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Chairman John Clark and Secretary Bob
White attended the meeting of the County, District and National
Branch Chairmen at Staverton Park, Daventry, on 26 and 27 September. This was the
first occasion when County, District and National Branch Secretaries
were invited to the seminar.
The weekend began with a dinner
during the Friday evening and gave both of us the opportunity
to get to know our opposite numbers throughout the country. As
usual, the question "What is Garat's HaY? was asked. An
article will be sent to the Legion magazine in the near future to
answer this query. It was noteworthy that present at the
seminar were two other Branch members - John Hawthornthwaite,
National Vice Chairman (NVC), and Peter Westwell, County Secretary,
Shropshire.
The programme was as follows:
- Opening Address by the National Chairman, Ian
Cannell.
The Chairman stated that this would be his last
opportunity to chair this meeting as he had only 8 months to
serve during his tenure as National Chairman. He
referred to the failure to obtain the new category of member
at National Conference and said that he had given a
presentation just after the decision had been made. He
was informed that, if he had made such a presentation prior
to the decision having been me, it would probably have been
passed. However he might had been accused of
prejudicing the result. Damned if he did, and damned
if he didn't..... He stated that the next Chairman,
subject to vote, would be John Hawtornthwaite, but at this
time no-one had put hi name forward for the post of National
Vice Chairman . The Chairman talked about the
attributes required for the NVC, and asked members to bear
in mind any applicant's past achievements when voting for
him.
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- Address by the Secretary General (SG), Ian Townsend.
The SG spoke on 5 points as follows
1. Somerset Legion House
A £15m refurbishment
programme was underway. Somerset Legion House is
due to be finished by 2006 when the original building
will be sold for a considerable sum. Galanos House has been completed.
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2. National Memorial
Arboretum (NMA)
The Legion has looked at taking
on responsibility. There is no capital cost as
the NMA has been granted to us. However
operational funding will have to be obtained.
There has been the promise of £250,000 per year for
three years from HM Treasury. The new Armed Forces
memorial will be built here to commemorate those who
fell in conflicts outwith the two World Wars.
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3. HR Issues
a. We must deal with
volunteers and staff alike. There had been a
recent incident, not in the Legion, where a volunteer
had bullied a member of staff. This staff member
took the organisation and Chairman to a tribunal where
the organisation was fined £65,000 and the Chairman
himself had to pay £7,000 in compensation.
b. There are two
types of trustees in the Legion - National Council who
remain solely responsible to the Charity Commissioners
and Local trustees who are responsible to the national
Council.
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4. Trusteeship
The SG listed the election
criteria for trustees such as management and financial
experience; specific knowledge, commitment, business
and other interests. The SG went on to describe
the roles and duties of trustees.
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| 5. TLF
This section was split into the
following as an introduction to the following
presentation:
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Background |
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Where are we? |
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Where are we going? |
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- Presentation "TLF - Where are We?" by Andrew
Baines, TLF Programme Manager. This was followed by a
discussion period.
There were two basic criteria - 1) Have
to consult members 2) Must be staged.
During 2003 12 projects have been
undertaken as follows:
Corporate Governance
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Central Data &
Subscriptions
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Membership Field
Project
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General Fund
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Purpose of Membership
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Legion Magazine
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Membership Image &
Publicity
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|National Branches
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Membership Benefits
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Women's Section
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Clubs
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Links with ex-Service
Associations
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| A new range
of recruiting materials will soon be available. A
discussion period followed with ideas on how to recruit
new members, status of clubs. |
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- Presentation "The Legion's
Parliamentary Links" by Jeremy Lillies, Head of Public
Affairs.
There has been a structured approach
since 1996 with the aim to influence Government policy and/or
public opinion with regards to ex-servicemen and women.
New issues are:
| D Day 2004 - 60th
Anniversary |
| War Pensions Burden of
Proof |
| Gulf War Illnesses |
| Disregard of War and
War Widows Pensions when assessing benefits. |
|The department has access to many
specialised databases and also the internet in carrying out
their daily business. There are three Parliamentary
Advisers, one from each of the 3 main parties formally
appointed from the House of Commons, and also in the House of
Lords on a less formal basis.
Each year an Open Day is held in
Parliament where approximately 100 MPs are hosted by senior
staff members. Lunches are also held with MPs who could
carry forward our ideas. In conclusion, the Legion is a
campaigning organisation.
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- Presentation "Welfare Strategy
Review by Terry English, Director of Welfare. (Followed by discussion period).
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- Presentation "Future Funding of Welfare
Programmes" by Russell Thompson, Director of Fundraising and
Marketing.
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- Open Forum - Questions raised by Chairmen and Secretaries
North Spain complained about the
waste of money in forwarding Poppy material by courier
rather than by a suggested cheaper route.
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Mention of ANZUK biscuits on sale in
Sainsburys at 99pence. 4% is donated to the Legion.
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The effectiveness of Community Fund
Raisers
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Can Gift Aid forms be completed on
entrance tickets? This happens at London Zoo,
Hampton Court. It was thought not as it could only apply
to voluntary donations. Russell Thompson will
investigate.
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Warwickshire gave a long brief on
the possibility of using a "Poppy Pete" cartoon and other
ideas to attract the youth element.
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Suffolk raised points on County
Recruiting Officers and County Holding branches.
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South & West Yorkshire and
Cornwall raised points on clubs.
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S & W Yorks asked "What are the
advantages of being a Legion member" - Peter Henderson,
Head of Membership replied.
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Warwickshire suggested that we make
more use of more recent conflicts during Remembrancetide.
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Derby complained that mail was being
sent through the CFO rather than to County Secretary.
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West Glamorgan raised the subject of
sports competitions and their being funded by the Legion.
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Gloucester raised the subject of
Field Staff workload.
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Norfolk raised the matter of Charter
Motion Nr 2 having been lost at national Conference.
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Warwickshire raised the subject of
lost opportunities and evaluating volunteers.
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Cambridgeshire brought up the matter
of Caseworkers and CFO.
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John Clark had complained to the NVC
that no-one seemed to have heard of Garat's HaY.
This bore results because the National Chairman asked Head of
Membership to say a few points on National Branches.
Peter Henderson in turn asked Roger Noyes, Chairman of St
James' National Branch to expand on the subject. Your
chairman did have a couple of points to say on the matter.
unfortunately we could have said more, but at least all
the Count and District Chairmen and Secretaries cannot say
that they have not heard of National Branches.
The National Chairman thanked all
members present and closed the meeting.
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