Here are the draft Minutes, to be approved at the 2023 AGM: 

D R A F T

Minutes

Perkins Long Service Club, 60th Annual General Meeting

Held on Wednesday 20th April 2022

at Paston and Gunthorpe Community Centre, Peterborough

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

Plus 17 Members

1. Safety Briefing:

The meeting opened at 7.30pm by Garth Perry giving a safety briefing.

2. Apologies for Absence:

David Foster

Gerald Whatford

3. Minutes of the 59th AGM:

The minutes from the 59th AGM were circulated as read, and accepted by the members unanimously.

4. Matter arising from the 59th AGM:

Barrie Allen raised again the issue under agenda item 7 of the last AGM agenda, regarding the Club’s funds, and asked if there were any plans to use any of the money on the current membership.  Barrie asked if the Club intended to subsidise any future day trips, and Garth said that he would be responding to this issue in his address later in the AGM.

5. Membership Report (Anna Errico):

A full list of the members who had passed away since the last AGM was read out by Anna Errico and a minute’s silence was observed.  The members were:

John Summers, Dennis Forman, Robert Frank, Owen Medlock, Jim O’Donnell, S R Laxton, Alan Housham, N Jennings and Peter Quincey.

Anna went on to say that the Club relies on the members to let us know when a member passes away.

Our current membership stands at 440.  We have removed members from the database where a booklet has been returned, there were about 9 this time.  We do our best to try and get in touch, but we do not always have a telephone number so have to assume that they passed away.  We also lost 8 members who have left the business and didn’t continue with their monthly subscriptions. Overall we have lost around 50 members, hence we are trying really hard to recruit new members.

Laurence Dobney asked if we get in touch with people who are now eligible to join, we do but not everyone eligible is interested in joining. Adrian added that it is easier for us to get hold of people who are currently employed by Caterpillar as they are still on email and the payroll. If people have left the company we are reliant on the Pensions Department to help us, but this is difficult as the Pensions Depart will not share the contact information with us due to data privacy.

Trevor Chapman told us that Ken Tinkler has moved to Solihull, and Anna confirmed that we have already been made aware of this.

6.     President’s Report (Garth Perry)

Garth gave the members a brief overview of this career with Perkins and he went on to tell us that he joined the Committee after having an active part in the Conservation party. Garth said that coming from a background in Engineering, he felt that he did not have as many contacts as others.

Garth explained that 200 Club members are over 80 and only 130 members are currently paying monthly subscriptions, i.e. less than one third of our current membership are actually paying us money.  We have about 100 active members and we have to think very carefully about how we spend the Club’s money.

Garth addressed Barrie Allen’s point about should we consider subsidising the trips.  Garth said that we are currently offering our members the lowest possible cost for the trips, and if we were to subsidise the trips it would mean that we would be subsidising just 30 or so members.   It appears we are spending a lot of time and effort providing trips that the vast majority of members are not interested in, and we ask ourselves what do our members get out of their membership, and what do they hope to get out of it?  For a lot of members, we realise that just being a part of the PLSC is enough for them. Currently we only have 37 employed members.  We hope to have a recruitment campaign once the Perkins site opens up again.  We also appreciate that a lot of members do not want to leave their homes after the pandemic. Garth said we are working hard to ensure that the Club continues way past its 60th anniversary.

John Jacklin said that the annual dinner was like an annual reunion, which a lot of people look forward to.  Garth agreed that this is the case, and that the PREC group had an advantage over us as they have a monthly social evening.    Barrie Allen said the current PREC membership is running at 86.

Garth asked for more feedback from the members, and we need to know what they expect to see, all feedback is welcome.   Adrian joined in by saying that we need feedback from existing members, apart from the few that go on trips and attend the dinner, what else do people want? Two thirds are life members and perhaps as they are no longer paying monthly subscriptions, they are not looking for anything at all?  Also, for employees with 15 years service what is stopping them from joining, how can we excite them to join?

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

7.     Treasurer’s Report

Nigel introduced himself to the members.

Nigel confirmed that we have had hardly any events during 2021 due to COVID.  The draft accounts were presented and Nigel explained that they have been audited by our accountant. 

The 2019 and 2020 accounts were proposed by Nigel Burroughs and seconded by Bob Gregory-Smith and all the members agreed with this.

8.     Conservation Report

Garth explained that the Conservation Group is smaller than it used to be.   The conservation season is governed by nature, and over the past couple of years the group have been restricted by Covid, but the 2021/2022 season got back into swing. Work on both sites has involved a fair bit of grass management.  Absence of volunteers during the pandemic had allowed the grass to grow unchecked, and the enthusiastic wardens are quite happy to get on their machines and cut acres of it down, and leave it to the volunteers to rake it up!

Garth thanked the team members who turn out in all weathers, and said there is always room for more volunteers.

Mick Wicks explained that he has been involved in conservation work since 1982 and he congratulated Garth on all the hard work he puts into the project. 

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

9. Webmaster’s Report

Garth read out the Webmaster’s report and thanked David for all the time and effort he puts in to keep the website up to date.

The new website launched last year is working well and seems to be liked by users. The few teething problems experienced to start with, where some people couldn’t access it, turned out to be an issue with the different providers out there and was resolved by putting www into the website’s address at the front.

Barrie Allen asked if there was a backup should anything happen to David, and Bob explained that David has gave him permission to also upload, delete and change items to the website.

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

10.           Report on the Events Programme

The Club’s activities since the last AGM in October 2021 have continued to be restricted, with the only event to take place being the Warner Holiday in January. This was originally to have been at Littlecote House, but in order to reduce the number of guests in any one hotel, Warner switched it to Holme Lacy in Herefordshire. 29 members and guests enjoyed the usual Warner hospitality.

Your committee was eventually able to send out a 2022 programme in early February, delayed because of the difficulties we have had in getting venues to commit to dates and prices.

Our next trip is in 2 weeks’ time to the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Museum and the International Bomber Command Centre, both near Lincoln. We could accommodate some more people if you want to come. This rather illustrates our problem this year, that although we have now managed to put a programme together, members seem still reluctant to book, and some trips are at risk if we do not get a minimum number of people. If this continues, we will have to reduce our activities, because there is no point in making all the arrangements if the trip has to be cancelled.

Our next big event is the 60th Anniversary Annual Dinner on May 13th which I hope you have all booked for. This will be a special event with those attending getting a free drink on arrival, a special brochure and a 60th Anniversary pin.

Then we have a trip to Epping Forest with a Cream Tea cruise in July, a fully booked 5-day holiday to Babbacombe in September, our delayed trip to see the Abba tribute band, Abba Chique, in October and a trip to see only Fools and Horses, the Musical, also in October, but only if we can get enough people to book.

We are hoping to run a factory tour in the autumn, there is a City and Village trip to the Downton Abbey locations with a Christmas meal at the end of November and, if we are allowed onto the Eastfield site, our Christmas Social in December. Next January will be our regular winter Warner holiday, this time to Littlecote House.

Due to lack of bookings several of these trips are at risk of having to be cancelled due to lack of support, so if you want the Club to continue running such trips, please book and encourage your friends to come too. As ever, your suggestions on places that we could visit or trips that you would like us to organise are welcomed.

Laurence Dobney asked if it would be worthwhile having booking forms available at the annual dinner for people to take away and book if they are interested, and the Committee agreed this is a good idea.

11. Election of Officers

                 11.1  Vice-President - Vacant

                 11.2  General Secretary – Beverley Spridgeon

                 11.3  Membership Secretary – Anna Errico

                 11.4  Treasurer – Nigel Burroughs

                 11.5  Entertainment and Activity Group – Bob Gregory-Smith

                 11.6  Webmaster – David Foster

                 11.7  Conservation Secretary – Garth Perry

The election of the above was proposed by Mick Wicks and seconded by John Skeels and all members were in favour.

12. Election of Executive Committee:

Bill Guest joined the Committee last year and is still a Caterpillar employee. Bill introduced himself to the members, explaining that he has served over 30 years with Caterpillar.

Garth said that we are very pleased to welcome Bill onto the Committee.  The election of Bill was proposed by Bob Gregory-Smith and seconded by Trevor Chapman, and all members were in favour.

13. Appointment of Auditor:

It was proposed by Peter Spridgeon and seconded by Bill Guest, and all members were in favour of Laurence Dobney remaining as the Club’s Auditor.

14. Two Motions proposed by the Committee:

Bob read out the proposed two motions:

1.       Motion 1:

That an addition is made to Rule 13 (Subscriptions) as follows:

“Any former member who wishes to re-join the club shall pay all subscriptions which would have been due if their membership had been continuous, up to a maximum of £20.”

   And that this rule change will supersede the provision that those re-joining the club over the age of 70 shall pay a £20 administration fee.  The provision to charge an administration fee of £20 to those joining the Club for the first time over the age of 70 will remain.

Justification – Membership of the Club should be viewed as a long-term commitment to the Club and its aims, not something to be dipped in and out of at will, or depending on whether someone wants to attend the annual dinner that year!

2.   Motion 2:

That the life membership fees are changed to be:

Life Membership fees from 1st May 2022

Age last Birthday 

Proposed

Fee

30-39

£120

40-49

£100

50-54

£90

55-59

£75

60-64

£65

65-69

£50

70-74

£35

75-79

 £5 pa to age 80 paid up front

Justification: Since the rules were changed to admit those with 15 years’ service, the Club could get new members who are still in their 30’s. The current schedule does not allow for those under 40.

In the older age brackets, the current life membership fees give progressively larger discounts with age, to the point where a person joining at age 70 pays just £15 which is 70% discount on what they would pay if they remained on an annual subscription. This proposal addresses that issue, mainly affecting those over 65.

Motion 1 was proposed by Garth Perry as accepted, and was seconded by Peter Spridgeon, and the motion was carried unanimously.

Motion 2 was proposed by Garth Perry as accepted and was seconded by Barrie Allen, and the motion was carried unanimously.

15. AOB

None.

The meeting ended at 8.41pm and was followed by a light buffet.

Issued by:     Beverley Spridgeon

                 6th June 2022.