Minutes (approved at the 60th 2022 AGM)

Perkins Long Service Club, 59th Annual General Meeting

Held on Thursday 28th October 2021

At the Indoor Bowls Club Burton Street, Peterborough

Present:  7 PLSC Committee Members (Adrian Talbot, Garth Perry, Bob Gregory-Smith,
Martin Thompson, Nigel Burroughs, Anna Errico and Beverley Spridgeon)

                 Plus 9 Members (Barrie Allen, Tony Dyer, Laurence Dobney, Martin Garfield,
Henry Laprun, Wally Moss, Peter Spridgeon, Philip Upchurch and Gerald Whatford)

1. Safety Briefing:

         The meeting opened at 19.35 by Adrian Talbot giving a safety briefing.

2. Apologies for Absence:

David Foster, John Skeels, Bill Guest, Malcolm Spinks, Mike Richards

Alan Woods, Chris Knight, Michael Drury and Jill Afford

3. Minutes of the 58th AGM:

     The minutes from the 58th AGM were circulated as read, and proposed by Tony Dyer by and seconded by Peter Spridgeon and passed unanimously.

4. Matter arising from the 58th AGM:

        No matters arising

5. Membership Report (Anna Errico):

         A full list of those members who passed away since the last AGM was read out by Anna and a minute’s silence was held.

2019:  Barry Gilbey, Tony Packford, Barry Vessey, Roz Wilsoncroft, Alan Cope, Margaret Titman, Derek Winn and Mr Morris

2020:  David Critchley, J Plummer O. Medlock, John Bartlett, Roy Jackson, Peter Wood, Stella Kirkman, John Pearson, H J George, Dennis     Hornsby, Neville Hufford, Roy Dickinson, Peter Juggins and Aubrey Southgate

2021:  Alan Foster, Peter Burchell, Frank Webber, Joseph Roberts Chris Woolhouse, Vernon Huskisson and Ray Dennis

     Anna also reminded the members that we rely on them to let us know when a member passes away as we no longer receive this information from the company.

6. President’s Report (Adrian Talbot)

    Adrian gave his report highlighting what a difficult time we have all had during Covid. 

     Adrian mentioned that next year will be the Club’s 60th anniversary, and that now is the time to relinquish his Presidential duties and hand over to a “safe pair of hands” in Garth Perry.

Adrian thanked the Committee for their support during his Presidency, and also thanked Jill Afford and Martin Thompson who have decided to step down from the Committee.

Adrian thanked Laurence Dobney for continuing to be the Club’s Auditor.

Adrian reminded everyone that the 2022 Annual Dinner is scheduled to take place on Friday 13th May 2022 at the Holiday Inn, Peterborough. 

The full President’s report can be found on the PLSC website

7. Treasurer’s Report

     Martin Thompson gave a brief review explaining that the 2020 income was £14,500 compared to £33,600 in 2019, this of course is due to the lack of activity during Covid..

     The Warner’s Holiday was the only 2020 event which took place.   All ticket money for the other 2020 events was returned to the members.

Deposits paid to tour operators (£700 in total) have been returned to us, therefore no losses were made.

Martin closed his reporting by thanking Garth, Anna, Jill and Beverley for their support in providing the necessary input following the social activities.  Martin also thanked Laurence Dobney for auditing the accounts and wished the Committee continued success.

Barrie Allen asked a question regarding the Club’s funds, and asked if there were any plans to use any of the money on the current membership.  Adrian explained that the Club will be investing money in next year’s 60th  Annual Dinner, and we will also invest in trying to attain new members.

Barrie went on to ask if the Club intended to subsidise any future day trips, and Garth responded by saying that this wouldn’t necessarily be seen as positive by those members who do not support the day excursions.  However, this is a good point and the Committee will discuss at a future meeting.

                                                                            Action:  Garth

Tony Dyer suggested that we could make next year’s annual dinner free to members.  Could this be something for us to consider for the 2022 Dinner?

                                                                            Action:  Garth

Peter Spridgeon said that £19,000 is a lot of money for the PLSC to have in the bank, but if we have a couple of years where we are not generating income that money could soon dwindle, Peter also said that going forward the Club may not be fortunate enough to have the continued support of the Company.

Adrian reminded us that only 8% of the membership is still currently employed by Caterpillar.

Martin Garfield asked if any members actually opt to leave the Club rather than just leave when they pass away?   Anna responded by saying that when employees leave the company their membership lapses when their salary stops, and  if they do not opt to change their payments from their salaries to their pensions they are no longer members.

The 2019 and 2020 accounts were proposed by Nigel Burroughs, seconded by Bob Gregory-Smith, and were accepted unanimously by the members.

8. Conservation Report

     When the pandemic hit at the beginning of 2020 the conservation team were no longer needed.     Since things were opened up again by the Government, Swaddywell Pit (Langdyke Trust) have used the conservation team, and Deeping Lakes will start to use the team again in October

     Garth thanked the team for turning out each month, and if anyone else is interested there is always room for more members to join the team.

  Garth also paid thanks to the wardens – Dave Vandome of the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust, and Chris Hopper of the Langdyke Trust          who have made the Conservation team feel so welcomed and appreciated at their reserves.

    The full conservation report can be found on the PLSC website.

9.   Webmaster’s Report

    In David Foster’s absence Adrian Talbot read out the Webmaster's report.

     David has kept the website up to date advising the members when we have had to cancel excursions and holidays.

     In his report David highlighted that he had been contacted by Google earlier in the year advising that their classic website format, on which our website is based, was being phased out, the final closing down date 1st September.   Google advised David that by just clicking a link our website would convert over to the new format, however unfortunately this wasn’t the case when he used a spare copy of the website he had. David was tasked with creating the website again from scratch.  Fortunately for us, David had kept the original of our website intact and not converted over, which meant he could copy the selected data over to the new format, and he archived older files which didn’t make it over to the new website.

     The new website is much crisper, and much easier to navigate, and Bob urged the members to view the website as it is full of useful information, including details of the social activities.

  https://sites.google.com/view/perkinslongserviceclub/

     It was mentioned at the meeting that David had put a great deal of time and effort into creating the new website, and thanks were expressed to him for the work he had done, which was followed by a spontaneous round of applause.

    Martin Garfield asked how many of the current membership have access to the internet to view the website, he said that there are still a lot of members who have no access to the internet.

   Martin Garfield also asked what the benefit of a membership card would be and Adrian explained the benefits that the card may bring. The card would need to carry a contact telephone number as well as the Club’s url, for those people who do not have internet access.

   Laurence Dobney asked how much a PO Box would cost the Club, so that those members who do not have internet access could contact us through.

   Adrian suggested that maybe we get a couple of ‘pay as you go mobile phones’ for the Committee, and include these phone numbers on the new membership cards.

David’s full Webmaster’s report can be found on the Perkins Long Service Club’s website.

10. Report on the Events Programme

The Burghley House visit in 2019 was cancelled due to lack of support, as was the trip to the Designer Outlet due to lack of support.

In order to recoup our payments/deposits we had to keep the 2019 events in place until the provider cancelled the events, and Garth Perry thanked Jill Afford and Brian Law for their support in the 2019 programme.

A small sub committee has been formed to look at the 2022 events

Barrie Allen proposed a vote of thanks to Jill Afford for waiting for all the companies to cancel first, so that we got our monies refunded.  This was seconded by Wally Moss and voted unanimously by all members.

11. Election of Officers

11.1   Vice President 

11.2   General Secretary – Beverley Spridgeon

11.3  Membership Secretary – Anna Errico

11.4  Treasurer – Nigel Burroughs

11.5  Entertainment and Activity Group Secretary – Bob Gregory-Smith

11.6  Webmaster – David Foster

11.7   Conservation Secretary – Garth Perry

The above positions were proposed by Wally Moss and seconded by Laurence Dobney, and all members were in favour.

12. Election of Executive Committee:

     It was proposed that Bill Guest join the Committee, and this was proposed by Peter Spridgeon and seconded by Martin Thomspon and the members were all in favour.

13. Appointment of Auditor:

     It was proposed by Martin Thompson and seconded by Nigel Burroughs and all members were in favour of Laurence Dobney remaining as the Club’s Auditor.

14. Appointment of new President and passing over the chain of office

     Adrian passed the Chain of Office to the new President, Garth Perry.

15. Address by New President

    Garth Perry thanked Adrian on behalf of the Committee and members for his term of office, and continuing this role through the pandemic.

    Garth went on to introduce himself and describe his career within Perkins, and to inform the Committee what he wanted to bring to the role of President.

   Garth’s full report can be found on the Perkins Long Service Club’s website.

16. Motions proposed by the Committee:

Rule change 3.1 of the Perkins Long Service Club be amended to read as follows:

     “Membership of the Club shall be open to any current or former employee of Perkins, or of Caterpillar who has been based at Peterborough for a part of his or her employment, and who has a total of 15 years of service with the Company.  The service does not have to be continuous.

     An invitation shall be extended to all employees on completion of 15 years of service with the Company to become members of the Club.  The duration of service to be determined by Company Records.

Under exceptional circumstances the Executive Committee may grant  Honorary Life Membership.

Membership shall entitle the member to participate in all activities of the Club, and to accept nomination to serve on the Executive Committee or as a Club Official”.

Bob Gregory-Smith proposed that this motion be accepted, and it was seconded by Adrian Talbot and the motion was carried unanimously.

Proposal to charge an admin fee to those who join over the age of 70

That, in addition to any annual or life membership fees due, an administration fee of £20 shall be payable by anyone joining or rejoining the Club at any time after their 70th birthday.

Motion proposed by Beverley Spridgeon and seconded by Nigel Burroughs and the motion was passed with one abstention.

17. AOB

     Issues were raised and addressed during the various agenda items above, as minuted.

The meeting ended at  9.25pm and was followed by a light buffet.

Issued by:     Beverley Spridgeon

                 28th October 2021