Annual General Meeting
Once again our AGM was held at the Hilton at St George’s Park, Burton upon Trent.
Everyone agreed it was a great weekend, with some serious conversations around personal support and our launch of our new project, Personal Support – Maintaining our Dignity and Independence.
The Annual General Meeting began with the agreement of the previous Annual General Meeting minutes; Darren Mansell, as Vice Chair, read out the Chair’s report. Stephen Simmonds asked if a tender would be issued relating to the appointment of a new bank to maintain the Society investments; Darren commented it had not, as no decision had been made regarding Caple Bank.
Jenny delivered her final finance report; she touched on volatile markets, and perhaps it’s time to review portfolio investments.
Roland Bareham commented it may be time to look at bonds that the Society could draw down over a period of time.
Trustees: Edward Freeman was voted on as Trustee; David Tickell and Sue Gooding both stood again and were reselected. The report from the previous year’s workshop was presented, and a discussion took place around the proposals.
Sukeshi Thakker presented A Good Cause and gave details regarding four children based in India; it was proposed the Society would use some of the Srey Hang Beyond money to support all four children for their education at £150 per year, per child. Members voted to support one child.
Carolyn DeForge gave a short update on the final part of the Oral History project.
No other business.
Conference
The second part of the day opened with our guest speaker Gavin Cargill, who spoke about looking after trusting ourselves and ensuring our cup is full. It certainly fitted in well with our new project. Geraldine Freeman gave a short talk explaining why she had decided to present this project, Personal Care – Maintaining our Dignity and Independence, and its value to our members and was so pleased the other trustees are on board with the proposal. Next followed three short videos presenting members at varying stages of their journey requiring additional support. Special thanks to Jackie Hellawell, Ed Freeman, and Rosleen Moriarty-Simmonds, who shared their personal journeys. Rosie was also kind enough to take a short questions and answers from the floor.
In the afternoon members attending split into four groups; family members and personal assistants were also encouraged to join the discussions. Each group had the same two questions to consider; the feedback from these groups will enable the small group of trustees who are leading on the project to plan the future of the project. The afternoon finished around 4pm; there was a real buzz in the room with lots of positive chatter, which was great to hear.
Members, though the day had an opportunity to watch a short video that had been produced by Eddie Freeman and Geoff Spinks, with Eddie showing us around his house and the adaptations that had been made and Geoff presenting some of the gadgets that he finds useful. There were also
a couple of gadgets available that members could see, and again there were lots of positive comments about how useful the video had been.
As always there were raffle tickets on sale throughout the day, with Margaret and Julie working hard to ensure everyone got their tickets for the evening raffle; Julie was even selling some just before dinner was served. We had a fabulous response and raised over £800; this money will go towards the final instalment of the Oral History project, which will be coming to an end in 2026.
The evening was full of fun and laughter with DJ Scotty entertaining us all.
We are looking forward to coming together again in 2026 at Burleigh Court, Loughborough, and look forward to seeing as many of you as possible – Saturday, April 18th is the date for your diary.
Trustees – 2026
► Chair – Mandy de la Mare
► Vice Chair – Sukeshi Thakker
► Line Manager – Geraldine Freeman
► Temp Treasurer – Darren Mansell
► Sue Gooding
► David Tickell
► Eddie Freeman
► Margaret Hogg
► Roz Hepple
Co-opted trustees
► Elaine Hulme
► Zoe Dunklin