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27th October
2009
SAFFRON
WALDEN CONSERVATIVE CLUB
GENERAL COMMITTEE
MEETING MINUTES
Meeting held on Tuesday 27th October
2009
Members
Present: Mr Keith Eden
(KE) (Chairman); Mr Malcolm Head (MH) (Treasurer); Mrs Gemma
Hill (GH) (Events); Mr Keith Hill (KH) (Licence Officer);
Mr John Gerrard (JG) (Membership/Minutes Secretary); Mr Colin
Long (CL); Mr Richard Harrington (RH) (Bar & Catering);
Mr Bob Eastham (RE) (Secretary);
1. Apologies for Absence: Mr
David Watson (DW), Mr Keith Elsom (KEl)
2.
Minutes of Meeting: Held on 25th September 2009: Minutes
were accepted.
3.
Matters Arising from Item 2: All matters arising dealt
with in Chairman and Treasurer’s Reports
4. The
Chairman’s (KE) Report:
KE
announced that funding of £30,000 has been agreed with
ACC so we can meet all of our obligations.
Asset
Issue:
KE asked what should we do about
the Club furniture etc
RE proposed that we wait until
we have decided whether or not to keep the present Club building.
Philip Smith (PS)(ACC) said that
a proposal to lease the Club was totally unacceptable. ACC
would be very concerned if SWCC accepted this proposal.
The committee also unanimously agreed that it was unacceptable.
ACC would prefer us to rent the property for a fair rent and
use the income for other things e.g. rent a suitable property
for SWCC.
MG proposed that we maximise
the sale of the Club and should not accept the original estimate
of £680,000.
RE still awaiting an offer from
a.n.other either to lease or buy the property.
RE reported that an email had
been sent to all estate agents in the town for quotes to sell
the property. Cheffins, Bidwell’s and Wakelins @ Inter
County (W@IC) all replied within the timescale. MH
and KE met the agents. The 2
most likely to succeed were W@IC and Bidwell’s. RE
has received written proposals from each of them. Following
negotiation, all parties finally agreed on a joint agency
deal. If the Club sells for up to £850,000 their commission
would be 1.25%. The rate increases progressively until if
sold for over £1,000,000 it would be 1,75%.
KE
met with Mike Hibbs (MH) this
evening and agreed that the plans to convert the building
back to residential would be ready for public display on 7
Nov 2009. MH will seek planning
permission for two buildings.
The estate
agents will jointly advertise the property in the press on
5 Nov 2009 and there will be an Open Day at 5 Museum Street
on 7 Nov 2009 from 1000 hrs. The plans for the building will
also be available for viewing. It will be advertised for sale
as subject to planning consent.
RE
has instructed Michael Snow to carry out a survey. The Club
will be marketed for private or commercial use.
KE suggested that if no interest
is shown within a month we should look at the rental market.
We should keep all options open.
Tania Wreathall (G-K) has enquired about the sale of the snooker
table. We will get an estimate of its true value before asking
for offers. KE will write to
interested parties for offers based on its true valuation.
5. Treasurer’s
Report (MH)
We now
have cash in the bank from ACC charged at 6.5% interest.
MG queried this as our loan charge is only 5% and he
will check it tomorrow. This money will allow our creditors
to be paid. Bondholders will be paid in January when the 12
months period expires; they will receive 5% interest. MH
will notify those bond holders who are not committee members.
Most creditors have now been paid. Eon gas bill still has
to be paid. Prestige is owed £200 but the company has
closed and MH has been told to
deal with their administrators.
G-K has not yet asked for repayment of our loan.
There are two full barrels of IPA in the cellar but they are
now out of date. We have a barrel of Carlsberg and a barrel
of Fosters, which expire on 15 Nov 2009. MH
will approach the OEG regarding sale.
RE read a letter from NFU insurance.
Our payments have been reduced but we are no longer covered
for water damage or theft while the property is empty. We
will need to turn the water off and then turn it on only when
necessary.
RE will visit every day to check
the property.
6. Club Website:
JG
has received a bill for £25 to keep the Club website
domain name, which is due to expire on 21 Dec 2009. Agreed
unanimously to renew, as SWCC has not closed, just the building.
It was also proposed by KE and
agreed unanimously that these minutes be published on the
website to keep members up to speed.
7. AOB:
a. The
front door lock has been changed, RE,
KE, DW, MH and estate agents have keys. The rear gate
can be easily opened, DW to improve
its security.
b. Mike
Sargeant has asked for first refusal on the sale of all darts
equipment.
c. There
are a number of snooker cues still in the snooker room and
members can arrange to collect them by contacting Malcolm
Head (Treasurer) on 01799- 504908
Date
of Next Meeting: Monday 23 November 2009 at 2000 hrs.
Meeting
closed at 2106 hrs
29th
July 2009
The
Future of The Club
Following
the EGM and a request for Club Members to pledge to support
the Club financially, only 44 Pledge forms were received,
which amounted in total to £8,100, which was well short
of the required amount. As announced at the EGM failure to
support Option 2 would mean default to Option 1.
At
a Committee Meeting held on 27th July 2009, all committee
members present voted unanimously in favour of the following
proposal:
"The
Committee has regretfully had to close the Club from 30th
September 2009 and give the Club Steward formal notice.
Between now and 30th September the Committee will, however,
examine an option of either selling the flat or the cottage
and if that is possible would plan to keep the Club open after
30th September"
Bill
Melhuish R.I.P.
Bill
Melhuish passed away on Thursday 21st May at Addenbrooks
Hospital after a short illness, age 94
The
funeral will take place on Wednesday 3rd June - at 13.45 at
St Marys Church, Saffron Walden and then on to his burial
at Cheshunt Cemetery for 15.15
There
will be a wake at the Conservative Club, Saffron Walden from
16.30 for all those who would like to come and have a drink
and some food on Bill.
Peasgood
& Son Saffron Walden are handling the funeral arrangements,
and any flowers can be sent there.
Recently
Deceased Members
Mona
Rumsey
David
Steel
William
Taylor
George
Benson
Stanley
Butcher
Eric
Swann
Denis
Holman
Brian
Blackwell
Bill
Melhuish
It is
with regret that I have to report that the members named above
passed away recently. They will be sadly missed and our thoughts
are with their families.
Wing
Commander Mel Bennett DFC SNB
7 Jan 1926 -7 April 2008
The funeral
of Mel Bennett took place on Friday 18 Apr 2008 at St Mary
The Virgin Church, Saffron Walden. The coffin, covered by
a Union Flag, was led into church by the Bomber Command Association
Standard and the Royal British Legion (Saffron Walden Branch)
Standard. Following the flag-draped coffin came Mel’s
grandson, Timothy, carrying his medals on a cushion.
The service
began with the RAF hymn and was followed with a poem “High
Flight” which was read by John Guy of the Aircrew Association.
The first
tribute was paid by Air Vice-Marshal H A Merriman, CB, CBE,
AFC*, FRAeS, DL and he outlined Mel’s career and in
particular how he was awarded two Queen’s Commendations
for Valuable service in the Air in addition to the Distinguished
Flying Cross, which was presented to him personally by Her
Majesty The Queen.
The Air
Vice-Marshal also went on to describe how on 8th December
1962 the Air Officer Commanding Far East told Mel to prepare
his Squadron to move to Borneo for a special mission. Mel
took off in the late afternoon with 100 Gurkhas and had to
land in the dark at an airfield that had been taken over by
rebel insurgents from Indonesia. The Gurkhas recaptured the
airfield and remained there for the rest of the Emergency.
The Sultan of Brunei presented Mel the Star Negara Brunei
(SNB) (equivalent to a knighthood in UK), which means if he
ever visited that country in an official capacity he would
have been entitled to an escort of four Pikemen and four Swordsmen.
He was also awarded his second Queen’s Commendation
for Valuable service in the Air.
The second
moving tribute came from Andrew Bennett, one of Mel’s
three grandchildren, who described his memories of holidays
with his parents (Nick and Sally) and grandparents (Mel and
June).
The service
concluded with the RAF March and a flypast by a Royal Air
Force Hawk jet flying in low from the west.
Amongst
the packed church were many of Mel’s friends from the
Aircrew Association, RAF Association, Royal British Legion,
Conservative Club and 1824 Squadron ATC. Mel would have been
particularly proud to see many of his former ATC cadets at
the service including Flt Lt Guy Harvey, now a pilot with
8 Squadron at RAF Waddington, Sgt James Eaton now based at
Northwood, Cpl James Howell now working with the US Air Force
near Nevada, Graham Burling now an engineer with BA at Heathrow
and his wife, Marie, another former cadet. Henry Luck was
given leave from the army to attend but he is hoping to follow
in Mel’s footsteps as a pilot in the RAF. Captain Richard
Webb, now an Apache pilot with the Army Air Corps, sent his
apologies, as he is about to leave for his third tour in Afghanistan.
Squadron Leaders Ian Poole and Jeff Carpenter represented
East Essex Wing ATC.
Afterwards
at the Conservative Club, Mel’s son, Nick, also an airline
captain, personally met and thanked everyone who had attended
the service.
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