Minutes of the Committee Meeting held on 29th August 2018 at Hinton House Farm Cottages, Byfield & the General Meeting in Byfield Village Hall’s Meeting Room (was Lower Annexe) on 3rd September 2018
A. CHAIRMAN’S OPENING REMARKS: At the Monday 3rd September Meeting Russ welcomed our Speaker, Tim Boddington who spoke of China. He also announced that Walter Bleach, one time Poppy Appeal Organiser in Woodford Halse had died recently and that his funeral at the Banbury Crematorium had taken place earlier that day. He had attended along with Alan, Les and George.
B. MATTERS ARISING: from previous Meeting’s Minutes:
B .1 Great Pilgrimage 2018 – GP90: Russ reported that Bob Cubitt will be talking on the event at the October Branch meeting to be held at Aston le Walls village hall on 2nd October. Bob reported that the organisation of the whole event was very slick, the parade went very well, and he felt privileged to have taken part.
B.1.1 The “Ypres 2018” scroll has been sewn onto both sides of our Standard by Newton & Newton, for which Alan will need £11, reimbursing him for the Special delivery to them. The invoice for their work is awaited.
B.1.2 Concern was expressed about the lack of coverage on TV for the event, which instead concentrated on the Centenary of the Battle of Amiens on the same day. Russ pointed out that the date chosen for GP90 was 90 years from the date of the original Grand Parade in 1918. Everyone, everywhere was disappointment at the lack of TV coverage, particularly as Bernadette said RTE covered it for Irish TV.
B.1.2.1 Terry said he had put a You Tube video of it on the Branch Web site.
Secretary's Note: Bob's article for our Web site will aso appear in the next edition of Byfield's "The Byword".
B.2 Twinning with NZ: Terry has heard nothing from either New Zealand or Brightlingsea, but will follow up this with both parties now that he was back from holiday (see Item B.2 in last month’s Minutes).
B.3 100 years on from The First World War’s end - 11th November 2018:: Terry reported that this was progressing satisfactorily, but that one area not yet decided was responsibility for refreshments during the Tea Dance. He will contact the PTA concerning this.
Secretary’s Note: The W.I. has agreed to provide tea and cakes, Angela Weller is arranging. We hope the PTA will provide bacon butties before the beacon is lit.
B.3.1: Some discussion took place on how best to arrange Public Liability Insurance, whether it be through the RBL or the Parish Council. Russ said he will investigate.
B.4 Tony Webster Obituary: (was item C.1 in last month’s Minutes). Terry explained had not yet contacted Susan (Tony’s daughter) because it needed further work along the lines of a profile he was preparing on John Russell. He explained his longer-term intention was to prepare profiles of prominent Branch members for inclusion on the Branch Web site. See also H.4 in last Meeting’s Minutes.
B.5 Northamptonshire Says “Thank You”: (See C.2 in the last Minutes). Alan has notified County that Alison and Laurie will be helping during the morning, and that he and Jacqueline will take-over during the afternoon. Terry said he may be attending if he is clear of a Scouting event earlier that day. Russ said he had since received a Thank You from the County Secretary for our support.
Secretary’s Note: Terry did attend and has put a report onto our Web site.
B.6 Royal Charter Changes: The meeting felt that the language used currently was too old fashioned to be fully understood, and that it would have been better to modernise it first and then ask for comments. No-one is planning to attend any of the discussion meetings. See also C.5 in our previous Meeting’s Minutes.
B.6.1: It transpired at the 3rd Sept. Meeting that the last change was in 2007, so it was wondered why another change was necessary so soon?
C. CORRESPONDENCE:
C.1 Road Closure 11 November: Alan has submitted a request to the County Council for the usual temporary road closure in front of the War Memorial, specifying clearly which part of Banbury Lane is to be closed, explaining that last year they had closed the south end in error.
C.2 Chairman and Vice Chairman’s Seminar 20th October: Russ advised that he and hopefully Joy would be attending this. He also said there would a Welfare Conference the day before which he and Alison would attend.
C.3 Merchant Navy Day: Russ explained that he had received an email from Seafarers UK asking us to register that the Branch will be flying the Red Ensign on 3rd September and asking if we are included on the ‘Roll of Honour’. Terry will action this.
Secretary’s Note: This has been done.
C.3.1: Russ explained that the first casualty of WW 2 was the torpedoing of SS Athenia with the loss of 117 lives on the first day of the 2nd World War. The first of many.
D. FINANCE:
D.1 Alan reported the end of August figures as being very healthy and that there was no change to the Cash and BFI figures.
D.2 Year End Accounts: Alan had checked with John Freeman the day before the meeting who told him completion of the audit would be ‘within the next two weeks’ so submission by 30th September is practical.
D.3 Paying in cheques/cash to Barclays current account at the Post Office: Russ advised that special envelopes are needed for this which he is arranging to provide.
D.4 Battle Back Centre sponsorship: It was agreed to pay a further £500 to Battle Back in October – proposed by Russ, seconded by John, agreed by all
E. POPPY APPEAL
E.1 It now looked like the final total for the 2017/18 Appeal would be £10,093.11
E.2 John would be asking for seven reliable volunteers to fill 114 poppy boxes starting at 10am on the morning of 13/10/18; this would be finalised at the next meeting.
E.3 John also said he was happy to report that he had new collectors to replace those who had retired, and was planning to ask them to be present to witness the box filling this year.
F. WELFARE (Branch Community Support): 3 members have been contacted and 2 house visits made during the last month.
At the Monday 3rd Sept. meeting we were advised that County had asked if we required any training on this subject. Training was thought to be a good idea but f that was for the specific purpose of administering welfare, we had no volunteers to act as case officers.
G. MEMBERSHIP: Terry reported that two Members who appeared to have dropped off the Membership List are still active and will be renewing their Membership, bringing our total Membership back to 69.
H. ANY OTHER BUSINESS:
H.1 Quiz Friday, 23 November: Russ tabled this event to judge the Committee’s feeling whether this should be held again this year, and all felt positive about it. Detailed planning will be arranged at the October meeting – in principle, the same responsibilities as last year but with replacement names for two of the scorers.
H.1.1: The question of whether we should auction the Halton House painting at the quiz, but it was considered more appropriate to ask for bids at the 11th November event.
H.2 Last Year’s Wreaths? As arranged at a previous meeting, last year’s wreathes would be removed on 31st August, which Terry agreed to do. He would keep the Wiggins wreath for the family for Remembrance Sunday, and would ask John Russell if there was any formal method of disposing the remainder but would in any case give the poppies to the Scouts to incorporate with the netting being planned for the 11th November centenary.
Secretary’s Note: All the above has been done, except the wreaths have yet to be delivered to the Scouts.
H.2.1: Terry said it was worth noting for the future that the messages which had been written in ball point on the wreath labels had disappeared, while those which had been laser jet printed were still visible.
H.3 Exhortation plaque: Alan's wife had purchased a slate Exhortation plaque from Deanshanger & Wickham Branch and wished that to be placed at our disposal. It was agreed to install it near the War Memorial, possibly on the stone wall adjacent. This would need the permission of the wall's owner, which would be sought. A vote of thanks was given to Alan to pass-on to his good lady.
H.4 Byfield Parish Council is arranging with Fields in Trust (formerly National Playing Fields Association) to register Buyfield's Brightwell Recreation Ground (BRG) as a "Centenary Field". The Council felt it was particularly fitting for the BRG to be so treated because Mr Brightwell gave the original land in memory of his son killed in WW1. When this is finalised the Council will probably arrange for a suitable noticeboard or similar recording the fact.
H.4.1 Also, the Council is purchasing via Daventry DC two special benches to mark the end of WW1. The proposal is to place one of these at the War Memorial – in place of the existing Millenium Bench there – and the other one to be on the triangle of grass in front of the west gate into the churchyard overlooking the BRG..
J. Dates of next Meetings:
General meeting Monday 3rd September 8 pm Byfield Village Hall 8 pm – Tim Boddington speaks on China
Committee Meeting: Wednesday 26th September 10.30 am at Russ’s place.
Pub Lunch: Wednesday 26th September 12.30 am in The Red Lion, Culworth.
General meeting Tuesday 2nd October 8 pm Aston le Walls VH – Bob Cubitt reports on GP 90.
Flag Flying Days - Scheduled days for September
Monday 3 September, Red Ensign for Merchant Navy Day
