Business Meeting Minutes – May 2024

Business  Meeting Minutes – 29th May 2024

Apologies :   President Patrick Cregg,   Hon. Treasurer Paul Hatty,   P.P. Raymond Boyd, P.P. Ian Wilson,  Rtn. David Sloan.

Approval of Minutes of  8th May  2024

  • Proposed by : P. Stanley Smith   and Seconded by : Rtn. Barbara Boyle.

Matters Arising  :     Nothing raised.

Correspondence : ( Hon. Secretary Howard Davidson)

  • Email from Asst. Governor Roland Bailie regarding District Governor Seamus Parle’s proposed visit Bangor Rotary Club on either 19th July or 26th As these dates do not suit our Club P.E. Bill has recommended the alternative date of 3rd July 2024 to the Asst. Gov. for this visit. (This date is our Club’s Presidential Change Over date ).

Treasurer’s Report ( P.P. Paul Hatty)

As Hon Treasurer Paul was  not in attendance the following financial information was conveyed from Paul via the Hon. Secretary :

  • 1 A/c – £3,385.90 cr
  • 2 A/c – £4,017.15 cr

The following  charity payments have already been donated and debited to the No. 2 Charity a/c –

  • £560.00 to Shelter Box
  • £1,000.00 to Foundation
  • £100.00 to Lend With Care

The following payments have still to be paid from the No. 2 Charity a/c :

  • £500.00 – Store House North Down – already donated & still to be debited to a/c.
  • £1,200.00 – Alzheimer’  Society – to be donated on 12th June 2024
  • £1,200.00 – N.I. Childrens Hospice – to be donated on 12th June 2024.

The reconciled No. 2 a/c balance will be £1,117.15 on 1st July 2024 —   Council had agreed that we would withhold the £1000, from last year, to Foundation due to low amount of money in No 2 account.

President’s Report : 

  • No report as President Patrick was not present at meeting.

President Elect’s Report :  

  • E. Bill reported on the proposed trip to The Boyne Visitors’ Centre, Drogheda, Co Louth on 10th July 2024.  A 34 seater coach has been hired (cost £20 per head –  payable in advance by all those going on this trip – some fees for this trip remain outstanding).  Entrance Fee @ €4.00 per head to Boyne Visitors Centre .  An alternative location for lunch is being sought as The Conyngham Arms Hotel in Slane, cannot facilitate on this date ( due to a prebooked wedding function ).  Members of Dublin North Rotary Club plan to join Bangor Rotary Club for lunch etc.
  • In the Council Meeting on 8th May 2024  E. Bill had proposed that meetings should not be held in July 2024 ( with the exception of the Hand Over Meeting on 3rd July and the Coach Trip on the 10th July ).  While this proposal was agreed upon by all Council Members  it was not agreed upon in the Business Meeting on 8th May.         Following a further brief  discussion on this matter in the Council Meeting on 29th May  it was agreed that this  matter should be brought forward again to the Business Meeting on 29th May.  Following a brief discussion again on this matter Members unanimously agreed that Club Meetings would not be held on 17th, 24th & 31st July 2024 ( Golf Club Caterers need to be advised of this arrangement )

Administration : (Jack Watson )

  • The documents retained in boxes currently held in Jack’s garage are now ready to be transferred into storage space offered by P.P. Paul Megarity.
  • Len Hill proposed that the bannerettes, which were to be destroyed, would be catalogued and Rtns Barbara Boyle and Tessa Barrett  undertook to do this.
  • Jack advised that he has been liaising with Rtn Tessa Barrett on the preparation of a new Meet & Greet schedule for 2024-25 with 2 Rotarians per month seen to be adequate for this role , one Meet and Greet team could cover July and December as there would only be around 4 weeks in total due to  holidays.

 Fundraising  ( Hon. Secretary Howard Davidson)

  • Refer to information already recorded above under Hon. Treasurer’s Report.
  • Secretary Howard advised that he has been liaising with Shelter Box Rotary Representatives  ( i.e. Michael O’Reilly  and Kerr Fulton-Peebles ) ) regarding the funds totalling £925 from Bangor Rotary Club donated to Shelter Box and the eligibility of Match Funding. This is expected to be progressed as planned.
  • A cheque for £500 was presented to Store House North Down on 22nd May 2024 – proceeds of the Club’s Smarties Tubes Easter Collection
  • Rotary Foundation has confirmed receipt of donation of £1,000 ( raised in the October 2023 Charity Breakfast.
  • Cheques for £1,200 each will be donated to Alzheimers’ Society ( Paul Williams ) and N. I. Childrens Hospice ( Vi Bowler ) on 12th June 2024.

Membership ( P.P. James O’Fee )

  • P. James talked briefly about Rotary Impact Clubs and referred to an Impact Clubs Fact Sheet – indicated that this model is not particularly relevant or beneficial to Rotary Clubs at present.
  • Nothing further to report on Corporate Membership .

Lend With Care (P.P. Margaret Francey) :

  • P. Margaret advised that 100 loans had been advanced under LWC  from inception c 5 years ago to date by Bangor Rotary Club,   £1,570 has been invested by our Club in these projects with loans @ £4,564 advanced / repaid to date.  £60 was recently advanced to a lady’s small retail store in Southern Zambia, the Bangor Rotary Club’s current LWC balance is £11.87.

Service Projects ( P.P. James O’Fee) :

  • P. James had nothing to report.

Fun & Fellowship ( Rtn. Barbara Boyle )

  • No report provided

Any Other Business :

  • A discussion was undertaken on the proposed increase in the Club’s Annual Membership fees – from £200 to £240 – proposed by P.P. Richard Eaton  ( incoming Hon. Treasurer in July 2024. )

N.B. – this matter was discussed in this Business Meeting as P.P. Richard ( also incoming Hon. Treasurer in July 2024 ) will not be available to have this discussed in the forthcoming Club’s AGM on 19th June 2024 due to holidays ).

The Financial Budget for 2024-25, prepared by P.P. Richard,  was  recently  circulated to all Members prior to this Business Meeting . P.P. Richard  explained the reasons for this first increase in fees for 10 years is  greatly due to continuing increasing Club’s operating costs.    P.P. Richard’s Budget document had been  closely assessed by Hon. Secretary Howard who also supported P.P. Richard’s proposal.

Following a great amount of discussion on this matter the support for this increase was proposed by P.P. Stanley Smith and seconded by P.P. Margaret Francey.  The matter was then put to a vote to all Members present in the Meeting and the decision to increase the fee to £240 was unanimously agreed upon.

There was a brief  discussion regarding the payment of donations ( total of £900 ) in December annually  to 3 charities ( i.e. St Vincent de Paul, Salvation Army & Black Santa) and it was viewed  that these payments , in the future along with the cost of the Croft Bowling project,  should be paid from the Club’s No 2 (Charity a/c) provided that there is sufficient funds available at the time in the No. 2 a/c.

Submitted by Hon. Secretary Howard Davidson  following approval at the  Business Meeting held on 04th September 2024