Hastings Sierra Leone Friendship Link
Minutes of General Meeting of 11th January 2012
Present: Melanie Bray, Diane Reed, Michael Tucker, Yvonne John, Yvette Johnson, Jo Palmer, Nigel Sinden, Cllr Peter Pragnell (chair), John Geater, Christine Boulton-Lane, Ernie Grice, Mat McDonnell, Ray Keene, Eileen & Bill Evans, Edwin Rue, Paul Cabban, Derek Tomblin, Nola McSweeney, Roger Mitchell, Stuart Anderson, Robin Gray (minutes).
1 Apologies: Stella Underhill, Cllr Kim Forward, Cllr Jeremy Birch, Michael Foster.
2. Minutes of the meeting of 9th November 2011. These were accepted as a fair record, with a small correction to the wording, provided by John. Matters arising: §2: Robin confirmed that the Trustees’ details are now all entered on the Charity Commission website. Other matters were taken as they arose in the course of the meeting.
3. Finance: (a) Treasurer’s Report. Ray presented his report of income and expenditure since the last meeting. We have taken £2643 from calendars so far, with an estimated £950 to come. Ray estimates we should make about £1800 profit on the venture. Two major donations have been one of £1000 from the Church of the Good Shepherd, Collier Row, and one of £500 from Rainer Hermes. (Robin has written to thank both donors.) Most of the money is in from those self-funding themselves on the February trip. (HBC is funding Yvonne’s air-fare and accommodation through the CLGF grant.) John reported that his Residents’ Association had kindly raised £150 for us, by singing carols. It was agreed that he should hand the money directly to Melanie Bray, who is going out in February, and she will pass it on and get a receipt. Nola reported that the sale of this year’s Orange Quiz Sheet has realized £585.
Derek asked if there was any objection to his utilizing one of the paid-for trips-for-the-engineer provided for under the terms of the original BHC grant. There was no objection, of course, to this very proper use of the grant. Christine asked that it be noted that the barn dance, which raised £192.06 in spite of not being well attended, was in fact an event organized by LOAF on our behalf.
(b) Sending a container to SL. This item was held over from AOB in December. We had been offered some redundant office furniture by HBC. Should we accept the offer and be prepared to fund shipping the furniture out? Mat argued that it might be far better to save shipping costs and encourage SL woodworkers to produce it locally. This argument was accepted by the meeting. Derek and Ray to arrange to see the HBC furniture, to ascertain whether it really is quality stuff that couldn’t be produced in SL, and actually needed in the TTC. We’ll make a decision in the light of that.
4. Schools Report including February trip. Roger reported that the International Pupil Council is up and running, and meets for the second time on Jan 18th. The primary schools and St Leonards Academy are all represented.
For the teacher side of the visit, 9 primary school staff are participating: 3 from St Leonards CofE (1 on a British Council grant, 2 self-funding); 3 from Blacklands all self-funding; and 3 from St Paul’s (1 BC grant, 2 self-funding). Gabrielle Bourn (self-funding) from South Coast College Hastings is going to look into establishing a link with the college at Kissy; Melanie Bray, a mental health practitioner, is self-funding and will look at health issues, including mental health; and Richard Homewood from HBC and Kevin Monson from Somerset are returning on CLGF funding, to continue with advising on waste management, recycling and making gas from natural resources. Most of the schools are now linked into the recycling project. The group is completed by Roger, Derek and Yvonne. Derek will tie in with Richard Homewood and Kevin Monson, but will work on planning the health centre improvements in particular, the Olympics bid, the nursing situation, the snagging list for the TTC and the furniture question.
It was agreed that Roger would provide some basic facts about the trip to Peter, who would draw up a press release before the event, submitting it to the Observer by Tuesday 31st January. It is hoped the Observer will cover the trip in detail once the travellers return. As far as the second leg of the exchange goes, in May/June, only one school has committed itself to raising funds for a Sierra Leonean teacher, so it is likely that there will only be 4 in the group, including Francis Mason.
Derek asked if Roger had been able to make any progress with the idea of a half-day conference on funding, but Roger has had no response yet from the schools, and no reply on funding from Amber Rudd MP or from Andrew Mitchell (DfID).
5. Report on the SL Olympics team training in Hastings. Michael Foster had sent an update. He has at last heard from the Chairman of the SL Olympic Organising Committee who says they welcome our offer to provide accommodation and training facilities in the week before the Olympic Village opens, but they do not yet know if any of their athletes will qualify. It seems likely that the numbers would be small, in any case. The meeting agreed that we would have to wait and see – though we should be thinking about lining up possible local sponsors (as it had been established that it would not be appropriate to use the Link’s funds to pay for the SL Olympics team’s expenses) and be prepared for the fact that any athletes will be accompanied by a number of officials.. It seems that local schools will be able to turn out to cheer on the Olympic torch as it is carried through Hastings. Nigel wondered if it might not be an opportunity to have more Link t-shirts made, in children’s sizes. No decision was made.
6. Update on Mat McDonnell’s film & photographic work. Mat reported that he is a little behind with what he had hoped to achieve by now. He is currently working on an appeals video for SL boxing; and on footage he shot at Huntingdon School which he’ll be showing at St Leonards Academy. It was suggested it might go out with Roger’s group and be shown in Hastings SL. Mat has gallery space available to him in March, and hopes to show some ‘This is Hastings’ footage then. Eventually this piece can be used as an awareness raising tool wherever we wish. Derek asked if something might be ready for showing at the Quiz Night on February 24th; and Robin suggested showing Mat’s work at the AGM. Mat was happy with these suggestions.
Since Mat was present and had already made some very useful observations about the TTC, Yvette took the opportunity to report on the latest ideas. Mrs Allen, the manageress of the 5/10 Hotel and now semi-retired, is prepared to manage the accommodation at the TTC – without a fee initially. She would no doubt make something for herself, and pay a contribution to the village funds. Mat insisted that the village community must take ownership of the TTC. Yvette wanted travellers from Hastings to be encouraged to use the accommodation. Mat thought we should be encouraging a wider clientele: back-packers, say, or gap year students. Once we had thought it out properly, it could be offered on the website. Why weren’t the teachers using the TTC in February? Roger explained that there is no air-conditioning yet, the teachers have never been to SL, and will have to put in a full week’s work. The TTC is very basic and could not house them all, and there are logistical benefits in having them all together in a simple hotel. Yvette would like to see them using the TTC for some daytime meetings, if possible.
Derek reported that he has been sent an estimate for £14k for a security wall around the TTC. We do not have that kind of money available. Yvonne said it had been made clear to the village that they should construct the wall as a self-build project: again, that would reinforce the sense of communal ownership.
7. Health Centre Working Party. No meeting has been convened as yet. It was agreed that it is actually difficult for Cllr Eve Martin to act as convenor, as she doesn’t have a reliable email system. Christine kindly offered to take on that role, with Eve chairing the meetings, and members thought this a good solution. Melanie agreed to join the group, to bring mental health expertise. Christine has met an experienced midwife at the Conquest who seems willing to spend some time in SL, and she will invite this lady, too, to join the group.
Edwin observed that, looking at the health centre manager’s wish-list, a lot of the equipment would probably have to be bought by us rather than just donated to us. John has acquired an old but serviceable obstetrics kit, which Derek will carry to SL in February. Mat observed that the maternity unit needs scales for weighing babies accurately. John reported that a group has been set up, meeting at Guy’s Hospital, for the advancement of public health in SL. John will get feedback from this group. It should be an excellent source of information, and of possible solutions to some of the issues facing us.
8. Events, fundraising etc.
(i) SCCH stand. Ernie reported that a small group had run a Link stand at the College’s Christmas Fair. They had sold a few calendars, notelets, quiz sheets etc, and Stella had run a ‘guess-the-number-of-sweets’ competition. They took £51, and felt it was a reasonably useful awareness-raising event.
(ii) Calendars. Robin reported that the calendars had been virtually sold out (just a very few remaining with him, and at Best Wishes in Kings Road, St Leonards). He would be chasing people who had taken calendars to sell, but who had not sent Ray all the money yet. The meeting thought the idea was worth repeating. Robin’s idea, at the moment, is for a calendar illustrating (with photos or artwork?) some of the various Hastings round the world. A calendar solely devoted to pictures of Hastings SL would not have the mass tourist appeal of this year’s calendar. (Our tourist office had sold some 240.)
(iii) Quiz sheets and the Quiz Night (24th Feb). Nola reported that the quiz sheet has been the most successful ever, perhaps because it was slightly easier this time. 35 tables have been booked for the quiz night at the Phœnix. She asked for help on the night (please contact her on 751295), and for raffle prizes. We need bottles of wine, in particular, as prizes for the winning teams. Again, promises to Nola, please. Nola herself thinks she should be able to get the now traditional Gareth Barry and Mike Yardy shirts. Ray asked about public liability. Nola will check with Chris Smith to see if the Phœnix’s own PL insurance will cover us.
Dane Jensen, of Kiley’s Karpets, who has always sponsored our quiz nights most generously, has asked if we could flag up that he is running the London Marathon to raise money for MS. We agreed that Derek will display a notice on the screen during the evening, Jeremy will mention it, and Dane can put flyers on all the tables, inviting people to contact him in order to sponsor him. We felt a bucket-collection at the door would be confusing, as we’d be having a collection of our own.
(iv) Thanksgiving. This event, to mark 5 years of Hastings-Hastings twinning, is additional to the September SL Thanksgiving event. Blacklands Church and church hall have been booked for the afternoon of Sunday 20th May. Yvette was confident that Rev. René Jarrett would conduct the service, and Rev. Ronnie Williams would preach. Paul and Yvette will liaise over the organist. Yvonne has once again kindly offered to provide a finger buffet. Yvette will work out a programme, and Roger will then liaise with the schools over their contributions. He is not confident that the second leg of the Exchange can be timed to coincide with this event.
(v) Further ideas for events, fundraising.
(a) Derek reported that he has committed us to providing a stand at the Unity Service in Holy Trinity Church on Sunday 22nd January. Bill and others to set up from 3pm.
(b) Nola had written to the ‘community champion’ at Asda, to ask if Asda would support the Link in 2012, but had had no reply. Peter said he would get Cllr Matthew Lock to follow this up.
(c) Ernie asked if we would consider reprinting the notelets. If they had not sold well, it was because they were produced on too thin a card. Robin thought we should look at updating the choice of photos, once the group had returned in February.
(d) John reminded us of the special LOAF Walk in May. People would be able to walk for 1, 2 or 3 days, as they wish: Canterbury to Ashford, Ashford to Rye, and Rye to Hastings. There will be the usual choice of distances on Bank Holiday Monday. We have had offers of church halls in Ashford and Rye if people wish to sleep over. John will send Robin the details to circulate. John Weston is looking into a cyclists’ version.
(e) Robin was asked to look into Vodaphone’s “Just Text Giving” scheme, by which people are encouraged (via an attractively produced card) to make an easy donation to a charity.
9. AOB. (a) Peter pointed out that under the Constitution he should be standing down as chair of the link at the next AGM. He urged everyone to consider if they could take the role on.
(b) Ian reported on a meeting he had had just before Christmas with the Mayor of Hastingues in SW France. Ian explained the origins of the village’s name. He had taken with him an encouraging letter from Jeremy Birch as Leader of the Council, and a document explaining the Link’s work in SL. The mayoral team in Hastingues is keen to get involved, though Ian has not quite managed to get anything from them in writing. However, he stressed how genuine the village’s interest is. Ian is confident that something really positive will come out of the link he is making. He expects to be able to write something up for our next meeting.
(c) Yvette reminded us that the traditional Valentine’s Day Buffet Dance would be taking place on Saturday 11th February at St Mary’s Banqueting Hall, London SE5. Details from Tunde Rahman on 07958 510245. Yvette also mentioned that the Hastings SL (UK) group has chosen to make Hastings the destination for its annual outing this year, on Sat 11th August. She will liaise with us about hiring a hall. The Carlisle was recommended.
10. Date of Next Meeting. PLEASE NOTE: Although we agreed to hold our next meeting on Wednesday 29th February, Robin has been advised by the Town Hall’s General Manager that that date is not possible. He has therefore agreed to Wednesday March 7th at 6.05 as usual. The Committee Room allocated to us will be displayed on the TV notice-board in the foyer.
The meeting closed at 8.05.
Robin Gray
01424 436603
secretary.hslfl@gmail.com
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