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Minutes of the 19th Annual General Meeting
Held at Burleigh
Court Loughborough
on Saturday 26th
May 2012 at 1130hrs.
The meeting was
attended by 54 members and proceedings opened by our
Chairman Jim Husband who then introduced the members
of the committee. The Chairman read out the roll of
honour, this was followed by a minute’s silence, our
President; Major General Peter Baldwin recited the Act
of remembrance as the Langeleben standard was lowered
by bearer Tom Neal.
APOLOGIES: The
Secretary Ernie Callaghan issued apologies of those
members who for various reasons were unable to attend.
MINUTES OF 18th
AGM: The minutes of the 18th AGM previously
handed out for the benefit of attending members and
published on our website and in our newsletter were
accepted by the floor after a proposal by Ray
Armstrong and seconded by Dave Thomas.
PRESIDENTS
ADDRESS: Major General Peter Baldwin in a
humorous and short address spoke of the consolidation
and rationalisation of the Royal Signals Corps.
TREASURERS REPORT: Our
Treasurer Gerry Kane issued a detailed report on the
branch’s current financial situation which showed an
embarrassingly healthy balance, mainly due to the
committee’s prudence and generous donations from our
members. Gerry suggested that perhaps we should
consider setting aside a portion of our final balance
to be donated to agreed charities. After a long open
discussion it was agreed that £1000 should be
apportioned to the following five recipients.
1. BLESMA, (British
Limbless Ex Service Men’s Association), £500.
2. Royal British
Legion poppy appeal, £100.
3. 621 Ordenance bomb
disposal unit, £100.
4. 18 Signals
Regiment. £100.
5. Arnulf Baumann’s
Kenyan Orphans fund, £200.
Acceptance of the
financial report was proposed by Ray Armstrong,
seconded by John Rosson and accepted by the floor.
Gerry asked that attending members paid him the monies
for the ordered events at the end of the AGM.
SECRETARY’S
REPORT:
Good morning all.
It’s great to see
such a good attendance again this year, we have some
90 members and guests over the weekend, which
considering the present economic situation confirms
your commitment to our unique association.
Seven new members
have joined us since the last AGM, the latest recruit,
member No.514 Fred Simpson served at Langeleben in the
late 1960’s and various postings up to 1977, Fred now
lives in the Falkland Isles so our fame is spreading.
Again I would like to
thank both our webmaster Tom Perkin and Marlene
Brooks, editor of “The Listening Post” for doing such
a great job in keeping all of our members up to date
with events. Marlene has asked me to encourage more of
you into providing what is the lifeblood of the
newsletter, that is copy; we need more articles, more
old memories,stories and photo’s of your times at
Langeleben or indeed in the services. We especially
need more input from the younger generations who
served in the 70’s, 80’s and up to the closure of the
camp in 1991.
If anyone here is not
receiving their copies of the newsletter please see me
after the meeting and we will put it right.
You will have heard
that Gerry, Jim & I have expressed the desire to
stand down from the committee, we gave notice ten
months ago that after nearly 20 years and now in our
mid seventies it was perhaps time to smell the roses
and pass the baton on to a younger element with fresh
ideas to take the association forward. So far not one
person has volunteered, not one name has been
recommended. A couple of members that we thought would
fit the bill have declined so we are still where we
were nearly a year ago. All three of us are happy to
carry on for the next year to take us on to our 20th
anniversary reunion; we must however instil in you all
the pressing need for a shadow committee to be placed
in situe as soon as possible to cover all
eventualities. We will discuss the issue in detail
later on in the meeting when we get to Item 8,
ELECTION OF OFFICERS and the floor has had time to
think of ways that will guarantee continuation of our
association.
We hope that you and
your guests enjoy the rest of the weekend and look
forward to seeing many of you again next year.
Could I please ask
you all to sign the attendance book at the end of this
meeting.
MATTERS ARISING: Chairman
Jim Husband announced to the membership that honorary
member Arnulf Baumann had recently received one of the
highest civilian awards in Germany: The Federal Cross
of Merit and Distinguished Service Medal, (equivalent
to our OBE). Arnulf, long time Mayor of Königslutter
and a great help to the association over the years
accepted our congratulations and told us of the
charity that he helps to run for orphans in Kenya and
that our generous donation would be used to supply the
children with ethnic musical instruments. Member Peter
Ellis proudly told the floor that his son Paul, also
an honorary member and carver of our magnificent
memorial in Langeleben, had been commissioned by
Lincoln Cathedral to produce a stone replica of the
coronation crown, Paul has now completed this task and
the result is indeed inspiring, It will be placed
within the west wall of the Cathedral soon. Paul has
an introduction to the Queen on the 13th of June...
ELECTION OF
OFFICERS: The Secretary advised members that as
no offers to replace the existing committee had been
received the current committee were prepared to
continue on for the next year to take us on to our
20th anniversary reunion. To ensure uninterrupted
continuance of the Langeleben reunion branch a shadow
committee must by then be put in place.
2013 REUNION: It
was agreed that our reunion in 2013 be held in
Königslutter at the end of August to coincide with the
town Schützenfest and we will be working to that
effect.
The meeting closed
at 1250 hrs.
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