The Zoom Committee Meeting was opened by the Chairman at 1905
Members Present: Nigel Carpenter Nick Nickels Paula Gent Callie Neale Lottie Brayshaw Tony Kenny Michael Brown Steve Holmes Willie Dick and the President David Lodrick.
Apologies were recorded by the Secretary for Steve Robertson.
The Minutes of the Last Committee Meeting have been recorded and Approved by the Committee and distributed to the Members.
Matters Arising
Chairman
Nigel Carpenter
It was with sadness that we accepted the reluctant resignation of Michelle Thompson as our HH Editor who has had to step down almost before she’d begun, due to professional workload and personal commitments. I am pleased to say that we have co-opted her to serve on the committee until further notice in order to oversee an Association project related to Southwick Park. We have also co-opted Lawrence (Mo) Morrison as our new HH Editor, who has kindly volunteered (I suspect with Willie’s arm in the vicinity of his back!) to work towards this year’s annual publication. Both positions will be up for ratification at the AGM in October.
Secretary’s Report
Willie Dick
During the Lockdown I have kept the membership informed about the Association’s ongoing matters.
There have been a few enquiries from members about the Reunion this year to which I informed them that the decision will take place at this meeting, and I will inform them of the outcome.
As most of you will have seen I have been in touch with Evelyn Gutridge the wife of the Naval Tailor Brian, and enquired about Brian’s wellbeing. Evelyn gave me a comprehensive explanation on Brian’s health, to which I sent to the members, I had quite a few email’s from Members sending their good wishes which I passed on to Evelyn and she responded with a thank you email which I forwarded to the members who had sent emails.
Welfare Report
Michael Brown
As I write this we continue with a National Lockdown and Freedom Day has bumped right to the 19th July from the 21st June. But hopefully, that will be the last time that we have a lockdown, as we learn to live Covid for the rest of our lives. That being said, the following members remain on the sick list and need our prayers: Paul Edwards, Gerald Cooper, Charlie Dinsdale, Arthur Crane.
Since our last meeting the following members of the Association Have Crossed the Bar:
David Tindale 10 Feb 2021
Peter Lemon 30 Apr 2021
As far as I am aware, the following non-members of the Branch have died.
David Edwards 14 Apr 2021
Rob Payne 23 Feb 2021
We have also lost two of our Ladies – Mrs Margaret Harber wife of Ted Harber and Mrs Mavis Dickie Wife of our former Chairman Archie Dickie.
My accounts have been forwarded to the Treasurer and Secretary, and cards, flowers, and donations, have been forwarded where appropriate.
Treasurers Report
Tony Kenny
Please find enclosed the current performance of the accounts as we are at the earlier end of the Fiscal year. I am pleased to report that we continue to remain in an extremely healthy position despite the current challenging environment we all find ourselves in.
- Our current Balance at the bank with no outstanding liabilities is £5,605.89.
- This is the first report post end of financial year there may be a few minor amendments with further analysis, however the overall balances will not change.
- I have continued with the traffic light system to point out the highs and lows of the year. For income they are highlighted in RED where there is a reduction and Green for a decrease in expenditure.
- The balance of income over expenditure for this year is £483.49.
- Annual subscriptions remain in a steady position though slightly down we continue to remain on an even keel. A small minority did not renew their subscription or CTB (4.96%).
- The sales from Jack Dusty were slightly down on last year however, our resident Jack Dusty is doing his best to drive sales and introduced the masks to our stock which have been selling well. It has not been necessary to write down any stock this year. Also, this is in view of the fact that we have not had a reunion which would generally generate income from ad hoc sales.
- I have attached a small graph at the bottom of the report to show the growth we have achieved financially over the previous 2 years. The Association continues to be in an extremely healthy fiscal position.
- I have continued to show the build of the new Website separately in order that we can track the overall expenditure on this project and thank Callie for her continued prudence in relation the management of the costs.
- If any of the committee have any questions, please let me know and as ever I will be more than pleased to answer them.
Membership Secretary
Lottie Brayshaw
We have 211 full members
85 Life members, unless I am not aware of anyone who has CTB
14 Associate members
16 Honorary members
50 widows.
I will ask the committee to read on the spreadsheet, the life, associate, honorary and widows to see if any names should not be there. I removed Kevin Franklin as discussed.
After the committee has checked for any obvious errors, I will set about trying to contact them and ascertain they are still with us.
Peter David, Dave Roberts, and Colin Gent have resigned for personal reasons.
I am at a loss with Mitch Youngman. Despite checking all my avenues and I cannot find any DPA form or details for him
No new members of late but hopefully when the website is up and running properly, we can instigate a mega membership recruitment drive as it is difficult to ask people to join on the promise of a future website with all its advantages.
Social Secretary
Paula Gent
It is with some sadness that I have to report that it is highly unlikely that I will be in a position to positively report that a reunion will take place this year.
Ettington Chase in Stratford, where we were due to hold the 2020 reunion is currently closed for refurbishment and will not be opening until next year.
I spoke to Shirley a few weeks ago and although IOW Tours is no longer a trading company, Shirley is hoping that she may be in a position to form some sort of organisation that can assist with reunions and holidays in 2022. She said that she was advising Associations that any reunions this year would be ill-advised due to the ever changing rules and restrictions associated with the COVID pandemic.
However, she did feel that she would be in a position to provide assistance and manage service reunions in 2022. In fact, she is already assisting some in organising events but not until 2022.
She is currently working full time as a vaccinator & vaccine co-ordinator on the IOW and at present is committed to that task.
I have made numerous enquiries to hotels locally to see the feasibility of having a greatly reduced reunion over a Friday & Saturday. Unfortunately, at present, no hotels that I have contacted will accept any bookings for more than 30 people, save weddings & funerals, due to the Government guidelines. Of course, this could change after the next set of guidelines due on 19th July.
This of course makes the timescale to organise extremely difficult.
When we used IOW Tours, they were a bonded company therefore their buying power with hotels and facilities was greater, and also should outside influences, such as changing of the COVID rules etc., the bookings & revenue were protected by them and not the individuals attending.
Even in the event of a hotel taking a booking a number of the facilities that we have become accustomed to may not be available and could result in extra cost, such as private dining, private use of conference facility for AGM & church service, Up Spirits etc., which would have to be borne by the individual people attending.
They may also charge supplements for single occupancy, all of which were incorporated when IOW Tours used to contract to the hotels that they regularly used, and as I said previously gave them a leverage on prices.
Indeed, if numbers were restricted who would make the choice of who could attend and who can’t? Certainly not me!
If social distancing indoors were still to be restricted & face masks to be worn in public areas would this the type of reunion members would want to attend? Or would they rather be safe, be together, free to move and be in the company of who they choose, which I feel we could have in 2022.
I am not trying to be negative in this matter, but we do need to be realistic about what is achievable and the practicalities of organising a Reunion on such a tight timescale with the continuing uncertainty of accommodation, travel, and restrictions that we still find ourselves in.
Web Manager
Callie Neale
Today’s report is focused on final testing activities in preparation for transfer of domain to new server supplier.
Interim Report below outlines final stages to Go Live.
Several major milestones had been successfully reached. Some local changes required updates to the website which pushed the % of readiness back by 10% due to re-testing although there were clear positives.
Throughout this period, I have continued to update content for back reading. After re-cleaning the membership data, we were able to reach a test pass. The purchase of the additional rba93.co.uk domain has served its purpose well and afforded us a clean space to build and test. The transition to Stripe as a payment service implemented, tested, and received live payments without issue replacing PayPal.
As part of the upgrade, there is automatic email processing. Bespoke automated emails, tested, and approved for use. This is new to the Association and will be a mix of online and offline communication with new processes established including an online validation and approval process.
During testing, the registration process created some major setbacks. Given the nature of the Association and type of information we collect, it was important for this part of the process to work effectively, to link with the payment and automated email system correctly. Not satisfied with the output we took a decision to rework the section and at the same time integrate the standing order process. It has caused some unexpected delay but collectively we believe the new solution is less restrictive to the new member whilst technically robust. Whilst I am disappointed that it added delay, I am satisfied that it was the correct decision and stand by it, thanking all involved or waiting for their continued patience.
Recent activity has involved testing the online shop “Slops” in woo commerce and pushing our way through the final bug fix list. As we stand today there are four fixes outstanding. Three are essential fixes pre-Go Live and we have set time aside Monday/Tuesday next week to work on those as we now have a solution. Fix three is new, GDPR related and requires more thought. Fix four relates to default WordPress behavior which we may have to live with it short term and carry forward to phase 2 as it does not impact on website functionality.
Provided we can conclude the fixes early next week we plan to migrate www.rba93.com within a week. The impact is 24 hr downtime whilst the website swaps over.
Once the domain www.rba93.com is moved across to the same server as www.rba93.co.uk, there are further housekeeping activities required; setting up of the email addresses for the .com domain, assigning committee roles (approver, membership, shop manager) and completing final checks before we connect to live.
Membership communication emails are pre-prepared to guide members through the new process as part of the Go Live criteria. Once live we will send out the automated mail confirming the member’s ID and password for the site with instructions advising the membership to change their password to something equally robust and memorable. I will be on hand to help any member requiring additional help.
I would like to thank the membership and fellow committee members for your continued support.
No Change to former Point of note: current website. Stet. I am restricting where possible any changes to the live environment, the forum not without its own challenges of discontinued support, remains open for use.
I can be reached at onlinesupport@rba93.com active for all online/web enquiries.
Risk and issue history
| Issue | Assigned to | Date |
| Our people – Committee Listing public and member – adding additional committee member is creating an alignment issue and out of order sequence | NC – tech | 21/6/2021 |
| Roll of Honour – CTB latest update single item – overriding previous records. Using workaround but need to fix to reduce time. | NC – tech / CN refinement | 24/6/2021 |
| GDPR update – new update | NC: – tech / CN refinement | 25/6/2021 |
| Testing revealed posts are not category based in WordPress and post ID is a default behaviour. Defer phase 2 pending investigation. Not obvious and no functional impact or user experience impact. | CN: review WordPress behaviours and revisit | Phase 2 |
| CONCLUSIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS |
Whilst there remain three key fixes to conclude and a couple of amber tasks pending, I am reporting Green readiness status, as I feel confident that we have solutions for the fixes and simply require fix and test time next week. Once the domain is transferred 2 of the 3 amber tasks will resolve themselves.
Critical path activities, subject to the fix and test process presenting the expected results, we will have reached the end of testing and can sign off the website as approved. The next steps are standard domain transfer of www.rba93.com to align with www.rba93.co.uk in readiness for setting up of committee roles, email addresses and sending the membership their member id’s and passwords. Membership communication emails are pre-prepared to guide members through the new process as part of the Go Live criteria. Once we have a confirmed date (imminent – post fix outcome), an email from the Chairman will be sent independently to encourage members to look out for the mail and follow the instructions. I will be on standby to support any member requiring additional help.
Many thanks for your continued investment and support. Now On the home straight.
Merchandising Manager
Steve Holmes
Since the last meeting, the slops have sold the following:
5 x Facemasks – £50
1 x Poppy Pins – £11.25
TOTAL – £61.25
PayPal fees (approx. 6%) – £1.27
P&P fee (approx.) – £5.16
(Not so) GRAND TOTAL £54.82
There has clearly been a considerable slowdown in the merchandise being sold and honestly, I have not done a great deal of peddling (day job getting in the way).
After some research I have test purchased a mug which I took delivery of and canvassed opinion on via the Association WhatsApp group. The feedback was positive, so I have purchased a further 20 at a cost of £80.50. These should be delivered early in Jul 21.
I think it would be fair to sell these for £15 which includes P&P as it’s not as simple as putting a facemask or poppy pin in an envelope.
We can potentially provide a personalised mug service. This will attract higher costs to the member and longer wait times for delivery, but the personal touch is worth it in my opinion (not to mention more lucrative!). I have an account with Vista print now, so it’s not a laborious task. The difficult bit would be the logistics of getting a bespoke order to me via the shop on the website.
I decided against the fridge magnets as they were quite tacky. I also purchased 10 x small magnetic fridge calendars (15cm x 10cm) with the Association crest and RN emblem at approx. £1 each. They were not what I’d hoped they would be so have decided against putting them out.
We still have a few facemasks left if anyone is interested!
Standard Bearer
Nigel Carpenter
The Standard has been paraded twice since the last meeting.
Firstly, and with heavy heart but much pride at the funeral of David Tindale. I was a good friend of David’s having relieved him twice as DNPM Plymouth and NPM Scotland & Northern Ireland, and it was a true honour to support Trish and her family on behalf of the Association.
Secondly, I was invited to parade our Standard alongside the Standard of my local Branch of the RNA Bracknell which I also Chair, and the Standard of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Royal Regiment Association, at our village Cenotaph in Binfield, Berkshire on the occasion of Prince Philip’s funeral.
Finally, The Royal Naval Association is holding its traditional Biennial Parade at the Cenotaph in Whitehall on Sunday 12th September, and will forthwith be known as the Naval Associations Parade. To that end, as a member of the Confederation of Naval Associations (CONA), we have an invitation to take part. Members will march past Whitehall en masse and I hope to parade the Standard….yet to be confirmed. Recognising that our membership is spread far and wide, it is not anticipated that we could muster a strong contingent, but if any member would like to attend, then please contact me for further details.
Serving Members and Hearsay Herald
No Reports
Museum Curator
Willie Dick
I have now returned to Southwick Park since the Lockdown and look forward to the time when we can return to a bit of normality. I had the privilege of showing a VIP around the Museum on the 3rd June 2021, Brigadier Mike Caldicott CBE Commandant of Logistics Policing and Administration. He intimated that he was very impressed by our history.
On my return to the Museum, I was really very pleased to see that my office was completely refurbished by Lt Cdr Michelle Thompson to whom I am very grateful. This makes research and administration functions easier and more welcoming for visitors.
I managed to display the loss of HMS Hood and the sad loss of the Regulators on 24th May 1941, before the 80th anniversary. They were MAA Alfred J Chandler, RPO Cecil H Crouch, RPO Frederick W J Palmer and RPO John H Smith.
Map Room Presentations will not take place until after the 19th July in accordance with Government Guidelines, I have a few bookings in my Diary.
President’s Address
David Lodrick
VOLUNTEERS: ALL WORK AND NO PAY
I would again wish to thank all members of the Committee for their continued passion, commitment and dedication to our aims and ambitions especially during this extremely challenging time.
As a committee, we send our greetings to Admiral Sir Alan Massey whose patronage we continue to enjoy.
I am pleased to report that the Association continues to have a positive input to embryo RNP police officers. Each intake is given a comprehensive insight into the antecedence of their specialisation. At the same time, they are informed of the code of the practice of principles and standard of professional behaviour which has been used for decades by their forebears – members of the Regulating Branch. These include integrity, belief in service, impartiality, duty, transparency in tandem with developing communication skills, personal responsibility, resilience, and team working. So, in this small way, the identity and legacy of our Branch continues to manifest itself in the life of the modern RN Police Officer.
I would wish to wholeheartedly thank the Command and especially the RN faculty at the DSPG at Southwick Park who have always enthusiastically and generously welcomed our Association into the establishment. They are totally supportive of us, especially their keen interest in all aspects of the museum and its administration by its totally dedicated curator Mr. Willie Dick.
He continues to be widely recognised for his in-depth knowledge of Branch history, positive initiatives, and sterling efforts in administering the museum. He is a valuable asset and has done, and continues to do us proud.
Finally, we remember all those who have been affected in any way by Covid – I know that our Shepherd, Father Michael, remembers them in his prayers – as do I.
Chairman’s Address
Nigel Carpenter
Firstly, I would like to thank all those committee members who were able to make this Zoom meeting, and contribute to the not insignificant volunteer effort that is required when pursuing the aims and objectives of an Association on behalf of its membership. Full details of the various post holders ongoing activities which were presented verbally at the meeting have been captured by Willie, our Secretary, and reproduced in these minutes so I do not intend to repeat those efforts and will just concentrate on my own musings as your elected Chairman. You will know already that I do not take the responsibilities required of your Chairman lightly, but I will repeat ad infinitum that it would be impossible without the support of our strongly represented committee, stalwarts all, whose volunteer efforts make my role a lot easier. Despite Covid, lockdowns, zoom virtual interactions and all of the other challenges to our society of late, our Association continues to evolve and remain on course of continuing to meet our aims, as you will have seen in the reports above.
As promised at the last committee meeting, I have fully updated the Association’s Constitution document which, once the relatively minor changes are ratified at the AGM, will be made available to all via our new website. Speaking of which, it was encouraging to see/hear Callie’s report on the progress of the website design and development. We believe we are very close to roll-out although I think we’ve all felt that for several months but without an appreciation of the sheer technical effort that has been required to update the 90’s model to a 20’s model. It’s almost unbelievable the number of hurdles and challenges that have cropped up just when you think you’re close to readiness, and I commend Callie for her resilience and technical knowledge brought to bear on our behalf, and above all her patience to continuously wade back in amongst the crocodiles when necessary. She is a meticulous professional and we have spoken most weeks, sometimes more than once, to ensure the path we are carving is absolutely the right one to be the public face of our Association.
We are informed that Steve Robertson, son of one of our founders, and currently our serving members rep, is leaving the service towards the end of the year, and so the search for a new serving members rep is underway in anticipation.
The continuance of our rich heritage is our constant aim, and this role is critical in being able to do that, and finding the right person to continue that aspiration is imperative.
Finally, and briefly my thanks to our President and Vice President for their sage counsel when sought, our Patron, Admiral Sir Alan Massey for his unwavering support, and above all to the committee for their individual and collective efforts on your behalf. Whilst it is sad that Covid again does not allow us to gather in person for a reunion, I truly hope that we’ll be shaking hands, hugging, and enjoying a few beers together in October 2022.
Next Meeting Friday 1st October at 1600
AGM Saturday 2nd October at 1000
Meeting Closed at 2055.
Signed W. G Dick
Secretary