Minutes of the RBL Byfield and District Committee meeting held at Byfield Village Hall on 6th March 2023 at 20:00hrs.
Ten Members were in attendance and Apologies were received from three others.
- Confirmation of Minutes January (error - should read February 2023; there was no meeting in January).
Bob C read out the minutes from the last meeting and these were accepted by all present as complete & accurate.
- Finance report
David B advised that the c/a has a healthy balance as at 31/1/23; this after deduction of a cheque for Dec 22 village hall rental and £200 to the Poppy Appeal for the 8 x village remembrance wreaths. He had not yet received the Bank statement for February 2023 or the Byfield Village Hall invoice for the hire of the hall.
- BCS report
Chris K advised that he has been following up with the previously noted lonely member, and plans to call on a few others. He now has access to the Branch Community Support (BCS) portal, and is working out how to navigate it.
- Contribution to County Newsletter
This has been set as a monthly item in case anything arises that we wish to bring to the attention of RBL county.
Following discussion of the below agenda items it was subsequently decided to ask Caroline C to advise RBL County of the planned Armed Forces & Veterans Breakfast and the Poppies in a Jar.
- Armed Forces and Veterans Breakfast
Bob and Max B have both progressed this item from the last meeting.
Copy has been produced to include in Byfield's next Byword and other village publications, including A4 posters and magazine size posters.
Both Bob and Max to publicise as far as possible in local villages, local newspapers & local publications. Please see the attachments that have been prepared.
The Cross Tree pub in Byfield is willing to host in its Lounge area at a planned cost of £5 a head for breakfast bap and hot drink.
The launch of this venture is Saturday 24 June 2023.
Will RBL branch members please help spread the word where possible, and volunteers will be asked for nearer the time to come along to the inaugural event to help mingle.
Max advised that there does appear to be a National Club for the Armed Forces and Veterans. He knows of a contact Chris Smithson at the Banbury club. Max wishes to investigate the connections further before recommending whether to affiliate with any National body.
Ed's additions: Such clubs are also in Daventry and Southam
- DACT cancellation charge
A letter had been received from DACT asking us to pay £129.60 (full charge) for our proposed but cancelled branch trip to RAF Defford in July 2022. Alan B advised that he believed he had only made a provisional booking and that nothing was ever confirmed, and no paperwork completed. Bob contacted DACT and discussed this with a view to compromise, offering to pay for the driver at £39.60. DACT’s recollection of events is different and they advise that the booking had been confirmed, and was allocated a driver that actually turned up on the day. After much discussion it was agreed that regrettably we would have to pay DACT and that the cheque would be handed over with a letter from Bob stating that any future bookings need to be in writing and confirmed from both sides.
- County Conference motion update
Caroline contacted Ian Byrnes, RBL County Chairman, and received the response below:
“It was down to the Branch to find a seconding branch, who would have had to pass that seconding resolution at a duly convened quorate branch meeting. I do not recall saying I would find a seconder for you, you of course sailed close to deadlines as the closing date for submission of motions was the Friday following your meeting, this being a reason that the Conference documents are sent out in October, and resolutions do not need to be passed at AGM or EG Meetings.”
- Quiz Night drinks update
Alan B advised that he had sold a few drinks, and he can still be contacted on 01327 260590 if members wish to purchase any more at cost. Please refer to the list that was sent out with last month’s minutes. What doesn’t get sold, if possible, will be held over for the 2023 Quiz Night or donated/used where possible.
- Meeting venues 2023 update
One of our members had asked whether it is felt that the branch is too Byfield centric.
It had been decided at the last meeting that for now all meetings, bar June 2023, will be held in Byfield Village Hall.
Ali T has kindly arranged for our 5 June 23 meeting to be held at Woodford Halse Social Club in the concert room bar area. Caroline to send a list of attendees and confirmation of attendance 3 weeks prior to this date, and we will look to advertise the Woodford Halse meeting nearer to the time. Caroline has contacted the Model railway society and it is highly likely that the room will be open on the evening, and either a Q&A session or a brief talk will be given. Caroline is awaiting confirmation.
If our members in other villages wish the branch to meet in their village then we will happily consider this but we will request member assistance in sourcing a suitable venue.
Caroline presented some statistics from the latest members list available – as at 25 February 2023.
We welcome our newest member Clive Sparling who joined us in November 2022.
We currently have 60 paid up members with a wide age range. 60% are aged 70 or over.
And the villages/towns recorded against these members are shown below. You will notice that Byfield accounts for 40.0% and Woodford Halse 18.3% respectively of the membership.
Bob apologised for not being able to provide a speaker for our March 23 meeting, and advised that it hadn’t been for lack of trying.
He has sourced a speaker for our April 2023 meeting, Neil McKenzie, from Northants Police to talk to us about scams and fraud.
The June 2023 speaker will be at Woodford Halse, and will be on the Model Railway, either in the form of a Q&A session or a talk. This should be confirmed at our next meeting.
Alan B has a suggestion for a speaker for 4 September 2023, and agreed to make contact and arrange a suitable talk. This will be reviewed and updated at our next meeting.
- Flag Flying Dates 2023 update
Caroline e-mailed Byfield Parish Council to request approval for the flag flying dates proposes. To date no response has been received, and as yet, there is no official RBL flag calendar, so it was agreed that we would run with the dates we have. These dates are attached to the minutes.
- Charles III coronation Sat 6 May 2023 update
Caroline has put a large number of poppies into a jar donated by Richard Birdsall, thank you, and with poppies courtesy of our PAO, Major Tom.
Please see the attached picture.
The “Poppies in a Jar” will be advertised in the next Byword edition April-May 2023.
Caroline had contacted Lyn Grennan from Byfield Big Breakfast and it was kindly agreed that we could have a table at the 1st April 23 Big Breakfast.
- Caroline Crewe will cover 10-11am
- Jane Holland will cover 11-12 noon
- David Bradshaw will cover 12 noon-1pm
Bob Cubitt volunteered to take the jar to his skittles event.
If any member wishes to take the jar, and accompanying bits, to a club or an event, then please let Caroline know. Caroline will arrange for the jar to be dropped off to you and collected. Please either call 01327 612441 or email caro.crewe@outlook.com
Caroline advised, further to confirmation from Giles Coleman, RBL community fund raiser, that we do not need a licence to collect “donations” as long as the event is on private land/property. Requiring a licence really only applies to public land (land managed by local authorities). If property or land is then leased by a third party then that too would count as a private area.
It is presently undecided when or where over the coronation weekend the poppies in a jar amount will be made known. This will be decided a little nearer the time, and dependant on any other local events that will take place.
If any members have anything that they will be willing to donate as prizes (looking for 3) then please let Caroline Crewe know. Thank you.
- What happened to our gazebo please?
This was a member question in response to last month’s minutes where we advised that a gazebo has been disposed of. Chris K confirmed that we still have our blue gazebo purchased in 2019. It was the old white gazebo that was disposed of as it was tattered.
A member asked if our website is being maintained as it is noticeable that our title banner overruns and that general maintenance is needed.
Bob advised that he had started receiving county emails about upcoming training, and that he had been finding it difficult to find time to do this. No-one present felt comfortable with taking on this task.
It was agreed that it would be nice to maintain the website and get a member trained.
Since our meeting our member Terry H has kindly agreed to take back this task for a while, and Bob is liaising with him on this.
AOB
Bob raised the topic of a branch summer BBQ to be held in the Byfield school grounds on Sunday 23 July 2023.
Bob will contact the school to secure the date.
We may have to borrow the church gazebos.
We could open the BBQ up outside of members if wished.
We will need to find a good BBQ chef willing to do the cooking on the day. If any members are willing to volunteer or know someone who will, please do let us know.
This will be discussed further at future meetings.
Caroline passed around some pictures that had been sent to her by our member Bernard Tisley of The Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne which he and his wife have recently visited.
Meeting closed 21:15
Date of next meeting:
Monday 3 April 2023 Byfield Village Hall Meeting Room 20:00.
Next meeting's Speaker: Neil McKenzie from Northants Police to talk about scams and fraud.
