lin Aldous asked if Moyra Pickering
would still be regarded as a member. It
was agreed that all are welcome provided they pay their subs.
13.6)
Pete Weedon asked whether charitable donations were to be
continued. It was decided that, under
the current financial circumstances of the club, this is no longer possible.
13.7)
Dave Aldous informed us that he and Taff Powell had attended
Steve Dunderdale’s funeral and that Norma was pleased
to see them. Dave invited her to the
reunion which she declined this year but may come in the future.
13.8)
With regards to
the current budget, Dave Aldous asked the meeting if
we really need live entertainment as discos are less expensive. Reme questioned if
cost cutting was really necessary as the entertainment worked out at around
£10.00 per head. Dave asked members the
following:
·
whether they
preferred live music for Saturday and our own entertainment for Sunday nights
·
Themed nights –
have they run their course or do members still want them
·
Do we still want
bus trips from venues – Brenda suggested a pre-payment scheme for trips so that
money is not required from the budget.
He
again asked members to speak to the Committee and submit their ideas for the furtherment of the club.
Bill White conducted a survey of members’ preferences with the following
results:
|
Question |
Nos. For |
Nos.
Against |
|
Do we want live
entertainment on Saturday night? |
31 |
18 |
|
Should we invite formal
guests? |
42 |
6 |
|
Should we pay a levy for
entertainment/guests? |
44 |
5 |
|
Do we want live entertainment
on Sunday night? |
0 |
43 |
|
Do we want a theme night on
Sunday night? |
31 |
16 |
13.9)
Wayne Edwards told us that everyone who
attended the
13.10)
We still have plenty of 60s 16ers pens available and
Bill suggested selling them for 50pence each.
This raised £23.60 (Sandra Dixon declined her 10 pence change) and
Audrey Grainge sold one club badge for £2.00. The money has been added to the club funds.
There being no further
business, the meeting closed at