I hope all our members are keeping safe, well and seizure free.
As you all know, Jenny stepped down at the end of December. I have stepped in as acting Chair. So what have we been doing this month ??
1. Website
The Trustees have been busy over the last month, with the help of Steve Waters, we have successful transferred over to the new website. Please go have a look. You will note that the wording mirrors the old website. This is something the Trustees are looking at and will change in due course. We welcome your feedback. If you feel you either want to write an article for the website or feel a specific page needs changing please let us know. We want to work with you all and want the website to reflect what you as members want to see.
May I take this opportunity to thank Roger Denham for running the website for many years.
2. Trustees
Unfortunately Gillian Walsh has stepped down also from her role as Trustee. We would like to thank Gillian for her hard work during her time on the team.
We advertised for new Trustees in the newsletter. It gives me great pleasuring to welcome 2 new Trustees to the board. Antonia East is to return along with Lauren Beecher. An introduction into the new Trustees and the existing ones will follow in the next week so watch this space 👀.
The Trustees will need to be voted in at the next AGM. Please keep reading for details of when this will happen.
3. Family Weekend
The Family Weekend was originally scheduled for May 2021. The Trustees made the decision last year that this would be postponed to October due to Covid. Unfortunately Covid is still causing problems and mixing is prohibited.
We have had discussions again regarding whether the weekend can run at the end of October. Whilst vaccines are being rolled out there could still be people only receiving their first jab in August/September. The Family Weekend cost the Charity a considerable amount of money to run. We want our members to come and feel safe. We have made the decision to delay this again until May 2022. We will forward to our members who have returned their GDPR consent invites to this nearer the time.
So we are proposing that we still have a Family Weekend this May but different. What do you all think of a virtual Family weekend ? We are planning Zoom meetings, events for the kids and social zoom gathering as we speak. Let us know if this is something you would like to be part of.
4. AGM
We need to have an Annual General Meeting (AGM) for the charity. This is usually done at the Family Weekend. As that’s not happening in May we are proposing that we hold this over Zoom. This is something that is allowed as we have checked with the Charity Commission. Further details of the AGM details will follow.
5. Wellness Events for our Members
It’s been a strange year and we’ve all ridden this storm of Covid but we don’t all do it in the same boat. We are planning Wellness Zoom meetings in February and just general catch ups if you want to join.
This is to ease you all into the March Wellness Challenge we are planning. Watch this space 👀 more details will follow.
6. Audit and Policies
We are doing a full audit of the charity, our policies and constitution document. Lots of work is being done behind the scenes. I apologise in advance to our new Trustees who are fastly learning that the role is far more than the 3/4 hours a week 😳
A special thank you to Nicola Colenso who is helping us with this. She has a wealth of knowledge on how charities work, are governed and everything Sturge Weber related.
I didn’t intend on the war and peace length of update so please accept my apologies.
Finally I would like to thank you as our members for your continued support and also Carolyn Burns, Lisa Massingham, Antonia East and Laureen Beecher for all their hard work and dedication in the last month.
One final note ! The COVID-19 crisis fund is still open If you need help please ask. We are here to support our members.
Love
Marie xx