Apologies

Michele Marsland, Paula Barber, Alex Smale

Present

Keith Peacock
Andrew Briggs
Steve Garrett
Simon Allen
Trevor Horne
Dan Laniewski
Stella Goodman
David Rice
Nigel Mace

Topics Discussed

• Correspondence
• Direct Debit Update
• Summer Charity Dinner Dance
• Newnham Neighbourhood meeting
• Plymouth Chamber Affiliate Scheme

Correspondence

Keith has information on Justgiving ? he explained it as an opportunity for our chosen charity, Call Southwest to increase its donations by 100%. Steve will pass on the info to John Makin.

Direct Debit Update

Another email will be sent to our existing membership inviting a discounted subscription. Nigel has volunteered to follow this up by phoning each member.

Summer Function

So far the members of the Committee have pledged aprox 90 tickets ? we need to increase this to maximize our profit and hence donations to our chosen Charities. Again Nigel is willing to approach our members re attending.

Simon is doing sterling work organizing this event. We are still looking at sponsorship – £180 for the disco, £300 for drinks on arrival and £550 for the cost of the live band. We all need to put on our thinking caps and approach local companies that may offer at least part sponsorship. It was suggested that Plymcabs are approached re offering a reduced taxi fare/sponsorship and Andrew has agreed to speak to them. We also need to look at raffle prices and would like all committee members that can offer prices to email the details by next Friday week (9th). Simon will need menu choices by the same date also.

Plymouth Chamber Affiliate Scheme

David Parby had emailed details of the Affiliate Scheme, copies of which have been distributed to attending Committee members. There was one issue re attendance that needs clarification by Mr Parby, but it is seen as a good offering for our members. We could offer this membership at a give away price of £5 each member ? making the total subscription for the year £35. Steve has agreed to email details to our membership as long as David Parby satisfies our attendance query. This will be confirmed by next weeks Breakfast Club meeting.

The date of the next meeting has been confirmed for Wednesday 6th July at the Excaliber office.

AGM

As the outgoing Chairman, Andrew talked about our AGM held in April and the feeling was overall that it had been a very positive meeting and had received good feedback. The Celebrity Panel had been v.interesting and was something that could be repeated. However, we felt that for next years AGM we should to look at alternative ideas.

Summer Charity Dinner Dance, Boringdon Park Golf Club, Saturday June 18th

Simon has been hard at work sorting out this event. He has now booked the venue, Boringdon Park Golf Club and the entertainment. We have a resident disco and also 2 x 60 minute sets by a band called the Decibelles, who come highly rated. Michele has volunteered to help Simon with any organising that may be needed and Trevor and Keith also agreed to help.
We reached a decision on the menu options and once a main Sponsor has been approved we will be ready to print. Keith is willing to undertake the design and print of flyers and the tickets.
We are looking for sponsorship for the Band (£550) Disco (£180) Table decorations (aprox £8 per table) Drinks on arrival (£2.50) and also raffle prizes.

Newnham Neighbourhood Meeting

Keith and Nigel recently were invited to attend a meeting at Newnham Community Centre to talk about the Plym Chamber and how we wish to be a part of the Plympton community. Local councillors were also present. This was very well received, offers of having flyers about the Chamber were given and Keith is now expecting more invitations from other local Community Centres in the Plympton area so that we can spread the word about the Chamber.

Membership Renewals

Steve has offered to send out renewal notices and DDs to all our existing members and any other interested parties. Any follow up calls to members will be undertaken by Nigel as agreed at the last meeting.

Website Update

Steve is regularly updating the website and there are no issues at present.

Any Other Business

Trevor has now organised a newsletter which he will be sending to Steve to put on the website and send out to existing members. This will be a quarterly newsletter and will hopefully be seen as added value.

Breakfast Club

We have booked the Dartmoor Zoo for our first breakfast club meeting, which will be on Tuesday 7th June at 7am. Costs for this breakfast will be paid on entry at £8 per head. We will be sending out invitations to this meeting to all our existing membership.

Next Meeting

The Date for the next meeting has been agreed for Wed 1st June. It would be appreciated if anyone unable to attend could email their apologies in advance please.