Below are the 2023 AGM approved Minutes, approved at the 2024 AGM on 20.3.2024:

Minutes

Perkins Long Service Club, 61st Annual General Meeting

Held on Wednesday 29th March 2023

at Paston and Gunthorpe Community Centre, Peterborough

Present:  6 PLSC Committee Members (Adrian Talbot, Garth Perry, Bob    Gregory-Smith, Nigel Burroughs, Anna Errico and Beverley Spridgeon)
Plus 20 Members

1. Safety Briefing:
The meeting opened at 7.32pm by Garth Perry giving a safety briefing.

2. Apologies for Absence:
David Foster
Gerald Whatford
Michelle Wyld
Laurence Dobney
Ricky Watts
Bill Guest

3. Minutes of the 60th AGM:
The minutes from the 60th AGM were circulated as read, and accepted by the members unanimously

4. Matter arising from the 60th AGM:

None.

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

1.  TW Cullup

2.  Dave Shearer

3.  JC Barker

4.  Dennis Mee

5.  GE Church

6.  Tess Carnall

7.  Trevor Moulds

8.  Martin Yates

9.  Mike Robinson

10.   Ralph Kitchen

11.   Peter Latter

12.   Tony Thorpe

13.   John Smith  -  John Smith has requested a pure cremation however his family have arranged for a get together on Thursday 6th April 2023 in John’s memory at the Admiral Wells Pub in Holme at 2PM

We were requested to remove two member’s details from our database although they are still alive.

The current membership is 482 which is up by 60 since last year.  We have 77 members who pay through their pension.

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

6. President’s Report (Garth Perry)
The President thanked the members for attending the AGM, and explained he will be entering his 3rd year of presidency.  The President said how heartwarming it is to see new members wishing to join the Committee.

The reduction in the service requirement to 15 years did not in itself lead to recruiting new members, but it was through the Committee’s attempts to recruit and also utilising internal communications.

Bill Guest has set up a 6 Sigma project and hopes to give an update on this project later in the meeting.

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

7. Treasurer’s Report (Nigel Burroughs)
Nigel Burroughs went on to explain the income statement.

There was a high expenditure at the 2022 Annual Dinner, as we bought new banners, gave all attendees a gift and a free welcome drink.  Nigel also thanked Laurence Dobney for auditing the accounts.

The 2022 accounts were accepted unanimously by the members.

8. Conservation Report (Garth Perry)
The conservation group have worked at Swaddywell Pit and Deeping Lakes between September 2022 and March 2023, and the working parties usually consist of 4-6 regulars out of a party of 9 volunteers. Both wardens are happy with what the conservation team have achieved, and are happy to welcome them back again in September.  The conservation team seriously do need extra volunteers, and anyone interested would be most welcome.

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

9. Webmaster’s Report (read by Adrian Talbot on behalf of David Foster)
Adrian Talbot read out David Foster’s report which said that the new website launched in 2021 continues to work well and seems to be liked by users.  David has received comments that it is easy to navigate around. 

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

10. Report on the Events Programme (Bob Gregory-Smith)
Bob Gregory-Smith read out the events programme.

Bob explained that we have had to move our 2024 Scarborough holiday to Eastbourne due to hotel closures.  We are this year trying to hold events over the weekend to attract some of our newer members with families.  However, we are still running events for our older members.    Any suggestions for excursions would be most welcome.

We have had little response for the family day at Railworld so we will not be going ahead with that, also we have had little response to the Cricket Day in Manchester.

Annual dinner booking forms are available at the AGM for those who haven’t yet booked. 

Garth explained that we have to rely on non-members to make up the numbers on some of the trips, particular the holidays else the trip would not be going.

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

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

11.8  Past President – Adrian Talbot

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

12. Election of Executive Committee:
Bill Guest was proposed by Bob Gregory-Smith seconded by Adrian Talbot.

Ricky Watts, Cliff Gillis, Michelle Wyld and Alan Wells  have all been proposed by Bill Guest and seconded by Adrian Talbot.  The new Committee members are all members of the 6 Sigma project which Bill is leading.

13. Appointment of Auditor:
It was proposed by Garth Perry and all members were in favour of Laurence Dobney remaining as the Club’s Auditor.

14. AOB
Bill Guest was unavoidably detained and was not able to talk to the project that Garth referred to in his report.  Garth and Adrian both spoke about the project and explained that we are trying to attract and retain younger members into the Club.  Garth reassured our existing members that their voice will still be heard, and it is not our intention to turn the club into something only for the younger members.

Two of the members of the group are ex 6 Sigma Black Belts.  The project isn’t about trips and events, but it is more about how we secure the future of the Club.   A lot of the people currently working at the Perkins facility will have only known the Caterpillar company, and to them Perkins is only a brand. We need to continue to recruit younger members who are still at work in order to retain the company’s support and secure the future of the club.

The project team will be looking at how we can secure and sustain the Club’s future going forward, we have a broad spread of employees on the project team. The Committee does need a range of different people to move the Club forward, and Adrian confirmed that the project is being sponsored by David Goldspink and the current PLSC Committee are all stakeholders.


Martin Garfield asked what support the PLSC get from Perkins and Adrian explained that we currently get full support from the company, both financially and providing current employees to work on the project in company time, etc.

Peter Spridgeon said he thought it was the right thing to do to try to attract new people and the project is a good move.

The meeting ended at 8.38pm and was followed by a light buffet.

Issued by:     Beverley Spridgeon
                19th March 2024