Synopsis of the Management Council meeting held on Saturday 30 October 2004

All members of Council were present apart from Dr Ros Sinclair and Ms Pam Jones who were absent due to a clash of dates.

Sir Bryan Askew took the Chair, Mr Graham Ball (Chief Executive), Mrs Dorothy Nattrass (National Welfare Officer) and Ms Meriel Davies (minute taker) were in attendance.

Agenda items

1. After discussion it was agreed that the minutes of Council meetings are not private and confidential except where indicated, but that placing them on our website would not mean a lot to people who were not present at the meeting and until they were formally approved at the next Council meeting they could not be published. It was agreed that a synopsis of the Council meeting would be placed on the website and in the next edition of the Bulletin. The Chief Executive was required to do this synopsis and use his ‘common sense’ as to the confidentiality of items.

2. The question of changes to the Memorandum and Articles of Association previously approved by Trustees was discussed and the suggested amendments, necessary due to the AGM deciding they would like four Area Representatives on the Management Council, drawn up by the solicitor were approved. Council also took the decision to apply for incorporation as soon as the Chief Executive can deal with the required legal documentation.

3. After discussion Council agreed that there would be no sub-committees this year but that the Council Officers i.e. the Chairman, two deputy Chairmen and the Treasurer would meet the day before each Council meeting to discuss issues. They would call in appropriate people with skills or knowledge when discussing particular issues e.g. if it was a finance issue they would call in people with a finance background. Council approved this move.

4. The Strategic Options Plan discussion forum was discussed and the Council agreed that Management Council would invite staff and Regional Chairmen or their substitutes to a meeting to discuss the options within the Strategy Options paper. Once the options have been discussed, however, it would be for Management Council itself to make the final decision on the strategic way forward for the Fellowship. After various locations were considered it was agreed to hold a meeting at the Lantern Hotel on 4 December 2004 purely for the purpose of discussing the options plan. The Council meeting would therefore be held on the afternoon of 3 December also at the Lantern. It was felt that this was a cheaper option than going to a hotel or the MS Society, where meetings are normally held, due to the high cost of hotel accommodation that delegates would require.

5. The request that the AGM had made to consider co-opting a representative for Yorkshire and the North West Region onto Council was discussed in depth. Following discussion and legal arguments Council very regrettably came to the decision that they could not, under our present Trust Deed and rules, appoint co-optees to the Council. Once incorporation is made then we will have the power to co-opt. The Chief Executive was asked to write to Yorkshire and the North West Region to tell them this and to express Council’s regrets that they were unable to co-opt.

6. The Finance Committee’s suggestions for price increases for the Burnham holiday bungalow were discussed and the suggested price changes were very strongly supported as price changes have been lagging behind in recent years. It was agreed that if people could not afford a holiday there, then they could apply for a welfare grant if they were a branch member.

7. The proposal from the AGM that the country be divided into four areas with two or three regions being banded together was discussed and it was agreed that the AGM’s wishes should be fully complied with and the Chief Executive was tasked with outlining the process for the new area elections.

8. The AGM’s wishes that every region, branch and group should be supplied with the cost of running Central Office and the detailed work that is carried out there was discussed and it was felt that most branches and groups would not want this information. The Chief Executive was tasked with writing to all the regions, branches and groups to ask if they want the information and if so it would be gladly supplied, otherwise it was not to be sent out.

9. The Treasurer reported on the finance situation and regrettably informed Council that a further tranche of £100K needs to be taken from our stock market portfolio in order to fund the cash flow of the Fellowship. It is currently estimated that the short fall for the year will be approximately £200K.

10. The Chief Executive reported back to Council on the Lantern. Planning applications will be made on 23 November for outline planning permission for the site and he also reported that several charities are also keen to purchase the property to allow it to continue as disabled, residential care accommodation.

11. The Council were pleased to receive the report of the Welfare Officer and the Fundraising Manager as to actions taken in their two respective areas of work.

The next meeting of Council will be on 3 December 2004.

Graham Ball
Chief Executive