Business meeting

As has become our custom, this business meeting was held via Zoom. Unfortunately one of our members had trouble with his microphone and ended up speaking to the rest of us by telephoning our 1st Vice President, Graham Furnival, who was chairing the meeting, and getting him to hold the telephone to his microphone so we could hear him.

The Treasurer’s Report was very short as there had been few transactions on either the Club Account or the Trust Fund Account.

In the absence of Anne Moriaty, currently our District Governor, there was no District Report but Graham mentioned that the District was promoting the Corporate 1000 scheme to gain 1,000 new corporate members of Rotary by the end of this Rotary year. He asked us all to think of organisations that could be invited to become corporate members of our Club.

He said that, while President Francis is away, meetings will be chaired by either him or Anne Moriaty as 1st and 2nd Vice Presidents.

We need to make arrangements for the Fellowship Meetings in April and May. Mo Sadiq told us that, when he visited the Fox and Raven that morning, the manager was enthusiastic about us holding a Club meeting there. It was agreed that we should hold our Fellowship Meeting on 17 April there. Mo and Keith Otter will visit the pub to talk to the manager and make the arrangements.

Alison Moses agreed to approach the Hive to arrange for a return visit there on 15 May.

Our meeting on 27 March will be a joint Fellowship Meeting with the Rotary Club of Billericay. It will be an exchange of news and ideas and we will encourage people to seat themselves so that there are members of both Clubs on each table. Billericay expect 12-13 of their members to attend.

Alison reported that the Danbury Village Hall has been booked for the Jumble Sale on 26 April. The hall management will post a message asking for volunteers but it is not known how many Danbury residents will volunteer. It is therefore important that as many Club members as possible volunteer to help on the day. Bob Booker agreed to provide a float but will have to give it to someone else in advance as he will be away on that date.

We have agreed to hold a quiz for Families in Focus on 16 May. Time and venue are still to be arranged.

The Chapter House has been booked for the Senior Guests’ Summer Party on 26 July. We will give the guests goody bags to take away; last year they contained chocolates. Peter Kemp mentioned that there was work planned on the Chapter House.

It has been suggested that all five Chelmsford Clubs hold a joint Christmas Party this year. This does not stop us holding our own and/or having a Christmas meal at Sanctus if they organise one again.

The recent collection for Marie Curie was so successful, raising over £270, that they want us to collect for them again. Given our reduced membership, it may be more practical to concentrate on such events rather than organise projects of our own.

The project to paint a lady’s flat has been postponed until the summer. She will provide the paint.

The Rotary Club of Halstead is already involved with a project to turn Halstead into a dementia-friendly town. We are thinking of working on a similar project for Chelmsford but need to talk it through with the Halstead Club first. Keith Brownlie is leading their efforts.