Informal Conference 2010

SAINSBURY'S VETERANS ASSOCIATION Conference Pearse House Bishops Stortford May 11th 2010

Issues

The biggest problem is Head Office delayed payments. Vat problems. Having to pay out own monies, or use own Credit Card. To cover some trips etc. Also the delay in receiving bank statements .
Graham and Ian will investigate the problems of delayed payments and how we can move this forward.
Has there been any progress on the Cheque issue (as a lot of company's no longer accept cheques)
Graham is available to help anyone who is struggling with the accounts. And has got forms available similar to those that he uses to do the accounts. We are all free to do accounts in the manner to which we find easier. A computer is possibly the easier way to do this these days.
Should all monies be paid into the bank? Or can some be kept back for expenses. (I.e. postage phone calls etc.) As long as a record is kept regarding these monies.
Deposits needed on all trips. Does seem to commit people more. And gives you a better idea as to whether people really are committed.

Conference

Do they wish to meet on regular basis paired up with Another Association or do they wish to meet in a similar form as this. Say once a year?
All agreed they got more out of this informal gathering. The syndicates did not work for most. It was good to know and hear that others had similar problems and how others get around certain issues. Some members are swapping names and addresses at the end of this gathering with some of their neighbours. No one felt the need to meet on a regular basis. Maybe meet once a year in a similar format as this conference.
Do we need to invite more of the members along? In general it was felt that the three main committee members should be included.

New Blood

How do we get new blood into the association and more importantly on to committee?
When the list from Head office notifying you of deaths retiring members, members who have moved Associations etc. A letter of Welcome is sent to new members welcoming them. And listing all meetings and trips venues times etc.
Liaise with the HRs and possibly get a letter handed to all retiring peoples regardless of length of service. Outlining the benefits of the Association and that they are a member of this Association. Also get a notice put on the internal notice board.
Word of mouth is quite often a good way of communication.
Ian offered help in getting touch with branches regarding this issue. (Just give him the names of the branches that are in your area. And if it was possible to get the old JS Journals that would normally be thrown out. Put to one side for us to collect from the Branch. Possibly get a contact name from each branch.

Succession Planning

Deputies invite people to come along and join us, giving them little jobs to begin with. Getting their confidence, then gradually get them to take a bit more responsibility.
Do we want to invite friends, to be on our committees. Can we use non JS staff on the committees?

Eastern Regional Conference 2009

Pearse House, Tuesday 13th October 2009

The Conference was led by Paul Foulger, who welcomed those attending. Paul pointed out that no one had taken up last years challenges arising from the syndicate results. For example, nothing had been done to introduce "rolling programmes in the local associations. The annual conference is the chance that Local Associations have to be heard. Let us hope for more reaction in future. Although many of our active members do not qualify as veterans, they can make important contributions to their local associations. This can be important to our future. Looking back at the conference themes, "working together", "going forward together" and "together in harmony", we must work in this spirit to be able to continue in future.

Moving to another topic, Paul referred to the urgent need to address the need for succession planning. This is a need which will be increasingly more urgent in the near future. Sound management of local association accounts is another area to be studied without delay. Paul then invited Eric Nicholls to open the Conference.

Eric Nicholls formally opened the Conference and asked that the key topics needing to be addressed are to do with the future well-being of local associations. All help is welcomed, more help is needed.

jsveast.co.uk

Mike Inskipp of Master Web, consultant on the web site, talked about the Silver Surfer day will happen on May 21st 2010 when help and advice will be available to Internet users. Mike went on to show charts of usage of the Region's site. The considerable number of visits confirms the ever increasing use of JSVEast. Mike then went on to discuss the new page layouts on the web site, which will soon be installed. It is hoped that LAs will find them of great value.

Cicely Pateman asked for more news from the associations. This would include reports and pictures of past events, details of planned events, chat, comings and goings, to add to the general interest. This has the potential of being of great value to some members who are house bound. New members joining us will be more internet aware, so a well presented site will become more essential. One way or another, rolling programmes should be in place by the next financial year.

Accounts

Graham Caughey, Irene Bradford and Christine Newton, talked about the importance of management of LA accounts. Record VAT transactions as they happen. Refunds of over paid VAT can only happen if records are maintained. Graham said that he pleased to give advice on this if asked for. Answering a question, Eric Nicholls explained the purpose of the annual cash grant. The money is intended to cover costs in setting up and running the regular meetings, including the AGMs. Any surplus may be used to subsidise, say the Christmas lunch. Answering another question, Irene said that there were only two man/days per week allocated for all SSA accounts matters, with the Vets Assn. only a very small . The phasing out of cheques as a means of payment was discussed, although nothing is as yet announced.

Succession

Rob Connelly talked about the "Colchester experience" and praised the foresight that the late Peter Daniel's had shown in appointment of a deputy. Rob the need to fully plan meetings in order to get the best out of them. Rob illustrated his talk with excellent visual aids.

Syndicates

After lunch, the delegates were divided into syndicate groups. Each group had a topic to consider. The topics and the suggestions were:-

What should the Regional Team do about running events?

• Arrange get together meetings of the committees of two or three nearby LAs.

• First get information and potential of finding likely deputies.
  
• Then advertise posts. Use "peoples pages in the Journal.

• Share ideas with other LAs.
  
• Encourage harmony.
  
• Arrange good speakers for meetings.
  
• Arrange inexpensive events.
  
• Arrange at least four meetings per year.
  
• Run raffles.

• This is dependent on the views of the local members.

Conference Summing Up

Summarising the day's conference, it was generally agreed that the day had been of benefit. Eric Nicholls thanked all present for what they were doing and asked them to keep up the good work.


15.11.09