Business meeting

At this first meeting of 2024-25 we started by approving the minutes of the previous meeting and receiving the Treasurer’s report before going on to discuss future arrangements.

Perhaps the most important question we had was how we proceed when our Secretary, Jenny Black, moves to Bury St Edmunds. We will probably need to divide the tasks she does now among a number of members but we will still need to appoint someone formally to liaise with our District and RIBI as our Secretary. Our President said he had a list of the duties.

Now we no longer have Service Committees or Committee Chairs, we will also need members to volunteer to lead our regular service projects, including the two annual Jumble Sales, the Trip to the Panto for senior guests and Rotary Young Musician. We have already bought the panto tickets.

President Francis plans an additional event. The widow of our late member John Scammell intends to cycle to Edinburgh to raise money in his memory. Francis originally thought about joining her but decided instead that he would cycle from his home in Suffolk to Chelmsford on 28 August in order to attend our meeting the following day and then cycle back again afterwards, a total journey of 104 miles. He would be asking for sponsorship. However, he urged members not to sponsor him themselves but to encourage others to do so in order to raise awareness of Rotary. He promised to prepare something for our website.

We also discussed the arrangements for Club meetings after the end of the calendar year. It was agreed we should find out whether the Chelmsford Rugby Club could accommodate us on three Thursdays a month instead of two and what the Ivy Hill Hotel is likely to charge us for meals in 2025. The Hive and the Great Baddow Millennium Centre were mentioned as suitable for occasional meetings, although the room at The Hive is a bit noisy.