Minutes From The AAJLR Annual General Meeting
by Mike Owsley
| Held at the Min-Y-Mor Hotel, Barmouth, Wales | |
| Saturday 5th. April 2008 | |
| 46 Members Present | |
| Apologies: | |
| The following tended their apologies | |
| Kev Avery George Bilton Nick Carling Jim Daniel Ken Hare Ken Hart Terry Hope Alan Jacobs Alan Likeman Eddie Nuttall Malcolm Palfrey Carl Pearce Fred Philpot Stan Preece Dave Reeve Bob Relph Richard Ringer |
Mick Roberts Richard Robinson Roy Rolands Richard Rothwell Dave Scott Terry Scriven Tom Silverside Keith Smith Ron Smithies Bill Straughan Alan Ventress Dave Wakelam Steve Whitney John Wiseman Eric Wood Alan Young |
| Opening Address | |
| The President opened the meeting at 1705 with the following: | |
| The President welcomed everyone who is attending in particular a welcome to our Chairman Collin Gunning and a warm welcome to Colin Sibary who made the journey from Fiji. | |
| The President mentioned the wearing of the Malay Pingat Jasa and that he thought that recipients could now wear it with those issued by the services. | |
| Minutes of the Previous Meeting | |
| At the last meeting Richard Rothwell and Rene Dee were missed off the apologies list after returning late from Cada Idris. | |
| No other matters arising from the previous meeting. | |
| Proposal: That the minutes be passed as read. | |
| Carried | |
| Election of Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer | |
| Kindly reminded that this is not required until 2010. | |
| Secretary’s Report | |
| Update on the Memorial Stone | |
| At the present time we are unable to contact the owners of the Tonfanau site which would allow us to find out what the likely future of the site will be, at the same time on speaking with Arriva who own the station they have said that the station will be demolished this or next year so we would not be able to mount a plaque on the station. | |
| Presently outside the camp is a large stone which has been in the same place for years. I will look at mounting a plaque on this stone as a temporary move. | |
| Admin Points | |
| We would like to update the social list to include your wife or partner, could you mail the secretary with the details. | |
| The name tags are handy to enable recognition however if you do not let me know your coming I cannot make one up for you. Next year I will have the right style of name tag. | |
| The Mini-Y-Mor has 27 rooms most are double but they do get booked early and this can lead to cancellations at the last minute which leaves rooms empty and some members being in other hotels when they could have been here. For next year if you book this weekend you will have to pay a deposit. | |
| Location of the 2009 AGM | |
| Proposal: That the 2009 and 50th. Anniversary reunion be held at the Min-Y- Mor hotel on Saturday the 4th. of April 2009. | |
| Carried | |
| Treasurers Report | |
| For those who are new to these reunions the Association monies are held in a very simple Nationwide Building Society Treasurer's Trust Book Account, and recorded on an even simpler Excel Spreadsheet; to reproduce these sheets seemed to be the most sensible way of disseminating details of our vast wealth to you. Though this only provides for about three half-crowns of interest twice yearly, it remains a very user friendly type of account. For instance there are no problems with access, of paying in cheques, or of getting a counter cheque from a branch to pay invoices. There are some print-outs from the spreadsheet circulated for your information; years 2007 and 2008. | |
| The accounts are up to date to my last pay-in on Tuesday this week, but you'll see that any I receive from the 1st. of January each year I take as being for the next financial/membership year which runs from the 1st. of April, and so are shown as having been paid in on that date. Some pay several times the annually agreed subscription in which case it is recorded in a different colour and then carried forward to the next year. The account balance is currently £284.18 with all invoices paid to date. Within that figure there is £18.00 owed to Combat Stress under our 'badge scheme' because I wait until there is a decent sum to send them before obtaining a cheque for the purpose. | |
| Up to now we have not had the accounts audited and I know of no requirement so to do. As I say, the accounting system is mind numbingly simple and transparent. Either at this meeting or at any other time should a member require a copy of the accounts they only have to e-mail or write to me or I will send one to them. | |
| On the subject of monies into the account, Mike and I would prefer not to have payment by anything other than cheques or postal orders for subscriptions, ties, badges or shields. The acceptance of cash during this type of gathering - particularly when the liquid intake increases - is a recipe for confusion. I have a supply of membership application forms (we haven't produced a renewal form, so one size fits all) for your use. So, for any forms of payment just pass your cheque to Mike or me in one of the envelopes provided, indicating whether it is for subscription, badges, ties, shields or a combination. If you have no choice but to use cash then please put it a sealed envelope with what it is intended for clearly marked on the outside together with your name. | |
| The cost of the hotel accommodation and the buffet must be paid directly to the Min-Y-Mor. | |
| Charity | |
| At this meeting last year it was unanimously agreed to adopt the charity, the Ex-Services Mental Welfare Society, which is known more usually as Combat Stress. In the past year I have sent them a total of £543.00. This has been made up from a donation from our accounts, very generous individual donations and £3.00 from every pin badge sold. To that end I would encourage you to buy a badge or two and Mike has a supply. As you can see from the accounts before you we currently have over £500.00 in the building society and I would like to send Combat Stress a further sum, I suggest £150.00 or £200.00 from funds. If you agree may I please have a proposer and seconder, and we can then put it to the vote? | |
| Whilst we can only realistically support one charity, and then with our limited resources only in a minor way, I have brought with me details of another worthy cause to which some may wish to donate individually. It is a new and time limited charity called 'Help for Heroes' and there are leaflets and posters on the table. | |
| Thank you to all who have brought items for the raffle which will be held this evening. Traditionally the monies gleaned from this are sent to Ken Hart in support of his excellent and unpaid work in support of the AAJLR website, which I think all agree is superb and the machine through which a great deal of us are back in touch, and indeed here at our fifth reunion. Again, may I have a proposer and seconder that we send the raffle proceeds to Ken, or does anyone have any alternative suggestions? | |
| Proposal: That the accounts be passed as read. | |
| Carried | |
| Proposal: That £50 is donated to our charity Combat Stress. | |
| Carried | |
| Proposal: That we send the proceeds from the raffle to Ken Hart to help run the website. | |
| Carried | |
| Any Other Business | |
| "Tracking 'Em Down" | |
| It has to be admitted that the 'flow' of those traced has slowed down considerably and since the Reunion last year, I have only managed to track down a further thirteen former old boys who are Eric Barrable, Athol Deakin (though I have only heard from his son so far), Alastair Findlater, Graham Fomes, Terry Friend, Bryan Fuszard, Richard Ringer, Terry Scriven, Anthony Stockle, Richard Robinson, Chris Roberts, Billy Miles and Carl Pearce. | |
| In the same way that Ken built the names database on the website from Graduation Booklets, I have traced most former colleagues and members of the permanent staff through writing to names listed in their pages. The website now has almost a full 'collection' of them but we need to track down Booklets from 1959, April and August 1960, April 1961 and April 1962. If any of you have such please may I borrow them? | |
| I do revisit the names database on occasion and am finding some more names which come up as sort of 'limited edition' possibles on the National Voters Register. In an attempt to match names in the booklets with those on the Voters Register I have written about eighty letters since last year but unfortunately I only receive replies - positive or negative - from about ten percent of the people to whom I write. This is quite frustrating but it is a real bonus when I trace another ex-Tonfanau inmate! | |
| As usual, if you have any names you would like me to try and trace, then I will need all the details you can provide, i.e. Full name or at least middle initial. Obviously unusual names have the most chance of success, and if there is a location or at least a specific area, then so much the better. | |
| Letters etc. | |
| Stan Preece | |
| Bill Straughan | |
| Mrs. Playfoot | |
| Gus Boag thanked the committee for organising the weekend and reminded us that next year was the 50th. Anniversary of the opening of the AAJLR at Tonfanau. A discussion followed on whether we should we invite the Mayor to the 50th. | |
| A reminder that the next AGM will be held on the 4th. of April 2009. | |
| There being no other business the President closed the meeting at 1800 hours. | |
| Mike Owsley | |
| Honorary Secretary | |
| AAJLR Association | |
Return To The 2008 Reunion Page
If you have any reunion photos I would love to show them.
Email the Webmaster