Present:
Sam Coe (South America presentation before AGM), Rich Young, Amy Johnson, Andrew Faulkner, Iain Murphy, Josh Powell, Ben Sargent, Stephanie Warman, Jon Springer, Zak Hinds, Will Gilbert, George Hart, ESL (PB).
Apologies: PDL, Troll & Dan Wright (in Nepal!)
Last Year's AGM Minutes:
Were quickly read through; no matters arising that weren't to be covered by following agenda items.
This Year's Review:
It was noted that sadly our friend 'Jock' had died at Easter following a battle against cancer and one of the unit's biggest friends and supporters Ernst Davies had also suddenly died during this year while visiting the UK in July from his home in Norway. Both will be sorely missed. The unit mourns their passing. PB attended both funerals.
Thanks expressed to Rich Young's dad for the new internal ceiling and lighting : cosy!!
The new Dyson and determination to use it(!) showing good results; ESL commented on tidiness of hut now!
Leaking water supply pipe now fixed with new stopcock and tap, located under paving at end of canoe shelter (PB did all work - school could not even identify the route or mains source point).
Trench now filled in with gravel/shale - Ken, PDL & PB did navvying for this, shifting several cwt of the stuff on some of the hottest days of the summer! The "pathway" should soon provided ideal surface for Pentanque/boules competions.
Thanks to Ken for erecting fencing panels.
Resealing, bitumen paint of hut base and surround completed by PB and helpers at 1st meeting of term - looking good and should cure much of dampness ingress.
Activities:
Cotswold Marathon 2006 - minimal entry; only success a place in Silver Route by team of Ben S, Andy F and Andy(!)=Amy Johnson.
Dragon Boat 2005 - A great day out and again we did well and provided at least 80% of the District Boat.
Thanks to RY for organising a good programme for March to June. Specially enjoyed were the go-karting and lazer-tag.
Climbing trip to Portland organised by Troll for climbing unit saw 4 of the 44th taking part in a great end to the school summer term!
Membership:
21 members on role plus 7 leaders/intructors/helpers.
ESL noted however that there were a few problems - several "cliques" had developed beyond the usual "do-ers" and "willing followers"; also members on the whole just turned up to be entertained and not develop the initiative and self-sufficiency expected; several only turned up for what they could get out of a meeting and never really put anything back into the unit. This has led to a few problems with attendance and between members of the different year groups. JS apologised on behalf of the yr9 members for their occasional over-exuberance at times which may have caused disruptions to meetings.
The ESL noted further that as a result of this issue, the passed year was perhaps the poorest year for training achievements - both DofE and Scouting awards - for quite some time.
Funds & Charity Giving:
2005/6 was in fact best year for some wrt fundraising and charity giving - 2 discos & 2 quiz evenings brought in contributions for Meningitis Trust & Cobalt Appeal. Sponsorship of walkers in the Cotswold Marathon and 5 Valleys added to this.
Full amounts raised and donated will be available soon in end of year accounts but ESL said for Meninigitis Trust, the disco raised £500 with sponsors on the 5 Valleys Walk bringing in a further £375.42. PDL had organised a formal presentation to the Trust at one of the assemblies, as the school had also been supporting the Trust through its weekly loose-change collections and thereby had addedd a further £500 to the presented total. £200 went to the Cobalt Appeal from the Valentine Disco in Feb. The unit also supported Alex Latter 9B to the tune of £75 for his attendance at the Euro-Jam Scout Jamboree during the summer. We still await a report on his trip!
It was noted that the school had raised the issue of Scouts having 'free use' of school facilities. Even when newsletters, websites, Richian, Assembly announcements and reports to Headmaster detailed the good work done by the unit in carrying off successfully these major fundraising events and the charities that benefit from the money raised, there still appeared to be an element in the school somewhere that wanted to denegrate the activities and excellent work that the unit did on behalf of the school, spreading mis-information that the unit retained nearly all of the money it generated, when in fact the reverse was true. Over-looking all of this "good work" plus the fact that the unit actually comes under the banner of school clubs and societies, has resulted in an understanding that in return for gratis use of the hall for our major events, plus reasonable advertising resources (posters, etc) the unit will donate 50% of the profit from ticket sales only to school
funds. ESL further noted that this would mean we would need to be careful in future promotions of events that specified the beneficiaries of any profits generated, rather than leave it until after the event for the Exec to decide.
Training & Awards:
ESL emphsised need for individuals to take responsibility for their own progress and get on with it. Meeting was fully agreed that regular "Award Evenings" should feature in programme - Exec to action this.
Also noted that County Advisor Nigel Moore was very ill so should not be contacted but deal directly with HQ at Cranham. Also the DofE website should be checked before choosing skill/pursuit to confirm choice is on the 'authorised' list! Ref Chris Gallant's recent problems with his choice of soap making!
Amy needs to complete Gold Expedition - several new L6 members doing DofE are thought to be at same stage so approaches should be made to form a group and even persuade them to join unit. Amy & senior members to pursue this.
Election/Appointments of Unit Officers:
To be done at start of next week's meeting. Vote taken and agreed at this meeting to extend the Exec positions from 3 to 4 - Chairperson, Secretary, Quartermaster & Events Coordinator. Six persons registered interest - Josh P, Rich Y, Amy J, Andy F, Iain M, Zak H. Form of voting to be as follows - 1 minute "Husting", then ESL appraisal and discussion, then secret ballot determining the 4 Exec members by proportional representation. Successful candidates will be asked to formulate their own "job descriptions" to be discussed and agreed by unit membership.
Annual Subscriptions:
Proposed raising to £40.
ESL gave reason being that annual Scout capitation fees now nearly £40 as they include training levy. It has always been so that the unit subs just cover the capitation fee to guarantee certain level of commitment. ESL proposed, noone objected, all voted for, unanimously carried : Subs 2006/7 are £40 - payable now!
AOB
- Dan Wright now in Nepal for at least a year. He sent open invite to anyone from unit to visit and stay at his house!
- Amy already collected £65 from her sponsors from this year's 5 Valleys Walk - encouraged other walkers to get their money in asap!
- Dragon Boat 2006 on 8th October. Signup/inform PB by Monday. £5 per person.
Meeting closed and followed by further interesting discussion with Sam Coe about his gap year in Guyana