Business meeting

The Meeting was held online via Zoom due to the current Covid-19 circumstances. Sixteen members participated, President Francis thanked Anne Moriaty for arranging the meeting and checked with each of us individually that we were all healthy. No-one reported any health problems.

Stan Keller told us that he had taken part in a Foundation Committee where he learned that we are still not to paid the long-awaited grant for our project in Sierra Leone. The delay is due to the absence of information from a Club in Zimbabwe which has still not submitted required details regarding the spending of a grant which they received last year.

We discussed facial masks which a local women’s group is willing to make and we felt that Farleigh Hospice and Braintree Community Hospital might be short of supplies.

Graham Furnival told us that Chelmsford Community Transport is still operating, albeit with a reduced staff. They are still able to transport patients to the hospital for on-going treatment eg chemo etc.

Mo Sadiq asked whether we should be donating some of the money that we are saving due to no lunch time meetings. There was a general discussion and there is concern that various charities are seeing a considerable drop in income due to the current crisis. Philip Smith will include an article in the next Bulletin with a view to seeking the views of all members.

We discussed the possible format of future meetings. Suggestions included at 15-minute talk by a member or a quiz. At the conclusion of the meeting, President Francis suggested that we meet again next week. [Hopefully we’ll all have a better grip on the technology by then - Webmaster]