Minutes of the 43rd Meeting

Minutes of the 43rd Meeting of the Kent & Sussex Regional branch of The Socialist Party of Great Britain held on 14th June 2015The meeting started at 2.28 pm and was held at the Muggleton Inn, High Street, Maidstone, KentPresent: Mandy Bruce, Dave Chesham (Secretary), Marie Chesham, Rob Cox (Treasurer), Dan FabianApologies for absence: Les Courtney, Hannah Dutton, Glenn Morris, Jacqueline Shodeke1. Election of ChairMotion 1. D.Chesham & Bruce “That Cox be Chair”AGREED2. Minutes of the 42nd Meeting dated 10th May 2015 were before the meetingMotion 2. M.Chesham & Bruce “That the minutes be adopted”AGREED3. Matters arising from previous minutesi) Street StallsTwo members were present to run the stall in Canterbury on Saturday, 30 May. Five Standards and six pamphlets were sold and three more contacts added to the branch mailing list.The next stalls would be in Canterbury on Saturday, 27 June and Saturday, 18 July. It was requested and AGREED that the August stall be brought forward a week to Saturday, 22 August.There was further discussion about the material used on the display stand which accompanies the stall.ii) Brighton Introductory Meeting – 16-6-15Plans for this meeting were well advanced. A room has been booked at the Brighthelm Community Centre, North Road, Brighton BN1 1YD and a 15cms across two columns advertisement placed in the Argus (a local newspaper) for Saturday, 13 June. 41 emails and letters had been sent to those on the branch mailing list who live in the vicinity.Rob read out a letter from Les Courtney, who lives in Burgess Hill which is about 11 miles from Brighton. He conveyed his gratitude for the meeting the branch had organised in Burgess Hill last November and was pleased to hear of the Brighton activity but would be unlikely to attend the meetings due to continued ill health.It was AGREED that the Secretary send a reply to Les.4. Report on 2015 Election CampaignIt was AGREED to defer consideration of this until the July branch meeting and that the Secretary send the document as an attachment to all those members not present.5. University and College Committee – nominations requiredIt was AGREED to ask comrades Ed Mann and Sam Wicks if they would be prepared to accept nomination for this committee.6. Call for a volunteer to prepare EC agendasIt was AGREED to ask comrade Keith Scholey if he would be interested in volunteering.7. Ballot Committee – nominations requiredIt was AGREED to defer this item to the July meeting8. Forms 'A' & 'F'NONE9. Branch Membership TransfersThe Secretary reported that Max Hess had transferred to K&SRB from Central branch.NOTED10. EC minutes – May meeting – 9-5-15NOTED11. Summer School – 24/26-7-15A couple of members were still undecided as to whether they would be able to attend Summer School this year.12. Kent Miners' Festival – Betteshanger Community Park – 31-8-15The Secretary has booked a stall at this year's festival and sent the refundable deposit of £5.00.13. Future propaganda activitiesNONE other than those already mentioned.14. Any other businessRob reported on some of the items of business discussed by the June EC.Arising from one of these items the following motion was proposed:Motion 3. (to the EC) Fabian & Cox "Following the discussion at Conference 2015 and 'lessons' learned during the 2015 General Election campaign, the EC be asked to convene a workshop at ADM to discuss ideas for key messages and a 'communication' strategy for deployment by the party in future campaigning. Branches should be asked to discuss ideas ahead of ADM with a view to some definite suggestions arising from the ADM workshop being made to the EC/Outreach Department."AGREED 5-0-0 (five members present)We were reminded that the Autumn Delegate Meeting this year would be held on 24th & 25th October and that the closing date for submitting Items for Discussion, together with supporting statements, is Friday, 4 September.Meeting adjourned at 5.50pmCollection taken: £15.50