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[The following is posted on behalf of the Minute taker]Minutes of the 64th meeting of the Kent & Sussex Regional Branch of The Socialist Party of Great Britain held on 12th March 2017The meeting started at 2:30pm and was held at the Muggleton Inn, High Street, Maidstone, KentPresent: Mandy Bruce, Rob Cox (Treasurer), Dan Fabian and Sam Wicks.Apologies for absence: Dave Chesham, Marie Chesham, Hannah Dutton and Karl Luetchford.01. Election of ChairMotion 1. Fabian & Bruce “That Cox be Chair”. AGREED.02. Apologies for absenceCde Cox reported that Cde D. Chesham had both given apologies for absence today and stated that he intended to step down as Branch Secretary. Cde Cox also gave details of further correspondence between them, the latest being received just before the meeting, in which Cde Chesham had expressed his conclusion that Cde Cox lacked confidence in him.After some discussion, during which all members present expressed their complete confidence in Cde Chesham as Secretary, Cde Cox said he would reply to Cde Chesham to assure him that he did have his confidence, and that this was shared by the Branch.Cde Cox agreed to take notes for the minutes.03. Minutes of the 63rd meeting held on 12th February 2017 were before the meetingMotion 2. Fabian & Cox “That the minutes be adopted”. AGREED04. Matters arising from the minutesi. Membership matters – Questionnairea) Meeting format. Further to the discussion at the last meeting, there was a discussion on the views expressed in responses, which indicated members preferred having more time for general discussion, possibly with a speaker or specified subject.It was AGREED that for a trial period, subject to seasonal business, the Branch meeting agenda be structured with a 2 hour general business section and a 2 hour discussion section on pre-agreed topics or an open discussion.b) Follow-up: Free-text Suggestions. A list was available of individual suggestions made by respondents to the questionnaire, including those requiring individual replies (including on meeting issues, two in Folkestone and Cde Pruden in Brighton). Cde Cox undertook to contact the Folkestone members, and Cde Bruce to contact Cde Pruden, to discuss whether he could participate via Facebook. It was AGREED the remaining items on the list be dealt with as part of the discussion period at the April meeting and circulated with the agenda.ii. Further call for nominations for 2017 Party OfficersNo nominations.iii. Further call for nominations for 2017 sub-committeesNo nominations.Further discussion Item AGREED for April Branch meeting: “Employment of staff at Head Office”.iv. T-Shirts.Further to the offer of Cde Cox to donate a stock of new SPGB ‘flyer’ T-shirts to the Branch, he reported on investigations on current prices of buying in further supplies if required from Vista Print. Due to an increase in prices and the volumes required to obtain discounts, he suggested we may wish just to sell the remaining stock and not make further orders. It was suggested better prices may be obtained from alternative suppliers or by applying for a ‘voucher code’;Cde Bruce undertook to look into this and report back. In the meantime it was AGREED to accept the donation of eight remaining shirts, for sale via the Branch stall for £9 each or £12 including postage and packing.05. Annual Conference 2017 – Amendments to motions and further Items for Discussioni. Amendment to motion 6 (from Lancaster Branch):Motion 3. Fabian & Cox: “Amendment to motion 6:Insert after “Conference”: “every five years, or as deemed necessary by the EC”.Supporting Statement:"This Branch does not accept the case for this motion. Where is the evidence that there is any likelihood that the position may be “misused or misinterpreted”? Further, should any misuse occur, this may actually prevent any action being taken for up to a year, unless by a Party poll. However should most members feel these risks require precautions to be taken, this amendment makes the following improvements:1. Provision is made for the EC to act in an emergency;2. The expense and bureaucracy involved is very much reduced.NB “the party treasurer must notify the Commission of a change of officer within 14 days of the change taking place” using form RP4 and there is a fee of £25 (in addition to the re- registration fee).”AGREED.ii. Items for DiscussionThe following supporting statement (for the item agreed at February meeting) as submitted by Cde D. Chesham was AGREED:“At the time of writing there have been 112 posts on Spintcom this year and 8 on Spopen. Contrast those figures with a total of almost 40,000 posts in 51⁄2 years on the website forum. Spintcom currently has 127 SPGB members with Spopen a whisker behind with 126 WSM members, the end product of 16 years. The website forum now boasts a total of 618 users, although admittedly membership is not restricted to members of the SPGB/WSM. We are of the view that, while there could be improvements, the website forum is more versatile and user-friendly than the Yahoo! lists with separation of threads and division of topics into sub-forums.It makes no sense in having forums in two different places; we should be concentrating our efforts in making a success of just one. And closing down the Yahoo! Forums would of necessity involve the transfer of all the files held there to the Party’s website.”06. Correspondence from a memberThis item concerns a paper received during the previous week from Cde Howard Pilott, and a response made jointly by Cde D. Chesham and Cde Cox. It was reported a reply had since been received from Cde Pilott. After some discussion, it was AGREED to inform Cde Pilott that the Branch intended to hold a discussion on this at the Branch meeting in May.07. May 2017 County Council ElectionsIt was reported the EC had agreed to the Branch contesting two seats in Folkestone, Kent and Lewes in East Sussex, and granted a budget of £2000 for leaflet printing and distribution. We have quotes for printing and delivering 15,000 A5 double-sided leaflets in Folkestone (just under £1000), so the budget appears adequate. It was AGREED that Howard Pilott be the candidate in Lewes and to ask Anton Pruden to be agent, and the Treasurer liaise with them to allocate the available funds between the three electoral divisions.It was also reported that discussions with the candidates and possibly West London to draft a common manifesto text for submission to the EC were underway, and with a member of the AV Committee on a possible video.08. Street StallsDue to a change in circumstances it was AGREED to cancel the stall planned in Canterbury on 25th March, but to go ahead with Folkestone on 22nd April.Further dates were AGREED for Saturday: 20th May (Folkestone) and 24th June and 22nd July (Canterbury).09. Brighton GroupNo report yet received of the attendance of Comrades at the ‘joint Left Unity and United and Different event’ in Brighton on 20 February or of further meetings.10. Forms 'A' & 'F' & Branch membership transfersNone.11. EC minutes – February and March 2017It was reported the nominees put forward by the Branch for the four vacancies on the EC and last month for committee vacancies (Blog, Internet, Membership Applications, Library and Premises) were all appointed. Those for Election and Campaigns had not accepted nomination.There was a discussion on a plan by the EC to commission magazine inserts to promote the Standard.12. Future propaganda activities & Any other businessNoneMeeting adjourned at 7:05pmCollection taken: £13.50Literature sales: £3.00