The AGM held on Tuesday 19th March 2013 at Oaklands Gate Methodist Church was attended by about 105 members plus ten committee members and guests Cllr Seaman-Digby, Cllr Richard Lewis and Cllr Melvin and speakers Roger Shipton, Inspector David George and Sgt Alison Jeffery.
The first guest speaker. Roger Shipton, the Lead Public Governor of the Hillingdon Hospitals Foundation Trust spoke about the role of governors.
Chairman Tony Ellis gave his report on the previous year’s activities.
Treasurer David Blowers presented the accounts for 2012 reporting that subscriptions were lower than in 2011, probably due to the loss of some road stewards. Balances are still healthy and he recommended that subscriptions remain at a minimum of £2 per household per year. This was agreed by those present.
The Election of Officers was conducted by Alan Prue:
Chairman – Tony Ellis
Vice-Chairman – Miles Gillman
Treasurer – David Blowers
Hon Auditor – Chris Rogers FCA
Election of the Executive Committee. Tony Ellis introduced each committee member standing for re-election. They were elected unanimously by a show of hands: Marie-Françoise Meyer and
Jeffrey Bailey, Paul Barker, Jo Hunter and Harry Temmink who had been co-opted to the committee during the last year; they were elected by a show of hands.
Also standing for election: Fiona Blackwell, Mithu Chellaram, David Goodman and Stan Ribton were elected by a show of hands.
Re-appointment of President and Vice Presidents. Alan Prue was re-appointed unopposed as President and similarly Lisa Maclay and Valerie Mellor as Vice Presidents.
Second Guest Speaker. The chairman introduced Police Inspector David George from the Hillingdon Division who spoke about the forthcoming changes being made to local policing. He answered a number of questions from the floor; these will be minuted in detail elsewhere. The President thanked Inspector George for his talk.
The Future of the NRA. The chairman led a discussion on how the NRA should represent its members and how to attract younger residents. A number of ideas were suggested which the executive committee will explore further and report back to the members through the usual channels – newsletter, website and notice board in Waitrose.
Funding community projects. As the NRA has very healthy reserves, the Chairman proposed that it gives back something to the community. He proposed that NRA should provide musical instruments for Holy Trinity and Frithwood Primary schools, spending £2,000 for each school. In addition he proposed we pay for a circular bench and appropriate hard-standing to be installed around the tree at the corner of Green Lane and Eastbury Road near to the Green Man carving, up to an amount of £3,000. Both proposals were agreed by a show of hands.
Festive Lights. Miles Gillman explained that we have to apply for a grant from the local council to fund the lights. As we have two shopping areas the lights tend to be spread rather thinly; we have 27 lampposts compared with Northwood Hills’s 11. In the absence of a Chamber of Trade, the NRA would like to help the businesses to organise a Christmas evening in December, probably around the war memorial area with stalls, bands and choirs. Miles asked anyone who had anything appropriate to offer to contact NRA.
Questions and comments from the floor ranged from reporting potholes, to the threat of TfL developing Station Approach, to accidents on Rickmansworth Road and the town centre traffic lights.
Councillors’ Forum. Cllrs Seaman-Digby, Lewis and Melvin answered a number of questions put by residents including such topics as parking near to Northwood Golf Club, Mount Vernon hospital workers parking on local roads, misleading road sign in Frithwood Avenue, Highfield Road bridge and safety issues relating to the Montessori school parking.
The meeting closed at 21.55