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MINUTES OF THE AGM of GAMBIA EDUCATION & TEACHING SUPPORT PRESENT
Welcome by Acting Chairman Mrs. Sheila Plaister The Acting Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting and then reported on the activities of the Executive Committee over the past 12 months. The
resignation of Francis Glynn, GETSuk founder and elected Chairman, in
October 2009 had come as a great shock to all trustees but all were
determined to carry on the work started by Francis.
Sheila reported that Francis is now running GTS Kololi which now has an
excellent restaurant as well as accommodation.
The remaining trustees owed it to Francis to keep the charity moving
forward as he would have wished and the Acting Chair thanked him for his
past work for the charity.
Sheila Plaister was appointed as Acting Chair in January.
All other trustees remained in post as elected at the AGM. Helen
Touray was invited to become a trustee in January and was appointed in
March.
Tony Bond, Rosie Holder and Angela Thomas resigned as Advisors.
The trustees welcomed 5 new advisors:
The Acting Chair reminded members that all trustees and advisors were
volunteers and that more help was needed. Specific roles which need to
be filled are a membership secretary, fundraisers and fundraising ideas
and help in the office in Gambia.
The year had begun with the successful signing of the agreement with
Castellan. We continue to support the projects funded by St Peters and
Dumbarton.
The major event of the year had been the signing of the Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) with Bakoteh Village Development Committee on 15
June 2010 and the launch of the Sunrise Project.
GETSuk will take over the running of the site from 1 January 2011.
The Acting Chair thanked Helen Touray and Tony Nelson for their help in
making the project a reality.
The existing Nursery School at Bakoteh will close in December 2010 and
all children will transfer to Sunrise Centre. Staff at both schools have
been given 6 month redundancy notices and all will be invited to apply
for posts at the new Centre.
Fees of 1100D per term will be payable for all students but we will
offer bursaries for children where necessary.
Dawn Webster and a team of volunteers are working on a curriculum for
the new school.
Refurbishment and repair of toilets will be necessary before the school
can open.
Future work will include the sinking of a borehole and the building
of 6 classrooms to form a Lower Basic School.
A formal opening ceremony will be held in 2011 to which all members are
invited.
The Acting Chair closed by reiterating the trustees’ thanks to Tony
Nelson and gave her personal thanks to the trustees for their continued
commitment and support.
Final thanks were given to the members for their continued support and
generous donations as without this, nothing would happen.
1.
Apologies for absence
Francis Glynn, Ian and Joyce Turner, Ian and Jane Ward-Dutton, Ruth
McMeechan and Ken Duesbery,
2.
Minutes of previous AGM held 22 August 2009
The minutes of the previous meeting were passed and signed by the Acting
Chair.
3.
Nominations of Officers
Chairman:
A nomination for Sheila
Plaister had been received, was seconded by Erica Wren and carried.
Secretary:
A nomination for Julie Limbrick had been received, was seconded by Erica
Wren and carried.
Treasurer:
A nomination for Paul Webster had been received, was seconded by Kay
Skingsley and carried.
4.
Elections to Executive Committee
A nomination for Mr. David Goss was seconded by Kay Skingsley and
carried.
A nomination for Mrs. Dawn Webster was seconded by Rosie Holder and
carried A nomination
for Helen Touray was seconded by Tony Nelson and carried.
5.
Trustee Annual Report and Accounts The report and accounts were circulated.
Proposed by Nick Plaister and seconded by Tony Bound. The report was
accepted.
6.
Sponsorship Report
A brief report was given, as not much had changed since last year. A newsletter celebrating the successes of students had been
prepared and circulated. The excellent and reliable feedback from Gambia
had continued but as a result, some students had lost their sponsorship
due to the reporting of poor school reports and/or poor attendance back
to sponsors. Sheila thanked all sponsors for their continuing support. Report accepted.
7.
Castellan West African Trust Report
David Goss reported that the CWATP and GETSuk had started working
together in 2006 with the formal merger taking place in 2009. CWATP is organising a members guided visit to Gambia and Bwiam Village in February 2011. All members were invited to visit Bwiam.
8.
Project Reports
·
St Peters Nursery School
No report received
·
Fundraising Reports
No report received
·
London Corner Nursery School
No report received
·
Curriculum
Dawn Webster explained that a new curriculum was being developed with
set lessons.
She asked that members collect coloured plastic bottle tops which can be
used for counting, sorting and colour recognition in the classrooms.
She reported that we are currently sponsoring one of our teachers at a
course at Gambia Teaching Training College as a way of improving the
qualifications of our teaching staff.
·
Bakoteh Nursery School/The Sunrise Centre
Tony Nelson gave a presentation on the Sunrise Centre.
He explained that GETSuk will operate the centre on behalf of the local
community. We will integrate our existing nursery at Bakoteh and then
build more classrooms to make the school bigger.
9.
Questions and Comments. Isobel Canty
reported that she was tremendously impressed with the work which had
been done over the last year and was thanked by the Chairman.
Meeting closed 1:45pm
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