AGM Minutes 2022

Time: 16:00, Saturday 23rd April 2022
Location: 12th Windsor Scout Hut

Present

James Baker (Manager)
Matthew Fox (Events Coordinator)
Nina Sparks (Membership Coordinator)
Phil Jones (Treasurer)
Hayley Butterworth (Socials Coordinator)
Sarah Paget (Social Media Coordinator)
David Thompson (Volunteer Head of Active Support)
Ruth Adamson
Luke Arscott
Alfie Baker
David Bloomfield
Tommy Brown
Flick Buchanan
Hayley Butterworth
Mary Cascioli
Fi Durrant
Andrew Falconer
Kaylee Gault
James Hage
Ben Hardcastle
Jon Harris
Bethanie Headworth
Helen Heenan
Michael Hobday
Eloise Jack
Kira Jarvis
Adam Jasko
Steven Jenkins
Jen Levene
Rhodri Lewis
Loz Marchant
Chris McCandless-Stone
Aimee Mollart
Karen Newton
Nicola Parkinson
Elissa Roberts
Ethan Rose
Charles Rounce
Asher Smith
Nina Sparks
James Stafford
Tracey Stevenson-Gay
Adam Taylor
Matt Wheeler
Tom Wilkinson

Apologies

Lewis Dangerfield (UK Commissioner for Programme)
Mike Barrett
Rebecca Bentley
Matthew Bolt
Jessica Brown
Nick Burring
Graham Carrington
Duncan Ford
Andy Fox
Mick Hart
George Johnson
David Legge
Ben Martin
Bev Martin
Claire Mollart
Rob Myles
Jake Orros
Alexander Wardlaw
Michael Worthy
Martin Whelan

Welcome

James Baker (Manager) welcomed everyone to the meeting, and thanked them for attending.

Approval of Minutes

The AGM Minutes 2021 were proposed by Andrew Falconer and seconded by James Hage.

Committee Reports

Reports from the members of the committee were presented, and these are available at Annual Report 2022.

Following Phil Jones' and Hayley Butterworth's report, James Baker thanked them for their time on the committee and Phil and Hayley were presented with thank you gifts on behalf of the QSWP.

Approval of Accounts

The accounts were proposed by Tommy Brown and seconded by Michael Hobday.

Elections

Two positions were up for election this year, the Treasurer and Social Coordinator roles.

Chris McCandless-Stone stood for Treasurer, and was elected into the position by show of hands following a short pitch.

Hayley Butterworth stood again for Social Coordinator, and was elected into the position by show of hands following a short pitch.

Membership requirement and Service Agreement changes

James Baker reminded everyone that the Service Agreement was being changed at the direction of Gilwell, and had previously been circulated for comment. A summary of the changes was given, with the primary change being the removal of the requirement that members must join within 5 years of the maximum attainment age of the QSA. This change has been made to ensure the QSWP is compliant with inclusivity and diversity rules, and to bring us into tline with other NSASUs.

As a consequence of the removal to this clause, the membership system is also being simplified to remove the "Friend" status. You will either be an Active member (paid £5 membership and attending a minimum of 2 events a year), or you will be Inactive. Inactive members are eligible to rejoin the QSWP by paying their membership and meeting the event attendance requirements at any time within two years of becoming inactive. After two years as an Inactive member, membership records will be deleted and members will need to follow the application process in order to rejoin the QSWP.

Discussion followed, with a number of questions raised from the floor regarding how it would affect allocations, how the proposed service agreement aligns with that of other NSASUs, and the implications of the new approach on specific cases. David Thompson (Volunteer Head of Active Support) provided clarification on points relating to other NSASUs.

Following the discussion, a vote was held to accept the new Service Agreement, and passed with a majority.

QSWP Portal v2

James Baker announced that a new version of the QSWP Portal will be launching in the next week or two. The QSWP Portal has been rewritten from the ground up to make use of the latest technologies, which will significantly reduce the cost of hosting the Portal whilst also making it easier to develop and extend in the future. The redevelopment is also necessary as part of the changes to the membership requirements outlined above.

At launch, it is likely that there will be some teething issues, and James Baker asked people report any issues they find and thanked them for their patience whilst these are fixed. Some of the functionality of the existing Portal will also be missing at launch, but will be added over the coming months.

The new Portal has been developed as an open source project, and is available on the QSWP GitHub page. Anyone wishing to get involved with the development and/or fixing bugs is very welcome, and should contact James Baker.

Any Other Business

Clothing

A question was asked about what the current QSWP hoody design was, and when there would be a new one. The current design is a peace knot (referencing the upcoming QSWP expedition to Everest Base Camp), and will likely not be replaced until next year as it is relatively new.

GeoCache Update

An update was requested on our GeoCache Trackables. Sarah Paget said she would provide a report on Facebook at a later date.

Name Badges

A question was asked regarding whether the QSWP was providing name badges, as this has been done previously.

James Baker responded saying that the QSWP no longer provides these, as the cost and logistical issues with doing so outweighs any benefits. Previously when name badges were issued, they were paid for by Gilwell but they are no longer willing to do this. Name badges will not be required on any QSWP events, and if they are then we will look into whether it might be possible to provide them for those that require them.

Only name badges in the latest Scout branding should be worn, and any old name badges that members have previously been given should not be worn. If member's wish to purchase their own name badges through the Scout Brand Centre they may, but there will be no requirement to do this and on some events people may be asked not to wear them in order to provide a consistent image.

Anyone purchasing a name badge should:

Use their full name
Use "Queen's Scout Working Party" as the role
Not provide any logo text (removing the default)
Use the default colours of Scout Purple and Black
Leave the social media text as the default

Meeting Close

James Baker closed the meeting, which was followed by a Windsor Briefing, and a pub quiz social organised by Hayley Butterworth and James Baker.