Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on 6th March 2008

Venue: The Emsworth Centre South St Emsworth at 19:30

Present:

Apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Mrs Ruth Roberts, Brian and Shirley Elliott, Tim Abel, Donald Wells, John and Loli Kieran, Rosemary Osborne and Sandra Clarke.

To Approve the minutes of the First Annual General Meeting held on the 20th February 2007

All members had been sent a copy of the above minutes together with the calling notice for the AGM. The Chairman asked for any comments regarding the minutes, there were none so the minutes were accepted as being a true record.

Matters Arising

There were no Matters Arising.

Chairmans Report.

Welcome to the first AGM of the Friends of the Emsworth Memorial Garden. Last year we had our inaugural meeting and we don't seem to have stopped since then, so much has happened.

Last summer, we received a £10,000 Lottery Awards for All grant and confirmation that Mrs Fagan, HM Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire, had accepted the invitation to become our Patron. We really felt we were in business. We have been pulling together the logistics for the hard landscaping of the garden, preparing the ground by removing dead trees etc. and trying to keep the weeds in control. The sculptor is repairing some damage to the base stone of 'Absence' which occurred when delivered, he is also putting some explanatory text on each of the four Way markers.

We have been fund-raising to cover the remaining costs of the garden and to provide the name plaques as in St. James Church. We had a presence at the Horticultural Show and the Emsworth Food Festival. We also mounted in October last year, our first fund raising event in the square and will be doing a much larger version of this on Saturday 19th April. This will include an exhibition from the Museum, of Emsworth in the Forties in International House. We hope to have a Soup Kitchen in the Emsworth Centre run by the army, and there will be some interesting military memorabilia there provided by the Overlord Re-enactors plus some old military vehicles parked around Emsworth. The Mayor will be visiting us - hopefully robed. Angel Radio will again MC the event. Please mark this event in your diaries and we will be needing help on the day.

I'm sure you've all seen the work being done in the garden so I'll hand over to Sarah Sanderson from the Horticultural Society to give you an update.

Sarah Sanderson's Report

There's not much I wish to say about the year under review except that the positive result of everything taking so much longer than we thought it would is that we have been able to take the extremes of weather we've had over the last 2 years into account.

The exciting bit - the actual construction of the garden - began on January 28, and perhaps some of you who were wondering why we needed so much money to 'bung in a few flowers' have seen where it went - 3 weeks' landscaping work, and over 50 tonne of new topsoil. I think the new garden has considerably increased the impact of the sculpture, which now looks as if it's meant to be there.

Above all I would like to thank Paul Hurst, who's the Landscape Architect at Havant Borough Council for putting in so much work managing the project and getting the best deal possible for us. We're very grateful too for the help we've had from Richard Denman, who is now in charge of the Recreation Ground, and his boss Andy Paffett. We've spent a lot of money, but I think we really have got a lot for it.

The main contractors Caroways of Rowlands Castle, and Mayland Landscapes of Emsworth who installed the fencing, are both due our thanks too for a job well done.

The hedges are now planted and mulched, thanks to the valiant efforts of Maurice and Sandra Clark, Sheilagh and Stanley Marchment, Frances Jannaway, Lucy Doherty, Pam Palmer and David Lee. We are hoping to prepare and plant most of the raised bed in late March early April, and I need to space out preparation, planting and mulching so that willing helpers aren't wrecked.

I have a list here, if anyone is happy to do some planting or regular gardening, or perhaps watering once we have a system in place, please could you put down your name, telephone number and email address, and also any regular days or times you know you are not available, and I will contact you. Any help you can offer is much appreciated.

Treasurers Report

At the end of the first financial year of the Friends of Emsworth Memorial Garden, we had 54 members, net assets of £5,166.04 and have completed the first two stages of the planned improvements to the Memorial Garden. The Income and Expenditure Statement before you presents the figures for the year March 2007 to end January 2008.

Income

Subscriptions and donations accounted for 14% of the Friends' income with grants accounting for 78% and fund raising events 7%.

Generous donations came from the Bosmere Hundred Society (now disbanded), Emsworth Business Association, Emsworth Residents Association, Emsworth Horticultural Society and the Wednesday Group. As well as many generous donations from Emsworth residents. The sale of Harold Groom's autobiography has already raised £160. Many thanks to you all. We obtained two major grants last year. The first amounting to £10,000 came from Awards for All Big Lottery grant. Many thanks to David Harris at HBC for helping me with the application form. The second grant amounting to £1990 came from Hampshire County Council. Many thanks to David Gillett our Hampshire County Councillor for getting this grant for us.

Expenditure

The £10,000 from Awards for All has paid for all the hard and soft landscaping, including groundwork, paved areas, paths, fencing, entrance pillars, lots and lots of soil, and installing two seats and an information board. These last two items came from the 2006 Liveability Fund which also paid for the sculpture Absence and the main path. Total expenditure on these works to date amounts to £9476.01.

Our other main expenditure was publicity and included a lovely banner designed by Brian Picknett and a beautiful artist's impression of the finished garden painted by Pam Picknett. These and other overheads, such as printing leaflets, membership of Hampshire Gardens Trust, public liability insurance to enable the group to carry out fund raising events and work sessions, and having a stall at the Emsworth Show have all been paid for from subscriptions and donations.

Balance Sheet

After settling accounts receivable and accounts payable, the group's net assets amounted to £5,166.04 on 31 January 2008. Gill Coslett has kindly inspected our accounts and confirms that the accounts are a true record of the group's financial position.

A Copy of the Balance Sheet is included as Appendix A

Ex balance sheet items

The net assets of £5,166.04 includes approx. £ 3,500 for works that have been either completed or commissioned but not yet invoiced. This means that in the current financial year we will already have approx. £1,600 towards the next stage of the memorial garden.

Future Income

Grants

Applications have been made to B&Q's 'One Planet Living' grant for £1,000 to pay for gardening tools, compost and mulch and to O2's 'It's Your Community' grant also for £1,000 to pay for bulbs and plants. Hampshire Gardens Trust are also interested in our project and may well give us a donation to pay for plants. Local businesses

The Co-Operative Funeral Service in Emsworth is keen to help with the name plaques and we are currently discussing the details with them.

Future Fund raising events

A big fund raising event is planned for Saturday 19 April, 'Emsworth Remembers' Lucy Doherty is opening her garden at 23 New Brighton Road on Sunday 22 June from 2-5pm. £2 entrance fee, teas and plant sales. All proceeds will go to FEMG.

Membership of FEMG

You can help the Friends complete the Memorial Garden by renewing your membership this evening or joining the Friends if you are not yet a member. See Maurice Clarke our membership secretary.

Please buy lots of raffle tickets so we can at least cover the costs of this AGM and social evening.

Future Expenditure

The HCC grant of £1990 will pay for the bronze dedication plaque behind Absence and for bronze plaques to go on the 4 way markers around the town. These bronze plaques are being designed by Michael Johnson the artist who designed the main sculpture, Absence. It is hoped that the work will be completed in the next month or so.

Completion of the garden includes the following:

Conclusion

I hope that as Treasurer I have given the Friends a strong financial base on which to complete the garden. I also hope that somebody will come forward to take over from me, since I only agreed to be Treasurer for the first year and would like to stand down as of this AGM.

The Chairman called for a vote to accept the accounts, a vote was taken and the motion was carried unanimously.

Appointment of an independent examiner for the coming Year.

Gill Cosslet volunteered to examine the accounts for next year and her offer was unanimously accepted by the meeting.

Election of Officers

Steven Pearce Chairman of the Emsworth Community Board kindly took the Chair.

There were no written nominations for the post of Chairman. The current Chairman Councillor Virginia Wilson-Smith agreed to carry on. The meeting unanimously accepted the nomination and she was duly elected to the chair for 2008.

There were no written nominations for the post of Secretary, the current secretary Maurice Clarke agreed to stand again and was unanimously elected.

As previously stated in her report Frances Jannaway was relinquishing the post of Treasurer although she wished to remain on the committee. A nomination has been received from Mrs Pam Palmer and the meeting unanimously agreed that Frances Jannaway continue as a member of the committee and that Pam Palmer be elected as treasurer for the coming year.

Subsequently the remaining committee members, Jayne Emery, Sarah Sanderson and Brian Edwards-Picknet together with a new member David Lee were unanimously voted on to the committee of the Friends of Emsworth Memorial Garden.

A vote of thanks was extended to the retiring Treasurer Frances Jannaway for the hard work and time that she had put in to obtain the grants and to get the Friends onto a firm financial footing.

The annual subscription was agreed to be £3 for the next year but this would be re-examined at the next AGM.

There were no proposals to alter the Constitution.

Any other business.

Mr Harold Groom one of the founder members had received a letter from the MP for Havant Mr David Willetts in which Mr Willetts congratulated the Friends for the sterling work they were doing to provide a fitting Memorial for Emsworth and wishing us all the best for the future.

Closure of meeting

There was no other business so the Chairman closed the meeting at approx 20:00 and invited all present to partake of some refreshment. A raffle of prizes donated by members of the committee was also held which raised £52 to offset the cost of the AGM.

Appendix A

INCOME & EXPENDITURE OF FRIENDS OF EMSWORTH MEMORIAL GARDEN

as at 31 January 2008

INCOME

Year 2007-2008
Subscriptions (54 members)           £162.00
Donations £1,946.43
Fund raising £1,124.01
Grants:
Awards For All £10,000.00
HCC grant £1,990.00
Total Grants £11,990.00
Bank account interest £90.27
Total income £15,312.71

EXPENDITURE

Works to Memorial Garden             £9,476.01
Publicity/PR £377.92
Printing £91.00
Stationery £19.50
Insurance £151.00
Membership HGT £25.00
Tools/equipment £6.24
Total expenditure £10,146.67
Surplus/Deficit (-) £5,166.04


BALANCE SHEET OF FRIENDS OF EMSWORTH MEMORIAL GARDEN

as at 31 January 2008

ASSETS 2007-2008
Cash at bank £3,075.77
Bonus Saver Account                       £2,090.27
Total assets £5,166.04
LIABILITIES
Net assets £5,166.04
Total liabilities £5,166.04
Financed by
Operating account                            £5,166.04
C/Fwd £5,166.04

Bank reconciliation as at 31 January 2008

Balance per statement                     £3,146.52
Less cheques outstanding £-105.75
Plus refund bank charges £+35.00
£3,075.77

The copy of the accounts held by the Secretary include the signature of the examiner.



Appendix B

The meeting was attended by 29 Members of the Friends of Emsworth Memorial Garden a list of those present is available from the Secretary if required.

At the AGM 9 existing members renewed their membership and there were 3 new members who joined.