Association of Friends of Shannon Court
The 16th Annual General Meeting Held at Shannon Court Sunday 5th June 2011 at 11.30 am.
Present : There were some 30 members present whose names are recorded on the attendance sheets which form a part of the minutes.
The Chairman called for a minute silence to remember those Residents and Friends who had passed away in the last 12months.
Minutes : The Secretary had previously circulated the minutes of the 15th AGM held at Shannon Court on Sunday 6th June 2010 at 11.30pm. In addition to them being published on the Shannon Court Web Site the Chairman called for them to be approved and adopted. Graham Walder proposed and Robbie Burns seconded that the minutes to be adopted as a true record. This proposal was put to the members and carried. The Chairman then confirmed and signed the Minutes.
Matters arising:
There were no matters arising.
Apologies: Apologies were received from: Eric Stuart-Bamford , Michael and Janet Yalden, Paul Haynes, Rak Owens, Kath Walder, Clive Newman,, Bill Pennington Paul Cope, Jan Rains, Chris & Shirley Rashbrook and Yvonne Budd.
Treasure’s Report by Colin Bryson:
Mr Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, good morning. When I agreed to take on the duties of Treasurer about 18 months ago I was aware that, for historic reasons the banking arrangements were, and indeed still are, somewhat complicated. What I was not prepared for, however, was the amount of basic book-keeping that is required to keep the accounts in order. I will return to this point later.
I therefore regret to have to report that as a consequence of the amount of time that I latterly discovered is required to maintain the accounts, and due to a series of health issues that slowed me down over the last 6 months or so I am not able to present the accounts for your approval today. I can however re-assure you that the Association is financially very healthy, I just can’t prove it!
In the 2010-11 financial year ending 31 March our total income was nearly £37,000, of which nearly £10,000 came from membership subscriptions, almost £14,000 from donations and a further £9,000 or so from other fund raising activities such as the Garden Party, Golf Day and the 300 Club; David Else will report in more detail on the fund raising events in his report later. We also received £3,325 from HMRC as a result of ‘gift aiding’ our subscriptions and donations, which proves how valuable this facility can be.
Expenditure was almost £30,000, of which £10,000 was a contribution to the RMBI for the sensory garden that was re-instated following the completion of the extension to the Davies Wing.
Both income and expenditure were broadly in line with the previous year, giving a similar excess of income over expenditure of about £7,500. Funds on deposit at the end of March totalled over £32,000.
I referred earlier to the current banking arrangements and can inform you that I am taking steps to close three of the current six bank accounts, thereby reducing the book-keeping workload considerably.
Looking to this year, we are seeking to help with the replacement of one of the motor vehicles which will enable some of the more infirm residents to enjoy trips out. We are also in discussion with the RMBI about improving the kitchen arrangements which they have agreed to but cannot fund for at least 12 months, and perhaps 2 years. We are in a position to loan the RMBI some funds which, together with what could be made available in the Shannon Court budget might bring the work forward.
In conclusion, I would like to apologise again for not being able to present the accounts for approval but I will be in a position to reach this position shortly and understand that an Extraordinary General Meeting is planned for the middle of next month when the accounts can be formally adopted.
Home Manager’s Report by Lorian Walcott
Lorian welcomed everyone to Shannon Court. She is happy to report that over the last year Shannon Court has had a varied choice of activities which have been enjoyed by the people living here. The hard work of fund raising is very much appreciated by the folk living here as it enables them to experience a variety of functions and events both in the home and out. Lorian said that during the year various talented musicians have been booked monthly, all of which have been enjoyed by all the lounge was full to over flowing. The most moving being the lady who played a harp. The Orientation Boards have proved a great success in Davies and Alvernia.
The committees generosity enabled Julie, Jackie and Lynda to arrange for funding £400.00 towards the Royal Wedding celebrations. The residents all played their part in the decoration of the room for the luncheon, a truly enjoyable day was had by all. The evidence of the day can be seen on the digital photo slide show and on aid memoirs in the lounge and house groups. The local press took four photos of the ladies that were printed in the Haslemere paper. Over the Christmas period as you all know we experienced serious problems with the central heating in Alvernia. Luckily I asked the question of Derek Whelan, who directed me to the correct person and electric heaters were immediately made available. Knowing that I will be able to call on one of the Friends for help is very comforting as I am sure the people living here have found many times. Lorian is looking forward to the purchase of a Mini Bus for transporting folk to the clinics or personal outings. This will enable the folk who are unable to use the larger bus go out and access the local community for personal shopping trips. Lorian thanked the Committee for their offer of a loan to enable the kitchen to be extended. Unfortunately, I have been told that the RMBI never takes out loans. I will leave that in your hands. Lorian who then thanked everyone for the support she and the staff receive and she hoped that if there is anything that she and her staff can do you will ask.
Yvonne Budd Report
Mr Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen.
As some of you are aware l returned to Shannon Court last June after my heart bypass.
It has been a good year with very successful Christmas and Easter Coffee Mornings, plus a resident’s stall at last year’s garden party. I organized a Valentine Party with entertainment by Nick and Adrienne and each resident received a flower arrangement. The entertainment and the flowers were funded by the friends of Shannon Court. Thank you for this. My husband Tony gave each lady a marshmallow heart which was met with great approval, thank you Tony for this gesture. My Monday morning group is very well received with exercises to music musical fun and some reminiscences and current affairs also coffee. Friday in Alvernia is going well and much enjoyed by the residents. Aroma therapy cooking and lately some gardening, arts and craft and music. In September we will be holding our fund raising coffee morning for the Macmillan nurses, hope to see you there. On July 10th The Rushcroft Singers will be coming to entertain the residents there will be no charge for this. On the 24th July The Part Time Singers will be here again to entertain us. At the garden party this year we will be having a plant, marmalade, cakes and cards stall all made by the residents, so please support us.
The Friends have again been very generous in providing us with activity equipment and for that Jackie Lynda and I thank you. Some of the residents will be coming to our house for a cream tea when Jackie and Lynda can fit it in. We look forward to another happy and productive year with a Christmas coffee morning to look forward to. Thanks must go to Rita Sparks for her support with the coffee morning she gives her time free for this also Derek and Liz Whelan for their help with the raffle and Janet and John Leach and of course my Husband Tony.
Membership/Donations Secretary’s Report by Trevor Sadler
Once again thank you to all those who continue to positively support the FOSC. Remember you don't have to be a Mason to become involved with the FOSC- families and all friends are very welcome & encouraged- - I have plenty of application forms here.
Not so good news
Likely you will all be aware that “the economic situation in the Country continues to be difficult”. Unsurprisingly the FOSC have not escaped the “effects”, and as you would expect, it continues to be very challenging to drive upwards our FOSC membership- indeed our core membership now stands at 680- is down some 20 or so from last year- virtually all are on DD, with a handful that prefer to pay by cheque or cash.
Currently we have in the region of circa just 3% of Surrey & Hants Masons signed up as FOSC- and as I consistently mention, there is a lot of “untapped” potential there !!!!. We aspire to and deserve higher levels of commitment from Masons and Lodges to the “Friends” cause Good news- according to my figures
- Total donations £13 500 + (£753 received after the year end) just topped last years (£14 100)
- Despite a small drop in numbers, our membership income circa £ 9 900 has also sneaked past last years (£ 9 700)- this apparent anomaly, is due to removing the £10 cap on membership which allows individuals to pledge more than £10 if they so desire.
- Lodge Grand Patrons up 10% from 20 to 22- Royal Naval Anti Aircraft Lodge 3790 and Lodge of Harmony & Progress 7837 have achieved LGP status. Encouragingly we also have a couple Lodges/Orders who are within a whisker of achieving LGP status.
The FOSC are committed to, recruiting “more FOSC members”- and to do so, together we (that is the Royal we) need to ceaselessly & continually raise awareness of the FOSC, in the Masonic & wider Community, we must grab attention, educate and promote positive action, with the focussed and fundamental goal of benefiting the Shannon Court residents. Please do look at the FOSC Web site- it is a very positive media to learn from, has multiple reports, photo albums and information on past & future events- also has downloadable application forms- have a look- tell your friends and families www.shannoncourt.orgAs on previous occasions, I once again point out that the Friends continue to work very closely with the SC staff- without this joint Teamwork we would not be able to achieve the great successes we do at the Home. In conclusion:-Please continue to support and attend fund raising and other events that are organised throughout the year. Donate your time by helping out with the events themselves.
Membership is minimum £10 per year- that is just 19p a week.
Remember being involved with the FOSC is without doubt "Masonry in Action".
Funding Raising Report by David Else:
Once again I am pleased to report that, despite the worries of belt tightening and credit crunches, and thanks to the sterling efforts of so many of the Friends, this year's fund raising events have easily matched those of last year. As usual our activities this year have concentrated on three main areas, the Golf Day, the Garden Party and the 300 Club. The Charity Golf Day continues to be successful and this year was held in May, again at Betchworth Park in Dorking. Thanks to the hard work of Colin Bryson and the subcommittee, we had even more teams than last year and they all enjoyed an excellent day. The course was in wonderful condition and the weather was kind.
My thanks go to all the various helpers and sponsors for their continued and generous support, including programme sponsors and hole sponsors. Over 100 people sat down to dinner in the clubhouse in the evening and took part in the raffle and auction, resulting in a magnificent profit of over £3,000 - yet again, a wonderful total for this very enjoyable day's golf. Like the year before, last year’s Summer Garden Party was blessed with beautiful sunny weather with Paul Hanks and the team putting on yet another wonderful Garden Party. We had competition from the England Germany World Cup Match (in case you've forgotten - we lost 4-1), but still realised a profit of nearly £2,500, down on the year before, but under the circumstances, a good result for Shannon Court if not for England.
Happily, this fun day for all the family also continues to be a summer highlight for the residents, which has always been equally as important as the fund raising element. With so many Lodges now taking part with the stalls, sideshows and other attractions, it is also becoming a summer highlight for the local Masons. Last year's Garden Party also saw the new Sensory Garden for Davis wing officially opened and I was very proud, on behalf of the Friends to present a cheque for £10,000 to the RMBI to help pay for the garden. We are currently finalising the plans for this year’s party which is now only three weeks away and we hope to build on the success of last year – please pray for sunshine to help things along. As last year, we will be holding a Thank you BBQ after the party for all volunteer helpers and staff.
The 300 Club, run by Clive Newman, continues to be successful with nearly 200 members but as the name suggests, our aim is to have 300, and so if you are not yet a member, Clive will be pleased to sign you up! The Association receives 49% of the subscriptions and raised nearly £4,500 last year a weekly donation of only£1.00 will enter you into a quarterly draw with prizes of £500, £250 plus smaller sums and a special Christmas prize of £1,000.
We are always open to new ideas to raise money, so if anyone has any bright ideas to raise money and have some fun along the way - let’s hear them. Soon we hope to start collecting old mobile phones and used printer cartridges at our Masonic Centres - they have a value which we can realise and put to good use.
Taken together, our major activities have enabled us to raise over £10,000 this year, in addition to all the smaller amounts donated by Lodges all over Surrey and North East Hampshire from their raffles and collections. Naturally the type of events that we organise to raise funds and to publicise the Association could never be successful without the assistance, enthusiasm, hours of time freely given and sheer hard work of a lot of people and my thanks go to every member of the Fund Raising committee, our various sub committees and all those who volunteer for the various special events.
My thanks also go to my fellow members of the Executive Committee and the management and staff of Shannon Court for their continued support for everything we do. .
Chairman’s Comments by Terry Owens
This is my first A.G.M Chairman’s Report and it is all about my personal thanks & appreciation to a team of sincere, genuine & hard working people, who consistently deliver our annual events, that either raise monies to top up our friends bank account, or give genuine extra value to all the residents, and carers of Shannon Court.
I first thank my Deputy Chairman Paul Cope and his wife Janet for all their support during my 1st year as chairman & their support & hard work at most of our fund raising events.
Trevor Sadler our membership and donations secretary, and his wife Jane, for their continued dedicated work on membership & donations, plus all of the support they both give at social & fund raising events.
Colin Bryson our treasurer and his wife Jennie: Colin for his hard work during his 1st year as treasurer, and his continued dedication on our very successful annual golf day, and for attending & supporting other social & fundraising events.
Paul Haynes our Hants & I.O.W Provincial Representative and his partner Linda
plus Paul is our new M-C at our garden party in June.
Clive Newman our 300 Club prize draw administrator & our Website Master and the support of his wife Celine.
Noel Antliff our Journal Editor, and photographer, plus organ player at various fund raising events, and also for his P-A announcements & music etc at the garden party.
Mike Falkner for acting on most occasions as a bar steward, supported by Derek & Liz Whelan, and for attending the social events, especially the Betchworth Park annual golf day event plus cathedral service and other functions.
Bill Pennington as our residents contact and supporter of all our social & fundraising events, including help behind the bar.
Gerald Phillips our residents transport Liaison Officer and his wife Heather.
Gerald also arranges our gentlemen residents visiting other lodges plus he organises the Annual Shannon Court Ladies Night ably supported by his wife Heather.
Sadly Gerald is stepping down from all these activities but the good news is that he will become our new secretary.
David Else our fundraising chairman and his team, ably supported by his wife Jennifer – David’s hard work on our annual garden party is well documented, and his and Jennifer’s organisation skills on both the garden party and christmas party and singing choir at our recent ladies night, plus other social events is very much appreciated.
Sadly David will be retiring as chairman of fund raising at our next AGM June 2012, but it is hoped he will work along side another person over the next 12 months, to enable him to give a comprehensive induction during his last year, to the new person, on what to do & the current successful way he does it.
Derek Whelan who has inspired others to succeed in holding the meetings of Hindhead Craft & Chapter in the new Davies Wing plus the social help his wife Liz gives.
I must also thank the home manager and all her staff for all the support they give our executive team, plus a special thank you to Linda Windsor and Jackie Tumber, John Bennyworth, Noel Nickless, Charlie Kemp, Mike Yalden former Chairman & Founder of the Friends of Shannon Court and his wife Janie .
I must also thank Chris & Shirley Rashbrook – Chris has been our Surrey Masonic Homes Liason officer for a good number of years and is due to step down in this role at this A.G.M and will be replaced by Trevor Rains and I place on record our thanks to Chris for all his sincere dedication to the role he undertook.
My thanks also go to Rita Sparks, Paul Hanks, Yvonne Budd and husband Tony for all their support. Now I have left this name until last. That name is Trevor Rains and his wife Jan. Trevor has been our secretary for the last 6 years, and has done a fantastic job in taking the standard of our administration to another level, as well as giving me good advice when I have asked for it, his wife Jan has given him great support in his role as secretary, as well as both of them attending and supporting as many social and fund raising events as possible.
Trevor’s attention to detail is excellent, and his replacement Gerald Phillips knows the high responsibilities this office demands, and the high standard cast in stone by Trevor, and on behalf of all the executive team, fundraising team, residents and staff, plus the R.M.B.I and the Province of Surrey.
We thank you Trevor and Jan and we would like to present you with a token of our appreciation. Finally, Ladies & Gentlemen do not applaud my Chairman’s speech but applaud all those names I have mentioned.
Election of Officers:
The following members of the committee will not be seeking re-election this year.
Trevor Rains Secretary.
The officers up for re-election is are follows.
Terry Owens - Chairman.
Paul Cope - Deputy Chairman.
Trevor Sadler - Membership and Donations Secretary.
David Else - Fund Raising.
Gerald Phillips - Secretary .
Paul Haynes - Hampshire IOW representative.
Colin Bryson - Treasurer.
Noel Antliff - Journal Editor.
Vacant - Transport and Entertainment
Clive Newman - Web Master & 300Club.
Derek Whelan proposed and Graham Walder seconded that Committee be re-elected on block for a further year. This was unanimously approved by the meeting.
Examiners:
Michael Falkner was prepared to stand as examiners for the ensuing year. This was proposed by Graham Walder and seconded by Robbie Burns. This proposal was overwhelmingly confirmed by the meeting. The Treasurer would discuss with Tony Martin if he was still willing to act as an Examiner.
Any other business:
The Chairman called for an Extraordinary General Meeting to be held at 7.00pm at Shannon Court on Tuesday 12th July for the following Agenda items.
- Approval of the accounts to 31st March 2011
- Elect an Examiner.
Richard Atkins on behalf of the Residents thanked the Committee for all the hard work in fundraising and all that they do to make the Residents lives that much better.
The Meeting closed at 12.15pm.
