Minutes of the Steering Committee Meeting held on 9 September 2008
THE RANK FELLOWSHIP
MINUTES OF THE STEERING COMMITTEE METING
HELD ON TUESDAY 9TH SEPTEMBER 2008 AT
Present: Jason Chaffer – Chairman
Clive Baker, Simon Barker, Daniela Barone Soares, Lindsey Clay, Andrew Cowen, Stephen Day, Noomane Fehri, Kate Kynvin, David McCausland, Fred Packard, Simon Turner, Emma Watson-Mack, James Williams, Jeremy Wilson, Tim Young, Gill Zammett
Guests: June Casey, Paul Connolly
Apologies: Max Kirby, Benet Northcote, Duncan Gibson and Alastair Rolfe
1. Welcome
The Chairman opened the meeting and welcomed Jeremy Wilson, Daniela Barone Soares and James Williams. Duncan Gibson had been in touch with the Chairman to discuss his difficulties in attending while under current pressure of work: the Chairman said that he looked forward to seeing
2. Minutes
The Minutes of the previous meeting held on Tuesday 20th May had been circulated to all members and these were signed as correct.
3. Forward Planning Meeting – 2nd September
The Chairman remarked on how well-attended and how stimulating this meeting had been. The subsequent volume of email traffic and general discussion showed the energy and broad-ranging thought which the meeting had generated. He felt that this Committee meeting, with its substantial amount of practical business, was not the place to continue the discussion, but he assured Steering Committee members that their contributions would all be considered with a view to charting the way forward at the December meeting.
Max Kirkby had held a meeting over the previous weekend with Kate Kynvin, Tom Motchman and Luke Jones. This had been to consider a strategy for younger Fellows and the resulting paper was very well received. It would be considered along with the other discussion papers aired after the Forward Planning Meeting. In addition, the constitution and business plan were circulated with a view to including them in the process of the five year review.
Tim Young reported on a subsequent and exciting development which would give a volunteering opportunity to Fellows across the
4. Charities Team
Legal Workshop
Simon Turner said the workshop had been very well received by the eight charities attending, and some very practical questions had come out of it. Fred Packard asked that a précis of the workshop be sent to all Rank Trustees and Directors for their interest.
The target remains four workshops a year and a possible timing for the next one would be late November or early December 2008. Fundraising and Strategy would be possible topics. Tim Young thought that it would be important to extend workshops to Rank charities some way from
Paddington Arts
The Chairman spoke of the difficulties Paddington Arts were having with regard to fundraising and raised the question of how the Fellowship could give some support to a charity whose hosting of the Leadership Day gave it something of a special relationship with the Fellowship.
Arrangements for this event are well in hand. Approximately 450 invitations have been sent to all Rank Fellows, including a letter from the Chairman of the Fellowship. James Williams reported on the enthusiasm of his small working group and the excellence of the venue. Jerry Glover from Bolton Lads & Girls Club will say a few words on behalf of the charities at the event.
Plans for 2009
There was a short discussion as to whether the next charities evening will be in
5. Communications Team
The planned publication for this would be in the first six weeks of 2009. Copy for this should therefore be sent to Tim Young or Gill Zammett by the first week in October. Lindsey Clay offered to collate the various leadership tips from the Committee. Alastair Rolfe is able to oversee the next Review and the Committee is most grateful for his involvement again.
Tim Young asked that members of the Committee complete their biographies on the website and also continue submitting “leadership quotes”.
David McCausland is producing the next Newsletter which will be sent out early next week.
6. Mentoring Team
Plans for the Leadership Day (involving twenty-five School Fellows) on 11th September are finalised. Stephen Day will be attending as a speaker, along with Noomane Fehri and Ibrahim Natil (leader of an NGO operating under very difficult circumstances in
Plans for the next Mentoring Evening and liaison with cohorts had been explored in Max Kirby’s paper. The Young Fellowship “Praetorian Guard” would be closely involved in the development of these. A Mentoring Evening combined with a social occasion was projected for March, with a real push for full attendance from School Fellows.
It was agreed that contemporaries would now look after cohorts once they left school. The input of senior Fellows had been appreciated by the younger cohorts, even if the level of response to emails had been minimal.
7. Regional developments
Andrew Cowen enquired if another school dinner was being planned after the success of Sedbergh. Tim Young said he was in contact with
David McCausland described his recent meeting with Rod Welford, a Rank Fellow and vet living in
8. Overseas Links
Noomane Fehri spoke of the successful expansion of the ATUGE (Association of Tunisians educated in the French Grands Ecoles) network and their forthcoming conference. He would be arranging a meeting between the new leadership team of the London Maghreb Network Society and the Chairman and Tim Young.
Daniela Barone Soares reported on the recent AGM of Fundacao Estudar (with inspiring speakers), their expansion of active members, the explicit nature of the repayment process and the broadening field of applicants. The founders of Fundacao were planning to establish a large endowment fund.
Stephen Day reported on his dealings with senior figures in
Tim Young reported on his recent meeting with Wagaye Johannes of the
9. Any other business
The Chairman expressed the continuing appreciation of the Steering Committee to the staff of
10. Date of future meetings:
Tuesday 2nd December 2008 – venue to be decided
Tuesday 3rd March 2009
Tuesday 2nd June 2009
Tuesday 8th September 2009
Tuesday 1st December 2009