Minutes of the Branch Meeting held on 5th December 2016 in the Lower Annexe of Byfield Village Hall
A. CHAIRMAN’S OPENING REMARKS
Russ welcomed and introduced Garth Barnard as this month's Speaker. Russ explained that Garth had expressed interest in observing our meeting and had therefore agreed to give his talk after the proceedings.
B. MATTERS ARISING
B.1 Succession Planning: Russ explained that following the AGM, David had volunteered for the position of Treasurer. Alan had explained all the documents to him, and he felt that it was all within his capability with initial guidance from Alan. Russ therefore proposed that David be appointed Treasurer, and seconded by Tony, all members were in agreement. The Branch account requires three signatories, currently Russ, Tony and Alan, so arrangements will be made for David’s signature to replace Tony’s.
B.2 Women’s Section: Russ explained that the Byfield Womans’ Section of the RBL had definitely closed, and that Alison had now joined us; he also said that Nell T would be joining us in the New Year.
B.3. Web Site Update: Terry advised that this was up to date except for the financial results of the Quiz. Those figures are shown below.
B.4 Visit to National Arboretum: Vernon said that the visit suggested for November hadn’t taken place, as no one had expressed interest. It was agreed to leave the matter until next spring when we would revisit the proposal.
B.5 Remembrance Services: Russ said that all had gone well at each of the churches in the District, and in particular the revised arrangements for handing back wreathes at the end of the service in Byfield had also gone well.
B.6 Quiz: Russ commented on the very good atmosphere that prevailed during the evening, and thanked all who helped throughout the proceedings, in particular Alison and Laurie for the raffle and the Dutch auction.
The profit from the 2016 Quiz, £566.27 (now banked into Branch Funds) was almost double last year’s take, a very welcome improvement.
B.7 Poetry Competition: Progress on this was deferred to 2017.
B.8 Monthly Meeting Day: Changing the day of the monthly meeting to increase attendance was discussed but due to varying commitments of members on other days, no one specific alternative day appeared suitable. It was agreed that we hold a six month trial of moving one day forward each successive month; January 2017 will be on Monday as usual but February will move to Tuesday, March Wednesday, April Thursday, May Monday and June Tuesday.
B.9 Eydon Standard: Russ reported that the Eydon Standard had been placed in the care of St Nicholas church at Eydon for safe keeping and that it would formally be laid up there on 7th May.
B.9 War Memorial Green: Russ and Alan reported that the area around the Memorial is a registered village green and as such, is the responsibility of the Parish Council. Maintenance of the individual roundels is as follows: starting clockwise from No 1 Banbury Lane, the first two are the responsibility of the owner of No 1 Banbury Lane, the third is believed to be the parents of Sam M, the fourth the Boddington and District Gardening Association and the last one, facing the High Street, the RBL Women’s Section. We still need to establish if the ‘owners’ of the third and fifth roundels wish to continue maintaining them.
C. CORRESPONDENCE
C .1 Group 4 Band Concert: This will be held on 10th December at the Daventry Community Centre, starting at 7.30pm. Tickets are £8, available from Alan.
C.2 Group 4 AGM: This will be held at the Daventry Conservative Club at 8 pm on 7th December. Russ and Alan will be attending.
C.3 RBL Warwickshire Riders Branch (RBLR): The Warwickshire RBLR will holding their Christmas Present Run to Galanos House on 17th December, and have asked various motor cycle clubs for help in donating presents in the form of toiletries etc. Alan will be taking part and would appreciate any such items from the Branch; they can be delivered to Alan in Becketts Close up to 16th December.
D. FINANCE
D.1. Alan reported that the finances as at the end of November were very healthy; Alan was pleased that “the books” were in good order prior to handing over to our new Treasurer (see B.1 previously herein).
D.2 Russ reported that we had received a donation from Roger Evans.
D.3 Russ proposed, and all agreed that we make the usual annual donation to Byfield’s “Byword” Parish magazine.
D.4 Alan reported that after some discussion with DACT (Daventry Area Community Transport) at their office, he had established the reason for our not having received their invoice for the Affiliation Fee; it had been sent to the address of a Treasurer in Woodford Halse who had long since passed away. Alan now has the latest invoice for £25 and, proposed by John and seconded by Terry, the meeting agreed to it being paid.
E POPPY APPEAL:
John reported that £8,837.52 had been banked to date, with some collections still to be processed.
F. WELFARE
There were no hospital or home visits made during the last month.
G. MEMBERSHIP
G.1 Our new "Membership Secretary" Terry reported that there were four members on our list who had not yet paid their 2017 Subs; an effort would be made to find out why that might be.
G.2 It also appeared that potentially we might be able to recruit five new members, one John had approached and four from the Quiz night.
A Christmas card had been sent to every member together with a letter requesting assistance with recruitment, which suggested a small incentive might be provided if each Member recruited one new Member.
H. ANY OTHER BUSINESS
H.1 It was decided to hold the next lunch meeting on Wednesday 25th January at the Royal Oak at Eydon.
Flag Flying Days: None until 2017.
Our SPEAKER Garth Barnard rounded-off the evening, and a very good year for Speakers, by giving an interesting talk on local wartime airfields and their activities. This was particularly poignant as your writer for one had no idea of the extremely high casualty rate suffered by aircrew under training back then.
