Highlights of the OMA Spring committee meeting.

(with thanks to John King)

The Spring committee meeting took place on Sunday 17 April 2005 at Simon Pott’s home in Bury St Edmunds.  There was a full turn out of committee members. A résumé of the subjects that were discussed are as follows. 

· Eric Bocking the Ingoldisthorpe organist died on 19 December 2004, aged 80, and 3 committee members attended the funeral in Ingoldisthorpe church.  Eric had  asked for donations to be made to the church and £30 was donated on behalf of the OMA.

· Simon proposed that the refreshments offered following the Sunday church service should be served in the church instead of going to the village hall as it might encourage more people to take part before leaving the church.  Permission and feasibility is being undertaken.

· There is a new Head teacher at Ingoldisthorpe V.A. primary school.  He is Mr Keith Thwaites.  The Association is sponsoring an annual award to the school which is payable in May of each year.  The award is given to a pupil who has shown exceptional effort following a setback in life.  The Chairman received a letter from the school with a nomination and the background for the nomination.  It is hoped that OMA members may wish to donate to this worthy cause so that it is not financed from Association funds.

· Martin as Mitre Editor and Membership Secretary has said that he wishes to hand over as Mitre Editor next year.  He has very ably undertaken this job for 7 years and feels that the time has come for a younger person to take on the job.  Various soundings have been made without a volunteer coming forward.  It is a real possibility that without a replacement for Martin the Mitre will cease to be produced as from next year.  This would be a tragedy as it is an exceptionally useful communication tool particularly for those not on the web and for some overseas members.  There must be some UK member or partner who is sufficiently interested to continue this work.

· The committee also considered that, in the weeks prior to the dinner, the names of those attending should be notified on the web in order to encourage other members to join those already attending.  It might also lead to members doubling up on transport to save costs, or to transport those who are unable to drive themselves to the reunion.

  At the AGM a suggestion was made that a notice on the lines of a “blue plaque” should be attached to the old rectory at Ingoldisthorpe to show that the building had previously been St Michael’s school.  The present owner of the ground floor flat has been approached and was clearly not enthusiastic.  The Association has therefore abandoned the idea. 

The committee meeting held on 24th July at Bob Hill’s home was poorly attended as most members had prior engagements or were ill.

Those attending were Ruth and Michael Chilvers, Pat Frost, Rachel Golby, Bob Hill. Simon Pott attended for pre-meeting discussions.

Apologies were received from Michael Catterick, Bill Cullin, Ian Dupont, Martin Graville, John King, Louise Taylor.

In the absence of the Secretary David Golby took the minutes, the salient points being as follows…

· School Award. The cheque which should have been sent to the school in May had now been forwarded.

· Sunday service refreshments. The church was considered a good venue but a big problem was the lack of toilet facilities, particularly for the ladies. Ian & Bob to seek the vicar's permission to use the church for the supply of refreshments

· Menus: As these were not available for discussion at this meeting Rachel was asked to procure a set and a decision on which one to use to be decided by Ian, Bob and John.

· No obvious replacement to replace Martin as Mitre editor. Further discussion at the AGM and in the meantime a plea would be in the next Mitre. It was suggested that Martin was finding that the amount of content to fill two Mitres a year difficult and Ruth and Rachel suggested that one Mitre and one newsletter might be a more viable solution.

· Bob suggested that Ian write to David Ratcliff to pencil in date of service for 2006.

· Bob suggested that music for dancing should be provided after the dinner, if Le Strange management agreed.

· The meeting started at 3.25 and ended at 4.55. Thanks were given to Bob and Christine for their hospitality.

Secretary's note: I am indebted to David Golby for making notes in order for me to complete these minutes. Also to Ruth for forwarding them to me.