At our General Meeting last night 7 members were present. They were Simon Turner, Suzanne Jones, Anthony Loukes, Sophie Earl, Julian Sansom, Judy Sumner; and Jonathan Hornett, who was appointed as chair for this meeting. He introduced the following agenda items:
- Constitution
- Committee and Officers
- Bank Account
- Activities
- One Wellingborough Plus
Members went through to the proposed constitution discussing the following points:
Name of the organisation
Objectives and aims of the organisation
Powers
Membership
Equal opportunities
Management Committee
Named Officers
Meetings
Finance
Amendments to the constitution
Dissolution
All members confirmed that all points in the constitution were what they had agreed. The constitution was proposed by Judy and seconded by Simon and we voted to formally adopt the proposed constitution. There was a unanimous vote in favour and we formally adopted this as our constitution. We are now officially a constituted group!
Members discussed how the committee will work, and then we nominated and elected a committee and officers. Each committee member was officially nominated by another member and then seconded by a different member; then were voted in by the majority of members present as follows:
Suzanne Jones – Committee Member, nominated by Jonathan, seconded by Simon, voted in unanimously.
Jonathan Hornett – Secretary, nominated by Julian, seconded by Suzanne, voted in unanimously.
Simon Turner – Treasurer, nominated by Judy, seconded by Julian, voted in unanimously.
Judy Sumner – Membership Secretary, nominated by Anthony, seconded by Simon, voted in unanimously.
Sophie Earl-Martin – Media Secretary, nominated by Suzanne, seconded by Julian, voted in unanimously.
Julian Sansom – Business Secretary, nominated by Simon, seconded by Suzanne, voted in unanimously.
We now have an elected committee of 6 members!
Bank Account
We then needed to formally agree to set up a bank account and at which bank. This had been fully researched before the meeting by Jonathan Hornett and had been previously discussed with the above nominated officers. Jonathan Hornett has accounts at Natwest and proposed them as our bank, this was seconded by Simon. The committee and members present voted on this and unanimously decided to apply for a bank account at NatWest. It was also agreed that the officers that would have access to this bank account would be Jonathan and Simon, and that a minimum of two officers would have to approve payments.
Activities:
Our activities, including social media, were then discussed, and the following was shared at the meeting:
Facebook Group now has 420 members! Nextdoor Group has 42.
NEW Twitter and Instagram accounts and a Facebook Page set up!
NEW website and emails set up at wellingboroughecogroup.org.uk
Litter Pick, generally last Saturday of each month, next 1st Saturday of December due to lockdown. At November’s litter pick 17 of us tidied Hemmingwell, collecting 35 bags of litter, 4 wheels, a scooter, bin of greenhouse glass, a jukebox and a portable stereo!
Repair Café, we had one planned at Glamis Hall on Saturday 14th November, but this has been cancelled due to the lockdown. Next one planned for January…
Community Allotment now has a gravel on parking area. Working parties of two to be worked out.
One Wellingborough Plus:
We agreed at our last meeting to jointly manage One Wellingborough Plus’s Community Resilience Actions, and to accept funding for our new projects. These will include our community allotment, plus swap shops, a repair club (to work alongside our Repair Cafes) and a volunteer time bank.
Jonathan Hornett drew up an action plan for these activities and presented it with Judy Sumner to a One Wellingborough Plus meeting. This was shared with our meeting and discussed. The majority of the spending is at our community allotment, there has also been money allocated for leaflets and posters for the Swap Shop and Repair Café Club.
Views, Summary and End of Meeting:
Members shared their views on this meeting and were in agreement that it had been very productive. We have constituted the group, set up a committee and discussed our activities, including our involvement as part of the One Wellingborough plus project. The chair of the meeting, Jonathan, thanked everyone who attended, and agreed to write the minutes and announce that we have formally constituted.
Notes:
The Constitution can be found on our new website at wellingboroughecogroup.org.uk/eco/constitution/
The Committee and Officers have a page at wellingboroughecogroup.org.uk/eco/committee/
WELLINGBOROUGH ECO GROUP 