STOURBRIDGE OLD EDWARDIAN CLUB

ED-Words  Newsletter
December 2020

My year as Vice President preparing to become President has been interesting to say the least. Who would have thought the whole country being put into lockdown for long periods causing the club to close and creating a new normal for us all. I can remember people being banned for wearing a mask in a shop, particularly a bank and now it is all part of our daily routine.

Last year’s President Rob Hill has had a challenging term of office and has unfortunately had to cancel regularly held functions and was obliged to chair our general committee on Zoom. We have had an excellent attendance and robust debate not least over the contents of the business plan I produced for the club, outlining various ideas of how we can return to a sustainable position as a trading business. I pay tribute to Past President Rob for supporting me writing the plan and timetabling sufficient time to hold meaningful discussions. Given the circumstances Rob has had a unique year and I thank him on behalf of the Club for leading us through interesting times. I have indicated that some of the cancelled functions that he would have been guest of honour at, such as President’s evening, will be organised in my year so that Rob can enjoy belatedly what he was denied in his year due to the pandemic.    

Looking forward to my year, I hope we can return to having the club open again with members and guests able to enjoy our facilities and the regular functions. I’m sure the vaccination programme will enable us to do this and hopefully let us all to return to some form of normality similar to pre-pandemic days without a mask in sight except in a clinical setting.

The College has, of course,  been hit by the consequences of the pandemic which drastically affects the activities we normally report.

In parallel, activity is afoot for the College to embrace the opportunity to join an  Academy organisation and the financial and logistical benefits that would bring.

The College website is: https://www.kedst.ac.uk

Click HERE for details of the Academy initiative and HERE for wider details of the College operations including COVID-19 situation, Online learning and much more.

XMAS Carol Service: for those in need of seasonal uplift, I have found the "virtual" carol service from the College  on their website. Click HERE. 

Sadly, and due to the COVID-19 pandemic we have no imminent scheduled events.

Hopefully our events programme will re-emerge when we are allowed to re-open and will be made visible on our Events Calendar.

Our Annual General Meeting was held on Monday 7th December in line with the provisions of our bylaws.For the very first time and due to COVID-19 restrictions , this was conducted electronically, remotely and successfully using ZOOM - the internationally established method of conducting conference meetings. Our new President masterminded the process - in addition to attending to his Presidential duties on the night!

As agreed, only those who had offered to receive AGM packs and future membership renewal packs electronically (some 104 of you) were invited to attend this electronic ZOOM meeting. For others who may also wish to be included in such processes in the future, please click HERE and follow the instructions.

27 people in total joined the meeting including some from many miles away who otherwise would not have been able to attend at the Club in person due to distance or health reasons. Following the very favourable feedback, we are seriously considering using this mechanism of including those who wish to join remotely whether or not we hold the meetings at the Club in future.

Robin Morrison was appointed as the 2020-2021 President. Robert Hill (now the immediate Past President) was also appointed as the new Vice President. He will again take up the position of President in 2021-2022 from next Year's AGM. This unusual action was authorised in view of the fact that Rob, although steering many important decisions this year, has been unable to take part in any social functions as these have needed to be cancelled.

A vote of thanks to the Committee was proposed by Graham Wood who did a magnificent job in outlining the various actions and achievements during the year.

The Annual Report with financial statements was duly accepted and may be viewed HERE.

The Minutes of the meeting have been prepared in draft mode pending sign off at next year's AGM and may be accessed HERE.

To all our readers:

"A very Merry Christmas and a healthy and fulfilling New Year - full of the things which you would wish for yourself and your families - and looking forward to when we can all "meet again at the Club".  Meanwhile, stay safe.....