A very warm welcome to…

The Annual Meeting of & District Branch

Monday 3rd June 2013

Priorsfield School, Godalming

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A G E N D A

1. Welcome

2. Note minutes of AMM held on 12th June 2012

3. Update of organisation including vacancies

4. Election of Committee Officials

5. Review of the Branch’s performance during the past year

6. Plans for the next 12 months

7. AOB

8. Close

Attendees Apologies

Leigh Barnett Tessa Finch Annabel White Emma De Vos Van Steenwijk Jacqui Copping Clare Moynihan Vikki King Lynn Barnes James Auty Helen Reed Eleni Bainbridge Heidi Lang Louise Auty Nikkie Elms Katie Motson Catherine Wands Frances Cushway Tanya Brooks Clare Berry Emma Jackson Pippa Gaunt Hayley Hammond Lynda Goddard Natalie Lovegrove Eleanor Daplyn

Jessica Martin – Mayoress Claire Shadbolt – NCT Regional

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1. Welcome

Welcome by the Chair and introductions from attendees of the meeting.

2. Note minutes of AMM held on 12th June 2012

Minutes from the last Annual Meeting were agreed and adopted.

3. Update of organisation including vacancies

Volunteers List

Chair / PSA Link Annabel White [email protected]

Secretary Jacqui Copping [email protected]

Membership Viki King [email protected]

Parent Support [email protected]

Treasurer James Auty [email protected]

Events Eleni Bainbridge [email protected]

Editor Louise Auty [email protected]

Advertising [email protected]

Nearly New Sale Katie Motson [email protected] Marketing/PR

Online Promotion Frances Cushway [email protected]

Webmaster Clare Berry [email protected]

Webeditor Emma Jackson [email protected]

First Aid Coordinator Heidi Lang [email protected]

Homebirth Support Helen Reed [email protected] Breastfeeding Counsellors Kate Nevett Jo Donoghue Ante-natal Teacher Jane Sharpe Post-natal Teacher Catherine Wands

Class Bookings Claire Brooke-Wilson [email protected]

Events Team Natalie Lovegrove Philippa Gaut

Nearly New Sale Team Eleanor Daplyn Hayley Hammond Lynda Goddard

Group Hosts Bumps & Babes

Godalming Martine Harry [email protected] Marianne Botting

Cranleigh Jane Sharpe

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Farncombe Funzone Leigh Barnett Emma De Vos Van Steenwijik

Welly Walks Clare Moynihan Annabel White Clare Berry

Bumps, Babes & Philippa Gaunt Older Siblings Leigh Barnett Natalie Lovegrove

Feeding Friends Godalming Viki King Frances Cushway Lynn Barnes

Cranleigh Jo Donoghue

4. Election of Committee Officials

Proposal for new Branch Secretary Jacqui Copping was seconded and agreed.

5. Review of the Branch’s performance during the past year

Membership

Membership of the branch remains stable at 210 households.

Accounts Current deficit of around £1000. Funds sent to NCT Head Office of roughly £6000. The Nearly New Sale raised around £7300, No Bangs Fireworks £500 with the Easter Egg Hunt at £300. Funds were spent on the running of the Bumps & Babes group, craft sessions and other events. The newsletter is making money at present.

Godalming & Cranleigh District Branch is a small branch but within the top ten fund raising branches in the country.

Classes

Ante natal classes are almost full again following a dip in numbers. Refresher ante natal classes have been booking well since February. There have been 6 Early Days courses run in the last year, unfortunately numbers attending have been tailing off in both Godalming and Guildford.

Events July 2012 Cheeky Monkey’s Tea Party. Poor attendance and little profit made. Needs a rethink on venue and activities. October 2012 No Bangs Fireworks, Guildford Rugby Club – over 1000 people attended. Less profit than previous years due to no food and more expensive fireworks. December 2012 Nativity 30-35 children attended

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Craft sessions were enjoyed last autumn, Christmas and Easter. Very popular but no profits made. Eleni ran the Easter Egg Hunt which was attended by roughly 70 children and raised over £250. Newsletter

A new printing company was used for the spring edition, which makes it cheaper to produce and therefore allows the newsletter to be posted out through Royal Mail. This ensures member receives their copy at the same time and in time or the events advertised within the newsletter.

Advertising

Companies are given the opportunity to pay for advertising in the newsletter and at the Nearly New Sale. There has been an increase in advertising due to the quality of the newsletter. There are further opportunities for advertising to be explored in the future.

Nearly New Sale

Two Nearly New Sales have been held in the last year (October 2012 and March 2013). In October there were 122 sellers of which 104 volunteered to help with the sale. There were 13000 items for sale, with £4000 being made in commission before costs. A change to the pricing and payments increased revenue. In March a slightly smaller number of sellers at 108 of which 87 volunteered to help, there were also 30 non selling volunteers. 11000 items were for sale with £3000 made in commission before costs. The new system of pricing and payments of commission has increased the number of people who sign up to be sellers that turn up on the day. Chip and Pin payment was introduced for the first time at the March sale. Roughly a third of payments were made in this way.

First Aid Courses

Five first aid courses have been held in the last year in conjunction with the Red Cross, four in Godalming, one in Cranleigh. They have all been fully booked. A waiting list is now being held. There has been very positive feedback to the courses. Many people who attend are from outside the Godalming and Cranleigh area due to courses not held locally to them. £1400 was made in total with £1000 profit. Part of the success has been attributed to good venues and advertising. Website

The Godalming and Cranleigh website pages on the NCT website have been maintained throughout the year. Unfortunately, it is not possible to track the number of visitors or web traffic to these pages. Electronic newsletters have been popular with an average of 500 being sent out each time with good rates of people opening the emails to look at the content.

Parent Support

New contacts have been made with mums considering a home birth, has met with two of them to discuss further. Ideas to try to expand contacts from

September 2013.

The Branch Library is now held at Mamas & Beans in Godalming and is proving popular.

The Local Experience Register has had a good response from people volunteering to lend a listening ear to people who may want to talk about issues during pregnancy or in the early years of parenting. Unfortunately as yet there does not seem to be much demand.

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Local Sure Start Centres have shown an interest in the work of the branch and getting involved in the future.

Health Visitors are now up to date with local groups and events and have information to give out to local mums.

Groups & Meet-ups

There have been various numbers of the groups and meet-ups. Fun Zone remains popular with meet-ups at volunteer’s home less popular as such, changes have been made. Bumps & Babes is held weekly in Godalming and monthly in Cranleigh. Numbers attending in Godalming have remained low since the beginning of 2013 and the hunt continues for a longer term solution to finding regular volunteers to run the group. There is unfortunately no update on the Cranleigh group at present. Farncombe Fun Zone is a local soft play centre where meet up occur monthly, these remain popular. Welly Walks are arranged monthly for a walk suitable for toddlers and pushchairs and have had varying success with varied numbers attending. Bumps, Babes & Older allows for families with children of differing age groups to come and play and meet other local parents. This has been popular but the format needs reviewing. Breast Feeding Support Groups. There are two groups one in Cranleigh and one in Farncombe. Farncombe feeding friends, held fortnightly, is fairly new and is growing in popularity. There were 2 attendees to the first group with 4 coming along to the second.

6. Plans for the next 12 months

Classes

Antenatal class numbers are looking up. Publicity needs to continue for the refresher and post natal classes. Relax and Stretch with Baby classes may be set up in Godalming by Catherine who currently runs classes in Guildford.

Events

The Big Push event which was due to be held jointly with Guildford has been cancelled due to a lack of numbers booking on to be involved.

The Cheeky Monkeys Tea Party will hopefully take place during the Godalming Staycation in August in a town centre location to make it easy for people to get to. At present Little Scamps soft play and Monkey Music are lined up to be involved to provide entertainment.

There will be a Halloween and No Bangs Fireworks events at the end of October with Christmas Crafts planned for December.

Newsletters & Advertising

Newsletter to continue in it’s current format. To expand advertising through the NCT website, e-newsletters and events such As the Cheeky Monkeys Tea Party. Need to look at how to get people to put in birth announcements for the newsletter and article suggestions are always needed.

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Nearly New Sale

The next sale is 12th October 2013. The venue is to be Rodborough School sport hall; this is a third of the price to hire of the Borough Hall and gives a much more flexible space. Chip and Pin payment will be available again and cheques will be ended.

This will be Katie’s last sale. Hayley and Lynn will now become involved with the organisation of the sales. The sale would like to continue it’s Gold Standard in term of the numbers of volunteers and amount of money made. Previous use of the local NCT mailing list will be useful as a reminder to people of the sale and get people to come forward as sellers and helpers.

The following sale is likely to be at the end of March 2014 at the Rodborough School.

First Aid Courses Another 3 courses are lined up. 2 in Godalming and 1 in Cranleigh. The intention is to run 3 courses per quarter.

Online Plan to issue a more regular e-newsletter. The next to be the end of June early July 2013, any suggetstions for information to include are welcome.

Online Communications All local websites will be updated with relevant information on groups, classes and events. National websites with local subsites will also be updated to increase branch advertising.

Parent Support Home Birth Support has a new Midwiffery Team contact to follow up. A volunteer is needed to be the Parent Support Coordinator to manage the groups, Branch Library and to maintain the Experience Register. Baby Bundles will be provided for parents in need. These will be referred by Health Care Professionals on a case by case basis. Breast Feeding Peer Supporters. A National Lottery grant has been applied for £5000 to train 10 mums to provide one on one or group support.

Groups Promotion will continue for Bumps and Babes to increase attendees. Feeding friends in Farncombe will continue over the summer. A review will be carried out of all groups.

7. AOB

Jessica Martin – Lady Mayoress – Home Start charity based but covering Waverley looking for volunteers to work with a family. Families all have at least one child under 5 and are in need of help. The level of support needed varies. The charity is looking for volunteers to give a minimum of 2 hours per week and to commit to at least 6 months. Volunteer recruitment to look at advertising in pre-schools and also NCT Refresher groups. Possibly put an advert in Round and About. Claire Shadbolt – NCT Regional

Regional Day 13/7/13. This will be a volunteer training day in Burges Hill. The basics will be covered in the morning with recruiting and retaining volunteers covered in the afternoon with a question and answer session.

8. Close

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