October Annual Meeting

Wednesday 14th October 2020

1. Helen welcomed 26 members and our new WI Adviser and teller for the AM,
Carole Green, to the hybrid Zoom meeting. Helen and Liz were present together,
socially distanced in Helen’s sitting room.

Helen gave a brief outline of the format for the evening- our AM and then at 8.30
our speaker, Hazel Bendon, who is senior fundraiser for Rennie Grove Hospice.

2. Apologies for absence – Gill Blair, Rochelle, Jan L, Gill Alexander, Rosemary
Jordan, Jane Sprigge, Fiona, Donna, Marion W, Dawn, Jen, Sue Dawson, Sue
Roberts and Laura.

3.Minutes of 2019 AM were sent to members by email. There is one correction to

be made: Marion Harvey and not Marion Bradley organised our walks. Apologies
for this mistake which will be corrected. Approval of these minutes was proposed
by Simone Capell and seconded by Kathleen Wiltshire.

4.Presentation of Financial Statement for the year 2019-2020 by Marion

Bradley, Treasurer. Copies of the Financial Statement and Treasurers Report were
emailed to members last week. Following an opportunity for questions, approval of
the Financial Statement for the year ending August 2020 was proposed by Alison
Watkinson and seconded by Heather Allen. It was accepted unanimously.

5. The Committee Annual Report, written by Liz Sheppard, was emailed to

members last week. Helen asked if there were any questions and as there were
none approval of this was proposed by Helen and carried unanimously.

6 The President’s Address, written by Helen Speakman, was emailed to members

last week. Helen drew members’ attention to the thanks in the report to Judith who
has worked tirelessly since Lockdown to provide members with so many activities
via Zoom. Members showed their appreciation with a round of applause for Judith.
Helen reiterated her thanks to all other members of the committee for their hard
work over the past year and she thanked members for their ongoing support and
enthusiasm. Helen apologised for not thanking Sue Dawson in her report for taking
over the writing of the quarterly article in The Totteridge and Terriers News. She
will amend her report accordingly.

All current committee members have agreed to stand again, and three new
members have volunteered to join the committee. They are Jaine Warwick, Diane
Hayler and Liz Hammond. They were duly co-opted onto the committee.

Helen then handed over the chair to Carole Green for selection of our President for
the coming year from the 9 members of the Committee.

7.Carole launched an online poll for members to select which committee member
they would like to be President for the coming year. Following the correct
procedure Helen Speakman was selected as President.

Helen then thanked Carole for organising the selection process and members for
selecting her for this, her final year as President. She then took back the Chair.

8. Following the business part of the meeting we then enjoyed an interesting talk
by Hazel Bendon, senior fundraiser for Rennie Grove Hospice at Home.

Rennie Grove provides end of life care for adults, care for children with life
limiting illnesses in Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire and runs a day care
hospice in St Albans. They provide nursing care and support to families every day
of the year at no cost to the patient.

This is an expensive service to run and only 12% of the running costs are met by
the NHS, the remainder being provided by fundraising and bequests.

Fundraising has been severely affected by The Pandemic and income from
community fundraising has dropped by 60 % this year. Carole said that they have
transferred as many fundraising activities as possible to Zoom: virtual quiz nights,
virtual Bingo, a dog show using photographs etc. They did manage to arrange to
annual Three Peaks Walk which raised £64.000 this year and have several virtual
fundraising activities arranged for Christmas. They have 28 shops which are now
open again.

Helen thanked Hazel for coming to talk to us and for raising awareness of this
local charity which provides such wonderful care to people. We will be making a
£50 payment to Hazel for speaking at our meeting.
9.At the October meeting Simone asked whether we would be supporting
Wycombe Women’s Aid again this Christmas by buying £5 gift vouchers to be
used by their clients in local shops. Helen has been in touch with WWA who
would be delighted if we could support them again in such a positive way.

Helen asked any members who would like to personally support this project if they
could buy £5 vouchers at any town centre supermarkets or shops such as Boots
then drop these off at her house. She has a secure grey drop box for post outside
her front door, they will be safe in there. Alternatively give them to any committee
member. Members who would like to contribute but do not go to shops can drop
off money and Helen will use this to buy gift vouchers on their behalf. She
emphasised that this is purely a personal voluntary donation.

10. November Monthly Zoom Meeting on Wednesday November 11th

YOUR ACTION IS REQUIRED!

we will be making a Special Christmas Card under Helen’s leadership. Please

would any member who will be attending the November meeting and wishes to
join in with this activity WhatsApp or email Helen and she will make up and
deliver the kits beforehand. You must order a kit by the 1st November to allow
time for the kits to be distributed. You will simply need a ruler, pencil and glue to
take part. Helen can supply a good quality glue with a fine nozzle if required. Just
ask for details.

As the November Meeting also marks Wycombe Wenches 9th Birthday, members
might like to add a bit of a birthday theme to their Zoom attendance in the form of
Cake, Fizz, Balloon, Party Hat, 9th Birthday card etc etc. just to add some
atmosphere to the crafting session!!

This coming Monday, October 19th, is Supper Club at 7.30. The theme is an Asian
meal.

The following week, Creative Wenches have a Pumpkin Theme on Thursday 29th,
more details to follow.

11. Tracey Mullett kindly thanked Helen and all other committee members for
their hard work this year.

The meeting was closed at 9.10 pm