Minutes of the 209th Meeting of the Executive Committee

held on Tuesday25thApril, 2017 at 9.30am

Lower Ground Floor, CHQ, Buckingham Palace Road

Present:

Mrs Pat DownerNational Chairman

Mrs Jane WebsterChair of Finance and General Purposes Committee

Mrs Kim CleggTreasurer

Mrs Jean KellyChairman, Anglia

Mrs Sarah LittleChairman, LaSER

Mrs Eirlais TomkinsChairman, Midlands

Mrs Jackie DickinsonChairman, North East England

Mrs Aileen HiggsChairman, North West England

Mrs Val SewellChairman, South West England

Mrs Eileen MartinChairman, Scotland

Miss Hilary RichardsonChairman, Ulster

Mrs Vivienne GrantChairman, Wales

Mrs Janet VineChairman Designate, Wales

Mrs Ann Hall National Programme and Development Adviser

Mrs Judy EllisNational International Adviser

Mrs Linda Hill-ToutNational Public Relations Adviser

Mrs Muriel RaynerElected Member of the Council

Mrs Raye WyllieElected Member of the Council

In Attendance:

Mrs Marie BurgessPA and Office Manager

Mrs Charlotte AnslowOffice Administrator, taking minutes

Some items were heard out of order, minuteswill run in accordance with the agenda.

The meeting was opened with a reading from Mrs JackieDickinson.

  1. Welcome

Mrs Pat Downer welcomed everyone to the meeting, especially Mrs JaneWebster and Mrs Janet Vine

  1. Apologies

None

  1. Conflict of Interest

No conflictsof interest were recorded from members of the Executive Committee.

  1. Minutes of the previous meeting held at CHQ, Buckingham Palace Road on the Tuesday and Wednesday17thand 18thJanuary, 2017.

These were agreed and signed as an accurate record.

  1. Matters arising from the Minutes that do not appear elsewhere on the Agenda

Item 5 Centenary readings: These have been distributed to Executive Committee members and are now available from the Trefoil Guild office for £2.

Item 10 Trustees Welcome pack:Two different elements, one that deals with the legal requirements of Trustees and another which refers to the specific responsibilities of being a member of the Executive Committee of Trefoil Guild.

Item 10 Scarf: The scarf design has now been finalised. Scarves will be available to purchase at the Annual Meeting in Brighton in June.

  1. Retirements, Appointments & Resignations
  2. Retirements

Mrs Vivienne GrantChairman, Wales from 30.6.17

  1. Appointments

Mrs Janet VineChairman, Wales from 1.7.17

Mrs Jackie Dickinson Chairman, North East England, extended for a further two years until 13.6.2019

Mrs Aileen Higgs Chairman, North West England, extended for a further two years until 4.4.2019

Mrs Ann Hall National Programme and Development Adviser, extended for a further two years until 19.10.2019

  1. Correspondence

Mrs Pat Downer informed the committee of the items received and displayed them in the room for all to view.

  1. Chairman’s Report

Communication

Mrs Pat Downer informed the members of the Executive Committee that items discussed at meetings must be passed on at Country and Region Executives so that all members know what is going on.

Action: Minutes to be uploaded to the website once they have been signed. Notes go up after the meetings have taken place in the Countries and Regions.

Additional volunteers to receive the minutes include the Volunteer Editor of The Trefoil and the TGIFC Coordinator.

New Members

We welcomed 360 new members in the first 3 months of the year. Many congratulations to everyone.

Training – Treasurers, Secretaries and Presidents

The Executive Committee discussed the need for a training for Presidents and it was agreed this was not needed.

Action: Look into the possibility of having a Secretaries and Treasurers training session at the Programme Conference in Swanwick.

Dark Horse Venture

Mrs Pat Downer informed the Executive Committee that the award was coming to an end and for this information to be passed along to members.

Action: Message to be uploaded to the Trefoil Guild website for members to be aware

Facebook – Discovery and Voyage Award

There is currently a Facebook group that is not officially associated with Trefoil Guild nationally that has been successful in providing support for participants in the awards.

The committee discussed the group and decided theycould not to be a guild in their own right as the membership would be transient and all of the members are already members of other guilds.

Action: Mrs Ann Hall to contact TACS to see if they would be willing to put on Voyage Award programme days or weekends.

Action: Facebook Group for Voyage Award with admin responsibility to be taken up by Mrs Ann Hall and the Country/Region Programme and Development Advisers

Thanks and Recognition Service

Mrs Pat Downer asked that names are submitted by the Country and Region Chairman for an invitation to be sent to members to attend the service on 4 November 2017.

Action: National Chairman to write to nominated attendees and include an information sheet about the day.

  1. Finance & General Purposes Sub-Committee
  2. Minutes of the Finance and General Purposes Committee Meeting held on Wednesday, 25th March 2017

Recommendation 1

That the Executive Committee stay at the Hyatt Regency which is the closest to the Birmingham Symphony Hall for the Annual Meeting in 2018.

All agreed

Recommendation

To add a ‘basket’ to the database that would allow for a group of members to be paid for. Cost £1552.50 + vat and to have extra pages in the June magazine advising process. Cost + £1300.00.

All agreed

Proposal

For replacement membership cards to be charged to the member at a cost of £2.50, this would be available as an online payment.

All agreed

Action: Information on how to obtain a replacement card to go onto Trefoil Guild website and to members of the Executive Committee with the minutes so that the information can be passed on.

Support, Development and Relief Fund

Mrs Jane Webster explained to the Executive Committee that it is necessary to extend the authority of who can make grants for the SDR Fund to include the Finance and General Purposes Committee.

All agreed

Complaints Procedure

Mrs Jane Webster informed the committee that a procedure is being written for dealing with complaints and that a paper will be presented to the Executive Committee at the next meeting taking place in September.

  1. Treasurer's report

Mrs Kim Clegg presented the accounts to the Executive Committee and talked through the notes submitted with the agenda.

Action: Mrs Kim Clegg to supply updated accounts to be issued with the minutes sent to Executive Committee members.

Income and Expenditure

Mrs Kim Clegg presented the Income and Expenditure figures to the Executive Committee meeting and a discussion was held about the numbers included.

Joining Fee

A Joining Fee is payable by ALL new members to the Trefoil Guild regardless of when in the year they join and whether or not annual subscription payments are due at or around the same time.

Advisers and Coordinators Budgets

Mrs Kim Clegg requested that the advisers and TGIFC coordinator submittheir budget by July and include Mrs Jane Webster in any correspondence.

Deposit returning process for the Programme Conference in Swanwick

Expenses will be submitted by all attendees of the conference for travel and the £50 deposit will be added to this amount and repaid in one go.

Recruitment Event Grant Form

Mrs Kim Clegg has put together a grant form for Countries and Regionsto run recruitment events. Claims will have to be made by 1stMay 2018. Each Country and Region is entitled to £1000.

Form agreed by all

Action: Mrs Pat Downer Talk to TGIFC Coordinator, TGIFC will be entitled to £1000 as well if they would like to run recruitment events.

Trustees Report

Mrs Kim Clegg presented a draft Trustees Report to Executive Committee and explained the contents of the report. A final version has not been approved by the Independent Examiner and there are changes that need to be made to the draft copy.

The Executive Committee are not happy to sign off the Trustees Report due to changes needing to be made and the sign off not being given from the Independent Examiner and so Mrs Pat Downer did not sign the Trustees Report.

Proposal to hold a telephone conference with updated papers and then Mrs Pat Downer to sign on behalf of the Executive Committee if agreed via telephone conference.

Proposed: Mrs Eirlais Tomkins

Seconded: Mrs Vivienne Grant

All agreed

  1. Chairman of F and GP report

The Executive Committee discussed the information to be included on collecting Subscriptions 2018 in the June issue of The Trefoil magazine, final wording agreed.

Action: Forms to be sent to the Executive Committee with minutes include; Bulk Subscription Payment Form 2018, County Details Form, Personalised Country/Region Subscription Rate Form

  1. Governance

Item being taken at Council Meeting on 26 April 2017.

  1. Report from Girlguiding

Item being taken at Council Meeting on 26 April 2017.

  1. Report from Elected Members to Council

None prepared due to current governance review

  1. Programme and Development Adviser

Project to support with money raised for Riding for the Disabled Association

The Executive Committee discussed the feedback from the Countries and Regions about which projects would like to be supported. The following proposal was made.

Proposal to sponsor the RDA Country Side Challenge for 3 years

Proposal: Mrs Sarah Little

Seconded: Mrs Jean Kelly

All agreed

75th metal badge

Mrs Pat Downer explained to the committee that there has been a change in the badge that is going to be produced. The committee viewed the new badge.

Advisers Report

Ann provided a brief update for the Programme and Development report, but said the content was all in the report.

Action: Request for Country and Region Chairmen to have a list of attendees for the Programme Conference in Swanwick so they can chase any Chairmen who haven’t replied and know who is attending.

  1. International Adviser

Mrs Judy Ellis explained the projects on offer to the Trefoil Guild to pursue once the current TOPAZ project in Russia comes to a close in 2018.

Proposal for one project to be pursued, preferably in Myanmar. If the project in Myanmar is not available then another WAGGGS option will be investigated.

Proposed: Mrs Eirlais Tomkins

Seconded: Mrs Vivienne Grant

All agreed

  1. Public Relations Adviser

Mrs Linda Hill-Tout added to her report that she had met with the photographer who will be taking pictures at the Annual Meeting in Brighton, Valeria Keller and all is progressing well.

Mrs Pat Downer thanked the advisers for their work.

  1. Annual Meetings
  2. LaSER – Brighton - 10th June 2017

Mrs Sarah Little said that everything is on track for the upcoming meeting. Executive Committee members are to arrive between 10am-11am on the day. All members will be needed to help as Mrs Marie Burgess will be experiencing the Annual Meeting for the first time and it is possible that an assistant will not be in post.

Coffee/Tea for Executive Committee and Working Team will finish at 12.00pm when the main doors to the Brighton centre open.

Executive Committee members will be given a voucher for £10 for lunch to spend in the café on the ground floor of the Brighton Centre.

The closing date for booking stalls is fast approaching; please book any that you may need.

Encouragement for members to leave the main auditorium promptly will be needed at the end of the meeting as the space needs to be changed over for the evening entertainment.

The auditorium will not be open until 12.45pm, rope across the stairs to stop people going up to the main auditorium floor.

There is no event on the Friday night,.

Parking – NCP Car Park book with them 8 days in advance you get a 25% discount. £30 is the price if you turn up on the day.Post meeting: please check discount at NCP parking as 25% doesn’t appear on website. 2 days parking with discount is £54

Vote of Thanks - Mrs Vivienne Grant – Platform party and Mrs Aileen Higgs – Speaker (Sally Kettle)

All members of the Executive Committee and Council can claim travel expenses to get to Brighton.

  1. Midlands – Birmingham – 16th June 2018

Mrs Eirlais Tomkins said that the people in charge of the venue on the last visit were very helpful; they are willing to help with lots of things.

Seating for wheelchairs will be difficult, as they will be spread across different floors.

Tickets for the meeting will have to be colour coded across the levels and a system will be needed.

Speaker suggestions needed – Ann Widdecombe

  1. North West 2019

Mrs Aileen Higgs said that she was having issues finding a suitable venue and will discuss with Mrs Pat Downer further.

  1. Office Update

Covered in items above.

  1. Dates for 2018

Tuesday 23rd / Wednesday 24th January 2018

Tuesday 24th / Wednesday 25th April 2018

Tuesday 4th / Wednesday 5th September 2018

  1. AOB

Union Jack Club

The policy has changed for booking bedrooms in group bookings and so the rooms must be individually booked unless a meeting room is being booked at the same time.

Action:Mrs Charlotte Anslow to investigate further and inform Executivemembers.

Magazine Deliveries

Mrs Charlotte Anslow reported that there had been issues with the December and March issues of The Trefoilgetting to all members, the publishers were investigating this and efforts were being made to ensure if does not happen with future issues.

  1. Dates of Meetings

All meetings taking place at Girlguiding CHQ, Buckingham Palace Road, London.

  1. Next meeting:

Advisers MeetingTuesday 12 September 2017 11.00 – 12.30pm

Executive MeetingTuesday 12 September 20171.00pm

Lunch 12.30pm

Wednesday 13 September 2017 9.30am – 12.30pm

Lunch12.30pm

Chairman’s MeetingWednesday 13 September 2017 1.00pm – 3.00pm

The meeting was closed at16.00on Tuesday 27 April2017.

Signed: ______Date: ______

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