Brigade Council 2001 - Northampton, England
The following notes have been prepared as a guide to the proceedings and decisions of Council:
The Revd A W Avery, Chaplain, 16th Northampton Company conducted the opening service.
The Brigade President, His Honour Judge Lockett, read a message of loyal greeting that had been sent to our Patron, Her Majesty The Queen on behalf of Council. Council then stood to receive her reply.
Copies of the Standing Orders for the procedures at meetings of Brigade Council had been previously circulated and were accepted. However Mr J Cooper of 16th London objected to the inclusion of section 5.6. Since this clause was not material to the Business of Council this year President agreed that the clause be remitted for further consideration by the Executive. This was accepted.
Members of Council were welcomed to Northampton by Mr Steve Dickinson, President, Northampton. Battalion. The Brigade President replied and welcomed members and guests. He also read out greetings from The Girls' Brigade, England and Wales, and Raymond Bray, Brigade Honorary Vice President. The President also passed on the good wishes of Margaret, Lady Thurso an Honorary Vice-President.
The voting strength at Council was as follows: 137 ordinary votes and 208 proxy votes. Total votes: 345
The President spoke of his travels during his year in office to many parts of the UK and Eire. He paid tribute to the work of the Brigade full-time staff. The President then announced the appointment of Mr Steve Dickinson as a Brigade Vice President.
Members of the Brigade who had died in the past year were remembered.
Minutes of Council held in 2000 in Brighton, which had been circulated were proposed and accepted.
The Brigade Secretary, Mr Sydney Jones, presented the Annual Report for the session 2000-01. Several matters in the report were highlighted including the Millennium Appeal for the RLNI which had raised monies for two inshore boats, the take up of the new uniform by a large number of companies, and the Raw Deal project which has been run by members of the International Forum; most of whom are young officers. Mr Jones spoke of the new Youth Leader Training scheme and particularly the inclusion of 'Faith Development' as a specific topic within this material. He went on to say that many of the objectives in the Business Plan had been achieved. There was however, still some way to go in relation to programme development. The appointment of a Director of Training two years ago had bought significant progress in areas of training, the Brigade now requires to place an equal focus on programme. The Brigade Executive is shortly to consider alternative staffing structures to ensure that we continue to provide the best service possible within the resources available. The Brigade Secretary finished his report by saying that, wherever we looked there was much to encourage us. With our core task as the Advancement of Christ's Kingdom, we have much to be thankful for.
The President seconded the Annual Report; there were no questions or comments from the floor.
The President then paid tribute to the work of The Brigade Secretary who is due to retire in January 2002 and presented him with a DVD player to which many companies and individuals had subscribed The balance of the amount raised was presented in a cheque for the purchase of a computer. Mr Jones expressed his thanks to all who had contributed and went on to speak of the many changes that had taken place both inside and outside of the Brigade during his time as the Chief Executive. He urged the Brigade to encourage innovation and to challenge traditions that inhibited our work, also to liberate the talents and hopes of the young people with whom we work. He spoke of the challenges facing the Brigade which include the need to achieve financial equilibrium and to ensure that our eyes remain firm on our Christian objectives. Council then stood to applaud.
Mr Ron Dunning presented the Annual Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2001 and highlighted a number of items in the accounts. Members of Council were encouraged to promote the Associate Member scheme to Old Boys and parents; each company was challenged to recruit 2 new Associate members. Mr Dunning also spoke about company contributions for the session 2001/02. The annual registration fee will be £125 per company for this session, there will also be a £5 increase this year across each of the banded fees; officer fees will remain the same. There were a number of questions from the floor concerning auditor's fees, development costs and fees for Reserve Officers; also income earned by The Brigade from the Bank of Scotland BB affinity credit card.
A non-constitutional motion in the name of Glasgow Battalion was proposed
by Mr J Cooper, Captain, 101st Glasgow Company that Council, 'Delete the
note at the end of paragraph 22 and the whole of paragraph 23 and replace it
with: 23 New Uniform: Brigade Council approved a new uniform on 4th September
1999 and the following regulations were applied from 1 January 2000. However,
paragraphs 3 to 22 of the Uniform Regulations may be retained by companies as
an option to the regulations in paragraphs 24 to 29.' (i.e. this would remove
the date of 2006 by which all companies would be required to wear the new
uniform as agreed by Council in September 1999.) Mr A Mitchell, Captain 49th
Glasgow Company, seconded the motion. Mr Bill Carmichael spoke against the
motion on behalf of the Brigade Executive. After an extensive debate, a card
vote was taken:
Ordinary votes for 27 / Ordinary votes against 99
Proxy votes for 63 / Proxy votes against 30
Postal proxies for 44 / Postal Proxies against 82
Total votes for 134 / Total votes against 211
The motion was defeated
Karen Jay, Director of Training and Martyn Waters, Director, England and Wales made a presentation about the current training strategy as highlighted in the Business Plan. Work has been undertaken during the past two years on a number of training issues. These include a leader recruitment policy and induction checklist, a development scheme to improve the quality of company programmes and the skills of officers and leaders, Youth Leader Training which is linked to occupational standards (this replaces Officer Basic from this September), and a revamped scheme of Renewal Training centred around the two headings of youth work and children's work competencies, and programme activities. Several new training packages are still to come including training for captains and officers in charge, and a revised holiday leadership scheme. This strategy for training will help improve the quality of local company programmes and the experiences of young people during their time in the Brigade.
Under an item entitled 'Young Leaders Working' Julian Farrar, 29th Leeds and Chris Norman, 10th Enfield, both members of International Teams spoke about their experiences with the 'Street Wise and 'Raw Deal' projects and referred to the soon to be launched 'On the Edge' project. Members of Council were encouraged to use the resources of 'On the Edge' in their companies, to promote the project in their battalions and districts and to invite a member of International Teams to speak about this important initiative.
Emma Plews, BBHQ MV Project Officer made a short presentation about the Millennium Volunteer scheme. Phillip Allen from Birmingham, Sarah Lane from Barnet, and Richard Miles from Leamington Spa gave accounts of their work as Millennium Volunteers both within their BB companies, their churches, and their local communities. Their voluntary work has already included work within various BB sections, helping with music and worship in the church and with 'B5', the Birmingham Battalion worship group. The MV scheme has helped with costs for training and out of pocket expenses. Members of Council were asked to promote the BBMV scheme to companies within their local areas to help ensure that young leaders took the opportunities to receive some recognition for their BB and other voluntary work.
Four optional workshops were held:
- Leadership Development - Mr Steven Henderson, 1st Bishopton, Paisley & District Battalion
- Millennium Volunteers - Mr Eric Hudson and Ms Emma Plews both members of HQ staff
- Company Development Scheme - Mr Martyn Waters, HQ staff
- Youth Leader Training - Ms Karen Jay, HQ staff
There were no items of Other Competent Business.
An invitation to Council 2002 was made by Mr Tony Wakeman, President, Birmingham Battalion who then presented an engraved plate to the retiring Brigade Secretary on behalf of the officers and boys of the Battalion.
The Brigade Secretary then proposed a Vote of Thanks to the President for his chairmanship of the meeting, which was approved with acclamation.
The President led the closing service in the absence of Rev Trevor Wilson who had not been able to attend council because of a family bereavement.
1 September 2001
