Minutes of the 28th Meeting

Minutes of the 28th Meeting of the Kent & Sussex Regional branch of The Socialist Party of Great Britain held on 9th February 2014The meeting started at 2.08pm and was held at the Muggleton Inn, High Street, Maidstone, KentPresent: Mandy Bruce, Dave Chesham (Secretary), Marie Chesham, Rob Cox (Treasurer), Ed Mann, Jacqueline Shodeke (until 7.30pm)Apologies for absence: Les Courtney, Hannah Dutton, Glenn Morris, Kevin Parkin1. Election of ChairMotion 1. Shodeke & Mann “That Bruce be Chair”AGREED2. Minutes of the 27th Meeting dated 12th January 2014 were before the meetingAGREED3. Matters arising from the previous minutesi) Les CourtneyNo further contact but it was re-iterated that Mandy would arrange to visit Les at a mutually agreed time.ii) Contact with the Weadlen Progressive MovementThere was nothing to report apart from the news that Dave had had an exchange of emails with Julian Wilson, one of the WPM's contacts.NOTEDiii) Further nominations for 2014 EC sub-committeesNONEiv) Notice of Business (Ed Mann) 'The branch's meeting venue'Some discussion ensued about the present venue and whether an alternative venue which was not a pub would suit our purposes better. The general view was that the current venue served our purposes for business meetings but that we would look out for other venues where we could hold public meetings at some stage.v) Election Communications SurveyMembers were encouraged to come up with ideas based around the phrase “What are we going to do about capitalism?”vi) Motions to Conference – communication from Standing Orders CommitteeFollowing discussion of the decision to exclude two of the branch's motions to Conference, it was AGREED that the Branch, referring to Standing Orders Committee terms of reference #8, request that the excluded matter be referred separately to the Conference in the same manner as Officers Reports, the Conference to determine whether the excluded matter or any part of it, shall be dealt with, and that the Standing Orders Committee be advised of the branch's intention to make representations in support of its position thereat.4. Preliminary Conference AgendaProposed amendment to Motion 5…“This Conference is not against the principle of members participating as a Party unit in demonstrations of a trade union or working class historical character.” West London BranchMotion 2. D.Chesham & Mann “remove 'participating as a Party unit in' and substitute 'attending'”Motion 5, if amended, would then read: “This Conference is not against the principle of members attending demonstrations of a trade union or working class historical character.”AGREED 4-1-1 (six members present)5. Items for Discussion to ConferenceEd suggested the following item for discussion and that he would write the supporting statement.“Is it time to re-think the 'hostility' clause?”It was AGREED that this item for discussion be submitted.6. Tatchell debate – 5/3/14Members were reminded about this event.7. Euroelections – 22/5/14It was announced that we now have nine out of the ten candidates required for a complete party list in the South East Region8. Summer School – 20-22/6/14The topic this year will be 'War' to coincide with the centenary of the outbreak of WW19. New notice of Business (Rob Cox) “Revised Branch Budget”Motion 3. Mann & Bruce “That the revised branch budget be accepted”AGREED 5-0-1 (six members present)10. EC minutesNONE11. Future propaganda activitiesNone other than those already proposed12. Any other businessi) Advertising in 'The Net'Rob suggested advertising in 'The Net', a magazine which is distributed to over 200,000 homes in Medway, Maidstone and Swale each month. It was AGREED that he be requested to bring some proposed costings to the next branch meeting.ii) Additional leaflets re: EuroelectionsThe question of how many extra leaflets we might want printed for distribution in areas such as Canterbury, Hythe, Aylesham and parts of Deal was raised. It was AGREED that Rob make enquiries and report back to the next branch meeting together with costings for delivery by Royal Mail in areas smaller than whole parliamentary constituencies.Meeting adjourned at 6.10pmCollection taken: £7.50