Thursday 14th September 2021
Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the Raymond Trust Fund, Thursday 14th September 2021, at 7pm at Heytesbury School.
The meeting started late at 7-20pm due to the school not informing the caretaker of the scheduled meeting.
Attendance:
Corporate Trust:
Councillors D Boath (DBT), D Bond (DB), E Cheesman(EC),
L Croker (LC), P Fellowes (PF) L Morris (LM), A Moore (AM), M Pitman (MP), V Sturmey (VS), A Wilson (AW).
Officers: H Parks Parish Clerk.
Public: There were 18 members of the public in attendance.
The incumbent Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting and outlined that since the elections earlier in the year, there is a change to the makeup of the corporate trustee.
Questions would be encouraged as the agenda progressed.
1. Apologies were received from Councillor E McGuire.
2. The question of recording details of the Corporate Trustee as opposed to naming individual councillors who make up the Corporate Trustee, was again discussed and VS was not happy about recording any detail until this had been sorted out. She proposed putting this item in abeyance until it is resolved. It was agreed to fully discuss this at the next trust meeting. It is recorded in the annual report section Structure, Governance and Management, that Heytesbury Imber & Knook Parish Council are the Corporate Trustee. Historic issues continued to be discussed which did not allow the meeting to move forward.
3. Election of Chairman – Two nominations were put forward. David Bond was proposed by A Moore Seconded L Morris. Anthony Wilson was proposed by P Fellowes and Seconded by V Sturmey. Voting in favour of David Bond 6. Voting in Favour of Anthony Wilson 3. Abstention 1. David Bond was re-elected as Chairman.
4. Appointment of Administrator – Louise Morris resigned as administrator in July. Since then, the Parish Clerk had dealt with all the notices and papers issued for this meeting.
The Chairman wished to give a vote of thanks to Louise for all her hard work. She had presented an invoice for her work which does not reflect the true cost of the hours worked. The Parish Clerk has offered to take back the administrator of the trust requesting one hour per week to be added to her PC contract – this would need to be put before the Parish Council for discussion. The admin role is not a free service to the trust. It was proposed by Louise Croker and Seconded by David Bond to put forward a request to the Parish Council for H Parks to carry out the administration role with an additional one hour per week. Voting unanimous in favour.
5. Members resolved to adopt the minutes of the AGM held on 26th September 2019. It was proposed by V Sturmey and Seconded by E Cheesman that these were adopted with
the proviso that item 5 would be discussed again at the next Trust meeting, in relation to holding meetings in public and publishing all minutes. Voting unanimous in favour.
6. Members received and adopted the annual report of the trust for 2020. This was circulated before the meeting, but extra time was given to members to read it thoroughly. Proposed by L Morris and Seconded by A Moore for adoption. Voting in favour 9, Against Nil, Abstention 1.
7. Members received and adopted the receipts and payments accounts for 2020 and 2021. Two years of receipts and payments due to the AGM not taking place in 2020.
It was outlined that to align with the Parish Council finances it might be sensible to change the year ends to match, at the end of March, but this would require a change to the constitution.
Income available for spending now stood at £7601. £2597 had been achieved from the investment income in 2020 and £2279 in 2021.
The Investec Capital Account currently stands at £88,868 @ 5.07.21.
The Investec Income Account currently stands at £101,182 @ 05.07.21.
The Capital bank account stood at £4634 @ 09.08.21.
Rob Robson spoke to the meeting and thought that the members should be working together and stop the infighting and work towards making financial grants available from the income earned. Wasting money on legal advice is not necessary.
Q. Evelyn Riggs outlined that the original funds were to be used for a village hall, who has permission to give these funds out?
Answer. A Moore gave a full explanation of the trust deed and how the Corporate Trustee has the authority to give income from the income investment to worthy causes within the
village area.
Q. Kay Singha wished to know what the end goal was , will we have a village hall? Why hadn’t the trust put in place a project plan with dates to work towards. Answer – there is no identified land available to build a village hall, nor any other proposals put before the village.
A Moore proposed adoption of the two sets of accounts. Seconded M Pitman. Voting unanimous in favour.
8. Grant Policy – The trust had prepared a comprehensive grant policy which aligned with the constitution and has been adopted.
Members of the public asked various questions about the use of the grant funding available. Q. When can people apply? – anyone within the village and Parish area. Q. Is there a maximum amount available for each grant? – No. each grant would be considered on a case by case basis. Q. Can one charity give to another charity? – this needed clarification. Members agreed that it needed to publish these details and how to apply for funding. This would need to be discussed at the next trust meeting, but there was no reason why there should be any delay.
9. AOB
D Hiscock asked if the trust had been approached about a parcel of land which belonged to the Heytesbury Estate – it was suggested that an official approach be made. K Singha asked for a plan of action to provide a village hall with deadlines.
V Sturmey asked what does the Raymond Trust plan to do to provide a village hall? Members answered that the Parish Council had written to the Sassoon Trust, and they responded that they had no plans. This will be an agenda item for discussion. A Morris asked if the trust is responsible to get a hall or just manage the funds. E Riggs asked that in any future discussions, the village is put first.
Meeting closed at 8-45pm.