SUES Committee Meeting Monday 13th December 2021 at 4.30pm.
Present – Alan Potter (Chair), Margaret Boneham, Peter Firth, Roger Mitchell, Bob Neate, Mary Ormsby, John Sharp.
Apologies from Christine Vasey
The meeting took place via Zoom
MINUTES
The minutes of the Committee Meeting on 15th November were approved. The minutes now become ‘Archive’ and will be available on the Website.
MATTERS ARISING
These are covered under the headings below.
FINANCE
Bob reported little change. The Financial Projections discussed at the previous meeting remain unchanged and the Committee were happy with the current situation.
Mary reported that HSBC were making increased charges for an account for her church and wondered if Bob had noted any changes. He agreed to check this and also to see whether there were any opportunities to earn interest (however modest) on our funds. We could easily afford to put £40,000 into a one or two year bond. In theory it seems an obvious and sensible move but Bob warned us that in practice it was unlikely to be so straightforward. However, he would investigate further.
MEMBERSHIP
This currently stands at 58. Thanks to backup, a computer problem with John did not mean that any important data was lost. Matters relating to resumption of membership were discussed.
PROGRAMME
Peter’s course has concluded and Alan’s lecture has taken place. Both were highly successful – well attended, safely managed and greatly enjoyed.
It was agreed that we need to develop a clearer plan for welcoming and for signing in at meetings. John agreed to work on this and to have a signing in sheet and membership information for the February meeting. Margaret agreed that for the February meeting she would welcome members (especially new and potential members) as they arrived.
The programme for next term is in place – Roger’s course and Mary’s lecture. Given the rapidly changing Covid situation, we need contingency plans. With a late Easter, the 8 sessions of Roger’s Course could, if necessary, move back to Feb/March, rather than Jan/Feb. Roger agreed to contact all those enrolled for his course before the end of the year. He will consult with Alan and John before making any changes to dates.
In the Spring, we hope to have a visit to Scarisbrick Hall as a follow up to Mary’s lecture. Mary is working on this and hopes that we might be able to include coffee at St Elizabeth’s.
We are delighted to confirm that on June 24th (AGM), Jill Newsham will give a talk entitled ‘Art & Industry – Modern Art for the Table and the Harrods Exhibition of 1934’.
It was agreed that we should start planning for 2022-3. Members of Peter’s class were keen to continue to explore the Middle Ages and a course on ‘The Crusades’ was suggested. Other contributions were encouraged with a particular emphasis on widening our range of subjects and speakers.
EVENT MANAGEMENT
Alan has handed back the hall keys to Martin, explaining why we felt uneasy with the arrangements trialled last term. Martin understood our concerns. This prompted a general discussion about our letting arrangements with All Saints and it was agreed that a more formal contract may help both parties. Next term we will be using the large hall in winter for the first time. Our December meeting showed that the heating is satisfactory, but it needs to be switched on in advance and inevitably this will increase the fuel bill. In the long term we want All Saints to budget for this when setting hire charges, but until that is done, our priority is to have a warm room and we do not want them to be out of pocket. It may be helpful to find out how room hire with other users at All Saints (e.g. Slimming World) is arranged.
HEALTH AND SAFETY
We need rubber mats to cover the power lead from wall socket to projector/laptop. Alan will purchase these.
We need to make contact with local providers of First Aid training. Sefton CVS was suggested and Peter agreed to take this further.
Alan will produce and circulate a final version of Events Guidelines for All Saints’ Hall.
PROMOTION AND PUBLICITY
We hope to develop mock ups of banners and posters for use both at All Saints and on occasions when we are recruiting elsewhere. Any good ideas or examples of good practice should be sent to Alan.
FORUM
Forum 26 will be published later this week. It includes a Quiz and it is hoped that this will become a more frequent feature.in future editions. A copy of Forum (and directions to our website where it is available to all) should be sent to potential members. In normal circumstances, it would be good to have paper copies of Forum available in libraries etc. However, this is not advised in present circumstances.
WEBSITE
Minor adjustments and additions have been made.
CONNECTIONS WITH HE
It was agreed that this agenda item should be widened to ‘Contacts with Other Organisations’ and that a letter should be prepared to be sent in the early part of next term to explain our role and hope that mutually beneficial partnerships might be developed.
AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY
It was agreed that Alan and Roger should work towards aligning Committee Members with particular areas of interest. Some of these were already clear – Finance and Membership. Others such as Website and Health and Safety were taking shape.
AOB
As this was our final meeting of 2021, Alan gave a brief end of year report, thanking committee members and expressing satisfaction for the way the Society was developing. He in turn was thanked for all that he has contributed, not least the highly successful December lecture where there was a real sense of energy and potential.
DATE OF NEXT COMMITTEE MEETING
This was fixed for Monday 31st January at 4.30pm by Zoom.
Roger Mitchell
Secretary
December 2021