1. annual gathering 2012 · 2. trustees – we cant have under-16s as trustees/directors (they fall...

Minutes General Council 18/19 Feb 2012 page 1 of 1

Minutes of General Council Meeting, 18/19 February 2012 at 10:10 Building in Camden

Who was here

Ann MacGarry

Barclay Davies

Carly Walker-Dawson (Deputy Chair)

Emma Jagne

Ghee Bowman

Imogen Probyn-Gibbs

Jack Brown (Sat pm onwards)

Jess Poyner

Jon Nott (General Secretary)

Kate Bowman

Kerry Frankland

Kieran Ford

Kirsty O’Neill (observer)

Kit Jones (Vice-Chair, Centres)

Lloyd Russell-Moyle

Pat Hunter (Chair)

Phin Harper

Ralph Sleigh

Richard Robertson (Treasurer)

Saskia Niebig

Tom Gower (Acting Vice-Chair, Staffing)

Zoë Fidler

Apologies

KT Moon

Barclay Davies (Sunday)

Jack Brown (Sat morning)

Lloyd Russell-Moyle (missed part of Sat)

Phin Harper (missed part of Sat)

1. Annual Gathering 2012 1a Motions for AG 2012

Motion 1: Branch Structure Reality

2 big points:

1. Difficulty of membership – different classes of membership can be confusing – under

company law, we must record the names of all members. Therefore either groups would

need to submit the names of each Elfin, Pioneer and Venturer OR we make local groups

themselves members of the company and group members (i.e. young people) would be

represented in the company via their group (much like delegates at Gathering at present).

AGREED: The second option is preferable.

ACTION: Lloyd to talk to Bates Wells about language to describe the different membership

categories.

2. Trustees – We can’t have under-16s as trustees/directors (they fall into the ‘disqualified

person’ category), even if they don’t vote, they ‘act’ as a director. Choice is to bar under 16s

from General Council completely OR to select a smaller group to be the Trustees, e.g. F&GP.

Need to choose which one to work up

Status quo is not an option. Three options for us - ask solicitors to write up

1 Draw up both & allow AG to choose between

2 have F&GP as trustee board (16+)

3 exclude under 16s from General Council

AGREED: We chose option 2 – F&GP as Trustee Board.

ACTION: Lloyd to talk to Bates Wells about drawing up this option.

AGREED: Lloyd to speak on motion at Annual Gathering


Motion 2: Safeguarding Panels

General Council oppose – AG should not be the competent body for safeguarding

AGREED: Tom to speak on motion at Annual Gathering

Motion 3: Safeguarding Review

Amendment: change ‘law professional’ to ‘understanding of safeguarding’

No note of who is going to write/submit that amendment

General Council support if amendment passed, has No view on motion if amendment not passed.

AGREED: Tom to speak on motion at Annual Gathering

Noted that is would be much better if appeal happens before these motions

Noted that Motions 4 and 5 both require change to APP, therefore clause should be printed in front

of them reminding people of the 2/3rds majority required.

ACTION: Jon to talk to SOC about this.

Motion 4: membership categories safeguarding

Now – full members needs CRB

Motion at AG2011 asked to separate

This motion means that we clarify people can be members without a CRB check only if they don’t

work with Children & Young People.

For clarity it would help to add in DEF 1 to DEF 3 in agenda paper

ACTION: Carly WD will contact SOC

First sentence of this motion isn’t clear – needs an amendment – get rid of 1st sentence & remove

‘therefore’. ACTION: Carly WD will contact SOC

The motion needs a rationale

ACTION: Lloyd will write rationale

AGREED: Ralph to propose motion at Annual Gathering

Motion 5 & 6: Annual review of Registration fee

AGREED: Richard propose both motions at Annual Gathering

Motion 7: Add to AP&P section on Trade Unions

AGREED: General Council has no position on motion 7

Motion 8: Workers of the World Unite

ACTION: Carly to contact SOC to change encourage to urge

AGREED: Kieran to propose motion at Annual Gathering

Motion 9: election results


Motion 10: Project Koodoo

ACTION: Zoë to ask DFs to provide info on Share



Motion 11: Project Koodoo

AGREED: Kit to propose motion 11 at Annual Gathering

Motion 12: Ceremonies


Motion 13: DF events

AGREED: General Council has no view, but need to give point of information that this is underway -

see December minutes.

AGREED: Emma to raise the point of information at Annual Gathering

Motion 14: Folk History


Motion 15: membership fees

Laid on table from 2011

AGREED: General Council oppose on practical grounds – not the right time for this change

AGREED: Richard to speak against motion at Annual Gathering

Motion 16: Park Farm

ACTION: Lloyd to draft amendment opposing on the grounds that we value all centres as assets to

movement, in the expectation that it will be ruled out, but in order to make a statement.

ACTION: Richard/Kit/Lloyd to communicate this amendment / General Council view to Wimbledon

AGREED: Richard to speak on motion at Annual Gathering, Carly to be on standby to speak if

needed

Motion 17: Anti-fracking

AGREED: Saskia to propose motion at Annual Gathering

Motion 18: Visas

AGREED: Kieran to draft amendment setting out General Council’s role as facilitators rather than

the delivery agent for this campaign.

AGREED: Jess to propose the amendment at Annual Gathering

Amendment to Motion 18: To amend "This Annual Conference agrees...[to end]" to "This Annual Conference mandates General Council to convene a steering group to co-ordinate the campaign which will:

highlight the issue, initially with other youth movements in Britain, and then with likely allies such as trade unions, certain MPs, and the media.

kick-start the campaign, gathering evidence from the last two International Camps held in the UK regarding which groups were refused entry to Britain, which were not and the breadth of problems caused to delegations and hosts.

encourage other youth organisations to do the same Ultimately, the aim of the campaign will be to persuade the Government to relax visa controls for delegations attending future International Camps and youth events in Britain Incredibly helpful expertise appeared when problems were encountered obtaining visas, however this was very late on in the process and many hosting Districts had already had decisions made regarding


their Delegations. The steering group should ensure that expert advice and support resources should be on the Central website at the earliest possible opportunity."

Motion 19: Right to meet

Kieran drafted an amendment

Amendment to motion 19 Amends “This Annual Conference calls upon General Council to launch…" to "This Annual Conference

mandates General Council to convene a steering group to launch…”

AGREED: Jess to speak for amendment

Motion 20: Childcare


Motion 21: Elfin & Pioneer-friendly camps


Noted that Richard will speak on this (as Cambridge)

Motion 22: Financial management

AGREED: General Council has no position on motion 22, but that General Council need to inform

Gathering that if passed they will develop a set of national guidelines

AGREED: Emma to speak on this

Motion 23: Kinsfolk & leaders


Motion 24: DFs as independent

AGREED: General Council opposes this motion

AGREED: Tom to speak against this

NB Need to check whether these 2 groups are registered at time of Annual Gathering

Motion 25: Enabling volunteering

AGREED: General Council oppose this motion, it is important that volunteers sign up to aims and

principles not just pass safeguarding vetting

AGREED: Saskia to speak against this

Motion 26: non-use of How


Motion 27: Dietary requirements


Motion 28: Group registration system

AGREED: General Council oppose this motion as it seeks to overturn the changes agreed last year.

AGREED: Richard to speak against motion at Annual Gathering


1. Annual Gathering 2012 (continued) 1b Chairing

AGREED: There shall be 2 sets of chairs with a gender balance.

AGREED: Lloyd and Pat to be one of the chairing teams

AGREED: To ask Maddy to chair if has time

ACTION: Chair team to finalise.

1c reporting to AG (Big Plan, update on motions)

Jon needs input into the presentation of the annual report to Annual Gathering.

General Council also needs to report back on motions passed at AG11 – Jon has asked various

working groups to feed into this.

1d General Council meetings at AG

Usually:

One on Friday night, 8pm (old General Council & prep)

One on Sunday morning, early (new General Council)

AGREED: to keep that same for 2012

1e Workshops

All on Sunday morning – 2 slots, space very restricted

AGREED: Carly to work with Debs to prioritise by email if we need to.

AGREED: to add to list of possible workshops:

Training for treasurers (Richard)

Common Cause (Kit is contact)

Co-ops UK (Saskia is contact)

Trade Unions (Kieran to ask Paul Bemrose)

1f Appeal process

Not chaired by us

1g Logistics

AGREED: ask Lauren (KP) to include some meat in menu

Fire circle: Tom, Ghee, Imogen

Camping (camp chief): Richard

Stewarding car park: Saskia, Richard, Emma, Ann, Zoe (Saskia, Ann, Richard to co-ordinate)

Litter pick after: Richard co-ordinate

Registrations will be done by staff

2. Minutes of last meeting Corrections –

Kerry was there


P3 re TREE where Jon is quoted as saying targets have not been met, Jon actually said the report was

only a 6 month period where no new Venturer groups opened, but that over the longer term we

were hitting the targets.

Reports 3. General Secretary workplan – noted the new rolling reporting model agreed by Pat and Jon - still

work in progress

ACTION: General Council would like to continue to receive summary 6-month plans as well as the

rolling reports

4. Chair Team report

Kit updated on Hamsterly. NB Joint Centres is Sat 24 Mar, not Mon 26 Mar.

5. Groups opened/closed report

Noted.

6. Website report

Noted.

7. Staff Team highlights

Noted.

8. Fundraising

AGREED: No objections to Jon/Fiona exploring Woodcraft Folk Amazon affiliate bookshop

9. Union Recognition Agreement

Taken under item 12.

10. DF report

General Council note report and welcome DF initiatives, particularly Roots Fund and work on anti-

sexism. Thanks to DFs for their work in these areas. Pat has written to thank Louise her for input.

AGREED: to request a regular report from DF Movement, as it is really good to see the positive

things as well as the challenges.

11. Growth update

Good news to report, our focus on growth for the past few years is starting to pay off, but can’t be

complacent. Focus for now remains on organic growth based on existing districts, but working to

build support for new districts into Big Plan II.

Question: - How are we ensuring GC group buddies are informed of new groups in their area? Carly

is working with Debs on this, but Carly is concerned that GC group liaison system isn’t working as

well as it could – to be discussed by Education and Groups committee.

AGREED: Carly/Saskia to work on new group presentation/display for Annual Gathering.


12. Staffing 12a Chair of staffing committee (Tom left the room)

Chair reported that Jack Brown stepped down as Chair of Staffing Committee and that Tom Gower

had stepped up as acting Chair of Staffing Committee, approved by F&GP.

We’d like to thank Jack for his work in the role.

Tom Gower left the room for the vote

AGREED: General Council confirmed Tom as Chair of Staff committee.

12b Staffing Structure Review [CONFIDENTIAL MINUTE]

The General Secretary and Jess Poyner left the meeting for part of this discussion to avoid a conflict

of interest.

12c EVS update

EVS Report

Jon reported back that the five EVS Volunteers placed with Woodcraft Folk are making great

progress. He highlighted a evaluation of the project as a whole was needed to ensure the EVS

scheme were helping develop Woodcraft Folk and not be a burden and asked for a General Council

volunteer to help with that review.

AGREED: Lloyd and Ann to help Debs with the EVS Review

Woodcraft Folk receives such a volume of EVS applications and follow up phone calls that it is

becoming a significant distraction for the staff.

AGREED: Woodcraft Folk will work with identified sending organisations who are IFM-SEI

members and will list those sending organisations we work with.

AGREED: There are no EVS placements available with Woodcraft Folk until the review is completed

and a simple blanket “no thank you” should be set up as an auto-response to applications

13. Lockerbrook Presentation

General Council welcomed the presentation and thanked Jo Zazada and Will Knight of the

Lockerbrook Management Committee for making the presentation and answering members’

questions.

14. Finance

14a 2011 Accounts and Audit Treasurer reported a budget was set for 2011 with a £7,000 deficit. At present it looks like we will make a slightly higher deficit on core operations due to lower grant income than planned for, but once CoCamp is taken into account we will make a reasonable surplus. The Treasurer stressed that figures were in early draft and were likely to change before the accounts are finalised. AGREED: Minimum of £10,000 of any surplus will be put to reserves.

14b CoCamp Legacy General Council reflected that, in the light of a significant loss at Global Village, we should celebrate the fact that CoCamp had been a financial success as well as a successful event. AGREED: That this should be celebrated at Annual Gathering as really positive and responsible project management by the CoCamp board. AGREED: Kit and Richard will continue to work up proposals for projects that will build on


CoCamp’s success and will leave a legacy.

14c Trustee’s Annual Report Jon outlined the purpose of the Trustees’ Annual Report and asked General Council to give a steer for the shape of and priorities for the 2011 Report. AGREED: Trustees Annual Report should have a more narrative structure, using the Grand Committee groupings to Big Plan topics to convey the ‘Bigger and Better’ message. 14d TREE finance report & Funding Sustainability

Jon explained how work towards our core objectives is supported by the TREE programme. He

explained that we are two years away from the end of TREE funding and a major task for the new

General Council after Annual Gathering will be to develop the next five-year strategy and the

funding plan that will tie into that.

General Council felt that the next plan should be an evolution of the current plan, building on the

current growth strategy and our developing relationships with the Co-operative movement and

Trades Unions.

AGREED: Jack to support Jon and Debs in initial work on the new strategy.

15. IFM-SEI International Committee

Lloyd described the function of IFM-SEI International Committee, which meets in the years between

the triennial IFM-SEI Congress and outlined the need to send a delegate. Lloyd reported on a

proposal for a motion to expel an IFM-SEI organisation that has previously been suspended for

contributing to the illegal building of settlements in Palestine. Kieran outlined the behaviour of the

IFM-SEI member organisation that suggests it should be expelled from IFM-SEI.

AGREED: Kieran to write up a briefing for General Council to support Woodcraft Folk’s taking a

motion calling for the expulsion of the particular IFM-SEI Member Organisation

Kit and Carly leave the room to allow General Council to discuss which should be sent to the IFM-SEI

International Committee.

AGREED: to send Kit to IFM-SEI International Committee

Imogen gave a background to the Israel-Palestine conflict and explained the practice of Illegal

settlement building. Lloyd gave a background to the IFM-SEI presence in the area and introduced the

seven IFM-SEI organisations that operate in Palestine and Israel. Lloyd gave a description of the

organisations and the kind of work they do. Lloyd gave a description of the activity that the IFM-SEI

organisation is undertaking and explained why it is having a destructive impact on other youth

organisations and IFM-SEI international work. Kieran explained how Woodcraft Folk had supported

the Palestinian IYU organisation in bringing a motion to suspend the settlement building IFM-SEI

member organisation from IFM-SEI. He explained why the organisation hasn’t changed and why the

suspension hasn’t been taken seriously. He gave his thoughts on why some IFM-SEI members

originally voted for the suspension as opposed to expulsion.

AGREED: Kit and Kat Budd (who is in Senegal on EVS and will also be attending the International Committee meeting) to propose the following motion of behalf of Woodcraft Folk:

“This International Committee meeting notes that at the last International Committee meeting Hamahanot Haolim were suspended from the IFM-SEI on the condition that they cease work building settlements in the West Bank.


“This International Committee meeting notes that Hamahanot Haolim have not ceased building settlements in the West Bank.

“This International Committee meeting also notes that little progress has been made and that Hamahanot Haolim have continued to be invited to IFM-SEI sponsored events in contravention of their suspension.

“This International Committee meeting believes that the issue of settlement building is not a regional, but an international issue and a grave concern for the International Committee meeting to deal with. Settlement building constitutes a grave human rights abuse, contravenes international law, and poses the greatest threat to peace and stability in the region.

“This International Committee meeting also notes that Hamahanot Haolim has already removed themselves from the regional peace process within the IFM-SEI Middle East Region due to their involvement in settlement activity.

“This International Committee meeting resolves to expel Hamahanot Haolim from the IFM-SEI.”

16. Safeguarding

Jon explained that four volunteers are required to sit on two safeguarding panels.

Ann, Carly, Imogen, Kerry, Kieran, Ralph and Saskia put their names forward to serve.

AGREED: Pat and Debs to identify any conflicts of interest and decide which volunteers will sit on

each panel. A General Council member should lead and report from each panel.

17. Finance & General Purposes Committee and Grand Committee reports

F&G Minutes

The Chair outlined that the F&GP report had mostly been covered during discussions of previous

items and asked if General Council was happy to approve the minutes.

AGREED: F&GP Minutes Approved

Grand Committee reports

General Council noted the reports of Campaigns & Communications Committee and Education &

Groups Committee

18. Any Other Business

Dates for Annual Gathering 2013 & 2014

AGREED: 26th - 28th April 2013

AGREED: 25th - 27th April 2014

Dates for IFM-SEI Congress 2013

AGREED: 6th - 9th June 2013

1. annual gathering 2012 · 2. trustees – we cant have under-16s as trustees/directors (they fall...

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