Minutes of the AGM of SPANNED held at St.Bernadette’s Parish Centre, Scunthorpe on Sunday June 29 2014

Simon welcomed everyone to the meeting which he informed us was a requirement under the rules of the Charity Commission. Apologies were sent from the Loughborough group and a number of trustees who are unable to be present.

The minutes of the AGM of 12^th May 2013 at Mickleover were agreed and signed.

Election of Officers

Kathryn took over the meeting at this point as we had to elect our chairman. Kathryn told us that Simon was willing to be re-elected but asked if there were any other nominations – there weren’t. Simon was proposed by Madeleine Bridges, seconded by Danny Blackbourne and unanimously elected.. Simon informed us that Brian Carroll had tendered his resignation as our Treasurer and thanked him in his absence for a marvellous contribution to the agency. Bridget Doyle had agreed to take on his responsibilities and we were all very pleased about that.

Election of trustees

Theresa Davies tendered her resignation as she will be shortly moving to Scotland. Simon thanked her for her service as a trustee and on the leadership team of the Hinckley Sunshine Club. Marina Brooks had agreed to be elected to both positions in her place and was proposed by Andy Blower, seconded by Jayne Carver, and unanimously elected. Barbara Drummond and Rita Hankey also resigned under the Charity Commission requirements and indicated that they were willing to be re-elected. Barbara was proposed by Joan Winandy, seconded by Mervyn McCord and Rita was proposed by Ann Barlow, seconded by Mervyn McCord and both were unanimously re-elected.

Finance Report

Simon read out Brian’s finance report as follows:

Please see separate scanned PDF file.

Our present balances are: current account - £7,425 and Deposit Account £25,973.

Director’s Report

Fr.Frank then gave his Director’s report as follows:

We have had a good year together as an agency but the whole of it has been overshadowed by the loss of our beloved bishop, Malcolm, to Liverpool. It is a serious blow to us though very good for the people there. We are aware that he did not want to go but you can hardly refuse the Pope! It was so heart-warming that his very last words as the bishop of our diocese were reserved for SPANNED and how much he thought of us. A full tribute to him and his ministry among us is available in the present magazine, which is available today. The project on the Year of Faith worked out very well and Bishop Malcolm was particularly pleased that we had put it all together in a special book and gave it to him at the last Mass for the Year in November. He was likewise delighted to be given a special book on the occasion of his last Mass in the diocese. We have written some tributes to him, and there will be an opportunity for you to add to them today before I send them off to him this week. We have now begun ‘Saints in the making’, which links up with an extensive project in the Hinckley parish called “The Servant Church”, the text of which is available for you to study on the parish web-site. Visits have taken place to the convents at Rearsby and Bulwell as well as our very successful day out at Mount St.Bernard Abbey last month. Hopefully other groups will make it their business to visit the local religious community designated to them in the near future. These communities are, it has turned out, very anxious to support us in our work. Death has taken many dear friends from us and we will pray for them shortly at Mass, but we are always the much poorer for having lost them. We also ask your prayers for our Hinckley Group Leader, Stuart Glasgow, who remains seriously ill in hospital. Five of our groups went to Llandudno together at Easter and very much enjoyed themselves. There will be  quite a bit of upheaval for the next year or so there with the improvements being made to the convent, but we hope to be able to continue our Easter week holiday up there. “Mother Mary” was presented again in Hinckley and went on the road to the Cathedral and to Loughborough, where the welcome we received was truly wonderful. The cast are still talking about it! By public request the words of the presentation have now been published and are available for you to purchase today. Scunthorpe and Derby Groups had a little holiday at the Priory Hotel and we are anxious to offer this facility to all of the groups should you wish to come. The Scunthorpe Group had a great time as the ‘host’ was unavoidably detained elsewhere! Next year, on July 19^th, we will hopefully mark the 40^th anniversary of the event which effectively marked the beginning of SPANNED, with a special Mass in Loughborough – if we are invited! – and this year our beloved chaplain there, Fr.Simon Giles clocked up 40 years in the priesthood, for which we are all truly grateful. We are still going and that is wonderful, despite the many problems we have as individuals and groups. This is due to the tremendous help we receive from group members and friends, many of whom support us financially very generously indeed. Life has become more hectic for everyone and it is not always easy to maintain the commitment to our groups in the way we would like. Flexibility and compassion are always the hallmark of our work and I trust will continue to be so. I would like to say a special word of gratitude here to Fr.Simon Ellis and the students of Mount St.Mary’s College, Spinkhill, and establishment which has a unique place in the history of the agency, for their fortnightly visits to the Tuesday club in Derby through what have become the most awful road works. We are very grateful to them for their fidelity and their cheerful contribution to the group, and I was very proud to be invited to speak to them on the occasion of their College Feast Day last March. Thank you also to the trustees and group leaders, in particular to Simon, Brian and Kathryn for their skill and generosity as our officers. Finally, on a very personal note, you may remember that I had an 18 day sojourn in hospitals in Italy and Leicester last summer myself and have tasted for myself what all of that entails. I would like to thank you all most sincerely for your good wishes and prayers and hope to be able to keep reasonably healthy in your service for a few more years yet!

Chairman’s Report

Simon began by commenting on the loss of several of our dear friends during the year, most recently Nettie Crowley from Derby and Bess Mills from Leicester. He extended our sympathy to John Crowley in particular and to the Leicester group. He asked everyone to remember in prayer Stuart Glasgow, our Hinckley Group leader, who had been in hospital for some weeks and had been very seriously ill. Simon will write personally to Brian Carroll to thank him for his service. The biggest thanks go to Fr.Frank for his hard work on the catechesis of ‘saints in the making’. He has the patience of  a ‘saint’ himself! The trustees will get together to work on the theme of “The Journey” for next year and plan to meet with group catechists in September. He reminded Theresa that she would never be formally released from our trustees and fully expected to see her from time to time! After today, our next get-together will be the Annual Mass in Hinckley on Saturday September 13, when we will continue with the theme of ‘saints in the making’, after which we will spend some time thinking about the Great War before the end of the year. He finished by thanking everyone for coming together and for all the work we do for each other throughout the year.

There being no further business, the meeting was closed at 3./25pm.