Annual General Meeting

This time last year we did not expect to be holding this AGM online. President Jan has had a Presidential Year like no other. Since the beginning of this Rotary year we have had just three face-to-face meetings for the whole Club: a coffee morning, our summer picnic and one “normal” meeting at the Ivy Hill Hotel.

Nevertheless, in her opening remarks President Jan was able to point to a number of successes. Our weekly online meetings have gone very well with a good proportion of members attending. Our online quizzes have been successful and raised money for causes we support.

At Christmas we arranged for Santa (aka Rtn John Scammell) to attend the Hylands House Farmers’ Market and took an active part in The Christmas Donate-a-Dinner project organised by the Rotary Satellite Club of Chelmsford City.

During the lockdowns members have been donating money saved by not having to buy lunches, along with other funds, to the President’s Charity. £7,000 has been raised already. This is far more than originally expected and the President will be suggesting to the Club that this is divided between a number of local charities this year.

The Club accepted a recommendation from the Club Council that there should be a small increase in the subscription.

The Membership Committee reported with regret that three members had not renewed their membership at the beginning of the Rotary Year. These included one member who had intended to renew his membership but sadly died before doing so. One new member has joined and a former member has rejoined.

The Foundation & International Committee told us that the provision of equipment for the Yonibana Sai Hospital in Sierra Leone has been successfully completed with the help of District Matching Grant of £2,000. We are now in the process of applying for a District Matching Grant of £2,500 towards the cost of installing ceilings in a school in Nepal.

The Community & Vocational Committee reported that some of its normal activities had to be curtailed but that a number of donations had been made to charities.

The Youth Service Committee said that it had not been feasible to continue our normal youth activities this year. However, it was encouraging to see how the families of former Young Musician contestants were keeping in touch with us. The Committee is ending the Rotary year with just two members but two other members have kindly agreed to join for next year.

The next Rotary year will also see some Committee Chairs stepping down and others taking their place:

• Janice Goodman becomes Chair of the reconstituted Public Image Committee;
• Chuda Karki takes over as Chair of the Foundation & International Committee in place of Keith Dabbs;
• John Scammell replaces Keith Otter as Chair of the Youth Service Committee; and
• Francis Whitbread becomes Chair of the Community & Vocational Committee in place of Phil Goodman.

John Scammell has agreed to become Second Vice President.