Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network (QARN) meeting at Bull Street FMH, Birmingham, on 09.07.2016
Present: Fred Ashmore, John Cockcroft, Elizabeth Coleman, Rosemary Crawley, Barbara Forbes, David Forbes, Catherine Henderson, Diana Hurd, Brian Kendall, Marian McNichol, Sheila Mosley, Alan Pleydell, Bridget Walker, Anthony Wilson
Prevented: Rosemary Andoh, Julia Bush, Crystal Dickenson, Chris Gwyntopher, Christine Hall, Libby Hudson, Val Whittington.
Our meeting began with a short period of silent worship and brief introductions.1. We appoint Fred Ashmore, John Cockcroft and Catherine Henderson to be our Nominations Committee to bring forward names to serve on the Steering Group. Sheila Mosley completes her second term at the end of 2016 and Barbara Forbes completes her first term at the end of 2016.
2. Steering Group Report
We thank Sheila Mosley for preparing this year’s report, which is filed. Meetings visited since our last AGM include Oxford & Swindon, Mid-Thames, Mid-Essex, Marple (East Cheshire), Lancaster and Street (Somerset).
3. Website Report
We thank Sheila Mosley for her report and for managing the website.
We authorise our treasurer to pay for the renewal of the domain name and the next three years’ web-hosting when this is required.
Sheila Mosley is happy to continue to manage the website and will remain an ex-officio member of the Steering Group in this role.
4. Quaker Recognised Bodies
“Listed Informal Groups” are now being replace by “Recognised Quaker Bodies”. We hope to discuss this further at our October meeting.
5. Finance
John Cockcroft presented the Financial Report for 2015. We agree that the report will be revised and externally checked. We thank John for his work as treasurer.
The planning group for the conference is already in dialogue with the treasurer, and we hope that this will continue. We agree that we will consider our financial plans and a possible future budget at our October meeting.
6. Church and Peace
We agree that we are unable to take a decision on membership of Church and Peace at the moment. We will return to this at our January meeting. We encourage members of QARN to inform themselves about Church & Peace and to attend the conference in Birmingham on 29th October.
7. Discussion of QARN’s aims
We considered the aims of QARN as stated in our constitution. Our concern to support “others in need of international protection” covers a wide range of social groups and we are aware that in the UK, many of these are dealt with administratively within the asylum system. We agree that our concern is for “people seeking safety”. We feel at this point that we do not need to change the constitution.
8. Report from Nominations Committee
Barbara Forbes completes her first term of the Steering Group at the end of 2016. We agree to appoint her for a further three years from January 2017 until the end of 2019.
We agree to appoint Bridget Walker to the Steering Group from January 2017 until the end of 2019.
Sheila Mosley completes her second term of service on the Steering Group in December 2016. She will remain an ex-officio member as long as she continues to manage the website.
Barbara Forbes, clerk this time.