Cherries Trust Board Meeting – December 2022

Cherries Trust Board Meeting – December 2022

These notes are a synopsis of the meeting and are provided to Full Members only as a first step in improving the transparency with which the Cherries Trust Board operates. The Board has agreed that after each meeting, a general headline news release will be made directly to the Press and to the wider fanbase through the Trust’s social media channels. It has also agreed that a more complete note of the meeting and the key decisions will be made available to Full Members only by email. The only exception in this reporting will be that confidential matters will not be included. This is a detailed release for Full Members only as part of their membership fee package. The Board asks that the details of its contents are treated confidentially and not given a wider circulation.

1. Introduction

The Cherries Trust Board met for the first time since the elections at the SGM in late November with 14 items on the agenda. Given the dispersal of members (including 2 “exiles” and 2 overseas) the meeting was held virtually at time that fitted with the overseas members.

2. Housekeeping Items

Board members present:

• Gareth Case (GC)
• Matt Jackson (MJ)
• Brian Troake (BT)
• Dom Greenslade (DG)
• Stuart Orchard (SO)
• Hilary Trott (HT)
• Ian Hensman (IH)
• Andy Smith (AS)
• Martin Trott (MT)
• Gayle Hope (GH)
• Sam Somers (SS)
• Rob Webber (RW)

Items 1-4: Welcome/Apologies/Declaration of interests/Approval of minutes

Everyone agreed to Sam Somers acting as interim Chair until later in the agnda when officer positions were to be appointed. There were no apologies for absence as all Board members were present and there were no declarations of interest. Unfortunately, no minutes or details of the last meeting were available so the Board noted this position for future reference.

3. Items for decision

Item 5 Appointment of Officers

This was probably the key piece of business for the evening. Each role was open to all members. Where more than one member expressed an interest a show of hands was taken to decide the position.

The following appointments were approved by the Board:

• Chair: Sam Somers
• Vice Chair: Rob Webber
• Secretary: Gayle Hope
• Treasurer: Martin Trott
• Communications Secretary: Stuart Orchard
• Membership Secretary: Gareth Case
• Football Trusts & FSA Officer: Matt Jackson
• Marketing & Identity Officer: Dom Greenslade
• Press & Media Officer: Rob Webber
• Community & Diversity Champion: Andy Smith
• Disability Inclusion Champion: Hilary Trott
• Overseas Member Champion: Ian Hensman

(Note: Details of each role are available to members on request)

Item 6: Resolution to appoint Society Secretary

The Board unanimously approved a formal resolution to appoint and authorise Gayle Hope to act as the Society Secretary. The change will be notified to the FCA.

Item 7: Board meetings

The discussion centred on how often and at what time should the Board meet. 7:30pm (GMT) seemed the best time for all members, ideally missing commitments of members to other commitments. The Board’s view was that meetings should probably be every 4-6 weeks depending on activity. Far enough apart to allow for progress to be made on actions but not so far that key issues may be missed. In between meetings discussions could continue by email or WhatsApp but decisions could only be made at meetings or in special circumstances by email. At this point the Secretary raised the need for a set of Standing Orders for Board Meetings. At present there are none and we should be clear on a number of points including approvals between meetings. The Board asked the Secretary to circulate a draft set for consideration so that it could make a recommendation to members at the next AGM.

Item 8: 2023 AGM

The Board discussed the background to the next AGM. RW confirmed that the AGM must be held within 6 months of the financial year end which puts it at 5 June latest. He added that two things dictate the timing after that. The first is the production of accounts and their approval by the Board. The second is the timeline for election of Board members which usually happens at the AGM. The Treasurer said he would be talking to the person currently working with the accounts and come back to the Board with a recommendation for the timescale. There was a discussion of the need to hold elections so soon after the SGM with no fixed answer emerging. GH in her role of Secretary was asked to come back with a recommendation on the position regarding the need to hold an election and a possible timeline which it was felt could be 12 weeks or so.

Item 9: 2021 Accounts

MT made a short statement regarding the last set of accounts (openly available on the FCA Mutuals website). According to the submission to the FCA they had been completed and reviewed by the Independent Examiner but seemed not to have been put to an AGM. The Board expressed its disquiet at this position but given that all but one of the previous Board had resigned prior to the SGM, it was hard to verify exactly what had happened. The Board asked the Treasurer to:

• Report back on the status of the last set of accounts at the next meeting
• Make a recommendation as to what if any further action should be taken

MT also asked that the Board take a resolution at its next meeting to formally approve expenditure signatories.

4. Items for discussion

Item 10: Strategic objectives and approach

IH opened the item with a short statement on what he believed were the key objectives and approach that the Board should take. He highlighted three things; Holding the 2023 AGM, Relationships with the Trust’s members, the Club & the wider fanbase, and a need for “quiet efficiency and effectiveness” in the day-to-day operation of things like the enquiry service to members. The Board quickly came to agreement that these were the overriding objectives. The discussion included some debate on the types of activity that should be undertaken which neatly led into the next item

Item 11: Key workstreams for the immediate future

The Chair kicked off the discussion saying that there was a real need to take a considered approach to the activities the Board undertakes as they are all volunteers with time limitations, there is a need to do the right things well rather than lots of things and trip over. For that reason, he suggested that the Board focus on 3 or 4 key workstreams to take us through the first 6-12 months. After discussion of many thoughts and ideas for initiatives the Board agreed on three workstreams:

• WS1 Membership recruitment: Attraction of new members, the retention of current members and the reactivation of lapsed members. For this the Trust needed to be clear what benefits “paid-up membership” confers as opposed to the free “subscriber” option.
• WS2 Improved member communications: The Board took on board the criticisms of past comms activity and looked to this workstream to look at ways of improving communications and the transparency of the way the Trust operates. There are a number of different audiences for this, so some thought has to be given to how each of those is treated without conflicting messaging.
• WS3 Rebranding & web presence: Everyone was in agreement that both the identity and website were no longer fit for purpose and that there was a real need to move these forward. Again some thought needs to be given to the different audiences the Trust serves.

The Board appointed leads to each of the workstreams (WS1 – Gareth Case, WS2 Stuart Orchard, WS3 Dom Greenslade) and asked that they come back to the January meeting with first thoughts on how these pieces of work should progress and milestones towards success.

5. Items for noting

Item 12 Board Member checklist

RW reported that all newly elected Board members had signed the necessary declarations to take up their Board positions, i.e. Code of Conduct for Directors and the Social Media Code for Directors. The Secretary said further information was now being requested from all Board members, i.e. Register of Interests, “About You” diversity statement and a Board Skills audit. She asked that completed forms be sent back to her as soon as possible. (Note: unsigned copies of the codes are available to Full Members on request).

Items 13-14 AOB/Date of next meeting

Just one item of any other business. RW raised the need for the trust to issue an Equalities Statement to be in compliance with its membership of the FSA. The Board agreed that the Secretary should circulate the draft charter from the FSA for comment and approval. The Board delegated authority to the Chair to sign the document once approved. The next meeting is to be held approximately 6 weeks from this meeting. The Secretary was tasked to circulate possible dates to the Board. (The meeting closed after 2 hours and 5 minutes).