MINUTES OF THE PSCC COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON WEDNESDAY, 29 TH JANUARY 2014 AT 20:00 AT 11 SOUTH RIDING, BRICKET WOOD AL2 3NG Present: Maggie Fricker Derek Wenzerul Rod Fricker Ron Brown Jacqui Taylor Terry Day Christine Abington John Jennings John Rolfe NO. MINUTE 1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE Martin Wise, Rosemary Wenzerul, Jeremy Fraser-Mitchell 2. MINUTES OF LAST MEETING The Minutes of the Meeting held on 27 th November 2013 were agreed. 3. MATTERS ARISING There were no matters arising. 4. FINANCES Activity since last report and current position Derek advised the Committee that there were some outstanding matters to be sorted out but that most bills had been paid. Maggie apologised to the committee that accounts were sent out later than hoped, but Derek had only given Rod the details of the last three weeks activity on Monday evening and, therefore, Rod did not have the opportunity to send them sooner. Rod had updated his re-formatted and corrected spreadsheets and produced the regular reports for sending. Maggie had looked at the accounts Derek had given Rod, still using his original spreadsheets, and noticed some glaring errors (see attached) which Derek advised he would be looking at over the next few days. Rod did say that overall the financial position seems to be healthy with regular expenditure in line with previous years and we that we had sufficient funds to cover the cost of exceptional items. There is however a further discrepancy of a few pounds which has occurred in the last three weeks, which needs to be sorted out. We were currently waiting to receive the Bank statement to confirm some of the changes that have been made to deal with earlier errors in the accounts. There are only five more weeks remaining to the end of the financial year and it was agreed that we need to make a clean start at that point. Ron suggested having an in and out accounts box in an effort to be more organised with incoming and outgoing papers and Rod explained the present system currently used. Various bank accounts were discussed as the new signatories were still not in place but this will be dealt with once the accounts situation is sorted out.
Looking at the amount currently in the Social Fund, Maggie took this opportunity to thank Ron for the work he put in to organising the calendars for the Club, all of which have now been sold, and which made a considerable contribution to the Social Fund. Derek advised the Committee that the rent on the hall has been increased to 28.50. This is inclusive of a storage facility charge which was added last year at 4.50 per month. Problems are still being experienced with the storage cupboard and John Rolfe has been into the Parish Council office to point out the problems we are having. Maggie has received a letter from the Parish Council requesting financial assistance to purchase a defibrillator which will remain in the hall. It was discussed by the Committee and Derek would write to the Parish Council advising them that it was not the general consensus of the Committee to assist in such a purchase. 5. OPERATIONAL MATTERS: (i)reflection on recent club meetings and events Everyone enjoyed the Christmas Social and Derek expressed his thanks to all who were instrumental in organising the event. The singers were very well received and were much appreciated by all. Terry said that the print competitions went very well particularly when Barbara Lydiatt had judged the prints and then the various authors were given an opportunity to talk about them. The following week, the Members evening, had also gone well and the attendance was good. (ii) Feedback from Co-ordinators Sue Anderson, External Competitions Secretary, did not attend the meeting but sent in the following report:- Ten entries were sent off for the PAGB GB Cup the Small Clubs (entry was 6). New City (Thursday 13 th March): We decided not to do this in future, as for the past three or four years it has been clashing with important meetings at PSCC so no-one has been available to go. Bedfordshire Cup wanted contributions for a new cup, several clubs replied with varying responses, have not heard any more, Third Round of Rosebowl: This will be on Tuesday 25 th February, 7.30 pm (not 8.00 pm) at Witney if anyone wants to go. North West Fed:- Final is on Saturday 22 nd February, 2.00 pm at Amersham, the Barn Hall Community Centre. Sue and Chris will be intending to go and will take the Starred prints which
Ken will pass on after the St Albans exhibition. The starred pdi s have already been sent in. There had been some confusion over payment of subs due to North West Fed but they have now been paid. Chiltern Hundreds: Sue has emailed all members should anyone wish to enter. Each member can enter one image which has to go via the Club. She has to have the entries by Sunday 9 th February. Sue will be dealing with the CACC Projected Championships shortly. Loss of Judges Maggie reported to the Committee that she had been notified that a few of the Judges due to come to the Club have dropped out for various reasons and would now have to find replacements. A discussion followed as it appears that four judges were lost last year and there has been another four go this year. Rod explained that there is a limited pool of judges and he will try and obtain a list of judges for the East Anglia region. John Jennings suggested giving the more novice Judges a try. Competition Images for Website Terry explained to the committee the discussion he and John Jennings had concerning which images, either winning images, those images scoring 20 and highly commended prints should go on the Club s website. John suggested that all images scoring 20 should go on and only those scoring 19 if highly commended. It was agreed that the Judge should be prompted for those images he felt should be highly commended. Rod went on to explain possible improvements to the marking for the members judging evening and John will check back for images marked as 20. (iii)action required before next Committee Meeting Ron has kindly offered to entertain the club for one evening giving a talk and showing some of the many natural history images he has taken. Match That Terry suggested Jeremy to be Club Captain for the Match That competition with Connie and Fiona to assist. Harpenden, Hemel and XRR are the Clubs joining us for the Match That competition and two clubs have already sent through images. Additional Helpers for Regular Jobs Maggie will, again, ask club members for assistance with some of the smaller jobs that will help the club run smoothly.
6. FUTURE PLANNING Maggie mentioned that we do need more ideas for the monthly outings and would shortly be sending out an email providing details of the outing for February. The Hendon Aircraft museum could always provide a back-up if it is raining. There will be no increase in the cost of the tickets for the Annual Dinner on 26 th June at The Old Albanians Rugby Club and tea and coffee will also be included in the price. 7. ANY OTHER BUSINESS Christine has sent an email to Jim Westlake asking if he intends to come back to the Club. 8. DATE OF NEXT MEETING Wednesday, 26 th February 2014, 8.00 pm at Maggie and Rod s.