Virtual SGM Business Meeting

ROTARY CLUB OF CHESTFIELD

Special General Meeting held online Thursday 19th November 2020 @ 8.00pm

Present:               Robert S; Pat; Andrew & Jean M; Margaret; Ron; Godfrey; Andrew B; Lesley; Kathryn; Pete; Sue; David K; Iain; David B; Hilary; Dave C  (17 members)

Apologies:           Caroline Mumford

General:              Kathryn introduced items which were discussed at the Board Meeting last night.  Canterbury Sunrise have organised for next week a virtual tour of Shakespeare’s London.  Kathy will send the link to Dave C so he can forward this to all members.  All you need to do is click on the attachment to book a place.  Sue said she has attended these before and they are usually very good.

Reminder to all members who have ordered Rotary items for Christmas – masks, cards etc – have you paid David M?

Andrew B said he has sent an email to all members about the recent international disasters eg a typhoon in the far East.  At the Board meeting, it was agreed to recommend to members that the club donate £300 to Shelterbox.  Members present were asked to vote on this.  The vote was unanimous in favour; no-one voted against.

The Board also discussed whether to donate £250 to the appeal for funds to support the provision of toilet facilities at the Over-60’s club.  One sticking point is the the Over-60’s don’t own the building; the owners could re-possess it at any time.  On the other hand, the Over-60’s have been there for a long time, and there are other similar groups which use the building eg Age UK.  The meeting decided that if we are not all in agreement, then we should hold fire until the New Year; our funds are more limited than usual anyway.

Robert has the cards to deliver to households about the Christmas collection.  He has sent round an email asking every member to confirm if he/she can help with the collection.  There was a suggestion that we need to confirm with the police and local council for permission to go ahead.  David M has looked into this, and no, we don’t.  The intention is that all the food will go direct to the Canterbury food bank, so we don’t need to sort it; Hilary will contact the food bank to see if they can come and collect it on Sunday evening.  Reminder to all those helping: meet on Sunday 6th December at 4.30pm at Primrose Way.  We anticipate finishing by 6.30 / 7.00pm. 

Sue said she has volunteered to take part in an online meeting about Voluntary Service on Monday next.  Hilary will also attend this.

Kathy said she has a meeting online tomorrow(Friday) re Carers UK.  Robert said he will arrange for a poster about this to go on our Face book page.  Lesley will forward the poster to Dave C for circulation.

Sue asked if the club would agree to top up the money raised by the Sky Dive by £150 so that her three charities could each have a round sum of £800?  This was agreed.

Lesley said that she has chaired a meeting to look at options for resuming our regular club meetings.  She will send out a paper with four options.  Could all members respond indicating their preferred option, please?  It does feel difficult to re-vitalise the club until we can all meet safely face-to-face once more.  Lesley will forward the paper to Dave C for circulation.

Special General Meeting:  As President-elect, Lesley took over the chair of the meeting. 

Lesley started by indicating that nearly all the Board members have agreed to carry on in their respective posts.  There remain two vacancies: Youth Opportunities and Meals Steward.  Would someone please consider volunteering for these?  In addition, there are two new posts:  Speaker Organiser – David K; Chair of the Membership Committee – Peter.  Andrew B proposed that the meeting accept all of the above nominees.  Kathy seconded the proposal.  The meeting voted in favour of acceptance with no abstentions of votes against.

The meeting noted that the club accounts prepared by David M have been circulated to all members.  A copy of the accounts has been lodged with the Charity Commission, and District has been advised accordingly.  The meeting accepted the accounts, and made a vote of thanks to David M for another year of sterling service as treasurer.

Godfrey confirmed that the next car parking date has been cancelled by the school.  Godfrey is waiting to hear from the school if our December dates (22nd and 29th ) will go ahead.  He will notify members as soon as possible.

David B congratulated Kathy on her new role as District Community Chair, which she starts next year.

Any Other Business:  David K asked members to let him know if they have any suggestions for speakers for our evening meetings in the New Year.

Robert asked if the meeting would like him to contact Suneeta at Canterbury Sunrise about organising an online quiz during the New Year.  Or, for our scheduled evening meeting on 17thDecember, someone suggested.

Date of Next Meeting: 

Thursday 3rd December 2020 @ 07.30am, online.

Margaret gave her apologies in advance.